Inflation busters

With inflation rocketing out of control, David Cameron doesn’t seem especially inclined to do anything about it.

Instead of doing one of the most basic things to kick-start the economy, he avoids questions on what his own party will do regarding Europe.

Cut the fuel costs. Ridiculously high fuel prices have a knock-on effect on the price of everything, from groceries to furniture, to the cost of oil. By cutting the cost of petrol/diesel more people will be able to afford more extravagant items, boosting the economy. It’s not rocket science and yet the Conservative Party seem incapable of making that small leap of imagination!

On another note, it was Annabel Goulding’s last parliamentary question time in the Scottish Parliament. While she may be a Conservative (most of Scotland, myself included, detest this party), she is an intelligent woman who has done many good deeds in her time and will be missed. I really do wish she would become independent or join any of the other parties! Farewell Annabel!

Facebook bigot facing jail sentence

A bigot, Stephen Birrell, faces up to 8 months in jail after posting sectarian comments on facebook. These posts occurred days after he was released from a 12 month sentence. Clearly, a stint in prison has done nothing to curb his tongue (or typing in this case).

One of the many things that really annoy me about this is that technically, this is a breach of freedom of speech. Firstly, I would like to say that I totally abhor any form of ism - racism, ageism, sectarianism etc - they are the most pathetic excuses for disliking someone. Secondly, everyone in the UK is entitled to say what they like, as long as it is not threatening. Thirdly, having read some of the abusing posts, it is more pathetic than threatening, more stupid than personal. The posts are simply the drivelling rants of a small child-like mind.

Given that this idiot just left jail, clearly being behind bars has done nothing to rehabilitate him.

Rather than wasting the public's money by housing and feeding this eijit, I think it would be far more beneficial to set him up with community service working with catholics and for anyone particularly offended to sue the pants off him.

While I know this is deterrant for the bigger picture of football hooliganism, I do think we can better spend public money.

Berlusconi wins vote of confidence

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi won the vote of confidence from his parliament today. MP's had called a vote of no-cofidence and they spent the majority of the afternoon voting whether they had faith in their Prime Minister.

This came as a huge shock to many throughout the world, given how Berlusconi has handled the financial situation and his own not-so-personal private life.

What really shocks me is that Italy is one of the oldest parliaments is the world and has been held in high regard until Berlusconi began his very public displays of womanising and complete lack of concern for what his voters thought of him.

It is genuinely shocking that a man so lacking in decorum and self restraint, someone who clearly does not care what the public thinks of him - and by default, what the world thinks of Itlay, has retained his powerful position.

We can only hope that Italy will wake up to his lack of professionalism and the fact that he makes the whole country look bad politically.

I genuinely feel for the people of Italy at the moment.

Easyjet

Firstly, I must apologise for the delay in putting something up. It has been one of those years – death, car accidents, weddings etc. A real roller coaster. Sincere apologies for not taking some time to write a few items for my blog.


Easyjet

Having recently used this company for flights to Europe, and having not used them for a while, I was more than a little surprised by several changes.

Ignoring the costs (which have also risen, especially baggage-wise!), and the reduce in number of destinations when flying from Scotland, they now have a system of no booking groups. This means that regardless of whether you show up well in advance or not, you still have to queue for a long time to be able to sit with whomever you’re travelling or face being split up.

Some person seems to come along about forty-five minutes prior to departure (often before the plane has even shown up), lining up straight away and like sheep, the majority of others form a queue behind them, leaving you no choice but to join in instead of having a comfy seat until boarding time.

This smacks of bad management to me. No other budget (Really? Still a budget company? I think not!) airline company (that I am aware of) feels the need to put their passengers through this. Speedy booking isn’t really any faster, it simply means you get to stand at the front of the queue. However, this costs extra.

In the past, they would call out boarding groups and while this was not as good as individual seats, it was considerably better than the way things currently stand (pun intended).

While I would recommend shopping around, you can access Easyjet through their website:

www.easyjet.com

Highlands top for UK tourists

A fantastic boost for income/tourism and business in the Highlands of Scotland but hopefully not all these soon to arrive tourists will be driving.

With many roads in very poor conditions after 2 very cold winters in a row, heavy traffic is an issue, not to mention terrible drivers and ignorance of how to drive on single track roads.

People who learn to drive in the city and spend most of their time driving on motorways or other straight roads are not only a hindrance on Scottish roads but are in many cases the cause of so many road accidents (this is aimed at all city drivers, including Scottish ones).

The poorest driving I see, and unfortunately on a very regular basis, are the ones who speed up on the straight and break, doing 30 miles an hour around any slight bend or curve in the road. This means those who know the roads are held up on the bends but don’t get the opportunity to over-take on the straight. This is bad and dangerous driving, causes frustration and encourages people to take more risks than they normally would. It is no wonder the amount of road traffic accidents more than trebles (all over the UK, not just in the Scottish Highlands).

While most people are more than happy (and indeed welcome) tourists to their area, we would very much appreciate it if many more of you would use public transport instead of frustrating people/causing accidents.

Enjoy your holiday but please take the bus/train ;D

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13599177

Icelandic Ash Cloud Grounds Flights – Again

The Icelandic Grimsvotn volcano is at it again, belching out smoke/ash/pryoclasic bits into the atmosphere and grounding flights in Scotland once again.

So many travellers will be stranded once more, trying to get to or indeed, come back from, locations that are part of a holiday, or a business trip, or for whatever other reason they may be travelling.

Some ignorant environmentalists will be hailing this as a boon for the airways but indeed, volcanic spewings are almost never beneficial.

Acid rain, anyone? That’s right, acid rain is a common side effect of a large amount of volcanic material (most often the large amounts of sulphur) billowing up into the stratosphere. It has happened before (Sweden was bombarded by acid rain less than 50 years ago) and it will no doubt happen again.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a huge cause for panic yet, and especially not within the UK or mainland Europe, no, it is the Scandinavian countries who most often bare the brunt of this rather nasty side effect.

This is most certainly going to have an effect (a direct, not a side effect) on the weather and especially on climate temperatures. If you will remember back to the last time this happened (last year), we had a cool summer and a really cool (though short) winter.

Lets hope this year will have less disruption and no signs of acid rain or any other nasty side effects.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13498477

Rothesay to get lottery funding of 1.5mn!

Rothesay, on the Isle of Bute, is to be given £1.5mn as a ‘revamp’ from the heritage lottery fund. This money is to go towards building regeneration.

Now is it just me or could this money not be used for far better things, like helping get people back to work or going to support care services, health services, or a whole host of other far more worthy causes, rather than making Rothesay prettier?! Having been to Rothesay, I know it is a pretty town and really does not need this cash.

This appears to be a terrible token gesture by someone who has no concept of what would genuinely benefit the town and the island community.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-13412133