Author: Richard

London is drowning and I live by the river

| Richard

I will shortly be starting a new full-time job in London which means that I shall be moving to a flat to live in during the week. Commuting isn’t an option even though living near the far end of the train line means at least I ought to be able to get a seat, £6000 for a second class ticket is money wasted especially when it’s two hours by train each way and another half hour from the rail stations to home and the office. Six hours’ travelling each day isn’t exactly my idea of fun … and that’s when the trains are running to time, but there was a recent issue with a new bridge closing the line outside Liverpool Street and more recently shuttle buses after a power line was brought down by a train.

So I have taken a lease on a flat in Rotherhithe overlooking the Thames.

The landlady insures the property itself and her own contents – it’s being let furnished – but I need to insure my own contents so I got some quotes this morning and will be going with More Than. A number of other insurance companies wouldn’t quote because the property is within 400m of a river, though it would have to be a major catastrophe for the Thames to rise to the degree of it overflowing its banks and water levels reaching a second floor flat, I’d have thought!

Oh and I shall also be adding on cycle cover for the first time: £25 extra to cover a bike, as if I buy one to get around on, it’s more likely to go walkies in London than it is in Norfolk.

The Apprentice

| Richard

…is over for another year. Thank heavens for that: no more hair-gelled, arrogant salesmen alternating between being arrogant yuppie-wannabes and timid lapdogs around Sir Alan Sugar.

In the end, it was good looking but thick sounding salesman Lee McQueen who won this series of The Apprentice. He will now get a job with AMSTRAD in charge of a product selling advertising. Well what a suprise. AMSTRAD are of course famous for … erm … a crappy word-processor thing in the eighties and some sort of hideous phone thing now. Oh and they’re owned by BSkyB now, I think.

Still, at least it means no more people going on and on about the show like it’s some sort of national event. Maybe Chris Moyles will actually play some music on his radio show now? Probably not… (And as if by magic when I went to grab the hyperlink to Chris Moyles’s show, what else was there but a photo of Sir Alan and one of the team. See?)

Anyway, here’s my top tip for next year’s show: don’t bother entering unless you’re a “yes man” salesman with a shiny suit, shiny buckles on your shiny shoes and lots of hair product plastered on your head because that’s all they’re really after. Oh and remember to be obnoxious.

What Happens in Vegas

| Richard

We went as a family to watch this film last night; I wanted to see either Sex and the City (being teh gayer) or Iron Man, but was outvoted. Having seen the trailer, the story was going to be entirely predictable and just like all the rest of the “hate them then love them” romcoms ever made:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/whathappensinvegas/

Yes, it was as I had thought. But yes, I did enjoy it after all and I laughed out loud a number of times. Oh and did Cameron Diaz and Steve Martin stand in the same line when God was handing out mouths?

More Erosion of Civil Liberties

| Richard

I can’t recall who it was who said that the time to bring in oppressive legislation to clamp down on individuals’ civil liberties was when there was any fear and uncertainty of the kind that the Government continues to spread as part of the so-called War on Terror (itself started in response to US foreign policy and their illegal invasion of Iraq, which we decided to join in as the 51st State…).

We are already one of the most watched countries in the world, in terms of CCTV cameras per capita, so perhaps the news that “Ministers are to consider plans for a database of electronic information holding details of every phone call and e-mail sent in the UK” shouldn’t really come as any surprise.

Whilst they’re more than welcome to plough through the Spam I receive – more than 1,300 yesterday alone – and take action against the spammers, they can fuck right off if they think I’d be happy for some shiny-suited, job-protected twat in some local authority or agency to be able to read my private messages to friends and family.

It’s none of your business!

And this piece by AC Grayling in the Guardian pretty much sums up my thoughts about those who trot out the trite “if you’ve done nothing wrong…” nonsense, although far more eloquently than I could.

Blatant Discrimination

| Richard

I belong to a minority sector for whom discrimination is an everyday fact of life. The fact is that that discrimination is so blatant and unapologetic and is institutional discrimination but despite that, the media make little or no comment upon it.

It’s not racial discrimination. It’s not religious discrimination. It’s not sexual discrimination. No, I’m sorry to confess it’s far worse than that. It’s because I ride a motorbike.

The most recent example of this prejudice and discrimination comes from those well known haters of all things motorcycling – a Welsh police force. Their latest anti-motorcycle act is to effectively ban the annual Welsh National Motorcycle Show because:

“Dyfed-Powys Police are of the view that there is a significant risk of violence at this year’s Welsh motorcycle show.”

I see.

Surely on that basis the police should be cancelling all football matches? After all, as we saw with the UEFA Cup Final match in Manchester, there is more than a significant risk of violence with football matches. But amazingly, they are never cancelled. I wonder why? Could it be that the perception – reinforced by the police, Government and the media – that motorcyclists are all troublemakers and lawless?

After all, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee stated that:

“Motorcyclists are particularly liable to evade road tax. Nearly 40% of motorcycles are now unlicensed.

“If the DVLA’s motorcycle enforcement regime is not to be a complete laughing stock, then the agency and the department must make the most of new powers to enforce VED on public roads.”

They must also “strongly consider more severe measures such as impounding unlicensed motorcycles”, he said, adding: “Large parts of the biking community are cocking a snook at the law.”

Of course, that was completely inaccurate, and for once the MPs were forced to apologise when it was revealed that that was complete bollocks.

Is it any wonder we feel like criminals when we are treated like criminals and discriminated against?

The New Puritans

| Richard

Now we all know that the so-called Safety Camera Partnerships are staffed by wannabe policemen – probably those who failed the entry requirements – with no sense of humour and limited social skills. After all, who else but loners with voyeuristic tendancies would want to spend their days in the back of a van peeping through a zoom lens at people? On sunny days only, of course, because that’s when their tally of tickets is likely to be highest and after all points (and more particularly fines) make prizes for these sorts of people.

But for a complete lack of humour and for the best “think of the children!” moment of the week, this news story and the quote from the (no doubt) polyester-suited, greasy loser wins the prize:

Jeremy Forsberg, of the Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative, said: “This behaviour is simply ridiculous – it’s clear what he was thinking with what he had on show.

“Not only is it disrespectful, but distasteful and offensive, particularly to children who may have been exposed to this nonsense.

“This prank could have been a real distraction from the driver and that is not something to laugh about.”

Maybe not, but you are, Jeremy! What a puritanical jobsworth he sounds!

Free Hugs

| Richard

I’m a great believer in smiling, saying “please” and “thank you” and just generally being ‘nice’ to people who are usually expecting the same old shit, just a different day. A little bit of charity every so often doesn’t go amiss either.

A friend just posted this YouTube video on their blog »

Look how people start off by ignoring the guy offering free hugs. Then when someone breaks the usual barriers and goes for it, it seems to break the log-jam until everyone’s doing it and there’s some happiness being spread around. If only real life could be like this more often…