Speaking English
Ed Milliband is reported as going to be making a speech saying that every Briton should speak English. It’s reported here in the Guardian
I think Milliband is being rather hypocritical. I assume, that when his parents arrived in the UK, their English skills were not a hundred percent.
Certainly, when my ancestors arrived in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, I suspect they’d have had difficulty taking to each other. Just as I do now, talking to some with English, Scottish and Northern Irish regional accents.
I think the episode shows that Milliband will pull any cheap trick to get votes.
Berlusconi’s New Girlfriend
Silvio Berlusconi has apparently got a new girlfriend according to this article in the Daily Telegraph and quite a few others.
The man’s rather a joke and let’s hope the Italian people see sense and keep him away from office. But they do seem to keep electing him!
The Most Read News Item On The Crossrail Web Site
This article is the most read article on the Crossrail site.
It’s about property prices rising because of the new railway line!
It was always thus and with any sniff that their house might be worth more, people will always check.
After all, government know that the best way to get re-elected is to make sure property prices rise.
This is also why most people object to new housing developments in their area. The law of supply and demand might cause the value of their house to fall, so it’s better to be safe and sure and stop more being built.
Is The New South London Line What Passengers Want?
I ask this question after the report of the demonstration last night and this piece on the South London Line’s opening today. Both reports give the impression, that most South Londoners think the routing is wrong.
I’m not from South London and therefore I have no idea what is best for Peckham and Clapham. But I do know that opening the East London Line to Crystal Palace prompted me to visit, as exploring the electric trains south of the Great Sewer, is something that North Londoners are genetically programmed not to be able to do. They always feel happy on anything that is on Harry Beck‘s iconic Underground map.
The opposition to the routing of the South London Line seems also to be led by a group of anti-Boris politicians, who tend to believe that anything Boris backs is thoroughly bad and driven by his ego, rather than common sense.
What seems to have been forgotten here, is that the new South London Line routing was proposed before Boris became Mayor and that something had to be done for a few years to create extra paths into London Bridge station, whilst it is being rebuilt. Just as I complain about buses being disrupted by Crossrail, in part the South London Line problems are a victim of the London Bridge improvements. I think it is true to say, that Transport for London has an extensive database of journeys by public transport in London, because of the Oyster Card and Freedom Pass information. So they probably know a lot more about where customers actually go, than the customers themselves.
Incidentally, I travelled part of the way this morning to Clapham Junction station with a doctor, who was going on shift at Kings College Hospital by Denmark Hill station from his home in Hoxton. It was certainly an easier journey for him than before the new line opened. So although, there will be some losers because of the changes, there will also be winners. How many other people have moved house or changed job in the last couple of years, in anticipation of the changes? We don’t know, but Transport for London will in a few months, when they analyse the journeys.
Not Everybody Is In Favour Of The New South London Line
This article on the BBC, shows that at the moment not everybody is in favour of the new South London Line as some of the inner suburban services will be dropped. But politicians will jump on any bandwagon however rickety to try to get one over on their rivals.
However, I think this will blow over, as partly the changes are caused by the rebuilding of London Bridge station.
I have used the inner South London line a few times to get to Victoria, by taking a bus to London Bridge station and then meandering through Peckham. The pictures of Battersea Power Station were taken on such a trip.
I’m just off to catch the first train from Highbury and Islington to Clapham Junction. It’ll take me longer to get round than this video.
Berlusconi To Contest Election
When your ship is sinking, it obviously makes sense to put one of the major causes of why you hit the rocks, back in charge.
That’s what the People of Freedom party are doing in Italy.
Come back Silvio Berlusconi! All is forgiven!
And we thought Gordon Brown was a bad Prime Minister! But at least we made sure he was kicked into the long grass.
I suppose if you kicked Berlusconi into the long grass you wouldn’t find him again. The only people, who would truly mourn his passing from public life, would be comedians.
British Coal In A British Grate
This phrase was quoted in an article in The Times today by David Aaronovitch, where he likens the arguments of those who don’t believe in climate change, global warming and renewable energy, with those who were against the Clean Air Act of 1956. The MP for Bromsgrove, Michael Higgs was the opponent of the Act, who Aaronovitch quoted.
I can remember the smogs of that time and they weren’t pleasant. The only good thing was that we got sent home early from my primary school; de Bohun in Southgate. Teachers would organise us into groups and put a responsible ten or eleven year old in charge. Our parents didn’t know we were coming home, but then most mothers didn’t work in the 1950s.
I don’t think they’d do that now!
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.
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.
The Telegraph Has A Go At A UKIP Candidate
Winston McKenzie, a UKIP candidate in the Croydon North by-election is reported to have said, that adoption by same sex couples is child abuse. The report is not in a gay publication, but here in Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph.
The Anonymous Widower 