Maintenance of these bloody things is part of my professional remit. Usually you call out an engineer following numerous complaints, engineer turns up with some cunning device which he plugs somewhere into the gubbins of the thing. An hour later he'll report that he's reset it (switched off then back on), been unable to replicate the fault, has tested it exhaustively and it's working fine. You sign his electronic service sheet which you'll get pinged back into your inbox with an invoice for £200 within an hour, which is about a similar amount of time before the complaints start up again. Fookin things are possessed.
I wish I had thought of doing that – go and vote “none of the above” by putting in a blank ballot. The only Party that bothered to ask for my vote were the incumbent Labour and they would have been 1/500 with the bookies. The case for ‘ID 2 Vote’ has not really been well made and it is unclear just how much voter fraud actually happens. I guess that in local elections where the turnout is so poor, a few dodgy votes here and there can make a difference. Clearly the publicity about needing to take ID was not brilliant in the trial areas as there were reports on all the main channels of voters being turned away for having none.
That is totally pointless. What is to stop a dodgy postman simply not delivering voting cards for a street where he knows that half of them won’t vote? The only really valid form of ID must have a photo on it. The problem (obviously) is folks who do not have a passport or a new driving licence (most likely older voters). Anybody could turn up with a bank/credit card borrowed off a relative or friend. Nobody accepts utility bills as proof of address nowadays as too many of us do paperless billing; and you could equally borrow those. I am no fan of ID cards for the reasons already stated by others and because I want less state control and less money wasted by it.
I am not very proud of it if I am honest. Just couldn't bring myself to vote for either for various reasons. But here's the mental thing - it felt kind of disrespectful to mark the paper in any other way I guess you're off to HQ tomorrow - nice day for it.
Truckers who drive along at 59 miles per hour and then take a mile to pass each other on dual carriageways (like most of the A1 north of Peterborough). Why do these cretins get away with this? Also, when are the idiots that run Truckfest on the Showground near Peterborough on May Day bank holiday weekend ever going to sort out the traffic chaos they cause on the A1? Every year at the A47 turn off there is a twenty minute traffic jam as Truckfest patrons try to queue to turn off onto the A47 and the A1 becomes a one lane road southbound for the rest of us. Why not put cones down for a mile or two and a big sign saying “Left lane A47 only” so the rest of us can just drive by in the right lane while they queue?
WARNING: SEXIST RANT Driving home from Newmarket of Saturday, I had BBC 5 Live on in the car and they were covering the women’s FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Arsenal. If Vicki Sparks is the best that the BBC can do for women football commentators, they should just leave it to the men. She clearly had no idea that on the radio you actually have to describe what is happening because listeners cannot see the TV monitor like the one in your commentary booth. Her commentary was little more than a succession of players’ names at five second intervals and you knew a goal had been scored from the crowd cheering before she actually mentioned the scorer shooting. Totally pointless political correctness – they already have occasional female pundits on Match of the Day, so how long before they replace overpaid Gary Lineker with some eye candy who played for England a decade ago? Notably in the various sports bulletins, the 2000 Guineas never got mentioned once...
The murder rate is still higher per capita than London. There's problems all over the UK - it isn't just here.
london long ago did away with youth clubs , it takes time but a whole generation are left to their own devices , our local council run by the nationalists have just voted to effectively do the same ( budget cuts) , ten years time when anti social behaviour and delinquency become massive problems , these people won't be around , but they save 250,000 a year
Rudey is quite right. Youth clubs while are a great thing for kids, i have been advocating for them to be developed across Nairobi where i spend a lot of time, but for me the biggest problem in UK is quite obvious from working with youths. Imo, It is 2 things tied in together. School/education & Justice system. In schools the teachers can not teach effectively due to ofsted breathing down their necks and no support from the gov/justice system. A vast amount of kids do not want to learn and far too many kids and adults can break the law and they know not much will ever be done, these 2 things are tied in together and if any politicians had the balls to change them instead of being careerists then we might have a chance.
yes , the youth clubs reached and provided a space for the kids that aren't interested in school , gives them some structure , not perfect but way better than zilch , where left to no guidance , gangs replace the structure , drugs and violence are the norm ....at 14 , 15 , school isn't for everyone, especially the quota driven bull that is passed off as education , need a much more radical view of learning and playing ...... i won't blame all social disorder on lack of youth clubs , but they are / were a vital alternative for wayward kids to feel included , a space they want to be in , with hopefully people that understand and empathise with them , irs not rocket science .
Anybody over the age of 12 crying when their teams gets relegated, loses a derby or misses out on the play offs. Get a fookin grip.
Companies that take your order and don't deliver on the day they are supposed to. Booked some heavy items from a diy place over 3 weeks ago, selected them to be delivered today, had email confirmation of this. Today when the order does not appear I phone up "oh its down to be delivered tomorrow". Well they've had 3 weeks to tell me this - raging is an understatement.
