General stuff

This page is odds and sods which I think are interesting but can't work out where else to put them.

This page has some interesting insights into English society.  Having gone to University in Kent and worked (aka slaved) in Sussex just before I saw the light I suspect the author is a bit too focussed on the area around London rather than the rustic denizens of the area.  But then it is possible that things have changed a bit in the last 39 years!

Election issues

Of course we will be visiting the country fairly soon after their 2010 election.  Dare one say the first of their elections in 2010?  At the time of typing this (11 may 2010) no-one seems to have a clue what the heck is going on! As usual Private Eye seems to have been on the look out for cock-ups!  I can see that I will be buying a few souvenir copies of 'The Eye' if it is sold in the hinterland!

By 13 May everything seems to have calmed down with the Conservatives  and Lib-Dems now firmly declared as "new-best-friends-forever'.

Plus ca change seems to apply.  In the last couple of days (early June) a Lib-Dem minister has quit due to him paying his male partner for a flat and then claiming this as an expense.  His replacement has also turned out to have had dodgy financial dealings!

Cost of living

One of the most vivid memories of my migration to Australia in 1970 was how cheap everything was.  Many things in Australia were same number on the ticket but it was $ per kilo rather than Stg per lb (in effect things were 4x the price n the UK,
 
The two particular products I will be looking at will be real ale and petrol.  I have got a fair amount of info about the price of petrol In Australia and will be investigating the price of beers in some detail.  I expect to complete a page about prices of beer and petrol.

Oil spill
There has been obviously much in the media about the size of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  One website has come up with an innovative way of presenting this in ways that people not familiar with the Gulf region can comprehend.  In essence they had mapped the boundary of the slick and developed a small application (in Google maps methinks) to move it to another location.  The following image shows it moved to a map centred in Westminster UK.

During our visit;

I didn't really get into the print media while we were in the UK.  I purchased a Daily Mail the day after England departed the World Cup ( covered in a daily post).

At one point bought a copy of The Times to find out what the thinking Pom is considering these days.  In brief the thinking Pom either:

• is thinking about celebs and their (or anyone else's) chest size; or
• has vanished from the face of the Earth; or
• now reads The Independent!  In that regard I note that Aldaily has stiffed the Times but continues to carry the Independent.

I would not dream of suggesting that this has anything to do with the Thunderer joining the Murdoch stable.

The electronic media were initially obsessed with the Russian Spy saga (especially Anna Chapman for some reason  note bullet 1 above).  They, and the print media, then reduced coverage of that story and became obsessed with the unfortunate Raoul Moat.

All of this must have poetry to the ears of the Government as it completely overshadowed discussion of the Lib-Dems issues in dealing with a trivial little issue such as a complete overhaul of the British voting system (they are trying to emulate Australia but I fear will end up achieving Italy with several hundred candidates for dogcatcher, let alone MP).