Stop sexualising children, says David Cameron‏

A very difficult subject indeed.
Not having children, I don't know where to draw the line. Maybe that makes me more objective and less protective, I don't know.
But I do think children should be protected where possible and not grow up to fast. Children will be children though

Celebrities buy bog roll

The Daily Mail kept to its usual high standards of journalism with this headline: "X Factor hopefuls Stacey and Rachel go shopping for loo roll"
what crap, celebrity-obsessed bollocks.
I really don't see how ANYONE buying bogroll is newsworthy

Katy Perry

I hate Katy Perry. She drives me nuts, up the wall and round the bend. I wish she'd just fuck off.

Working in a supermaket

I know I shouldn't, but I was reading something in the Daily Mail.
I've worked in a supermarket, part time. It was horrible. The staff were treated like crap, we weren't allowed to talk during the shift other than to help customers. All I was doing was staking shelves.
I'm lucky that I didn't have to stay there long, and I wouldn't want to go back. I've had other simular jobs, working in what i called the 'arse end of the service industry' and others have agreed with that assessment.
What struck me about the article was how horrible and rude most people are, how people expect things to be landed on their plates, not only from the people mentioned in the article but the comments section too.

Gay bashing

Typical bloody Daily Mail. This article is nothing more than gay-bashing and it's disgusting. Why should people being open with their sexuality be so disturbing?
"having spoken to many youngsters about this, I'm coming to the worrying conclusion that Katy Perry's song I Kissed A Girl...increasingly represents the experience of a generation of girls who are happy and relaxed about public, same-sex sexual experimentation."

Why is this so worrying eh? Disgusting.
Typical Daily Mail in that the author is worried about the middle and upper classes becoming infected with this relaxed approach to their sexuality.

"'We know it's the kind of thing that would shock adults, so we enjoy doing it.'

Well, there's no doubt that adults, and particularly the parents of teenage girls, will be disturbed, to say the least. "

Anything which pisses off the Daily Mail is ok by me (within reason).


People should be free to do as they wish without fear that their sexuality will be seen as 'wrong'. If they are 'experimenting' then let them.


"One church notice board carried the slogan: 'I kissed a girl - and went straight to hell."
This made my laugh out loud.

The Problem with foreigners...

...is that they pay their rent and do their job's, apparently:
"This is especially so as i have seen a landlord tell me "I prefer Polish people over Irish/British as they pay rent without fail" (which means they got all their rent paid by the council, getting benefits any other Brit/Irishman could only dream of) and a building site that showed no remorse for saying he preferred foreigners as they didn't complain and "took risks Irish/British wouldn't to get the job done.""

Very interesting and lively discussion on the Sun's message board, believe it or not

Benefit claimants

Claimants are still seen as 'scroungers', the public are happy for people to be very rich, people still believe in 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor, "Despite negative perceptions of poorer people, however, there was strong underlying support for a progressive tax system. The research identified a public appetite for "more radical action on pay and taxation at the top of the spectrum"."
"most people on middle incomes complained that the system was less generous to them than other groups."

interesting, mixed results. It seems there is some appitite for greater distribution, too much belief in scroungers, still a belief in meritocracy, and a desire for everyone ELSE to pay more tax.
We're an odd lot.
I'm not sure these findings actually tell us anything really

Pay, Banker's, public sector and the rich in general

Peston makes an very interesting point:
how much should people be paid?
As a lefty, i'm pretty much against big pay packets or bonuses for anyone. Hester may be an exception. His contract states that failure will not be rewarded (finally!), and his big cheque is dependent on his meeting certain targets which include getting a big profit on tax-payer investment and therefore significantly improving the public finances.
Surely all these things are the right things to do, and should have been done ages ago. It's been obvious to me that there has been a problem in bankers' pay for a long time, so others should have been able to see it if i could.
On top of that, a bloke taking home millions while millions are unemployed is an issue that hasn't been to the front in the current crisis, but that's no surprise

Fabian lecture with David Miliband

I went along to another Fabian event last night.
I was not happy by just how posh they all were. I felt, and sounded, like the only one there who hadn't been privately educated then through the usual Oxbridge channels.
This is what I mean aboiut glory hunters, people who want power but don't really know why they want it.
No wonder people are pissed off and alienated. Those people have their own agenda, which tends to be their own fulfilment, while anyone else can go hang.
These are LABOUR people, and yet because of the entrencement of the political class, even someone like me who is university educated, has a masters, is too common to get a response from them.
This is also my problem with having too many administrators and too few politicians - people who are moved by their own career more than by any great sense of politics. Too few who are scared to loose power because that's all they're interested in

Britishness

I was just thinking about what it means to be British and why the BNP are not what I consider the best of British.
To me, it's political. Britain is built on secular(ish) liberal capitalism. I'd personally like it to be more secular, more liberal and less capitalist.
I'm often told by those that come here that they are so proud and happy to be here, often more so than those born here who are often desperate to leave.
To me, British-ness is all in the mind, and not at all in the pigment or the genes

How to know you're living in a consumerist nightmare, no 1

A mate of mine has recently changed jobs, from charity fundraising to selling Paint Ball days out.
One of the reasons he gave was that the paint balling was more honest.
So we have a COMPANY more ethical and honest than a CHARITY. That's pretty bad. Also what i'm appalled by is the nature of the paint ball thing. It's as far from a necessity as possible, while a charity is actually of value and importance to people and yet they need to lie and decieve while the company is honest and true.

Perfect example of what's wrong with the world right there