Category Archives: random rants

by | June 21, 2011 · 2:18 pm

the end of tennis as I knew it

I’ve read in the paper’s over the last few days about it being 30 years since a certain loud mouthed brat made his mark at Wimbledon, and almost in some way celebrating those events.

For me I can only mourn the passing of a game that I used to enjoy watching. J P McE may have made the game more exciting for some, but his blatant gamesmanship in producing those stage managed tantrums was a turn off and so I did. I’ve only watched part of one Wimbledon event since (some awfully piggy faced woman was making equally piggy grunts every time she hit the ball) and that was because I was a guest in the house; I would not have watched from choice.

The Brat should have been thrown out when he failed to heed the warning and told to come back when he could get on with the game. Instead they reduced tennis to the level of professional wrestling.

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by | June 12, 2011 · 7:12 pm

why are publishers so reluctant to pay up for content?

I’m in the process of having to take strong action against one publishing house and am actively chasing another for payment for articles that I have written for them and, in the former case, for several photos to accompany the article. Both articles have been published against agreed terms, so what is the problem with coughing up what is owed?

One problem is that it is taking me longer to chase them than it did to write the darn things in the first place, but I am going to keep going even if I end up taking them down the small claims route.

It is a shame as it takes away both the pleasure of having something published and any feeling of support for that publication, but such is life. There are a lot of shysters out there.

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by | April 24, 2011 · 2:17 pm

if Swindon vanishes in a fireball….

It will be nothing to do with my lack of religious belief, nor my anti AV status, but rather a spontaneous combustion of barbeque lighting fluid in the atmosphere.

Despite being 75 to 100 feet from the nearest meat cremation ceremony, the stench of accelerant is so bad that I’ve given up on gardening and come indoors feeling somewhat ill. Goodness knows what their food will taste like with all those fumes around.

So, if you live locally and see the flash, or you hear of our fireball on the news later, you’ll know why.

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by | April 18, 2011 · 2:50 pm

thanks heavens for RingGo even if first great western don’t want to help cusomers

Having written here recently about FGW dropping the RingGo service from their car parks I was delighted this week to find RingGo available in Eastleigh in a council car park and at Portsmouth in an NCP. Excellent news on days when I had no change.

Nice to know that some folks are not as short sighted as First Great Western when it comes to making life easy for people.

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by | April 8, 2011 · 4:30 pm

more on the yes2av campaign – is there a scandal that we should know about?

I am all for a fair fight, good open debate and accepting the results at the end, whatever they may be. My own campaign against the yes2av lobby is, I hope, a good example of putting an alternative argument forward so that people can make up their own minds, albeit that I do hope that my arguments do influence people towards my way of thinking.

And so I am appalled the read via another blog quoting from The Spectator that the Electoral Reform Society, who would have much to gain financially from a Yes2av vote being successful, are sponsoring that campaign. Read the blog and reference to the article here and make up your own mind.

It is old news maybe, having been published in late Feb this year, but was news to me until this morning.

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by | April 8, 2011 · 8:30 am

more on why I’m voting No2AV on 5th May

Deciding who will represent you in parliament and, ultimately, who will run the country is not a marketing survey.

If someone asks you to rate your top 5 or 10 hotel chains, supermarkets, airlines, fashion outlets or whatever then ranking them in order makes sense. It gives a feel for how people see the market and who they rate as number one. You could do the same with one of those, for me puerile, talent and reality shows to decide who to vote off.

But deciding the outcome of an election this way is, to me, completely bonkers.

Yes, I want to see electoral reform and a better way of representing the people, but I do not believe that AV has any place in such reform, so I’m voting No.

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by | April 7, 2011 · 7:11 am

vote no2AV on 5th May – have you spotted the irony with yes2av here?

Having had more Vote Yes for AV material thrust at me the delicious irony of the 5th May referendum has finally broken through to me: The vote is a first past the post one! If more people vote for it than against it will succeed, and will do so by the very system that it desires to eradicate,

So it 15% of the population vote for it, and less than that vote against, it will be passed by a minority.

Given that a few luvvies are queueing up to urge a Yes vote from their fans (who will no doubt vote Yes without understanding why), and that there is a small campaign in favour, but no apparent cry to oppose, we face the strong possibility of having a political nonsense thrust upon us. As WSC might have put it; “never in the field of politics have so few done such damage to so many” (well, other than New Labour of course).

We need change, but not this one. Perhaps I should take to the streets.

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by | April 6, 2011 · 1:32 pm

why I will be voting no2av next month

Despite many of my friends seeming to support the proposed change to the way we elect our politicians I will be voting No on May 5th.

I am in favour of electoral reform, and think that a change is overdue, but this solution is, I think, very poorly designed and unlikely to give us anything better than we have now. In fact I truly think that it could make things worse.

It is a shame that, after waiting so long for there to be a chance of doing something better, all that  is on offer is such an appalling mess. I hope that it does not come to fruition, but am concerned that if my wish comes through it will be a while before we get another chance. Even so, I cannot see the point in voting for change just for the sake of it, especially one that I think is so bad, and so I shall be putting my cross in the No box.

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by | March 21, 2011 · 7:59 pm

couldn’t the BBC just edit Brian Cox out? #fail

Professor Cox is, no doubt, an intelligent man; his qualifications speak for that. He should also know something of communication, after all, he has had an early career in the entertainment business before reaching his current career peak as, effectively, a teacher (he is trying to educate people, is he not?).

I would expect then for him to have grasped a very simple principle; communication is two-way. If people in his audience cannot hear what he is saying then he is wasting his time. It is pointless having music so loud that some of us are trying to lip read.

There is nothing wrong with making an informative TV programme “an experience”, but those watching need to be able to listen as well. If we can’t hear him then he is failing, and I would have thought that he is bright enough to have realised that. I wrote elsewhere today about learning from your mistakes, but you need a level of maturity to do that which Professor Cox seems to be lacking.

His reaction to those who have criticised him I find appalling, and have exercised my rights to the off button. I shall continue to deploy it whenever I see him appear on my TV for the foreseeable future. It will save the BBC the trouble of editing him out and wasting any more precious licence payer’s money.

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by | March 9, 2011 · 7:40 pm

No more RingGo at Swindon! FGW you are wrong

I hear that First Great Western and APCOA are ceasing the RingGo service at Swindon (and other) station car parks any day now.

This is a stupid move and I am supporting the campaign to have the decision reversed. If you are with me click on this link to make your protest heard.

Car park machines are a nightmare at somewhere like a railway station. You either need a mountain of change or, if they have a credit card operated one, the patience of a saint as they rarely work. RingGo makes life easy with a simple phone call and, when its a business trip, I can log on later and get a VAT receipt.

All stress free and one of the main reasons why I have started to use the train much more over the last year or so. I want my RingGo back!

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