David Campese Acts Like The Aussie Male Stereotype
This story in the Telegraph, this morning is a gift to all good sports reporters, who like to make papers entertaining. The second line sums up the report.
When he can drag himself away from his shaving mirror David Campese has long been known as the journalist’s best friend.
Where would newspapers be without characters like David Campese?
Payday Loans To Be Controlled
I feel that pay-day and short-term loan companies like Wonga are not the best of ideas. They’re not good for customers as their interest rates are just totally out of line and I think that their business model will come a cropper, as I outlined here.
The government has stated that the new Financial Conduct Authority will have the power to impose a limit on interest rates, as outlined in this article.
It sounds fine in practice, but what will happen to existing loans? And who will lend to those, who use the payday loan system?
It will also effectively kill off all these companies, so they’ll be more unemployed.
And how many criminals and thugs will move into the loan-sharking business?
So all in all, with the proposed alcohol price legislation, it’s been a very good day for criminals.
The Onion Gets Taken As The Truth
I like stories like this, where a humorous piece from a satirical web site like The Onion, gets taken as the truth, by the media in some country where freedom and press don’t go anywhere together. This time it’s China that gets fooled, but Iran has been duped in the past.
The trouble is that these countries wouldn’t make fun of a serious leader so wouldn’t know humour if it hit them in the face.
I wonder if they have April Fools’ Day in China and Iran?
Ice Cream Wars In Blackburn
I thought ice cream wars were a thing of the past. But no! They are alive and well in Blackburn!
A Good Day For Criminals?
On the whole, I think a minimum price for alcohol is a good idea. I said so here a few days ago.
But the downside is that criminals will be smiling at all the profits to be had by selling cheap alcohol to all and sundry, after it was announced that a minimum price will come in. It’s here on the BBC. I doubt the measure will curb binge-drinking and the associated crime.
And then we have the Leveson report, which is due to be released in a couple of days. According to this BBC story, many are worried about it on a freedom f speech basis. They have a point, but if we have more restrictions on reporting, which overall is a good thing, the value of a good story will increase. So I think, we could see more harrassment of celebrities as the pot of gold will be even bigger. Especially, as many countries won’t care what is illegal in the UK and will fully publish on the Internet.
Just remember that if we had a privacy law like the French, would the details of the MPs expenses have emerged? So the so-called great and good, who break the law, may well be protected by Leveson’s recommendations.
But as the phone-hacking by the News of the World has shown, wrong-doing gets properly investigated.
Boris Gives It Straight To The French
Boris Johnson in India has taken the French government to task over their statements on ArcelorMittal. It’s here on Reuters. This is an extract,
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson on Tuesday described France’s Socialist government as left-wing revolutionaries that were driving investors away in a dispute with steelmaker ArcelorMittal.
The Conservative mayor mocked the French government as ‘sans-culottes,’ a radical left-wing class during the French Revolution of 1789, while adding that British capital would welcome business fleeing from France.
The French are going to have to realise that the world has changed and the rest of the world doesn’t owe them a living. Especially, as their policies are driving the best and most creative brains out of France.
Greece’s Final Bailout?
I don’t expect so!
But they got one yesterday, as the BBC reports.
Will we ever sort Greece out?
In some ways all we’re doing with Greece, is like giving an alcoholic a bottle of Scotch a day.
Until the Greeks change their habits and accept their lifestyle will have to change, we’ll have to keep bailing them out.
In some ways, the key to a country’s future is its education system. According to this report on the BBC, the UK system ranks sixth in the world. We could obviously do better, but on looking at the full table, Greece is ranked 34.
George Osborne Hands His Successor A Poison Pill
I think that the appointment of Mark Carney to the Governorship of the Bank of England is a good one. I think he’s got the right experience and of course Canada has a much better-sorted banking industry than the United States, the United Kingdom and most of Europe.
So a good helping of Canadian experience can’t but help.
But say in 2016 or whenever the election is held, Labour should win, he would be a difficult thorn in the side of any Labour Chancellor.
Carluccio’s Or Starbucks?
This is a decision, I have to make every Monday morning at the Angel.
Normally, if I want a coffee early in the morning, as I’m off to the shops, I go to the cafe opposite.
But on Monday they are shut and I also generally go to the Angel to get my provisions for the first few days of the week.
So do I go to Carluccio’s or Starbucks for my pre-shopping coffee, whilst I work out what to buy.
For some time, I’ve gone to Starbucks, as it’s close to Waitrose, but recently, I’ve started to use the Carluccio’s a little further away.
Could this be because of all the publicity about Starbucks tax position in the UK?
After all, their coffee is only ten pence more, you get a comfortable seat and friendly staff, the queues are minimal and if you need to use the medical comforts, they are clean and excellent.
It will be interesting to see, how many people change their coffee habits!
A Beam Of Hope In The MIddle East
Science is an area of life, where generally political and other prejudices are left behind. Get the facts right and the answers are generally good, but try to say follow extreme left or right wing views and they just don’t fit scientific facts.
So this article on the BBC’s web site about Sesame, a large synchrotron being built in Jordan, is a real beam of hope. Even the Israelis and the Iranians are working together on the project.
The Anonymous Widower 