Looking at life

The Egyptian princess
Under stress,
Did in sorrow cry,
As around all did sigh,
For her beloved daddy,
Had become her mummy.

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In Charing Cross London bobbies on the beat,
On their feet strolled slowly down the street,
When they saw a man who from danger did not shrink,
As he battery fluid did clearly drink,
And across the street,
Another sight their eyes did meet,
For there a man did fireworks swallow,
And proudly of his feat did bellow.
But though the men were large,
And were at the dangers heard to scoff,
The police decided to the first man charge,
And the second to let off.

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Reptiles in a zoo,
More than just a few,
Thanks to a mistake,
Did from their house escape,
And as hither and thither,
They around did slither,
They everyone did aggravate,
And also panic did create.

But although the keepers tried,
Snakes everywhere did glide,
Till finally in despair,
A keeper did declare,
That if they would this problem mend,
They should for a lawyer send.
But when the others did object,
And threatened to his plan reject,
He did explain,
How he to this conclusion came.
For as the problem did their brains exceed,
What they did need,
Was one who did of reptile reek,
And with the snakes could speak.

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If you read 'The Crunch' by Alex Brummer you will see, with great clarity, that the credit crunch which is sweeping the world, is a tsunami of America’s making.

What happened was that vast numbers of middle class Americans obtained licenses to sell mortgages and then sold mortgages, hand over fist, to America’s poor and disadvantaged. That the people who were sold these mortgages couldn’t be expected to maintain the payments didn’t matter. A deal had been signed so American banks handed over the money and then quickly sold the mortgages on to American investment houses. These houses then sliced and diced the mortgages and paid American ratings agencies to rate them as AAA or super safe investments.

After this American salespeople, using the finest American sales techniques, sold these bonds to European banks and other investors around the world. In fact, in late 2008 the IMF estimated the amount of this toxic debt to be in the region of three trillion dollars and that means that Europeans, Asians Africans and Australians are expected to pay for three trillion dollars of American dishonesty.

I believe that these faulty goods should be returned to the Americans for a full cash refund. Let the Americans pay for their own three trillion dollars worth of dishonesty. As so many Americans were involved in this financial scam it must be fair for injured parties to go to the representatives of the American people, the American government, and demand that they pay up and make good on the dishonesty of their citizens.

What the American government can do is something like introduce an income tax of 95% on incomes over $100,0000 and pay the various countries of the world back the money its citizens have stolen and then they can fully compensate the poor and disadvantaged of America for all the hard earned money which was stolen from them. After that we can close the book on the matter and concentrate on building a fairer society for all peoples of the world.

However, I do not think we can do anything about building a better world society until after American government has been forced to make full restitution for the dishonesty of its citizens.

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The Daily Mail says that Westminster half-wits are to give the banks another £200 billion.

But it's only paper. Little bits of coloured paper.

Should you invest in gold and if you do, will the government confiscate it like the American government did in March 1933?

Is Westminster
Sinister,
Or is it just that in there sits,
Our nation's worst half-wits?

People who make plain,
They lack a brain,
By sitting there so glassy-eyed,
The look ready to be certified.

They think they strike a clever pose,
With mucus drooping from their nose,
And spittle on their chin,
As they shout and make a din.

But though they often are abuzz,
Stupid is as stupid does,
And in recession a new runway,
The word 'half-wit' does display.

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Ah, my love so shy,
Ready just to fly,
Can't my beauty understand,
My heart on love does stand,
And that without you,
I'd know not what to do.

So I beg you smile,
As it me does so beguile,
And as well give ear,
To what my heart holds dear,
And with my feelings please don't play,
As my heart must have its say.

Your hair,
So fair,
And silky fine,
It does the moon outshine,
And when the wind blows,
It like a river flows.

And though I fear your eyes of blue,
Will me bid adieu,
If I my case don't make,
Without mistake,
And you persuade,
You should me not evade.

When you smile,
I see no guile,
Just a princess,
Who God did bless,
With a grace,
Which does the world embrace.

So though right now I dread,
You'll shake your head,
I beg you say you will be mine,
With words I can enshrine,
Just say yes,
And please let the future me caress.

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Did you know that Hariet Harmon has the same initials as Heinrich Himmler?

Not only that, Heinrich also believed in a classless society and worked to achieve that aim.

What television historians consistently forget to mention is that Nazi Germany was designed to be a classless society based on merit rather than privilege.

Consequently, it seems Hariet Harmon and a number of her Labour colleagues believe in many of the same things Hitler and the Nazis believed in.

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Capitalism,.
Not just another ism,
But the religion of the id,
Which takes from greed the lid.

It’s spiritual letters are F.U.
For that must be the view,
When finding ways to earnings maximise,
So feelings can possessions prize.

Money, money, money,
To a capitalist is honey,
And a piece of silly paper,
Gives now moral right to any caper.

A capitalist will a weaker person always kick, (South Eastern Railways and its monopoly?)
And them with any charges stick,
So execuspives at bonus time,
Can about themselves feel fine.

For to a capitalist it is the state,
That little bits of paper carry weight,
And little electronic dots upon a screen,
Can them with joy make scream.

But can this way last,
With just paper as ballast?
Are electronic dots secure,
Can we be of the future sure?

Do I see writing on a wall,
Of what will us befall?
Or do I just hallucinate,
And need doctors to me medicate?

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Although I’m well known for my anti-lottery stance I cannot deny that many people, including myself, are keen for a chance to win their way out of their financial anxieties. After all, who wants to be a pauper for the rest of their lives?

Consequently, before you next fill in a lottery form I suggest you check out the lottery options at most established betting shops. These games are based on the Spanish, Irish and American lotteries and offer the player a much greater chance of winning.

For example, I sometimes do the Coral’s £Million Irish Lotto. Based on the Irish draw a player only has to guess six numbers out of forty five which means that getting a six out of six is twice as easy as on the English lottery.

Six out of six will pay one million pounds for a one pound stake. Five and the sub will pay £100,000 and five numbers will pay £2,500. Getting four numbers will pay £110 and three will pay £13.

Consequently, on this lottery ticket, not only will your chances of winning be much greater than your chances on a National Lottery ticket, if you do win you are likely to be better off because although the top prize is only a million, you will never have to share it with anyone. The whole million will be yours.

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january 18,2009. Have been round the betting shops and find that only Corals' '£Million Irish Lotto' is easy to understand because it works in much the same way the ordinary lotto works. However, all other lotto bets offered by the various betting shops, including Corals, do seem to be quite complicated and are not recommended to anyone who doesn't make a habit of hanging around betting establishments.

February 4, 2009. Some of the staff at Corals can be quite difficult to deal with so I visited other betting shops to see if they offered the same kind of lottery. Ladbrokes offer this million pound Irish Lotto bet but they pay out less for getting three and four numbers and are therefore not such a good deal. William Hill offer the chance of winning a million on the New York lottery, but having had a look at the payouts based on getting six out of forty nine, I didn't think it was a good deal at all. Consequently, I feel I will just have to put up with the staff at Corals and spend my £2 a week there.

August 21st, 2009. I got fed up with not winning anything so stopped doing it altogether. It must now be nearly four months since I bought a lottery ticket - four months in which I haven't experienced the disappointment of finding my lottery ticket didn't win anything. I've enjoyed it.

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Jared Diamond as a writer is among the best,
And so you should not rest,
Until all his books you've read,
And also thought of what he's said.

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Today alas is Monday,
Dam and blast, it's not by day,
As feeling rather surly,
I'm forced to rise quite early,
And to work my mind must bend,
As to work my way I wend.

I have to say,
I'd rather it were Friday,
Then I'd be feeling right,
As Friday night is party night,
And a party does me urge,
On alcohol to splurge,
Then the weekend is a maze,
As for the most I'm in a daze.

But then Monday does return,
And does all the good times spurn,
For though some don't mind the grind,
I find the grind unkind,
As people me command,
Who don't me understand,
And so it is with dread,
I view the days ahead.

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There was a young lady from Bradford,
Who became incredibly bored,
So she went on the game,
And suffered the pain,
So she could shopping in Harrods afford.

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I was pleased to note that the other day BT was awarded the Daily Mail's Wooden Spoon Award for being the company with the worst service to its customers.
Am not surprised.
Last month I had to organise BT for a business friend because of the free mobile broadband and talk about being given the run around!!!! I was really horrified by the way I was treated by BT sales staff.
It took over two weeks with endless phone calls, emails which were never answered and BT promises of phone calls which never came. In one case I got an email which said 'Yes of course we'll do it for you. Just email me to say yes and I’ll set it all up' I emailed back within five minutes and got an 'out of office and won't be back for 15 days as I'm going on holiday' reply.
I was met with the absolute worst service possible but because of the mobile broadband I had to persevere. Eventually I did get an order number but the paperwork they sent is very difficult to understand and I suspect they've messed it all up. But will have to wait till next week to find out as am presently down with the flu.

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1103283/Wooden-Spoon-Award-BT-Top-Flops-worst-customer-service-UK.html

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Also: Any subject of the British Crown is entitled to pay their bills in any legal manner they choose and I can't help but feel it might be illegal for BT to charge a customer nearly £5 extra for failing to pay in BT's preferred manner. BT certainly have the legal right to give a discount to people who pay in the preferred manner but they shouldn't be able to charge more to those of us who use other, perfectly legal methods of paying our bill.
Or should they?
Have our politicians let us down again?
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Telephones are an essential service and no essential service should be allowed to pull this profit enhancing stunt on their users.
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January 8, 2009. Having looked at the paperwork concerning the free mobile broadband I can't help but feel that BT is run by nothing but a bunch of spivs who are trying to scam their customers. Execuspivs.

For example: with this free mobile broadband the customer is entitled to download 1 gig of information per month. This sounds find but then one finds that any downloads over the one gig are charged at 10p per megabite - that's £200 for a 3 gigabit download as opposed to Vodaphone which only charges £15 for a 3 gigabite download!!!!!

It's probably fair to say that BT is one of the companies best avoided by those who don't wish to have their lack of computer knowledge taken advantage of.

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January 9, 2009. Have found some nasty little surprises in our BT contract which the sales people didn't bother to mention. Firstly there is a minimum spend which I don't yet fully understand and secondly, telling BT that we wish to terminate the contract after it has run its course is not that easy. We can't, for example, tell them now that we don't want to renew in two years time. We have to wait until twenty eight days before the contract's end and also for a special notification from BT. Then we can tell them we don't wish to renew but should we fail to do so in this time period we will automatically be contracted for another two years and any attempt to escape BT clutches will involve heavy cancellation fees. Don't know what's happened to the active generation, the eighteen to fifty five year olds, but we would never have stood for that kind of shonky trick in the sixties. As subjects of the British Crown, although we are honour bond to honour the terms of any contract we sign, we should have the right to expect fair and decent treatment from any major company. But obviously, companies like BT don't see it this way and feel that scamming its customers is legitimate business practice. Should you ever have to deal with BT remember that although the big print giveth, the little print taketh away.

I don't think BT is a company anyone could trust.

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January 16, 2001: First experiences with BT Mobile Broadband are really shocking. Bad is not the word for it. Have used 3's mobile broadband for a while and have had few problems and that is why I'm really horrified at BT. Yesterday it was telling me that some fairly inocuous sites didn't exist (www.lotto.ie for example) and today it's telling me that these sites do in fact exist but BT won't let me access them unless I first ring them and prove I'm over 18. (We actually have a business account with BT.) But have you ever tried to ring BT? To the best of my ability I avoid ringing them because I'm fed up with being told to press button one two or three. Especially since I've discovered that most of this run-around is because BT want to collect statistics and when you eventually get through to one of their people, the buttons you pressed made absolutely no difference to the selection of the person you end up speaking to. (Have discovered that on some BT customer assistance numbers it is completely impossible to speak to a human being. Other times I've rung 'business' support only, after pressing several buttons, to be told that because I have a business acount this particular help line can't help me.)

But all the above aside, even when you try to connect to unrestricted sites through BT you often have to try two or three times because there's a problem with the way BT interpreted the address - which was correctly typed.

If you like problems by the barrel full, BT is the provider for you.

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July 31st, 2009: Problem was finally sorted in about early March but must say I'm not surprised BT has such a bad reputation for customer services. Of the many people I spoke to on the phone, only two understood the ins and outs of the BT system and actually knew what they were doing. The rest just fobbed me off with excuses and promises to call me back, which they didn't.
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The difference do you know,
'tween coffin and condom?

You in one can't help but come,
While in the other you must go.

But both, do this point not miss,
Are made to carry stiffs.

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