Are Politicians Stupid?
This report on the BBC web site, shows how the three major party leaders were photographed with a special World Cup promotion edition of The Sun.
The Sun is noted for various things, but faithful support for politicians isn’t probably one of them.
So why did the npoliticians ever let the photos be published?
Clegg and Cameron’s supporters didn’t seem to mind too much, but Labour Party supporters and especially those from Liverpool, are giving Milliband a hard time.
Is OFGEM On Our Side?
According to this article on Uswitch, OVO Energy’s very customer-friendly policy of paying interest on overpayments is to be banned.
Obviously, OVO have not been sucking up to the regulator enough!
14-Jun-2014 – There has been update on USwitch. It includes this statement from OVO.
Our OVO 3% Interest Reward is a central part of our offer and something our customers tell us is really important to them. OFGEM shares our ambitions to make the energy market a fairer, more open, more honest place and on this occasion we’re happy to be working with them to try and help make that happen.
If nothing else the reports have been good free publicity for OVO.
Is This The Most Annoying Advert?
Microsoft is coming under fire for their new TV advert as is reported here on the BBC. This is the first three paragraphs.
Xbox One owners are complaining that a new TV advert is switching their consoles on without their permission.
The ad – featuring Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul – has the actor say “Xbox On” near its start.
The instruction appears to trigger the machine’s Kinect voice/motion sensor, activating the console.
It won’t affect me, as I’ve never played a computer game in my life and I rarely watch adverts with the sound on. In fact, I watched the World Cup match last night, with ITV’s idiot commentary off, whilst listening to Radio 5 Live.
Liverpool University’s New London Campus Shows Itself
I walked past Liverpool University’s new London campus in Finsbury Square yesterday. The signs now show some details of the new tenant.
It is just round the corner from Broadgate and Liverpool Street station.
Matthew Paris Proposes A Humane Solution To The Badger Problem
In his column today in The Times, Matthew Paris tells a tale about how the llamas he keeps have chased the badgers away.
Matthew’s proposal may sound silly, but I’ve had many a drink with a friend, where he has told me endless tales about his llamas and their instincts and habits. Some of his used to stand up tall and spit at passengers waiting to catch a bus. I believe the stop was moved.
So will be seeing farmers using llamas to protect their animals from badgers.
Or will friends of the badgers try to get the keeping of llamas near badger sets made illegal?
The Problems In Schools
There has been several stories recently about the problems in schools in places like Birmingham, Bradford and Luton.
What worries me, is that religion is getting in the way of good education.
I went to a mixed non-religious state school, which took a very practical approach to religion and gave everybody who wanted it, a first class education. Science and history, were taught correctly and not with regard to fictitious religious texts.
So in my view religion should only be a lesson in a school and anybody with strong religious beliefs should not be allowed to influence the policy of the school. Schools are for education and not for indoctrination and repression.
The school should be co-educational, as in my view, this is to the benefit of every pupil. Could it be that the reason for the low divorce rate amongst my fellow pupils at Minchenden, is because of the healthy interaction there was at the school between the sexes.
I wonder what would have happened in Northern Ireland if all schools were not allowed to be affiliated to a particular religion!
My New Front Door Lock
I’ve finally got a new front door, replacing the rotting one, that Jery had used.
A new door needed a new lock, so I went to the excellent Franchi on the Holloway Road and bought a Banham.
The lock did cost me £230, but then it does have a few advantages other than the strength and security it offers.
The biggest one is that to be secure, I now need only one normal-sized key.
When I go out, I just pull the handle to open the door and close it behind me to securely activate the lock.
It also means that I don’t have to find the key to let visitors in or open the door to such as postmen and couriers. When a visitor leaves they just open the door and shut it behind them.
So hopefully life will be easier and I won’t be constantly going up and down the stairs. It should be said that for most of the year, I have an upstairs window open and I just put my head out to check who’s there!
These Banham locks must be one of the classic British designs. And the company is still owned by the original family.
Where Did It All Go Wronga
This is the title of an article in the Sunday Times about Wonga, which describes how the company is not doing as well as it was and isn’t heading for world domination any more.
The article blames the usual reasons for the decline; bad publicity, hostile politicians and regulators, which is probably partly true.
But I’ll throw in another reason.
Wonga undoubtedly has world class technology as Robert Peston said here.
But as in my time, I’ve been a programmer at the top of my profession, I know that it is difficult to stop competitors imitating what you have done.
So I do wonder if other lenders with a higher moral stance, have got their technical act together, so that they have reduced the size of Wonga’s territory.
It may be now, that if you ask a reputable financial institution, by using similar and possibly better technology than Wonga, the result of your loan application is given earlier. And of course in some of those decisions, lenders will get their loans.
All the fuss about Wonga, may have persuaded people that there are better ways to organise your finances.
So it looks like Wonga’s bubble has been pricked!
A Market Named After The Queen
I find it somewhat unusual that the French have named a market after the Queen, as is reported here on the BBC. The French have also brought the Wikipedia entry for the market in line.
We rarely name places after famous people these days, although it did happen in the past. And if we do, it is unlikely to be after a foreign monarch or politician. Prince Charles for example has a cinema in London and a hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, but where is General de Gaulle Square?
In France though there are lots of places named after Kennedy, Churchill and Roosevelt.
There is a list here of everything named after the Queen. On a quick look Canada seems to honoured her more than we have.
I suspect that the Queen wasn’t that bothered one way or the other about the renaming of the market, but she probably accepted the honour with grace.
Bannockburn Riding for the Disabled
I was alerted to the plight of this organisation by Melanie Reid in her Saturday column in The Times.
Riding for the Disabled was one of the charities C and myself supported, so she would be totally behind my donation to help the Bannockburn RDA in their fight against a difficult landlord.
If you would like to donate, you can use Just Giving.
The Anonymous Widower 