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Conversations you overhear when others are using their mobiles on the bus:
I’m not sure whether that’s sexual, clothing, or a beauty process women endure. I’ve heard of a camel toe before. Maybe it’s one of those new things those of us over 25 have yet to experience. A little later in the conversation, I overheard:
Mind still boggles. I’ve been reading on the Camden Liberal Democrat’s website that they forged their partnership with the Conservatives of Camden because the voters ‘decisively rejected the Labour party’. Statments like this, which lack any source or corroborative information always make me wonder, so I checked out the election results. Labour lost 17 seats in the 2006 local elections, leaving them with 18 seats, marginally behind the liberals who scored 20. The Tories had 14 seats, the greens just two. The liberals chose to forge their alliance with the Tories in third place, claiming that together they would represent nearly 60% of Camden’s residents. In terms of Councillors, of the 54 in Camden, they had 34. Vote percentage wise, together they scored 55% of the vote – nowhere near the ‘nearly’ 60% claimed. Had the Liberals paired with Labour, they would have commanded the support of 38 Councillors, and enjoyed 57.8% poll success. Notice how a Lib Dem – Labour partnership would have been more beneficial in terms of representation of the people who voted in Camden. It may have only improved things by 2.8%, but in politics ever little percentage point is vital. Don’t believe everything you’re told – especially by a Lib Dem – Tory pact of Councillors! The Boston Hyatt has offered to re-employ the sacked housekeeping staff, and it’ll be done via Hospitality Staffing Solutions, a temp agency in the USA. The ‘president’ of HSS, Rik Holliday (fitting name), has been boasting that his staff will be paid $8 per hour, to clean 25 bedrooms per day. Rik Holliday claims he’s giving these staff ‘a start on the ‘American Dream”. Previously they were paid to clean 15 bedrooms per day. But because they no longer change sheets daily, they can do 25. That’s a cut from 30 minutes per room to just 17. Unfortunately techniques haven’t changed much, it’s not just about changing the sheets. The Hyatt chain is known for top class luxury and service. I’m struggling to find the top class service if my housekeeper is struggling to scrub the toilet, clean the coffee maker, dust, vacuum, mop the floor etc with only 17 minutes to spare. Staff are already skipping breaks, going without lunch, and more than 65% are on pain medication. Rik Holliday was all over the news in the USA claiming a green victory. Changing the sheets less frequently is just the first step on the ladder. The staff are still outsourced, and at risk. Cheap publicity shot? Maybe. If you want a clean room, with happy housekeeping staff, don’t stay in a Hyatt in Boston. Yesterday Gordon Brown gave the ’speech of his life’, and today The Sun newspaper has decided that it will back the Conservative party at the next General Election, whenever that may be.  Gordon Brown interviewed on BBC Breakfast The Sun’s actions, and their timing of their actions, show a bloody good reason why the press in the UK are dangerous. A single newspaper proprietor, such as ‘Keith’ Rupert Murdoch, born in Australia and with no major interests in the UK besides making money through newspapers and Sky TV, can influence the way the people of Britain vote, purely so that the party which will give him the best chances of making more money get into power. Why does Murdoch want Cameron quite so much? Cameron wants to shrink Ofcom, the media regulator, and allow more free-market ‘enterprise’. Murdoch would like that, as he can make more money. So the moral of the story is that the man who owns the Times and Sun newspapers in the UK is forcing those titles to back the Conservative party so he can make more money. Don’t believe everything you read in the paper! Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, has said that the BBC should recruit more conservative newsreaders. Of course, the Tories think they will win the next election purely because they deserve to. I can’t see any policies, just the Tories (and other parties), meddling with devolution, and the independence of the BBC. Ironically, Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw described it as “unacceptable political interference”. That’ll be the same Ben Bradshaw who less than ten days ago was meddling with the BBC himself by campaigning to scrap the BBC Trust, Ben also wants to take your license fee and give it to ITV’s shareholders, and earlier he got involved in the mass media panic over Arlene Philips leaving Strictly Come Dancing. Neither party can be trusted. even the Liberals have waded into the political attacks of the BBC over the last few years. Only when the BBC has gone, and we’re watching repeats of good programmes on UK Gold, or new fly-on-the-wall Katie Price ‘documentaries’ on ITV, will we understand how much the UK, and the world, cherish the BBC. When your corporate website includes a section on corporate responsibility which begins with:
You expect that you’re dealing with an impeccable brand . Not so with Hyatt. There have been protests, boycotts and lots of angry responses to the Hyatt’s tactics. The Hyatt’s defence is that they couldn’t afford their staff – bear in mind that housekeeping is the part which makes or breaks a hotel. These sacked staff are key to the success or failure of the hotel and it’s reputation. Some of the staff had been working at the hotel for more than 20 years. Boston taxi drivers have threatened to boycott the Hyatt’s hotels in Boston. Governor Deval Patrick threatened a Government boycott of the hotel chain. Several hundred union members protested outside a hotel in Boston. In the UK, londontravelpack.com has removed the Hyatt hotel chain from its London hotel listings section. Giving money to this hotel chain is supporting their stance that their workers are not important. First of all the Conservative leader David Cameron said he’d meddle with the license fee. Then Ben Bradshaw, from the Dept for Culture, Media and Sport said the BBC should be scaled back. James Murdoch, who wants to protect his father’s Sky empire, wanted to scale back the BBC website. Now Lorraine Hegessey, from Talkback Thames – the company responsible for The Bill on ITV, wants to charge for the iPlayer. Now, I may be old fashioned, but now that I’m paying my license fee for these services, why do I want to pay more? The Tories want to scale back the BBC because they think that big businesses will take over where it left off. The repulsively new Labour lot, who are also introducing a broadband tax, want to reduce the size of the BBC so that they can give money to ITV from your license fee. James Murdoch just wants rid of the BBC, everything should be at a cost to us, as users of services. Lorraine Hegessey – god knows why she got involved in the arguments. She makes programmes for the BBC. Frankly if she doesn’t believe 100% in the organisation she should pull out of working for them now. The BBC which makes the amazingly good (and sometimes amazingly crap) programmes you watch and hear, is being torn apart by political figures and industry players who want a piece of the pie. The thing is, none of these independent companies who are allegedly waiting in the wings to take over actually have any idea of how difficult it would be to make the wildlife, sport, documentary and everything else that’s done by the BBC. Would Radio 1 still focus on new music, or would it be a national version of any other pop station – i.e. bland? Over the next couple of years, big decisions are going to be made way above our heads, about the service we know and trust. We may have to fight to keep the BBC independent and impartial. The prospective Governments all want to meddle! Opened my inbox today to find an email with the subject: Bad day for Steps fans, H is dead The contents of said email? One image…
The Taxpayers Alliance has been in the news quite a bit over the weekend, with their 34 plans to save the country money during the recession. Of course, that’s save the country money, but most likely push up the cost of goods and services for you and I. Their plans include abolishing bus fuel duty (push up fares), or to abolish the free TV license (given to those over 75, who deserve it most). Doesn’t sound like the most thought out plans I’ve ever came across to save money. Their plans would, inevitably, raise unemployment, and ergo raise taxes to pay for the unemployed. The motto of the Taxpayers Alliance is “Campaigning for lower taxes and better Government”. Lower taxes? We pay less than Ireland, less than some European countries. Isn’t it about time we tried to pay our way fairly and squarely? You pay a pittance, you get shit. My local Council recently refurbished buildings with the lowest quality materials, after 5 years the repair bill is growing by the month as an endless stream of workmen come out to repair anything from windows to door handles, so that they can fail again a few months down the line. We don’t need toxic unelected organisations such as the Taxpayers Alliance trying to run the country into the ground. We need investment, wise planning of how to spend our money. Tax is a fairly socialist concept, we each pay our share, and we each benefit in the areas we need to. We each have a say on where we think our money should be going. We need to use it more, otherwise the voices of the handful within this taxpayers lot will make it worse for all of us. When all is said and done, the Taxpayers Alliance can’t really do all that much. Why don’t they stand for Parliament, instead of blubbering away on the sidelines? Other ideas they are thinking about? Removing some means tested benefits, removing child benefit from those who earn more than (probably) around 16k. The aim, I think, is to create a two-tier country, rich vs poor. And somewhere in the middle will be you. Who supports the anti-socialist people who don’t believe in paying their own way? Directors of the following companies have loaned their support to the alliance – giving them money is supporting their stance. Scotprime Seafoods (via parent company Seafood Holdings Ltd Westler Foods – as in the hot dogs you get in the cinema Blackwell – the bookshop Arriva – the bus and train company Hutchison Whampoa (Europe) Ltd – the people behind mobile firm “3″ and “The Perfume Shop” Rocco Forte Hotels Air Foyle Tesco Top UP TV Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd Telstar Music James Murdoch had a lot of press lately after his lecture in Edinburgh. Apparently he turned down requests to speak at previous Edinburgh Festivals, but today the time is right for him to lambast the UK. He doesn’t like the BBC, he doesn’t like Ofcom, and he doesn’t like Channel 4. Murdoch wants to get rid of all authority in his way, so that the commercial sector can ‘dominate’. Murdoch isn’t British, and doesn’t hold British principles. His main drive is profit. Have you seen Sky News? That’s what profit does to impartial and unbiased news. Some of us want to pay for the BBC, want Ofcom to regulate what the market does, and want Channel 4 to keep pushing the boundaries. We don’t want endless repeats on satellite channels, because all the money is going on movies and sport. Free news on the web? Well, if I’m paying the BBC £142.50 per year to give me free news, I want them to. I don’t want news biased by the Times, The Sun, or any other paper, unless I specifically want it, and am willing to pay. If your news is too biased, and you lose money, that’s not my fault. |
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