Way Too Late

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has finally apologised for reversing his manifesto pledge of not raising tuition fees; he hasn’t said that the current policy of charging the extortionate amount of £9,000 per year is a bad policy, just that he originally made a promise that couldn’t be kept. So that’s okay then; he says he won’t break any pledges again and we’ll just take him at his word … I think not. As far as I’m concerned, Clegg lost all credibility as soon as did a deal with the devil, i.e. formed a coalition with the Conservatives. After that it was no surprise that other moral principles fell by the wayside. Former leaders Charles Kennedy and Menzies Campbell were able to vote against the fee rise along with 21 other Lib Dem M.P.s, but Clegg just couldn’t manage to honour his word because the power of government was too important to him. This apology is a waste of time: the Lib Dems will get trounced in the next general election and will only stand a chance of recovering once they’ve got rid of Clegg as their leader and put a great deal of distance between themselves and the Conservative Party. And students, I fear, will have to suffer long-term debt for many years to come.

 

Privatisation And Tax

In 2013 the government is making it compulsory for companies to provide private pensions to everyone; individuals will be automatically subscribed (thereby receiving monthly deductions from their wages) unless they opt out. This has the long-term intention of phasing out state pensions, allowing the government to save money. But will people who take up the offer of a private company pension - or rather, don’t make the effort to opt out - therefore pay less tax as it will no longer be required to pay for the state pension scheme? … Doubtful. The Tories tend to only cut taxes for rich people and businesses. The extra money saved will probably be re-invested into ‘infrastructure’ projects that affect national and international trade rather than local communities. Rather than saving hard-working people a bit more cash, we will instead see further developments of a third runway at Heathrow and high-speed rail that will demolish a great deal of countryside. Don’t be deceived by David Cameron saying that he will stick to his manifesto pledge of no third runway; the two year consultation period would allow him to reconsider his position by the time the next election (and new manifesto) comes around. There is a chance that I’m being overly cynical, I do have bouts of that! But I don’t like the way that pensions are being forcibly privatised, it smacks too much of Thatcherism.

 

Really?

No long rant this week, just simply this:
When the death of one of the Queen's corgis makes the news headlines, we really are in trouble!

Musical Comparisons

The Reading Festival took place last weekend, featuring some genuinely quality musicians such as Florence and the Machine, Foo Fighters, and The Vaccines. If you’re the kind of person who enjoys watching talented musicians / song-writers perform live (regardless of whether you were actually at the festival or just watched it on T.V.), then credit to you for taking an interest in what music should really be all about: originality and inspiration.
On the other hand, The X Factor has recently started showing its latest batch of ‘auditions’. The only musical talent that contestants need to have is a good singing voice; other than that, the show is all about looking / acting superficially, and having an interesting back-story. It is basically just a money-making machine for Simon Cowell and his cronies. The whole programme is so manufactured that it is offensive to legitimate music lovers.
So please people, regardless of how entertaining some of the screwed-up characters on the show might be, try to have a bit more passion for the intricacies of beautiful songs rather than just what’s on the glorified surface.

 

Decisions

A few days ago, film director Tony Scott committed suicide by jumping off a bridge in America. Initial reports indicated his primary reason for doing so was that he had an inoperable brain tumour, but that story is currently being brought into doubt. Whatever the reason was, Scott made a decision that was his alone to make, regardless of how grim it must be to have those life-ending thoughts. It’s a decision that last week was again denied to Tony Nicklinson, a man in England who has locked-in syndrome (he is virtually unable to consciously perform any bodily movements by himself); the British courts decided that to issue a ruling allowing doctors to assist suicide for those who are unable to help themselves, and avoid prosecution for it, was not for judges to decide upon. So if a doctor attempted to help Mr Nicklinson - and it would be help - they could still be arrested for murder. How preposterous! Judges and politicians alike are continually afraid to make moral decisions for fear of a reactionary (and probably religious) backlash - shame on them! But they can still manage to make controversial decisions where international political prisoners / asylum-seekers are concerned. Yes, Julian Assange will be ingloriously deported by the British government if he dares to step outside of the Ecuadorian embassy. And rest assured this has very little to do with sexual allegations from Sweden; Ecuador was happy to release Assange into Swedish custody as soon as assurances were given that it would not be followed by deportation to America for a Wikileaks trial (where even the death penalty could be considered!), but no such assurances were ever even negotiated by the British Foreign Office. Nowadays I usually have great respect for the U.S. government under President Obama, but the witch-hunt for Assange has got way out of hand.
How is it that so many decisions seem to be going so badly wrong? Or should I simply not be surprised anymore?

 

Done ... Over

The Olympics have finally drawn to a close … haven’t they? Well, if you watch the news channels, apparently not. Even now journalists are interviewing random people who are leaving the country via Heathrow airport to get their applauding opinions of London 2012; it is self-congratulation at its lamest. Anyone would think that the war in Syria (along with many other worthy news stories) had taken a fortnight’s holiday and it wasn’t quite ready to resume just yet, so time may as well be filled with bullshit! Reporters (and anybody else who has drooled too much over the last two weeks) need to take a deep breath and realise that sport is not the most important thing in the world; it’s just a form of entertainment that no longer requires being rammed down people’s throats!

Natural Intelligence Versus Natural Dumbass

Crows (or corvids, to give them their technical title) are one of the most intelligent species of bird. I will cite two examples:
1. On a bird table was placed two plastic transparent boxes. In one box was placed a piece of food, in the other box was placed a long stick, and on the bird table itself was placed a short stick. Through trial and error crows were able to figure out (using powers of deduction that most birds simply don’t have) that the short stick could be used to remove the long stick, and then the long stick could be used to remove the piece of food for consumption.
2. On a bird table was placed a cylinder half full with water, with a piece of unreachable food floating on the water; to the side of the cylinder were some stones. Crows deduced that by placing the stones into the cylinder, the water level would gradually rise until the piece of food was reachable.
Needless to say, I love crows.
But at the other end of the ornithological evolutionary scale are wood pigeons. I can only presume that these birds succeed through some kind of mass breeding programme; it certainly isn’t through intelligence. Wood pigeons can, at any given moment, commit suicide by flying full force into a window (perhaps believing it to be a tree!) or by standing still in front of a speeding vehicle. They will fight aimlessly with each other, in an ineffective and annoyingly flappy kind of way, even though there is plenty of food to go around. Needless to say, I hate wood pigeons.
If ornithology were anthropomorphised, I like to think that crows would be the kind of civilised human beings who have deduced that co-operation is more important than competition; wood pigeons would be the underclass!