What (really) bugs you?

..............BUMP ! ...........

Granddaughters noisily munching Hoola Hoops whilst watching Horrid Henry on TV on my day off. >:(

I suppose we'll have to take them out for that promised drive in the countryside, which means shutting down the laptop...................... ::)

[DA-DM]

.................OUCH...................

people sucking in through their teeth when they talk to me. particularly in the middle of a sentence. grrrr

[Lolly]

EVERYTHING that is packaged in those plastic vacuum packs. Mostly PC cables or memory card etc etc etc...... you just cannot get into the bloody things unless armed with the sharpest and biggest pair of scissors you can find!!
Then you realise that there is the wrong connector on them or something like that and the company wants it back in pristine condition! :-[

The Labour Party

I know, I know this is the horrible "P" word of politics though they truely have messed things up.
Here is a brief list of things that have affected me since they have been in power:
Bus service being cut, they are building a stupid guided bus route to nowhere and cutting the normal bus service. >:(
Signing on has been made ridiculously difficult, I am by no means a bum however people do have short spells of unemployment. Should I suffer because of the scroungers? >:(
My local GP surgery is putting a petition up to stop the proposal of selling our PUBLIC health service to Virgen. This is no joke! Guess they will start introducing charges just to see docters soon ::) >:(
The education system is now flawed in every area, it has even noticably changed since I left 4 years ago :o >:(
Higher food prices because the dipsticks can't count, they say inflation is only 3% :-/ Doubt that is bread is going up 20p a week!
It is now impossible for me to get a council house unless I get a girl pregnant, also can't afford the stupid house prices. Obviosly they have only gone up 3%, who employs these people? >:(
Sell our gold reserves when gold is at a 20/40 year low, again how thick is that!
PC gone mad, noticed this since the year 2000 that everyone has become obsessed with this, I am not following the PC brigade!
Plus we didn't even VOTE for Gordan Brown and he is our PM! Well they say we live in democracy!

Phew rant over ;D
Basically Labour suck ass.

[ladyh]

...............when you are watching a good movie, those people who insist on making soooo much noise with the wrapping when eating their 'treats'

KEVIN, PUT THE DAMN POPCORN DOWN!!!!!!!!

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
:-*

You're talking a lot of sense there, Johnny.

I have beaten most of those drums at some stage or other.

Your point about selling the gold reserves at a disadvantageous rate to the Bundesbank is a particularly valid one - one of Brown's first actions when he was Chancellor.

Years of so-called prudence (he inherited a sound economy) are now being seen for what they are - as years of wastefulness. Too much money has been squandered on administration and over-blown salaries and emphasis put on reaching targets, and now there is nothing to show for these billions.

We are taxed to the hilt: A year ago I was putting about fifteen pounds-worth of petrol a week in my car, now it's thirty. And the annoying thing is that a large percentage of the money taken at the pumps goes in tax.

My firm like most others has had its pension investment fund savaged by the government, as a result benefits have been realigned and my pension when it comes will be fifty pounds a month lighter. Wifey has been caught by the 10p lowest rate abolishment thing, and now pays twenty pounds a month more in tax.

I pity anyone young, who will have to work till they're 67 or 68 before they can retire, and who is planning to get on the first rung of the housing ladder. But as you say, you can always get a girl in the pudding club and jump the queue for a council house.

Sure, they leave you a chance to claim benefits, but the number of overly-complicated forms that have to be filled in, most people just think, why bother ?

The situation is set to explode over the petrol issue, with demos and blockades, as hauliers are now losing their livelihoods. If things are allowed to get much worse there will be a full-scale revolution.

I better stop here before I start going on about the EU and sovereignty issue. Suffice is to say, their days are definitely numbered.

;D At least it isn't just me going crazy then ;D

Well I have another bit of beef also!

Where is the SUMMER? :D

[Lolly]

Jun 2, 2008 23:33:47 GMT @sithlord said:

Where is the SUMMER? :D

Sorry Johnny, got to say that Summer is well and truely here!!! Oh yeah, am in the USA!! Whoops! :-/

For those that know me....ouch......forgot the sun screen.....I now look like a swan vesta match!!

Edited typo!!

Jun 3, 2008 1:22:49 GMT Lolly said:

For those that know me....ouch......forgot the sun screen.....I now look like a swan vesta match!!

;D There is no excuse for that Lolly, I thought the US had shops :D

Anyway I'm jealous your in US and i'm here in crummy England. O and suprise its raining right now >:( :D ;)

[barbelman]

Jun 2, 2008 17:24:28 GMT @sithlord said:

The Labour Party

I know, I know this is the horrible "P" word of politics though they truely have messed things up.
Here is a brief list of things that have affected me since they have been in power:
Bus service being cut, they are building a stupid guided bus route to nowhere and cutting the normal bus service. >:(
Signing on has been made ridiculously difficult, I am by no means a bum however people do have short spells of unemployment. Should I suffer because of the scroungers? >:(
My local GP surgery is putting a petition up to stop the proposal of selling our PUBLIC health service to Virgen. This is no joke! Guess they will start introducing charges just to see docters soon ::) >:(
The education system is now flawed in every area, it has even noticably changed since I left 4 years ago :o >:(
Higher food prices because the dipsticks can't count, they say inflation is only 3% :-/ Doubt that is bread is going up 20p a week!
It is now impossible for me to get a council house unless I get a girl pregnant, also can't afford the stupid house prices. Obviosly they have only gone up 3%, who employs these people? >:(
Sell our gold reserves when gold is at a 20/40 year low, again how thick is that!
PC gone mad, noticed this since the year 2000 that everyone has become obsessed with this, I am not following the PC brigade!
Plus we didn't even VOTE for Gordan Brown and he is our PM! Well they say we live in democracy!

Phew rant over ;D
Basically Labour suck ass.

Hmm..."Higher food prices because the dipsticks can't count, they say inflation is only 3%" Are you saying the cart pulls the horse then? Why would "them" saying inflation is only 3% cause higher food prices?

You obviously haven't been around long enough to live under the shadow of the Tory jackboot, Johnny. You'll be pining for the good old days soon when daft Boris is PM...... :(

cheers
Tony
PS all the examples you quote are either wrong or not the present government's fault. eg WORLD food prices going through the roof because the third world want a living wage and China is needing a large percentage of the world's resources (and why not?), all the council house stock was sold off by Thatcher, all bus companies were privatised/deregulated by the Tories in 1984, signing on made difficult due to pressure from the fascists worrying about immigrants getting a breadline pittance from the nation...need I go on? Oh and health and education in the best state it's been in for thirty years considering that aforementioned fascist factions won't allow the goverment to raise income tax and make a decent and above board job of it..

Jun 3, 2008 16:38:48 GMT barbelman said:

You'll be pining for the good old days soon when daft Boris is PM...... :(
cheers
Tony

I'm already pining for the good old days when that nice 'Tory' Mr Blair was in charge of the New Labour (Central) party. ;D A more worthy follower of milk-snatcher Thatcher than the socialist Major. ;D

But what we have now is a return to Old Labour, the nanny state etc: Predictable once 'all things to all people' Blair was forced to quit.

Interesting and amusing to see how you managed to put a positive Spin on it, though, Tony. ;)

The latest gem, as a result of a "ten-month government study" - no doubt costing the taxpayer around a million pounds :

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7492573.stm

Bl**dy saucy patronising g!t !

So all the wastage is down to us. ::) If we don't eat our dinner, we won't get our pudding. :o

Next step: the government appoints teams of Food Non-Wasteage Enforcement Officers. If the money's good enough (say around £50k p.a.), I might even apply for one of the jobs myself. So be wary - you could find me knocking on your front door to check on you before too long ! ;D

[DA-DM]

feel free........we have two dogs that clear up !


call me old fashioned, but, between us we have 7 children - i don't have a problem making enough to feed however many at any one time, and any excess if not eaten will go in the freezer. any waste 'goes to the dogs' as it were.

if people remain lazy and waste the amount they do because they don't like it, or don't use it in time - then why buy it ?? >:(

I'm sure that, like every good 'housewife' your household affairs are kept in apple-pie order.

My main beef is on the Nanny state we are now living in, and on the hypocrisy of a man who gorges himself at our expense and then instructs us on how we should live our lives: >:(

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1391249.ece

The £8 a week that he claims each household can save would only end up being spent at the petrol pumps anyway, so that 70% of it can be claimed back from the government in tax ! :o

[DA-DM]

they want us to not smoke, not drink, not buy excessively, not drive..............................
it'll end in tears..... his ! it won't be a recession this country has - it'll be a revolt aginst all things political. i'd certainly sign up for that !

[hon Vice President]

Jun 2, 2008 17:24:28 GMT @sithlord said:

The Labour Party

I know, I know this is the horrible "P" word of politics though they truely have messed things up.
Here is a brief list of things that have affected me since they have been in power:
Bus service being cut, they are building a stupid guided bus route to nowhere and cutting the normal bus service. >:(
Signing on has been made ridiculously difficult, I am by no means a bum however people do have short spells of unemployment. Should I suffer because of the scroungers? >:(
My local GP surgery is putting a petition up to stop the proposal of selling our PUBLIC health service to Virgen. This is no joke! Guess they will start introducing charges just to see docters soon ::) >:(
The education system is now flawed in every area, it has even noticably changed since I left 4 years ago :o >:(
Higher food prices because the dipsticks can't count, they say inflation is only 3% :-/ Doubt that is bread is going up 20p a week!
It is now impossible for me to get a council house unless I get a girl pregnant, also can't afford the stupid house prices. Obviosly they have only gone up 3%, who employs these people? >:(
Sell our gold reserves when gold is at a 20/40 year low, again how thick is that!
PC gone mad, noticed this since the year 2000 that everyone has become obsessed with this, I am not following the PC brigade!
Plus we didn't even VOTE for Gordan Brown and he is our PM! Well they say we live in democracy!

Phew rant over ;D
Basically Labour suck ass.

The uninformed, but well intentioned who insist upon blaming the current administration for everything. Now they bug me!

Now then.
Gordon doesn't own your bus service. Private enterprise does. Mrs Thatcher de-regulated busses way back; small bus companies got squeezed until they popped and we are left predominantly with Stagecoach & First Bus. As for the bus lane, this is the prerogative of you own local authority. It may be a Labour one; it may not.

Signing on has been made easier - fewer forms, simpler conditions, more welcoming offices and bl00dy good staff. Oh; and a range of options in training, information advice & guidance available to all, like you would not believe! What has been made harder is the prospect of remaining out of work, hermit like, without having to explain yourself.

Education; the public / private debate has been here for years. Successive administrations have knackered things through demanding a return on financial investment in education, leading to school tables, people moving house just so that their little one can get the school that the Daily Mail reckons is top notch.

Ditto health.

If you look into things, you'll find that, despite ups & downs; a rollercoaster if you like; the average free economy cycle runs for some 60 years. Not a noticable repetition, but a similarity in situations. No administration; here or anywhere else has managed to buck that trend. The competitive nature of the far east does pose an interesting variable; but that is hardly the fault of the western world or any of its leaders.

This country has no one document with the word Constitution on the cover; there is a Parliamentary process in place to determine how a new PM is elected should the incumbent leave or die in office. It's the party which is elected, not the individual.

There are fewer council houses nowadays than when I was your age; maggie offered every tenant the right to buy. Strangely, many did - the councils did not benefit from the proceeds and consequently few houses were built to replace them. Strangely, the UK is supremely keen on home ownership. The Swiss; for example; affluent, happy people, can't understand why we are so keen to own a home, when renting and having someone else retain responsibility for the bricks and mortar makes for fewer heart attacks! Meantime, supply & demand takes care of the ongoing increase in house prices and rents. Not Gordon Brown. Rather than get some bird up the duff; rent privately.

Political correctness covers a whole pile of things. It prevents me, for example, labelling everyone under the age of 21 Chav and workshy whippersnappers; it ensures that someone who uses a wheelchair gets access to the same standards of service as someone who does not - in work, at leisure; including BB! It ensures that school leavers with no experience and those over the age of 50 with practical experience can apply for the same jobs on the same terms. It allows me to be an atheist, and it promotes equality & diversity across the political, sexual & religious spectrum - to name just three.


There. Rant over.
If, Jonny, you read this - then you are PC!! To a point anyway ;)

Jul 9, 2008 12:28:26 GMT DA-DM said:

it'll end in tears..... his ! it won't be a recession this country has - it'll be a revolt aginst all things political. i'd certainly sign up for that !

Agree, DA, come the revolution !

As for Honchair, well, an important part of a democratic society is the right to voice a minority view.

So with Labour recording their worst-ever showing in the opinion polls since the days of the brilliant Maggie (who enabled us to buy our council house), I will decline to comment on your statement - apart from to say.......

a la recherche du temps perdu ! ;D

[hon Vice President]

[quote a la recherche du temps perdu ! ;D[/quote]

!! :o Socialism dead??

I am sure that your house is a nice one, really. The thing is, particularly in rural areas, the limited supply of property which is LA owned is driving young families away. Possibly away from an area in which their families have lived for generations. Home ownership being that popular that some families appear to need two or three houses to live in; it really is the domain of those who have capital.

My parents bought their house too - they got some 70% of the value discounted because of the time they had been there. Those who have declined to but are now stigmatized for having ye olde "council front door"!


Strange world we live in.
New Lab might be dodgy - but you & I are both old enough to know that there is no real alternative. ???
Maggie, the silent assassin, sold the family silver and nobody got rich.

[davejones]

The smog in Beijing.

I feel sorry for our athletes!

Jul 9, 2008 18:20:31 GMT hon Vice President said:

Maggie, the silent assassin, sold the family silver and nobody got rich.

Well Johnny's charge is still on file that one of Gordon Brown's first acts as Chancellor was to sell our gold reserves at their lowest price to the Bundesbank. >:(
My problem with Labour has always been that they aimed for the 'classless society' - and while admittedly there is now no 'middle class' and 'lower class' to go with the 'upper class', we have something far worse - the haves and the have nots.

And there are far more of the latter, in which category I count myself, mainly on account of the fact that the government has dipped its hands in the pockets of my firm's pension plan: I now face life on the breadline should I wish to retire a few years early.

Socialist doctrine is noble in its Robin Hood-like stance of robbing the rich to give to the poor, but this shambolic lot have found a new angle to it: that of robbing the poor and throwing all the money down the drain. >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

[specialone]

Try to stay out of political debates these days. However I want to sure I understand the two main points that are emerging here.

1 THATCHER WAS OUR GREATEST MODERN DAY LEADER, BECAUSE SHE CHANGED BRITAIN IN A FUNDAMENTAL AND IRREVOCABLE WAY

2 EVERYTHING THAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY IS THE FAULT OF THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT

[bigtj]

Never ending debate about politics, I ask the same question of all parties that call at my door canvassing, and that is what will you be doiong that will benefit me personally, they usually come up with a load of bull and beat around the bush without ever answering directly.

My own opinion is that in the long run no matter who is in power they do not do much for the man on the street.

TJ is 100% right - voting for me has always been about the lesser of two evils.

To answer Shaun: that is about the gist of it - from one side, and Tony and Honchair beg to differ - which is their prerogative to do so.

Political discussions have a tendency to get quite heated, especially between dyed-in-the-wool opposites. Don't see why they should be taboo, though.

Being a fair-minded guy (well, I think so ;D ) I will now make three massive concessions by naming things that I honestly believe have actually been improved in recent years. These may surprise you.

One is the roads infrastructure. Gone seem to be the days when motorway interchanges were forever under construction, roadworks were in abundance and poor little villages were thoroughfares for constant heavy traffic. I think a first class job has been done whilst under Labour's stewardship, and yes I know that there is still massive congestion on certain roads, but this is simply down to the volume of traffic. But in general, we can get around the country quite quickly, which wasn't always the case.

Secondly, the railways. I have had to make a few journeys up to London recently and decided to give it a go on the train: I was pleasantly surprised. Cost was on a par with travelling by car (it used to be twice as expensive to go by train), the carriages were comfortable, new, and clean; and computerised announcements keep you constantly updated on whether or not your train was on time (more often than not it was bang on) and when the next train was due, destinations, which platform etc. So a feather in the cap there for the obvious investment in new rolling stock and computerised systems - money well spent, and a vast improvement on what we came to expect when travelling by train.

Finally, the quality of recent architecture (in my town especially): Not sure that I am entirely happy on every available square of land being built on, but Crawley used to be known for its sixties-style wafer biscuit-shaped buildings, and high-density cheap housing in certain neighbourhoods. Recently some of the worst eyesores have been demolished, to be replaced by more tasteful edifices (only really the post office/labour exchange and Crawley College to go.) Some new buildings have been on a large scale, such as the new Community College, an old people's home, and a mental hospital, but they are all pleasing to the eye and did not take that long to build, though they look to be of really solid construction. And whole new estates have been built on school grounds where the schools have been merged or relocated, but they look unobtrusive, and smart, and a nice place to live.

So there are glimmers of hope amongst all the gloom and doom. 8-)