Archive for the ‘Consumerism’ Category
Ryanair Plumbs New Depths
I see that the deeply unpleasant and sleazy Michael O’Leary is refusing to comply with the EU law that requires him to provide his passengers with accommodation and food when they’re delayed.
I’ve never travelled in one of his cattle trucks but based on my one and only experience of Easyjet, which is supposed to be about the same, then I’d rather walk or stay at home.
Not Fit For Purpose
In normal circumstances I’d be supporting anyone who wanted to defy the EU but in O’Leary’s case I’ll make an exception.
Obnoxious, ignorant, self-important, oafish – no, they don’t quite sum him up. I tell you what, blatant and clear intent to defy the law that governs his business makes him unfit to hold an operator’s licence.
He should be banned from running an airline.
A Real Insight Into The Police
The conduct of the police has been in the news again this week for all the wrong reasons. First there was the disgracegful, outrageous and deeply corrupt acquittal of the thug policeman, Sgt Delroy Smellie, who beat up Nicola Fisher at the G20 protest. See the story here. There’s also the CPS’ deplorable failure to bring to trial the police officer who was responsible for the death of Ian Tomlinson, also at the G20 protest. See here.
Evenin' All
In the course of writing about these events and reading other blogs I came across Inspector Gadget. This is a blog by a policeman for policemen (and women). I’m not quite clear whether the author is a serving police inspector or not. If he’s still in the job I’m not sure that it’s entirely proper for him to be writing as he is but I’m still considering my verdict on that.
Inspector Gadget does offer an extraordinary insight into the attitudes of serving police officers. There are hundreds of comments demonstrating intelligence, passion, anger, professionalism and, in a few cases, crass stupidity and irresponsibility. I’m reassured that there are many police officers who see that the acquittal of Smellie and the delay in prosecuting the murder of Ian Tomlinson causes enormous damage to the police. I am very deeply disturbed though by the attitudes that far too many of Inspector Gadget’s contributors demonstrate.
Put Up With It. It's Your Job.
It is quite clear that many officers are psychologically unsuited to the job and are not “fit and proper” people to be given the authority and responsibility of a police constable. Judging by some of the contributors who claim to be trained in “split second decision making” and the control of violent disorder, I’d say that some of them are bordering on psychopathic. They shouldn’t be allowed on the streets at all, let alone in a police uniform.
I think Inspector Gadget should be much more widely read, certainly within the Home Office and by those (I wish I knew who they are) who have control over the strategic direction of policing and police recruitment. There are attitudes demonstrated that suggest to me we should be opening a whole new wing at Brixton or, more probably, Broadmoor, for psychopathic, violent ex-police officers.
Obviously this won’t make me popular with some people and, as I don’t hide my identity, maybe I should be expecting a knock on the door in the middle of the night, but I cannot stand by and let attitudes such as these prevail.
You’re not entitled to complain about being shouted at, abused, sworn at, threatened (within limits) or protestors not obeying your “orders”. This is all part of the job.
Your standard of behaviour must be far, far higher than the protestors. If you cannot control your temper, even in the face of extreme provocation, you shouldn’t be in the job.
I am a strong supporter of the police. The necessary concomitant of that is that any officer who steps out of line or goes over the top must be punished severely, more severely than if they were a member of the general public.
Anyone who cannot see the wrong perpetrated by Smellie against Fisher and by Officer X against Tomlinson is not fit to be a police officer.
Overpaid, Overperked And Overcome With Vanity
You Used To Be Sexy!
The BA cabin crew staff need to wake up to reality and get back to work.
The conduct of Unite, of Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson is just completely unbelievable. I cannot believe that two evidently intelligent men can seriously espouse the policies they are presenting.
Mad Or Bad?
I think the truth must be that this is an old fashioned, ultra left wing plot to “overthrow the capitalist system”, to in some way promote the left’s agenda as Gordon Brown leads Labour to inevitable, humiliating defeat.
I can understand the BA cabin crew staff being taken in by Unite’s idiotic stance because self-interest can blind us all to common sense.
The very idea that such ludicrous policies could prosper is ridiculous. The truth is in the BA share price. The cabin crew staff are overpaid, overperked and overcome with vanity if they see any future in their strike.
Get back to work now.
Mephedrone – I Told You So
Last year the formerly intelligent and sensible Alan Johnson got himself involved in the misinformation campaign against cannabis and several members of the Advisory Council On The Misuse Of Drugs resigned. The ACMD is now unable to function and the real concern that there now is about mephedrone (see here) cannot be properly addressed.
I said this would happen but I take no pleasure in being proved right. It is just another example of the idiotic and irrational way that our politicians deal with the drugs issue.
So while I think it is essential that the safety of mephedrone is examined, the hysterical, hang ’em high, lock ’em all up, stop them having fun brigade is out and proud yet again.
The two boys who died in Scunthorpe had also taken methadone which is an opiate substitute and known to be lethal. I wonder what the real cause of death will prove to be?
If there is any intelligent life left in the government perhaps someone might wake up to the fact that, generally speaking, politicians and legislation cause more problems with drugs than they solve.
There is common sense to be found in the debate on drugs. See Transform Drug Policy Foundation.
Invictus
The Real Thing
This is the new film, directed by Clint Eastwood, about how the South African rugby team, the Springboks, won the Rugby World Cup in 1995 and helped to reunite the country on a wave of patriotism just five years after Mandela was released. Morgan Freeman is simply mesmerising as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon is superb as Francois Pienaar, captain of the team.
I’m a complete believer in the idea that international rugby is more important than most things in life so, granted, I was almost certain to enjoy this movie. I didn’t expect to be quite so emotionally overwhelmed though. This film is a wonderful, triumphant experience and a lesson in life. See here for an excerpt.
Invictus bears no resemblance to the anodyne pap that Hollywood has fed us this year. It is a work of art, a political manifesto and an inspiration to the human soul. The title comes from William Ernest Henry’s poem of the same name in which Mandela found comfort while in prison:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
If “Up In The Air” is up its own a*** and an insult to its audience; “Avatar” is an adolescent technogeek’s fantasy, terribly badly realised; “The Hurt Locker” is just another good but not great war movie then “Invictus” is a wonderful, uplifting story that deserves all the praise, all the admiration and all the awards.
The Movie
After The War On Drugs
This is well worth 10 minutes of anybody’s time.
The extraordinary impact that “The War on Drugs” has on our world should not be underestimated. The ludicrous and failed idea of prohibition means that 95% of all street crime and 75% of all organised crime is as a result of illegal drugs.
Legalise all drugs. Regulate, control and tax the supply chain. Pull the rug from under organised crime. Remove the necessity for drug victims to rob and steal. Save billions of pounds/dollars and millions of lives. Transform our society.
Transform Drug Policy Foundation is an extraordinary organisation whose time has come.
OFT – Incompetence, Conspiracy, Paper Tiger Or All Three?
I’m one of the lucky ones. I recovered over £2000 of illegal penalty charges from the Nationwide and HSBC a couple of years back before the High Court stayed all the claims. I had the great pleasure of walking into HSBC’s Kilburn branch with a judgment stamped by the Bow County Court (local to its Canary Wharf headquarters). I demanded my money there and then and created a right hiatus in the branch! I didn’t get it then but I did the following day in crisp £50 notes.
Den Of Thieves
It goes without saying that the banks are all, without exception, cheats, thieves, liars and lowlife scoundrels. That’s why millions of people were relying on the Office Of Fair Trading to stand up for them. The OFT’s decision now to drop their action against the banks is a national disgrace of monstrous proportions. Although we cannot be sure of exactly who is behind this scandal, the fact that dishonesty, corruption and theft are at the root of it is manifest and crystal clear.
The banks were making around £7 billion a year in charges, most of which were for unauthorised overdrafts. Claimants would have been able to claim for six years of charges so the banks have been let off a £40 billion hook. Never have the British people been so let down by those who are supposed to protect them.
The High Court first made the extraordinary decision that these charges were not penalty charges. This is nonsense. HSBC actually described many of their charges to me as “card misuse” – so is that a penalty or not?. Of course they were and as such were illegal and unenforceable at law. When the banks debited your account like this they were committing theft and they’ve got away with it scot free.
It has now been well established that the actual cost to the banks of these transactions were less than £2 each when they were charging their customers up to £40 a time.
It must be truly astonishing to any right minded person that the OFT has backed down. Even in the last Supreme Court judgement the OFT was given a clear hint, more like an invitation, that it should revert to the Court on a different basis. So what possible reason can there be for abandoning the claim?
There can be no doubt that this decision is improper. I wonder why it was announced on 22nd December when the entire country was at the peak of its pre-Christmas mass hysteria?
Two Faced Coward
John Fingleton, the OFT’s chief executive, should resign immediately. He is either corrupt or weak. He certainly has no integrity because whatever pressure or bribery has been put upon him he should have fought to his last breath to stop this massive crime by the banker robbers.
We cannot rely on these paper tigers of consumer protection. We certainly cannot rely on government. It is doubtful that our self-serving, whipped and bullied MPs will do anything meaningful. It seems the only option now may be molotov cocktails through the door of every bank premises throughout the country. How else are we supposed to protect ourselves when we are so badly let down?
We live in an entirely monetised society. It is impossible to function without a bank account. Therefore, the banker robbers must be regulated virtually to death. Their policies and profits must be ruthlessly controlled. Their crimes must not be overlooked but punished severely with massive multi-billion pound fines for the institutions and long prison sentences for the responsible executives.
Rage Against My DRM Resolution
I have always sworn that I would never buy any DRM music. It’s a fundamentally flawed and immoral idea that if I pay for music I shouldn’t have the right to play it where, when and on what I want. It’s an idea that is doomed to failure. Even Steve Jobs, the gamekeeper turned poacher turned lord of the manor turned poacher has recognised that it has exactly the opposite effect to that intended and alienates customers too.
So what has caused me to break my resolution? The X Factor. It has to be bad that every Christmas the charts are hijacked by manufactured pop. I don’t count “Rage Against The Machine” as my favourite band but I spent 67p at Tesco’s online music store and got my DRM track.
You should join in too! See the Facebook campaign page and rage against The X Factor!
Foolish Staff Unite To Destroy BA
The BA cabin crew strike over Christmas is a huge mistake by the staff and the union. It’s a disaster for the company.
Crashing
The union “Unite” is just about all that’s left of the entire trade union movement anyway. There’s not much else left that has any power. It looks like some latter day Scargill is behind this idiotic strike. If Unite hoped to gain some public sympathy by destroying a million passengers’ Christmas plans then it has made a grave miscalculation.
As for the staff, we no longer have any remaining affection for this strange group of people. Once, of course, they were central to the glamour of air travel. Now, the fact that nearly all the men are homosexual has gone beyond a joke and become oppressive. The girls are no longer sweet and delightful. Now they are like severe school mistresses, more concerned with monitoring your alcohol consumption than being appropriately deferential and making you feel special.
It’s not BA’s fault that all the glamour has gone and that air travel is now an ordeal rather than a pleasure. That is down to Easyjet and the appalling Ryanair and vulgar Michael O’Leary.
This is dreadful news for all concerned but the public will punish BA severely. Any loyalty or talk of “favourite” is all gone now. There will be long term, severe and well-deserved consequences for the staff.
Peter Reynolds 