Musings of a Muppet

I find it worrying just how many of the ‘great’ British public seem unable to think ahead – and some of them seem unable to think. Full stop.

The Government are in talks to modernise the Monarchy – personally I think if the Monarchy don’t have a problem with the way things are then the Government should keep out of it. For a start, we are in the middle of a global economy crisis – do all the businesses going bust and people losing their jobs think it should a priority for the Government to reform the Monarchy – or would they prefer the powers that be to actually get off their fat, overpaid arses and actually solve a problem…?

BBC news story – PM and Palace discuss reform

I have no problem with allowing the heir to be a woman rather than the eldest son, as is one of the proposals – it fits with the rest of our society. That said, I wouldn’t care if it stayed as it is.

I do however have a problem with allowing the heir to the throne, the potential head of the Church of England, to marry a Catholic – the most bigoted, intolerant group of people on the planet. In itself, I guess I wouldn’t have a problem – as long as it were accepted by the Roman Catholic church that the Monarch or heir(s) can never convert to Catholicism. Even in this event, what happens about the kids? Even if they state they are CofE, they can still be Catholic.

There are too many potential conflicts and we do not want to end up with the leader of the Church of England having Roman Catholic Roots.

Would you want to be presided over by the Pope? Potentially the most prolific murderer in history – because he wants Catholicism to rule the world, he won’t advocate the use of Condoms – even in areas of Africa where Aids is prevalent.

In summary, girls in line for the throne – I don’t care either way, marrying a Roman Catholic – no ******* way!

Just been for a drink at the Rivenhall Hotel to celebrate with Paul the fact that he has left Joal Leisure – he’s off to be a copper in the Met!

Ah, no-one to insult now… they’ve all buggered off to Chicago’s and I’ve come home. When sober the mere thought of clubbing fills me with loathing, but get a few drinks down me and I actually start to like the idea – as long as it’s kinda like a party night and not hardcore dance – that just does my head in!

Might have to start opening my mind to the possibility of clubbing before I get too old and start dropping the kids!

Have a read of this : Whistleblower in jobs plea

This twat wants top jobs in the new Lloyds Group to go to HBOS staff? The ones that helped bring a banking giant to the brink of collapse?

If Lloyds have any sense whatsoever, they will make sure that the top jobs remain under control of Lloyds staff – the ones that as LloydsTSB managed to turn a profit last year.

Yes it is terrible that people will lose jobs, but it should not be the ones who are competent and clearly understand the risks of risk management – the ones to go should be the inept idiots who don’t understand the need for long term financial planning or why they should not be participating in high risk investments for short term gains.

Let all the LloydsTSB staff and the branch staff of HBOS (they did nothing wrong) keep their jobs – everyone else is expendable – and in some cases, financially disasterous.

Tax on chocolate proposed by Scottish MP

What a twat! Once again the powers that be think they can dupe us into a new tax by telling us it’s for health reasons.

We’ve got people trying to ban alcohol and tobacco which are at least causes of series health problems so there is a valid argument against these items – and now they want to start on chocolate?

One argument used is that people think chocolate is good for them. Well, that is the fault of the media as they don’t report facts, they like to produce spin. They are the best marketing agency anyone could use. What people mean is that it has some good properties such as making you feel happy. Of course, if you eat 20 bars of chocolate a day, every day, then it may be a problem. Your teeth would probably fall out before you got too fat anyway!

If obesity really is the problem here then get the lazy lard arses off the sofa and make them do some exercise. A little bit of everything, things that are both good and bad for you, are fine in moderation.

If it’s another stealth tax then stop hiding behind the health issue of the moment.

I have updated the photos on this website to show as a slideshow rather than a fairly annoying list of thumbnails.

The technology used is Ajax rather than flash – it is less restrictive than flash can be and doesn’t rely on either the user having a flash player or me downloading a skin to embed the player in the website.
It is also easier for me to control as I don’t have to edit a flash slideshow every time I want to add or delete photos.

Personally I am really pleased – but I now need to work out how to add the watermark feature – not sure I can. It will be interesting to see!

A headmaster has suggested that a teenager’s body clock runs 2 hours behind an adults, and as such, should start school later.

BBC News Story

Now, if this is proven to be correct then I am all for it. However, schools and teachers have to accept more responsibility back onto their shoulders.

Would it be fair to prosecute a parent for their kid bunking off when they have to be at work for 9am? The parent cannot physically take their kids to the school gate if the school day starts 2 hours after the working day. And to suggest employers need to be more flexible is unreasonable. Workers without kids already have to burden the less popular hours at work while people go off to collect their kids from school, or their kids are ill.

So, the crux of the matter is that if this was found to be true, there are so many implications for school starting later and these would need to be addressed before going ahead and starting the scheme.

With talk about the introduction of the .eco domain extension for green organisations, surely we should be talking about introducing the .xxx domain for porn sites.

It would make regulating the online porn industry so much easier. ISP’s could be empowered to shut down any porn site that doesn’t have a .xxx domain, and filters could work on a domain extension basis – block all .xxx domains and it would mean that 99% of porn will always be blocked.

It will make it easier for the powers that be to check for unsuitable and illegal images such as those that exploit children and the vulnerable.

In itself, the .xxx domain would not really do anything as most legitimate porn sites would probably sign up without question. Worldwide legislation would be needed with maybe a worldwide body that has jurisdiction in all countries to monitor and prosecute people who exploit others.

Long journeys start with small steps. We understand how important it is to protect the vulnerable and someone has to take the first step. The introduction of .xxx is a small step that needs to be taken. Who will make that first step?

LloydsTSB have been duped into buying HBOS so the Government didn’t have to bail HBOS out themselves. Please bear in mind that LloydsTSB without HBOS actually made a profit last year. LloydsTSB have always been a frugal bank ensuring their risk is managed properly.

I can’t help thinking that when the initial takeover was agreed, the government promised the world to Lloyds, then after the takeover was announced, whipped everything away again.

As soon as the economy recovers, the group will have to be split up to ensure there is no monopoly – in a stable economy, the takeover would not have been allowed by the monopolies commission. And when the bank is split up, you can bet your life that it will be customers and shareholders that miss out.

The taxpayer now owns 65% of the Lloyds Group and I am extremely concerned about my parents. As a retired Lloyds manager, my Dad’s pension could be severely screwed if the government don’t keep their incompetent noses out.

What people don’t realise is that the Equitable Life pension collapse was caused by the government’s interference and policy changes. Equitable Life was operating without a problem, then the government wanted to ensure x amount of a financial company’s wealth was kept in ’safe’ assets such as bonds to ensure there was always enough money to cover payouts. This in itself was fine, but they had to comply in a ridiculously short amount of time bearing in mind it meant a complete change in their business practice.

Anyway, I digress. I just hope the government let the management get on with sorting this mess out – after all they managed to orchestrate a profit when all around them posted massive losses. Note to Government – keep your noses out.

I had a bit of a surprise when I called my mum last week – they’d been playing on my cousin’s Wii and now wanted one!

Even back in the dark ages when we had a Commodore 64 my mum never wanted a go at any of the games and my dad only ever played Voodoo Castle! Since then my brother had a ZX Spectrum and I had the original NES yet neither parent was interested. When dad got his first PC he bought a few games like chess and a flight sim, but he’s never really been into computer games.

Both parents had a go at Singstar a few years ago on the ex’s PS2 and they seemed quite impressed – but they hated GTA!

So why have they been so enamoured with the Wii? Well I think it’s something to do with the fact that they are both sporty but due to various health problems they find it difficult to play real sport. Dad’s had various operations on his back and knees, and mum has arthritis that doesn’t allow her to be very powerful. The wii allows them to enjoy games such as bowling and tennis without causing them pain and it’s fantastic to see them enjoying themselves!

I popped over there on Wednesday evening after work and had my first go on a Wii – I loved it! When we move and have some space I am sooo getting one! I can imagine the Xbox and PS are better for platform games, but sports game will definitely win out on the Wii!

I have been working hard on promoting my amateur dramatics website – amateurtheatredirectory.co.uk.

It takes a lot of work but it is seeing some positive signs! We now have 128 registered websites over 15 main categories.

After a 9 hour day at work working on websites it can be difficult to get motivated to do some work on my own stuff at home – especially lately as I have been hit by a really bad virus that affected my throat – and I’m still really tired!

I am already seeing some good results from search engines. Long may it continue!