Sex, Lies & No Advertising

Since my last post we have had the local elections in England, which depending on which paper you read were an absolute disaster for the Labour Government or just an ordinary disaster.

The Tories did very well in parts of the South East and Midlands with the occasional spot in the North of England like Chorley. I do have to tell you that the two guys I quiz with ask me two things - remember they live in Manchester but the same applies for most of the urban centres of the North of England. The question "What is a Tory Councillor". Well I could tell them to come to Stockport where we still have 10 of the Blighters, that is as against 15 Labour and far too many Liberals. In my area the Tory got re-elected, both his vote and the vote of the Labour candidate went down. In Stockport, Labour had an overall net gain of 1, bite on that Mr Cameron.

There has been a great deal of criticism of John Prescott, his affair with a diary secretary was stupid and an abuse of power. But at the end of the day who has he let down, no one but his wife.
There have been problems with the Home Office, yes it is a mess but perhaps Civil servants should start paying with their jobs for their incompetance.

I would ask people to consider this, Labour has been in power for 9 years so far there hasn't been an Archer or an Aitken or a Milligan !!

I appreciate that the Enron executives will appeal against the verdicts. Their naked greed did not just destroy the pensions and share schemes of their fellow employees, it did n't just destroy the lives of their fellow employees it trashed them and worse than that it took away their hope.

In the U.K, we finally have a system in place called the Pensions Protection Fund which will provide a little hope and a little comfort, to employees whose scheme qualifies when the employer goes into receivership. When I say a little, I mean a little. The PPF provides for revaluation at the lesser of 5% or RPI from the period of acceptance through to Normal Retirement Date. Pensions in payment increase at the lesser of RPI or 2.5% on Post 97 pension. However there are those men and women up and down the country whose pensions have been limited to the Guaranteed Minimum Pension and my thoughts are with them .

I would like to bring out more about L'affaire Clearchannel but the British Press has been extremely limited but I will read up on my mails from Le Point and this blog provides access to Liberation.fr. Right now it is French politics which provides some excitement as both my hopes for the US. Clinton and McCain consort with people whom you would n't want a beer with.

Moving on, the NBA finals have reached that stage where we get a finals game each night and congrats are due to Detroit for showing that where there is life there is hope. At present they trail Miami 1-2 but Miami will now that they won't win until the buzzer goes on game 5 at the very earliest if then. Congrats to the Cowboys for shaking off the San Antone Monkey. In Europe some of sporting season has come to an end and Rugby Union has awarded trophies to Ulster, Munster and to Sale Sharks. Rugby League is now a summer sport and continues a pace.

In the Southern Hemisphere Canterbury won the Super 14 for the fifth time. One of the pictures from above is from the Blue Bulls web site and I liked the advert. I know the Footy season is underway but would apologise as I haven't had chance to catch it as yet same with the Rugby League State of Origin. Though in England the only topic is the Football World Cup, Cricket is on Sky Sports and with respect Sri Lanka are not Australia. Without wishing to offend any Americans out there it is Football and not Soccer. In "Friends" they even played on a fussball table which is the German word for Football. There is no S in FIFA, the World Governing Body. There are several varients of football.

Association Football.
American Football
Rugby League
Rugby Union
Gaelic Football
Australian Rules Football
Canadian Football.

Well that the World Cup in Germany and Big Brother 7 are the sole topics of conversation right now in the work place !!

As for Cinema, we recently went to see X-men 3 which I really enjoyed, short on plot and it will never win acting oscars but there you go.

As for TV ah well. Dr Who season 2 or is it Season 29, continues to be brilliant. We had the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K9 and the Cybermen in an alternative universe story. The season is good and continues to attract high ratings , but it isn't the best thing out there or indeed the best genre thing out there. What it is though is the best prime time thing as much as I would like you will not see the following getting 9m

West Wing Season 7
CSI
CSI : New York
24
Battlestar Galactica.
Lost

I also taped and watched a french language programme which translates as "Spiral" but more on this next time.

Lastly I did look at the option to take adverts on the blog. Then I read the fine print, always read the fine print. No promotion of Alcohol, sorry Google no can do. This weekend from 1st to 3rd June sees the 20th Stockport Beer and Cider Festival at Edgerly Park Stockport, home of Stockport County and Sale Sharks. If you like beer please attend, if you drink lager your taste buds may grow back.

The French Rugby Championship has also yet to be decided but more next time.

How could I also forget Finland winning the 51st Eurovision Song Contest. You won't see Lordi on Xfactor or American Idol and perhaps you should.


Back in June !!!