Carr and Hall handed comedy awards – National – The News.

I like both Jimmy Carr and Rich Hall. But to call them legends is total bollocks.

Just how long do you have to be in the public eye to be referred to as a legend ?

Bob Monkhouse is a legend. Ken Dodd is a legend. Morecambe and Wise are legends. The 2 Ronnies are legends. These folks served their time and are imbedded in this nations psyche. These two newbies have a long way to go yet.

Notice I haven’t mentioned the likes of Billy Connolly, Smith & Jones and of course Lenny Henry. They are way up there but are not really legends.

Carr and Hall have, so far,  just been a mere flash in the pan by comparison.

Updated at 16:00 today, some 90 minutes after my original post. I was able to enter my post code this time. Results below.

Well I finally got to review my own local data at around 09:30 on the 2nd Feb.

Based on what I saw I didn’t exactly get a warm feeling. However, I didn’t feel that my level of anxiety about our society has increased.

There appear to be three areas of concern but, hey, no surprises. Anti-social Behaviour and Violent Crime are the main statistical groups. Anyone who has one iota of local knowledge could have told you that without the aid of this expensive website. Ask any local and they would also tell you where the hot spots are. The website just confirms it in a graphical manner.

As I said there are three areas of concern. Having mentioned two of them above  the third is “Other Crime”. Or to put it another way “miscellaneous”. The total for this catch-all category is almost as large as the sum of all the other categories. This suggests that some further filtering is required with additional categories being defined.

Will I be revisiting this website ? Probably not any time soon.

 

The Royal Mail was once a fabulous organisation. Dare I say it, they once provided the best postal service in the world. However, in latter years they have become something of a pariah

They have removed the convenience of the local post office, once the heart of every community, by closing them all down. My local post office used to be a 5 minute walk away. They closed that one down. My nearest post office is now a 5 – 10 minute car drive away.

And they have reduced the once great postal service to a single delivery per day whilst increasing the cost of  that reduced service. How does that work ??? Oh and quite often there are days when I don’t receive any “legitimate” mail but the postman still comes to my house just so he can deliver pamphlets advertising Pizzas, Double Glazing, 2 for 1 Spectacle offers, Car Insurance, Mortgages and so on.

Now they intend to deliver more junk mail. <— Click Here

WHY ??? Don’t I have a say in what gets delivered to my house ?

Am I the only person in this fast deteriorating country who doesn’t want the endless flow of special offers that spew forth from my letter box.

I’m sure, like me, many of you have opted to take the paperless billing route.  All of my utility bills are available on-line. My bank accounts and therefore my statements are accessible 24/7 via the internet. So I am doing my bit to save the forests, reduce the energy consumption and therefore my carbon footprint.

When it comes to shopping I do my grocery shopping on-line. If I need to buy a new household appliance or spare parts for the car I do it on-line. When the grand-kids come round and we hold a pizza party we select and order on-line. Same thing when us adults have a curry or a chinese delivered home.

I have just registered with the MPS and hopefully that will reduce the flow of unwanted junk mail  through my letterbox. I won’t be holding my breath though.

Our lives are already blighted by the number of nuisance telephone calls we receive. I registered with the TPS to try to stop the unsolicited calls but that doesn’t work very well.

I want freedom of choice.

• I want the freedom to choose to “opt – in” to receive marketing mail.

• I want the freedom to choose to “opt – in” to receive marketing telephone calls.

So listen up Royal Mail & The British Governement

• I want the default option to be that I “opt – out” !!!

Can somebody explain to me how our governments cost cutting & expenditure slashing activities is helping.

All I keep reading is how many jobs are being cut as both private industry and the public sector react to the reduction and in some case total removal of government subsidies.

Who is going to support all the families who cannot support themselves due to job losses ?

Won’t all these folks end up on the dole alongside all the current lead swingers and benefit cheats ?

So the government will have to pay out additional benefits in place of the subsidies.

Wouldn’t it be better to keep these folks in employment so that we get a return for our taxes. In addition the folks that still have jobs won’t join the millions of disheartened people currently dependent on benefits ?