How Sez Sees It

The trial has begun of the 24 year old soldier accused of supplying classified information to the website Wikileaks. Some are saying that he is gay with gender issues and felt uncomfortable in the army with 'don't ask, don't tell'.  This may have left him feeling angered and disillusioned when he found a way to smuggle the information to the website. He has been kept without a trial for around a year and protestors say he should not be on trial for 'exposing war crimes' (some of his info included unprovoked attacks on Iraqi civilians). Julian Assange has been given the right to appeal his extradition to Sweden.  As much as I am uncomfortable with the man himself, there still seems to be something odd about the alleged sex offence cases.  If he goes to Sweden it will be easier for America to get him as well.  Extradited once and it can happen again. This all does raise questions about what America is trying to hide...

It was announced today that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il died over the weekend from a heart attack.  In the West Kim Jong Il is probably best known for being 'ronrey' and turning into a cockroach in Team America.  In lesser cases for being a 'regular contributor and friend of the show' on Ask Rhod Gilbert. Kim Jong Il ran the 'hermit state' of N. Korea since 1997 after taking over from his father.  His son Kim Jong Un was announced on state television as his replacement. Little is actually known about Kim Jong Il as his life has been kept private outside of the country.  Any information that does come out is state approved.  He was known to the people as 'Dear Leader' after developing the 'cult of personality'.  There was also a known figure of around 200,000 political prisoners in the country. Kim Jong Ill suffered a stroke in 2008 and according to state television had a heart attack on his train on Saturday 17 December 2011, where

The great man who once called Mother Theresa an "Albanian Dwarf" after accusing her of using money raised to build convents in her name, has died from Pneumonia as a complication of his Oesophigal Cancer. Hitchens was never afraid to speak his mind on any topic including the war in Iraq (he was for it when many were coming out against it), George W Bush (called him unintelligent and proud of it) and even fell out with his own brother over different political stances (although they were later reconciled).  One of his most famous events was taking on Tony Blair about the role of religion in politics.  Needless to say, Hitchens came out the better of the two. He had a great many friends among the great thinkers of the day including Prof Richard Dawkins (fellow athiest) and writer Ian McEwan (who was there at his death). Some called him a philosopher, but he was better described as a polemist.  He was the most fervent atheist and blamed all troubles through history on relig

This week Mervyn King has said that the banks need to prepare for a Eurozone collapse and that the bank of England are making plans. Union members have been on strike over the proposed changes to retirement and pensions in the public sector. George 'Gideon' Osborne has proposed measures that will hit women the hardest. That is always the way.  In times of hardship the weakest in society get hit, the women and children.  The measures that have been proposed would see men and women work until they drop, cut the tax credits and basically drag us back to the Victorian era.  This is terrible, but did we expect any less from the nasty party? That is the round up.  If you are going to f*** me up the a*** Gideon...make it quick and painless please.

Here is the link to the article about all this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/16/osborne-deficit-uk-economy-growth The point I want to quickly focus on is the lack of jobs and the struggles of the 1m young people out of work. In the past when there have been recessions or times of hardship the people and government have turned to the public sector to help out.  After all in times of hardship it is the public services that people most need.  More jobs were created so that meant more people could find work and that meant that more money could be spent by more people.  In a short period of time unemployment figures dropped and the economy strengthened with the increase in spending power of more people. What are the current government doing?  Cutting public sector jobs.  This doesn't help the ecomony and will drag it down further.  Create more jobs so that more people can be helped by the public sector and then some of these 1m unemployed youngsters will have jobs

(Everybody!)   It seems today, that all you see, is violence in movies and sex on TV… So the internet blew up about the Glee episode ‘First Time’ that was broadcast in America on Tuesday night and is to be broadcast in the UK tonight.   See here for details http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/singalonga-sex-education-6259617.html As some of you may know, I was mortified when yet another of my favourite shows went on to Sky so as a result I have seen this episode through my own means…but enough of that. The episode itself deals with (as the title suggests) the sexual awakening of two couples at McKinley high.   I think I need to point out though that this episode also deals with other ‘first times’ such as Coach Beiste’s first boyfriend, Artie’s first time directing a musical and Mike’s first time standing up to his father. On to the sex!   The two couples involved are the straight couple of Finn and Rachel and the Gay couple of Kurt and Blaine.   Both couples spend a

Ok, I know there is loads I could write about today such as the horrific accident on the M5 (so sad and so worrying), the stuff going on with Theresa May and immigration (oh sweet justice) and of course the Greek bail out.  I thought I would take a different route. Over the weekend a rather unusual item went on sale and made over $31,000 at auction.  This item was a tooth of John Lennon.  This may seem strange to us today, but really this is something that has been happening for hundreds of years in the form of relics. In prime locations for certain saints pilgrims would flock to the cathedrals and abbeys in order to feel closer to their sain and God.  This was a prime target for peddlers of holy relics.  There were cases of peddlers having something like 50 toe bones for sale from one saint.  This was apparently possible due to God's intervention and apparently people brought it. The main point though is not whether or not these grotesque items were real, but rather the fact

Not in the UK it would seem.  Recent directives would suggest that the government funding for solar panels is being withdrawn.  I must add here that this is currently under consultation, but it is not looking good. A lot of people are fed up with this as they were hoping to get concessions for having them put on their private housing.  What isn't widely known is how the effect will be felt in local government as well.  Many LGs have been spending large amounts of time and people power to try and follow directives from the Government and European Government to look at cutting the UKs emissions.  LGs are supposed to be leading by example to attract people to follow suit with private housing.  Cuts in funding for a project like this are very backwards. In this country we are seeing a rise in energy costs as we have become more and more reliant on gas and oil from overseas.  We don't even have any British owned energy companies anymore. Renewables are really the only way forwar

Oh dear, here I am going to get in trouble with the Scientologists.  Oh well, I am not concerned. I want to qualify this blog (not that I should have to) by saying that I am atheist.  I have no belief in any spiritual or otherwise being that created this, that or the other.  I KNOW in myself that science has all the answers and just because we have not discovered them all that does not automatically make science wrong and religion right.  It just means we need to keep on looking and that is why I love science.  On the other hand I have a deal of respect for someone who has a faith of some kind.  That is their choice, their belief and if it works for them, then great.  I don't have to agree with it, but I am not going to persecute an individual for their belief.  I have friends who are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc.  That is fine, because they do not ram their beliefs down my throat and I do not do the same to them.  (The same applies to my friends who support different political

Today Parliament has a vote on whether or not there should be a referendum about staying in Europe.  This is set to be 'CallMeDave's' biggest challenge yet.  Many of his party want to vote for a referendum, but with Labour and the Lib Dems to vote against it 'CallMeDave' will be happy.  Why is this the case?  Because say what you like about the Tories, the front bench knows that we do need to be a part of Europe.  We need to stand alongside the other European countries and be proud of this.  We are still one of the stronger nations in the EU, even if it doesn't feel like it at times and we need them too.  We need the economic support of something much bigger.  We need the agreements on human rights, education and health.  We need to be a part of this to show that we are front runners in a Europe that can work.  Also we know that as a tiny island nation we run the risk of being cut off without the protection of the Union.  'CallMeDave' and co know this,

It should be obvious to anyone reading this that Gaddafi has been killed by rebels in Libya. If you do not know this then you have been living under a rock for the last 24 hours and need to get out more and take notice of what is going on around you. Yesterday rebels in Gaddafi's home town of Sirte captured the ex-Libyan leader and professional nut job when he was hiding in a storm drain (sound familiar?).  He was dragged through the streets before being formally executed by the people with a gun shot to the head.  For a truly people led rebellion perhaps this sort of street justice was required for the people to feel it had been worth it.  Perhaps if he had been dragged off to the Hague to face a war tribunal then the people who led this revolution would have felt somewhat cheated.  As bloody and terrible as his end may seem to the Western World, this was justice carried out in a way that seemed somehow to fit with the rebellion and the way Gaddafi ruled. We have to remember t

The news today has been a little thin for my liking and I am still waiting to hear Foxy's address at Parliament.  I thought I would comment on what a let down 2015 will be then. Yesterday it was announced that physists had 'broken' physics by inventing a way of making things hover.  This is a genius break through and means we are one step closer to that hover board I always wanted.  Why have I always wanted one though?  Simples.  Back to the Future. When I was a kid that was the future as far as I was concerned.  Being born in the mid-eighties I grew up watching those films and loved every one of them.  The first and last films primarily dealt with things from the past, 1955 and 1885.  In the second film though, Marty and Doc go into the future, 2015.  Now back in the mid-eighties/early ninties this was a long way off and anything seemed possible.  The inventions could have been anything. What came to pass though?  Well we have televisions that are capable of doing mo

Sorry, had a busy day yesterday so could not comment. Inflation according to the Consumer Price Index (SPI) is up at 5.2% for September as compared to 4.5% for the month before.   This is a higher level than even September 2008 when the economic crisis hit.   The CPI was set in 1997 and there has never yet been a higher level than then, but this current level is still a subject for concern. Similarly the Retail Price Index (RPI) is also up from 5.2% to 5.6%.   This is the highest since June 1991!   If this doesn’t mean much to you the CPI is an indication of prices of everyday items people like you and I buy in the supermarket and the RPI is an indication of mortgages, etc. Gideon’s plans are obviously not working as the inflation shows a lack of confidence by consumers.   This is still not helped by the high prices set by foreign oil and gas companies.   Trouble is we are reliant on them as 20 years ago we had our own supplies in the North Sea…these got sold off/ran out…wonder who

Made this by sheer chance and it is so delicious that I had to share my recipe with you.  So here it is folks, my chocolate orange coconut ice (veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery bad for you...)  Prep time is about 20 mins + hardening time. What you will need: 1 bar of ordinary cooking chocolate (whatever your fav is, either white, dark or milk) 340g dessicated coconut 340g icing sugar (not royal icing sugar...it doesn't work!) 397g condensed milk Orange essence flavouring Food colouring (whatever colour you want to use) Put all the icing sugar, coconut and condensed milk in a bowl.  Mix together using your hands as this is very sticky and tough and will break a metal spoon, whisk or electric mixer.  Add a touch of orange essence (as much as you fancy).  Once mixed line a 7 inch square cake tin with greaseproof paper and put half the mixture in the cake tin.  Add the food colouring to the other half and layer this on top of the white layer in the cake tin. Put the cake tin in the fri

I have decided that I shall do a more light hearted blog for a Friday.  It may turn darker, let's see how it goes. BB users are defecting to Apple.  The timing of the new iPhone 4s and the new iOS 5 couldn't have come at a better time for Apple.  It just so happens to have coincided with the failures of RIM's systems for the BlackBerry.  Are Apple the luckiest company?  Or is Steve Jobs looking down on them from the iCloud in the sky...? Live WWII weapons put outgoing flights and train services at Gatwick on a 15 minute delay.  The fact that they had been there for years is funny in itself.  I think the passengers were probably more annoyed there was a delay than the safety issue.  I had a 15 minute delay at Palma the other week...that was because of a dispute in the control tower at Bournemouth... Oliver Letwin has been seen dumping paperwork in a public bin.  I bet he thought it would be alright to do this as who would go through a public bin right?  Well the press.

Cuts in the education maintenance allowance (EMA) are being blamed for students quitting college or not going at all after GCSEs.  The idea of the EMA was to allow students to pay for travel to college and buy books, etc.  It was an incentive to learn and would help the poorest people.  I remember when I was at college talking to people on the EMA and they told me they would not be able to go to college without it.  It was a lifeline to them. 20 NHS trusts have been named as 'vulnerable' by the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley.  This includes Winchester and Eastleigh, which are my local trusts.  This is a scary prospect that they face cuts.  The NHS is something that we should be putting more into, not letting it fail.  Use the #SaveTheNHS on Twitter to make this heard. Unemployment is at its highest level for 17 years!  It currently stands at 2.57 million.  Gideon needs to get the economy on track to create jobs for these people.  Labour said this shows that the Tory polic

Foxy has been tagging social trips on to official trips to meet Werritty, all paid for by the tax payer.  So we have been paying for them to have a little working holiday. Sri Lankan officials claim that Werritty offered to sell them arms when on a trip with Foxy.  Werritty also started several companies to match Foxy's job.  One was UK Health Ltd when Foxy was Shadow Health Secretary and the other was Security Futures when Foxy took on defence.  'CallmeDave' won't want Foxy to be on the back bench though as he is very right wing and has a lot of influence.  This would be too dangerous for the Tories in the coalition. The Lords are voting on the NHS reforms today.  If you want to keep this institution as it is then sign this: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/message-to-lords In other news the NOTW hacker, Glenn Mulcaire, wants the victims to stop suing him as he feels persecuted.  Not a nice feeling, is it Glenn?

Foxy has been tagging social trips on to the end of official trips to meet his friend Werritty.  Because they are tagged on to the end of official trips he has been able to claim for them from tax payers' money, which means we have been paying for him to have a holiday with his bezzie.  On top of that Sri Lankan officials caims Werritty offered to sell them arms when on a trip with Foxy.  Werritty also started a string of businesses including UK Health Ltd when Foxy was Shadow Health Secretary and then Security Futures when Foxy took on defence.  So there was no attempt to cash in there... 'CallmeDave' won't want Foxy on the back bench as he is a right winger with lots of influence.  He would be too dangerous and would cause too many problems.  Still...wonder who burgled Foxy's Den? Today the House of Lords will vote on the NHS bill the governement want to push through.  This is basically a way of splitting up and privatising large areas of the NHS.  This is a

I am going to try and comment on at least one thing a day. So Liam Fox (hereby known as Foxy) has answered his question in the Commons.  I have to admit that he did seem to sincerely apologise for the parts he knew to be wrong behaviour, but in true Tory style he covered up for BBF Adam Werritty and turned some things around by saying he was 'not dependent on any transactional behaviour' for his imcome.  Then what does the man live on?  Thin air?  The whole thing stinks, but I fear Foxy will get away with this one as there is a lot of other stuff going on that the press are interested in...mostly how ugly the X-Factor contestants are...that should keep David 'CallmeDave' Cameron happy. Good news everyone (or rather not...) we get to keep the Olympic Stadium.  Yes, that is right, you and I will still own that building in East London.  The reason seems to be that Tottenham Hotspur were jealous that West Ham were going to buy the thing so they put in legal action.  The

The Conservative Party conference was barely over when a source of major embarrassment for the PM jumped out of the woodwork.  One day the press were praising Cameron for his speach about putting children in care with parents of another ethnicity when being adopted, the next Dr Liam Fox was in the news for what looks to be corruption. Fox is accused (by the press at least) of having business dealings with his former flat mate and best friend, Adam Werritty.  Werritty is believed to have travelled with Dr Fox on his trips abroad to "advise" on security deals, etc.  Werritty was never employed as an official advisor and yet he had business cards made up to claim that he was.  The whole thing stinks and is of course a major embarrassment for the Conservatives.  This could not have come at a worse time as all eyes were on the party anyway due to the conference.  However, Cameron may be hoping that this will go away. At the moment there is terrible trouble with the economy a

So Gideon (George Osborne) has announced his plans for small businesses at the Tory Conference.  The whole thing just reaks of the sort of trouble we had with sub prime. Basically the tax payer (you and I) will pay bonds that will help small businesses financially.  They will then use this to secure with the banks.  Now the one big problem is that the majority of small businesses fail in the first six months and they only borrow to start up the business (in the majority of cases) so if they fail they will take the money with them. This will get us out of recession...apparently.

Last night Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were aquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher after serving four years in an Italian prison.  If they are truly innocent then a case of injustice has been ended and they are free to live their lives. There is one question that seems to have been lost in all the media hype surrounding Knox in particular.  That is, if they didn't kill Meredith then who did?  The victim here should not be forgotten and the authorities now need to find out who really was responsible.  Rudy Guede is serving 16 years for the sexual abuse and murder of Meredith, but his sentence was cut as he testified against Knox and Sollecito.  A young woman lost her life and her family are left without closure of a successful conviction.  Who did kill her and will prosecutors follow up Knox and Sollecito as promised?  Right now though I am not thinking of the two released.  They will be able to get back some semblance of normality and if not guilty, have nothing to w

Due to the anniversary of  tragic events of ten years ago I have taken a look at why the western world has been so despised by other nations.  Can we look at our society and be totally  surprised by the views of other nations? The attacks themselves were sickening, disturbing and totally inexcusable.  Thousands of people were killed in horrific and terrifying ways and many thousands more have had to go through the last ten years missing a spouse, partner, child, parent, etc.  There are no excuses for what happened at all (just to clear up my stance). Is it a surprise we (along with the Americans) are almost detested by some areas of the world?  Here are some of the things that have happened since that fateful day: War in Afghanistan - actually something both good and evil I suppose.  On the one hand it brought freedom from an oppresive regime, the right to free vote, for education (especially for women) and the chance to rebuild a country that was almost western in style before

The Independent has reported that RBS (that is Royal Bank of Scotland) has finally severed all ties with the manufacturers of cluster bombs.  This after the same newspaper reported that they were connected to manufacturers in the first place. For those of you who don't know, a cluster bomb is either dropped from the air or ground detonated and when they explode they send out smaller munitions or 'bomblets' to cover a large area and cause maximum damage to buildings and (sadly) people in the surrounding area.  A convention was signed and ratified by 108 and 60 states respectively in Dublin in 2008 that came into force in 2010 to ban the use of these weapons because of the cripplingly destructive nature of them to innocent people. It has long been known that bankers and investment companies have links with weapons manufacturers.  How else would the Western World be able to accuse people of having weapons unless they actually fund/sell the weapons to them in the first plac

It has emerged that Andy Coulson was paid a six figure pay out by News International when he left and this was paid in instalments while he was being paid by the Tories.  Not only this, but he had a company car from them and access to their health care.  It also transpires that he was having his legal fees paid by NI until last year when he left the Tories. This is all a conflict of interest and apparently may count as an unregistered contribution to the Conservatives.  The sort of information he would have been privvy too raises a huge amount of questions as to whether or not Coulson was passing on information.  How this could not have flagged up is beyond me and probably any other right thinking person. The Tories claim that they did not know that Coulson was receiving any payments from NI while working for them.  Can they be serious?  Why were no checks done on this?  Coulson caused controversy from the moment he was employed by the Tories.  It is clear there could have been iss

When I left college six years ago I was excited to be going off to university.  The university I was going to was brilliant and building a good reputation after becoming a stand alone uni from somewhere else.  There were pleanty of places at the uni and I know that many people were able to get in as an insurance choice or clearing.  This week, that same university is having to turn away even some insurance places and there is no chance of it going into clearing. Yes the reputation of this particular uni is even better now than it was before, but the reason this uni and so many like it are inundated with applicants this year is because more people are determined to attend before the fees go up in 2012.  This is the main issue, but the figures are just crazy. Currently there are 189,992 A-Level students eligible for 29,409 vacancies.  There is no chance that the majority of these people will be able to get into uni this year and they may be put off by higher fees next year.  On top o

George (who from now on will be called Gideon...look it up) Osborne is apparently surprised that the economy has stalled.  He is surprised that there are thousands more unemployed than before.  Why? There is a problem that public services are being cut and therefore people are losing their jobs.  These people are all becoming redundant and this is contributing to unemployment figures.  Then there are the private sector jobs that have all been lost, these people also cotribute to the unemployment figures.  The public sector workers were supposed to take all the private sector surplus jobs, but there are not even jobs for the people even in the private sector.  Then there is the case that there are people like my boyfriend who graduated a couple of years ago, but have so far only been able to get part time work, so they are not earning full time. Gideon's other big plan was to raise VAT.  This I still do not understand.  If you want to ensure growth in the economy then you need t

Over the weekend David Starkey was quoted as saying that the riots were a part of  'black culture'.  What on earth does that even mean?  He claimed that white teenagers had adopted the black, Caribbean patois and as a result had effectively lessened their chances in life.  He was also banging on about Enoch Powell being right when he originally said immigration would lead to 'rivers of blood'.  I can't even begin to establish how much this angered me.  I mean honestly.  There were a mixture of factors that led to the rioting.  It included; lack of trust in the police, poor education, poor parenting (in a minority of cases) and general opportunism!  It certainly did not seem to me that it was a result of 'black culture'.  In fact you cannot say that when almost all the people I have seen leaving court have been from white households and the ones who have spoken have not done so in that fake Caribbean way.  There have been millionaires and teaching assistant

I do not claim to be an economist, but I do take an interest in what is going on around me in terms of the recent economic news.  (Disclaimer is done...) On with the opinion.  Well not so much the opinion rather an open questions to others.  Now you can correct me if I am wrong, but am I right in remembering that it was predicted around 10-15 years ago that the Western World would cease to be the super powers in terms of the economy?  I know there is an exception in the fact that Germany appears to be doing rather well, all things considered, but the rest of Europe and the USA appears to have gone down that route.  It is a strange thing, but I only remembered this first thing this morning.  I know that even China has had its wobbles and so have other parts of Asia, but India and China appear to be doing rather well by comparison.  This was all predicted, along with a potential crash so long ago.  Why then are we so surprised by this?

There have now been three, consecutive nights of rioting in London and it appears to be spreading as Birmingham got in on the act.  This all kicked off last Thursday when a 29 year old man was shot by Police officers for alledgedly shooting and wounding an officer.  The man apparently received medical attention but died at the scene.  On Satuday many people in the area of Tottenham staged a peaceful protest but as tempers flared in the heat of the day the night turned into one of utter destruction and violence. Since then people have been made homeless and have had their businesses destroyed for good as rioters have burnt large sections of London to the ground including; Eling, Clapham, Croydon, Tottenham and Lewisham.  The people claim to be angry and looking for answers. How they will find answers from burning and looting is beyond the average person in Britain.  The looting in Birmingham seems to be opportunistic, a case of, well if London can do it...of course what these people

Sorry should that be the 'wealth creators'?  George Osborne has decided that it would be a great idea to cut the 50p rate of income tax.  Basically this means a tax cut, but only for the very rich. Osborne is resorting to 'plan b' here as he claims that the 50p rate has not generated anywhere near the amount of income that it should have.  This is causing some disagreement with their Lib Dem allies who think it should remain.  Here is your chance Clegg and Cable to stand up and be counted and go against Osborne.  Go on, you know you want to...(what are the chances do you think?). These plans could not have come at a worse time.  With literally thousands of public sector workers about to loose thier jobs a tax break for the very rich seems like even more of a kick in the pants.  Osborne has no real idea what he is doing and there is no guarantee that this new plan will work either.  I think the first thing that needs to be looked at is VAT.  I don't understand th

My Dad sent me this and I just had to share: SOCIALISM You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour. COMMUNISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk. FASCISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk. NAZISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you. BUREAUCRATISM You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away... TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income SURREALISM You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons AN AMERICAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead. ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/aug/02/ed-miliband-plan-curb-unions Kind of think that the point has been missed a little here by a lot of people in the comments.  Not sure they either read the piece or really understood it. I am both a union member and a Labour Party member.  I have to confess that I did vote for Ed to become leader, that is because I believed then (and still believe now) that he is the best man for the job [cue other troll posters who want to babble on about how I am deluded, etc...there beat them to it, sticks and stones...] The point is that the party does need to be reformed and it does need to be taken away from the Blair/Brown era style that it got itself into.  The people obviously got fed up with that.  Miliband is not saying that he is cutting all ties with the unions, he is saying that they need to take responsibility, like politicians, for their actions and need to be held accountable.  He is not saying that he is going to fight the unions, onl

I have always been bigger than the other girls.  I have never been the skinny thing that turned the heads of the boys around me.  Then again I am hardly huge!  I am big.  I have always been big and I always probably witll be.  I have very wide hips and very wide sholders.  I come from a long line of stocky, broad women.  There are conflicts around how big people get though.  I personally would like to lose a couple of stone and the reason is purely because that is how much I used to weigh and would be a more healthy weight for me to get to.  Health reasons alone for my weight loss.  There are perceptions of how people are supposed to be though and I am sure that some people will see my attempts at losing weight as being a part of that. On the one hand I know that I need to get to a more reasonable weight.  I would like to feel more comfortable as I have problems with my knees from an old injury that would probably lessen if I shifted some weight.  Also there is a history of diabeties

Two things happened this weekend.  I think both could be classed as tragic, but both for entirely different reasons.  I don't want the reader to think in any way that I am trying to compare the two events, but I think they are worthy of a sort of news round up, which is the only reason they appear in the same blog. I will start with the events in Norway.  My heart goes out to the people, it really does.  At present we know of 93 deaths at the hand of Anders Behring Breivik.  For those who do not know he is a right wing extremist who was unhappy with the ruling party's immigration policy.  This led him to plan an attack over several years where he planted a bomb to kill several ministers of parliament and shootings on the island of Utøya where the ruling party had a summer camp for teenagers.  The most tragic aspect is of course that so many young people were involved in the events.  Breivik claims that what he did was disturbing but necessary to highlight the issues of immigr

This has been a week full of stories so I like a round up with my personal twist. Hackgate continues on.  The Murdochs gave evidence to the select committee and a foam pie was thrown.  I think we learnt more about Wendi Deng Murdoch than anyone that day.  Since then two former NOTW employees have said James Murdoch bent the truth when talking about payments to various people when he faced the committee.  David Cameron denied any wrong doing in appointing Andy Coulson and played down his friendship with the Murdochs and Rebekah Brooks...hmmm....seems like a lot of people denying responsibility and passing the buck.  Will we really ever find out where it stops? As of today, five people have died from having saline drips contaminated with insulin at Stepping Hill Hospital in the Manchester area.  A nurse has been arrested and questioned but this will carry on for a while due to investigations.  This is such a scary story that you really don't want to think about it too much.  You e

Yesterday PM David Cameron faced MPs in Parliament regarding his appointment of Andy Coulson.  His claims included that Chancellor George Osborne had suggested Coulson but that the decision to appoint him was entirely his own.  On top of that he was either unable or unwilling to answer the questions put forward to him by MPs such as the level of dealings he had with the Murdochs and Brooks or any discussion about the BSkyB takeover bid. I do believe that when he says the BSkyB decision was one for the Culture and Media Secretary Jeremy Hunt (I got that one right...http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/audio/2010/dec/06/james-naughtie-jeremy-hunt-radio-4) he was telling the truth.  I do think though that surely there must have been some detailed discussion between Cameron and Hunt over the BSkyB bid as this would have given Murdoch a huge stake in the British Media and it is something that Cameron would have had to have spoken about at some point, even if it was just to Andrew Marr on a Sun

I was going to do this blog about the committees meeting today, but I think that things have changed somewhat and so I am going to do things a little differently now. I want to start by getting the events of the pie/shaving foam attack out of the way.  I am hardly Rupert Murdoch's biggest fan, but the man was there to answer questions to a serious parliamentary commission and on top of that is a man in his 80s.  He does not deserve to be hit in the face with shaving foam or whatever it was, by some dick who thinks it is big and clever.  In fact this could have been detrimental.  As US citizen's Rupert and James Murdoch did not have to even be there and could have refused to come back after the interval.  On top of that people will have some sort of respect for both of the Murdochs for coming back.  I want to state that no matter what I say today in this blog I could never condone the behaviour of the man that did that act. Ok, on to the other stuff.  Like I say, this is dif

I thought I would leave the blogging about News International until a little later (a quick aside, there was a brilliant moment last night when LulzSec hacked into The Sun's website and posted a story about the death of Rupert Murdoch.  Needless to say this has been taken down now but that is really quite funny).  Anyway, the NI stuff is for later because the select committee are sitting today with the Murdochs and Brooks so that will be worth talking about later on (incuding the bag incident...worth waiting for). Anyway, onto the rant of the morning.  I am hoping that someone will read this and have an answer for me.  I cannot get on the WiFi on my Galaxy S.  I love this phone, trust me, I do, but it is the annoying thing is that I have had the problem affecting many Galaxy S users. It starts off for a couple of months saying that the device is 'obtaining IP address'.  It does this for ages, turning the WiFi on and off automatically.  Eventually this will turn on the W

Just a quick update.  The Assistant Commissioner to the Met, John Yates, has resigned over his failings as part of the Hackgate scandal.  It is currently unclear whether he was pushed politically or this is a case of him going of his own free will, however, he is going to be held accountable for his actions either way and that can only be a good thing.  The big question will be over how many more people will have to jump ship.  This is the most exciting thing to happen for a long time. The reason it is so exciting I think is that it encompasses many areas of life.  Politicians, police officers and media moguls have all been drawn into this issue and it is so widespread that it makes for exciting reading and times.  People we are supposed to be able to trust have come under the spotlight as bad boys and girls and this is something that people want to read and hear about.  I for one am guiltlessly engrossed.