The New Dallas Is On Channel 5
The BBC is giving a plug to the new series of one of the silliest television programs, ever to appear on British television; Dallas.
Why?
The original programs were crap, and this one is probably crap too as it’s on that broadcaster of crap; Channel 5.
I’ve just sent this e-mail to the BBC.
I don’t pay my licence fee to have you promote rubbish like this on Channel 5! It gives me a good break to have a shower.
Let’s hope they are being paid well for the plug!
I shall not be watching!
Living Near Premier League Grounds
The Halifax has done a survey of house prices near Premier League grounds. It’s here in the Telegraph.
As I live within walking distance of the Emirates Stadium, I’m not bothered, especially as I have a buy-to-let close to both Old Trafford and Carrow Road. Don’t ask me why an Ipswich supporter should have those! But suffice to say, they were purchases my late wife made without consulting me. Although, I did think that nearness to football grounds could be an advantage.
Ian Brady
The lead story on the BBC is Ian Brady. Why are the news media and the public so obsessed with this gruesome man?
He should just be left to rot in his cell. And when he does die, the story should be given little publicity.
I know it’s bad for the mother of his still undiscovered victim, but nothing will bring the victim back and it just makes it so much worse for all the others in the area, who lost a child to Brady or might have.
I speak as someone, who lost a son prematurely to pancreatic cancer. That is in many ways different. but I do feel guilty at times, that I didn’t do more to stop him smoking and get properly medically tested when his health started to go downhill. Now he’s gone, there’s just a big hole in my life!
Strangely, the case could be an argument against the death penalty. If Brady had been hung, there would now be no chance of recovering Keith Bennett’s body. On the other hand, Brady is now 74, so he’s been lucky in some ways to still be on this world.
The phone-in on BBC Radio 5 will probably about Ian Brady and/or the death penalty. I’m going out to do something more productive.
Gorilla Joy
There has been a lot of pictures of the reunion of two gorillas at Longleat after a couple of years apart. Here‘s some on the BBC.
I don’t think it is as remarkable as some are saying. I’ve seen horses return to the stud, I used to own, who’d been born there or had spent a long time there, renew old friendships with other horses, if they’d never been away. I’ve also read of similar behaviour with dairy cows. And after all, we all know how how when we visit a friend with a dog, the dog generally remembers us.
Footballers On The Couch
Susanna Reid said on BBC Breakfast this morning, that they’ve never had a current footballer on the couch, whereas virtually all the British medallists from the Olympics, have joined them.
She has a point, but I don’t think it’s down to intelligence, but imagine if say a Chelsea player was on describing how he’d just scored an amazing hat trick against Manchester United, think of all the abuse they’d get. They used to have current footballers on A Question of Sport and they don’t now.
Or it could all be down to agents wanting something like image rights!
But i still think she has a point.
Branson Good, First Group Bad
You have to admire Richard Branson on the way he has marshalled the general public to stand up for Virgin Trains. I listened to a couple of phone-ins and the callers were generally behind Virgin. One caller virtually said that he like travelling on Virgin for the loyalty scheme.
As an extensive train user, there is little to choose between Virgin Trains and First Great Western, but both are much better than the state-run East Coast Trains.
Virgin’s main problem at the moment is a shortage of Pendolino trains. This is being rectified, with a few new ones coming into service and the existing fleet growing by a couple of coaches per train. Whoever got the franchise, would have benefited from the increased number of seats.
But as I said in an earlier post, I think that one of the keys to success for First Group, is its links in Scotland. This could cut costs and also bring about an integrated system to get passengers between the north of Scotland and the south.
Job Losses, Higher Fares and Worse Service
Bob Crow’s reaction to the loss by Virgin of their West Coast Franchise to First Group is predictable. When did Bob Crow’s union ever do anything for passengers? Individual members do every day, but will we see the union call out their members in protest at the change of franchise holder? I hope not, but a strike is one way to get the best deal from their new employers.
As to the two companies, I’m in a unique position to judge them both. In my trip around the country to visit all 92 Football and Premier League clubs, I used Virgin Trains and First Great Western extensively. I had no issues at all with either in terms of punctuality and customer service. And as a frequent rail passenger, what really matters.
On a practical level, now that First Group has both the West Coast and Scottish franchises, might we see better connections at Glasgow to places north of the central belt. Could it also mean that services like Liverpool and Manchester to Glasgow and Edinburgh get better?
The two franchises meeting in Glasgow, may also give First Group a cost saving in terms of train stabling and overnight servicing. Only they could tell me the answer to that one, but it would seem to make sense.
It does seem that this will be the end of Virgin Trains. Am I bothered? No! Not at all! Anybody who works for them, will probably get a new job soon somewhere in the rail industry, as overall we’re going to run more trains not less.
The Olympics Cut Crime In London
Figures show that crime fell by five percent during the Olympics. Read all about it, here in the Daily Telegraph.
On a similar vein, the BBC in London has just announced that London Ambulance had a quiet time. Come to think of it, I’ve only seen the Air Ambulance once in the last couple of weeks. It tends to pass over, where I live.
In fact, although I’m not that far from the Olympic Park, I have hardly seen any helicopters at all; police, military, ambulance or otherwise.
Let’s hope it continues. I’m not bothered about the noise, but it just means that crime and serious accidents are a a low level.
MPs Don’t Like Google’s Tax Affairs
According to this article in the Daily Telegraph, Google only paid £6m tax on revenues of £395m.
Obviously, it is not in the interest of the UK, that major international companies pay so little tax. It’s also not in the interest of small UK companies, who perhaps pay high rates of tax and see their foreign competitors in the UK, paying very little.
Years ago, I was involved in monitoring the perception in the press of major companies. After a couple of quarters bumping along at the bottom, companies quickly picked their ideas up.
So perhaps a publicly available table on the Internet, showing the turnover, tax and a few other figures of companies, might not be a bad idea.
Suppose say it was obvious that a well known restaurant chain, was paying a very low rate of tax. Would it mean that customers went elsewhere? Possibly, but it might mean they did other things to justify the low rate, that were of benefit to the UK.
The Anonymous Widower 