Beards
I can’t understand all of the fuss about Jeremy Paxman’s beard. I’ve had mine for nearly fifty years and my son, who is in his mid-forties, has never seen me clean-shaven.
It’s well-trimmed now, although in its more wild days, my beard graced the letters page of the Today program on Radio 4. At the time, there was trouble in Egypt and the BBC’s reporter there had a beard and he had a bit of trouble, as the Army and Police, were rather against those with beards, who they thought were Muslim fundamentalists. I wish i had a copy of that letter!
Tumblr News Give Me A Plug
I don’t read Tumblr News but they must sometimes read my blog, as this article entitled, Former OFT boss: regulation can be a bridge to new customers, has a link to this post of mine. In that post from August 29th, 2009, I said I had over £30,000 invested in Zopa and now nearly four yeas later it is just a shade under £140,000, with total interest of nearly £140,000 and bad debts of just £650.
I think I’ll accept that!
My investment in Zopa has certainly performed better than pudence’s investment in the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers and Lloyds TSBleed.
All London Underground Ticket Offices To Close
This claim is being made by the trade unions in London and it’s reported here on the BBC.
Except for main line stations, you rarely see anybody at the ticket offices. But then they can be busy, as this post shows.
So just on my personal observation, there seems to be a need for some reorganisation of the ticket offices.
One of these could be making sure that passengers arrive in London with a ticket for the Underground.
Modern Railways this month also had an editorial about the rows that are about to happen, when trains in London go for driver-only operation.
I think there is going to be a lot of argument in the next few years.
But honestly, when was the last time you visited a ticket office on the Underground to buy a ticket?
I think I bought an Oystercard about four years ago. I’ve bought one since and that was from a machine.
Bottoms And Alcohol Shouldn’t Mix
I thought this story about a nudist hotel wanting an alcohol licence, was typical of some of the narrow-minded attitudes that still prevail in parts of the UK. Here’s a flavour.
But the application has been met with a bevy of objections that people living nearby are already copping an eyeful from guests who haven’t been drinking.
Councillor Robert Alden fears that an alcohol licence would turn the spa into a strip club and that it would attract “local youths and trouble makers”.
I suppose that summers like this are rare, so the venture will probably be killed by the British weather anyway.
Should We Embrace Fracking?
As an engineer, I have come to some conclusions about fracking.
There is certainly a lot of gas and possibly oil, buried in the ground, that can be accessed using advanced techniques like fracking in the UK.
Countries like the United States have certainly benefited from fracking with low gas prices and increased manufacturing activity.
There have been problems, as there were in Blackpool in the UK with fracking.
But are we throwing the resources of our great engineering universities, like Newcastle, Surrey, Southampton, Aberdeen, Manchester and Liverpool at the problem? I’ve left out universities that aren’t close to oil and gas reserves.
I doubt it!
Knowing engineering and engineers as I do, I suspect they could come up with better methods, that would benefit the UK and perhaps other countries, who have large difficult gas reserves and are nervous of using fracking and other methods.
So should the major oil and gas companies, be spending a few hundred millions investing in the future?
Plymouth Gives Payday Lenders The Boot
Plymouth has banned the adverts for payday lenders from billboards and bus shelters, as is reported here in the Independent.
Perhaps they could use the space saved on bus shelters to provide user-friendly maps and bus information, to help visitors to the city.
The Shame Of Forced Marriage
There has just been a piece on Radio 5 live on the BBC, about forced marriage. They interviewed a lady, who many years ago as a thirteen-year-old, was taken to Pakistan and told she couldn’t come back until she was pregnant. She said that little had changed in all those years and now works as a counsellor.
Surely, the behaviour of parents like this is little different to some of the high-profile sex abuse cases we’ve had in the news lately. They should be prosecuted now, if they are still alive.
All of these practices must be stamped out.
My late wife, who dealt with a lot of child abuse and abduction cases, once said that a lot of problems could be helped or even stopped, if every time a child was taken out of the UK, the passport was checked and noted.
UKIP MEP Plays To The Voters
We may decry the language and thoughts, that were used, as described in this report, but sad-to-say, there is a substantial number of people in this country, who agree with statements like those of Godfrey Bloom. They’re also generally against rights for women and gays, and often they will bring forth racist statements in private.
I can imagine the welcoming comments to the television as this story is being reported in some households.
Let’s hope that there are more who disagree with these views, than agree with them at the next election.
They Must Have A Lot Of Burger And Kebab Joints In Kingston
According to lots of reports, like this one in the Metro, the sewers in Kingston have been blocked by a fatberg which is the size of a London bus.
The last report of this type of blockage was in Leicester Square, which I was told on good authority, when I visited the sewers was close to McDonalds.
So I can only conclude that they have a lot of fast food restaurants in Kingston.
A Great Victorian Masterpiece Gets Exposed
St. George’s Hall in Liverpool is one of the UK’s greatest buildings. In 1969 the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner expressed his opinion that it is one of the finest neo-Grecian buildings in the world.
Until the 18th of August, it is a must-visit building, as they are exposing the magnificent Minton floor. It’s reported here on the BBC.
The Anonymous Widower 