Facebook in the news again. This time it’s not their fault.

A woman, Simone Back, posts her suicide note on Facebook. Updates her status to ‘Took all my pills be dead soon bye-bye everyone.’ and according to the press not one of her 1,048 “friends” tried to stop her.  Apparently some of these so-called friends even posted sickening spiteful messages in response.

Her devastated mum wants to know why no-one helped her.

Well the sad fact is that these people are referred to as friends but they aren’t. What they really are is “contacts”, “acquaintances”, maybe even colleagues. The sad fact is that very few of these contacts should truly be called friends.

This sad story is just an indication of the anti-social trend that is seeping into our society. Our technologically connected world is hailed as the new utopia. A world where everyone knows what everyone is doing before they even do it.

Facebook  is referred to as a social network website. I believe that whilst there are many good aspects to Facebook and their ilk they can rapidly become an antisocial network. They have put a friendly face to computers and the internet. Encouraged us to stay at home, socialise from afar. Mobile phones are having the same effect. You only have to people watch a group of teenagers walking down the street. They aren’t talking to each other. But each one of them is likely to be holding a phone with their thumbs going nineteen to the dozen, texting.

Maybe they are texting each other ???

The sad fact is that the nosey parker in us wants to know whats going on but do we really care. Patently, according to this story, we don’t.

Gerry, he may be gone but he will live on in his music.

Baker Street may be the song that everyone immediately thinks of at the mention of his name but his talent was so much more. Anyone who doubts that should go back and take a look at The Humblebums and Stealers Wheel as well as Gerry’s solo work.

Ambulance Service Staff Facing An Investigation – Why ?

Because they let their hair down. Because they let off steam. Because they were relaxing.

They were doing no more than any other person does in the down times between periods of high activity. They were certainly doing no wrong.

Well perhaps I will concede that they did do one thing wrong. They published their photos on Facebook.

They wanted to share their laughs with a wider audience and in so doing they managed to alert the jobsworths up at HQ. As I have posted before Facebook is such a risky place to publish stuff. It can be a laugh but it is a doubled edged tool and for those who don’t have a sense of humour or perhaps have another agenda it provides a rich source of evidence to be used against an individual.

In this case some jobsworth at South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust has said: ‘They’re bringing the service into disrepute.’

Rubbish !!!

They are showing that they are human. These folks are quite often called to appalling incidents and certainly over the last few days have been under severe pressure to provide a service to the public over long hours in and in very difficult conditions. So come on cut them some slack.

I wonder, Who found out about this first. Was it South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust or was it The Mail ? Who dobbed who in ?

And once again the press have shown that they can bias a story such that the subject is in the wrong. With a slightly different slant this would have been a feel good article which would have put a smile on our faces.

Yes you BAA !!!

The appalling chaos that Heathrow, this countries premiere airport, is experiencing is down to your poor management through this extreme weather. Yes it may be an unusual experience but it’s not as if you didn’t have any warning. And this is the 3rd time in 12 months that we have experienced extreme weather conditions.

It’s taken you 4 days to get the 2nd runway open. Even allowing for the huge amount of snowfall this amounts to total incompetence. You were offered help to get Heathrow cleared. Whilst some clearing activities may require specialist knowledge and specialised equipment but the sheer volume of snow required basic grunt which could have been supplied by the troops. So why did BAA not accept the governments offer of troops to help clear the runways at Heathrow ?

Also why is it that Gatwick, a smaller airport, has invested more (£1m)  in equipment to deal with snow than Heathrow (£500,000) and has plans to invest much more. Gatwick plans £7m investment next year whilst Heathrow is planning to spend just £3m over the next four years. Does this show the BAA as a forward thinking organisation. I don’t think so. Obviously Gatwick are using a different oracle to BAA.

And as for the human element. BAA may shrug their shoulders and say that the responsibility for the passengers is down to individual carriers but lets not forget the root cause here. BAA failed to keep the airport operational. Therefore the airlines were unable to fly their planes in and out which in turn means that hundreds of thousands of passengers are left stranded. I feel for the passengers whose biggest gripe seems to be the lack of communication. I have personally experienced the way in which the airline industry handles this when one or two planes are delayed. The blatant lies, the lies by omission and the misinformation. I am sure that over the last week this has been magnified a thousand fold.

Folks you have my sympathy. Whichever way you look at it BAA have let you down and they have let this country down.

Have just heard claims that the BAA didn’t stock up on enough de-icer and there are calls for Colin Matthews to relinquish his “6 figure” bonus. It just gets more bizarre.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340754/Calls-Heathrow-boss-lose-bonus-revealed-airport-failed-order-icer.html#ixzz18qB0hLaZ