Journal Entries
Slainte
Posted Dec 31, 2007
Instead of popping round everyone leaving messages, I thought I'd just do it the once, here.
For all those I've annoyed, irritated, amused and bemused in 2007, a good new year to you all. Looking forward to another year tootling around Hootoo.
Happy 2008
Slainte Mhath 
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Dec 31, 2007
A new form of government
Posted Dec 29, 2007
As some of the more observant among you may have noticed, I despise politicians. Lying, cheating crooks every manjack of them. Totally useless and actually totally irrelevant. Now that Broon's signed the pink slip over to the EU, why the hell do we need 650 MPs? They can't scratch their backsides without some unelected Brussels nobody giving them written permission, so why don't we just take the opportunity to get rid of them? There are chief advisors for every main activity anyway, so let's just let them get on with it. Let a Dr run the Health Service, an Admiral run the armed forces, an engineer run the infrastructure etc etc. We have local councils to deal with local issues, so we could still have the illusion of democracy.
What about budgets, I hear you say. And foreign policy and the like. OK. How about this?
Every month we have a lottery. 12 members of the public are picked at random and put in charge for a month. When the month's over, another 12 get a go. The chief advisors each get a turn at saying "We need to do this and we need X amount of money", so the 12 take a vote. In the event of a tie, the Queen gets a casting vote.
We trust 12 members of the public with trials where life & death issues are at stake, so why not with running the country? There's not a lot of substance they'd be in control of thanks to M le Sprout in the EU, so they can't do any damage. Can anyone say they would do a worse job than the shower of clowns that infest Westminster now?
Discuss this Journal entry [18]
Latest reply: Dec 29, 2007
90 years on and as valid as ever.
Posted Dec 29, 2007
"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn’t doing his part as an American. There can be no divided allegience here. Any man who says he is an American but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a pollyglot boarding house; and we have room for but one soul loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt a letter to the American Defense folks 1919.
What's the chances of any British politician surviving a week in his job if he said the same today in Britain?
Discuss this Journal entry [21]
Latest reply: Dec 29, 2007
Why I'll never join a union
Posted Dec 27, 2007
My father has worked for a well-known bus company for 38 years. Starting as a driver, he eventually became an inspector. For 10 years, he was the shop steward for his depot. He is very much a working class man, having left school at 14 to work in the pits. To be honest, he had gone as far as he could go in the company about 10 years ago. He had been regularly promoted until he reached a position which was frankly, just beyond his abilities. He wasn't happy about it and would have preferred to stay at a slightly lower level, but the company insisted. His problems started about 4 years ago. He had become a square peg in a round hole and his line managers didn't know what to do. Eventually, they tried to get rid of him. He was "set up" to commit an infringement of company policy and then hammered. Whilst he was suspended, he turned to the union for help. They all but ignored him. My brother-in-law and I spent hours with employment lawyers and sorted out a defence at his tribunal. At the last second, a Union man appeared to represent him. The tribunal was going terribly until a company Director appeared, someone who started with the company the same week my father did. He cut through all the red tape, admonished my father and tore a strip off his managers.
This week, they got their revenge.
The new company policy is that all employees must re-apply for their own jobs every 6 months. They are then re-hired on different T&C. For instance, drivers are now only paid for when their buses are actually moving. Any driver who has shown a reluctance to do overtime in the past suddenly finds themselves out of a job. Poles are hired instead. Nearly 30% of the drivers are now Polish. Three years ago, none were. Anyway, on Christmas Eve, my father had to attend an interview for his job. Lined up on the other side of the desk were the managers who had previously tried to fire him. Surprise, surprise, he failed the interview. He has now been transferred to another depot, working under one of the managers out to get him who is renowned as the company hatchet man. Staff turnover at his depot is almost 100% in a year. Basically, the company sends staff to him to be sickened out of the job.
My father is 59. His pensions don't kick in for another year when he can take early retirement. On Christmas morning he had a panic attack. He's crumbling away before my eyes. He can't understand why the company is doing this to him after 38 years of service. He's especially bewildered by the union who have done NOTHING for him. His new union rep is Polish. A few months ago, the company began a recruiting drive in Warsaw. The Union went with them and signed up new members at company open days.
It's hard to relate to stories about immigrant workers in the media. It's all too impersonal and the figures hotly debated. Time after time "experts" tell us everything's ok and stories of immigrants taking jobs are hysteria and right wing propaganda.
This Christmas it hit home for me & my family.
Discuss this Journal entry [10]
Latest reply: Dec 27, 2007
Bizarre Evening
Posted Dec 4, 2007
What a bizarre evening. New job, (yup, another one), in London for training and we were out for an evening meal. Blethering away as the booze flowed and getting a bit loud, when this strange chap came over and introduced himself. The chap was a Romany or, as he described himself, a Pikey. He'd been listening to us and wanted us to join a venture he was setting up. My bullshit detector started buzzing like crazy as he described an online rpg-style venture, along the lines of "2nd Life" where the game is actually a front for a political, anti-globalisation movement. He then name-dropped a phone company he claims his consortium owns, along with several exremely wealthy people, of whom I'd vaguely heard of one. The game is also to be linked to a company called "Magic Box", the ones behind chips embedded in advertising hoardings that Bluetooth ads to your phone as you pass.
The gist of it is, this online game will be linked to RL through accessing public CCTV and communicating with the players through Bluetooth.
Is this making sense?
Anyway, I was extremely sceptical of the guy as he talked of his Chateau in France, his farm in Kenya, blah, blah, blah. But he paid for our meal, (5 of us) with a titanium American Express card - (invitation-only to customers who spend more than £150k per year. His jacket was Versace and my boss recognised his mobile as a hand-made bespoke model that costs over £2k. (I forget the name, Pr-something).
We chatted for a few hours, never talking about the "job offer" again. I left early, but he asked for my card. My boss just got back and says he was asked for his card too.
I dunno if I'll ever hear from him again. My boss is more sanguine and talks about gift horses. I tend to look at the teeth in gift horses myself.
Anyway, I'm a little tipsy and I don't know if this makes sense. I might just delete this entry in the morning.
But has anyone ever heard of "String Media" or "Magic Box"?
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Dec 4, 2007
swl
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