If you're like me and think you'd like to like Tony Blair, but sometimes your faith wavers; then take the time to sit through his speech to conference from yesterday

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5383408.stm

And try to remember how hopeless many of us where under the last Government. All together now....

FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!

A couple of not very interesting things I've done but not mentioned....

The weekend before last I went to see The Runners who were playing in Bristol, well away from their usual stomping ground of Hertford. Very good they were too; and still without a record deal! Quite incredibe.
http://www.myspace.com/therunnersband

I've been playing a lot more scrabble lately. Playing well too - blistering form in fact.

The running's not going too well. I seem to feel very tired from the waste down. Hope it's nothing serious. Wife's not pleased either.

I get my motorbike registered this weekend; should be riding on the road on Monday.

Bet you wish led such an exciting life

I recognise that my blogs have become a bit dull and serious lately but I'm finding very little inspiration.

About 6 weeks ago I noticed my readership going through the roof and suddenly it seemed like viewr numbers were important. Since then I've succumbed to what I think a lot of bloggers succumb to - blogging for the sake of it.

This is a classic example.

I don't want to keep churning out substandard rubbish so unless I get a new wave of enthusiam, this will be my last blog.

Thanks for reading

I'm not saying don't pay the tax, especially if you're rich enough to be able to afford it comfortably. I'm just saying don't make it easy for them.

If you agree that the license fee is the most unfair tax in the UK then I hope you fell like doing something about it. What I recommend is that you cancel your direct debit and pay as and when it becomes due. That way you stay within the law and it gives them a bit more hassle as they spend their time chasing you with reminders rather than chasing the poor.

Worth a click>>>>

http://www.tvlicensing.biz/

One point for the song and one for the artist. Austin-Lance leads with 8 point so far

1. If I stay here won't you listen, to my heart, oh oh my heart?

2. see that girl, watch that scene

3. You say that we've got nothing in common, no common ground to start from

4. Son Saxo Jaune, connait tous les rues par cour

5. Tobias Wilcox

It's been a bad week for the BBC.

First there was a Panorama programme that threatened to lift the lid on alleged corruption in footbal. This programme was hyped for weeks and a nation's football fans sat down to watch an hour's worth of innuendo and trivia. At the end of it, a few agents are a bit embarrased and one league manager has had some mud thrown at him. However, the mud will wash off nicely when his lawyers take the BBC to the cleaners in court.

Then they nearly killed one of their top presenters. That'll cost them (ie us license payers) a few bob but I suppose accidents like that are the kind of thing that might happen on a show where speed and risk taking are the main themes. Top gear is a very popular show and most will say 'hey, ho, that's the way it goes'.

But hang on a minute... This is public service broadcasting isn't it? How on earth can blokes driving cars too fast, risking people's lives and pumping out the carbon be a public service?

Top Gear should never have been a BBC programme. It is fundamentally immoral that poor people who couldn't even dream of sitting in one of those flash motors should have to pay for these rich blokes to mess about smashing stuff up. It's right that the programme should be made, but it should be made by an independant channel and paid for by those who want to watch, and not paid for by the most unfair tax on the statute book.

You can make your protest against the license fee by writing to your MP and make a practical difference by cancelling your direct debit to the licensing agency.

I always thought that no one will ever take global warming seriously until it actually starts to get a bit warmer. I mean, melting icecaps and a bit more rain just don't marry with the concept of 'warm'. However, it would seem that the people of the world are about to start taking notice of climate change.

Have you seen how many daddylonglegses there are knocking about at the moment? Scientists reckon their abundance is due to global warming. In fact, a 0.01 degree increase in average world temperature will lead to a 7 fold increase due to the chances of their eggs successfully hatching being more dependent on outside temperature than any other species.

This year there has been a 12 fold increase in daddylonglegses over last year. That means that if the trend continues, and if you saw perhaps 3 in your home today, then this time next year you can expect about 36. In 5 years your home could be infested by three quarters of a million of them.

Expect climate change to become a really hot issue then!

One Point for the song and one point for the artist:

1. Moi moi moi moi moi

2. Two lovers entwined pass me by

3. Picture this, we were both caught making love

4. Then we would cook oatmeal porridge

5. Take a sad song and make it better

Had a barbie, played 10 games of Scrabble and got SKY tv installed. That's about it.

Oh. And I'm ashamed to say that I bought a television license but only because I guess that Sky would be shopping me to the BBC heavy mob.

Sky? Me? What do I want Sky for? Well to be honest I don't; I was happy with me digibox. But this new house has an ancient aerial that won't pick up digital* and the local aerial fitters were going to charge £180. Sky's basic package will cost me less than that in the first 12 months, after which I can cancel the contract and keep the kit.

*Dont get me started about digital. All that license payers money spent on channels that only a few people watch. And the threats to switch off the analogue signal to boot. They don't tell you in the advertising that you might need a new aerial. They're buggers man.

1. The Crusades
2. Causing virtually ever war for the last 2000 years
3. Despising homosexuals whilst practising sexual devience themselves
4. Their smug 'I'm going to heaven and you're going to hell' attitude
5. George W Bush
6. Television evangelists (sorry, USA readers won't get this one)
7. Tom Cruise
8. Their 1001 excuses why rich men can get to heaven
9. Their 10 commandments which bear little relation to the real world (only 2 of them are actually illegal)
10. Their patronising assumption (borne out by several blogs on here) that all non christians are ignorant. No we're not; we know about your crazy book, your crazy beliefs and your propensity to hate your fellow man, and we don't like it!

Disclaimer: I'm attempting to be witty. I don't really believe that anyone should be thrown to the lions, not even George Bush. Violence is evil whether carried out in the name of God or otherwise. We all believe in crazy things - in fact I support Sunderland - but none of it is worth falling out over.

You read that right. Blackcurrantade. Only available from Morrisons as far as I'm aware.

Quite nice.

It's not your cherryade you understand. Nor is it your Old Rosie. But it's canny for a change.

As promised in my earlier blog, I now present my thoughts on the meaning of life. Or to be a little more precise - how to avoid death.

The reason that certain fairy tales are so persistant is that they suggest that the believer may get the one thing that everyone wants - immortality. I refer of course to the fairy tales that are commonly known as religions. So I thought to myself, is there any way we can really achieve immortality without having to nail people to trees, blow each other up or generally just be hopelessly wrong?
Then... a light shone through the window, and I screamed...'hallelulia' as I realised that already we are in fact drifting in the right direction. Life expectancy is rising all the time. One of you reading this may live to be 100; maybe both of you will. Ok, it's still a long way from infinity, but it's a start.

The trick is, to keep yourself alive as long as possible in the hope, nay expectation, that eventually we will cure every single cause of death.

But what happens if you don't manage to hang on for long enough? Well fear not, because after death is prevented the next thing to work on will be an actual cure for death. That is resurrection. The people of the future will come back and find us! Why? Because they love us, that's why. If you were a 25th century doctor who had the technology to raise the dead, wouldn't you want to meet your parents again?

"Praise The Lord" I hear you cry but to be fair, I'm just an ordinary bloke and unworthy of God status. Anyway, I thought that this might have been a bit of original thinking on my part and I would have a job on to convince my followers but it seems that people have been thinking along these lines for a canny bit now...

http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/more/transhumanist-values/

As Nikki would say, "Who ARE these people????".

I'm referring of course to the people who run the BBC. In recent years they have devoted an enourmous proportion of their 'news' output to ousting our democratically elected prime minister.

It started with the sexed up dossier allegations when the BBC made unfounded claims that the PM had lied in a desperate attempt to ensure that a war took place. Despite an inquiry clearing the Government of the charges and several high profile resignations from the BBC, Aunty Beeb still managed to spin it as though the Government had lost.

Then the general election came and Labour (led by Tony Blair) won again.

As a result, the BBC vowed to redouble their efforts. Having failed to smear Blair with lies, they tried a different tack; one which appears to have worked. Since the election they have reported little else in the way of political news other than stuff about Blair's retirement date. By blowing out of all proportion any comment or hint they have made a long running saga out of a non-story. Bit by bit, their influence has crept closer and closer to the PM. First by winding up failed ex ministers, then back benchers and finally yesterday, a junior minister that no one had ever heard of.

So now it looks like the BBC will have their scalp by may next year. But don't expect them to be content with that. They're smelling blood now and will pile on the pressure to make Blair's downfall as painful as possible.

Then we'll have Gordon Brown (probably) and the BBC will then go back to reporting the news, won't they?

Of course they won't. For them it's not a case of getting Blair out, it's a case of getting their chaps back in (The Conservative Party). Brown can expect a torrid time during his time in office and it will be of immense credit to him if he can win the next general election.

You see, all the things the BBC said about Tony Blair just amounted to the one thing they didn't like - Blair wins elections for Labour

It's a shame about Steve Irwin. I wouldn't say I was his greatest fan but I think everyone would admit he had the kind of courage and enthusiasm and simple likeability that most of us would like to have.

However....

I bet there's a little voice in all of our minds saying, 'well you asked for it mate'.

On Wednesday our boss gave his annual address to the workers.

It was standing room only as everyone packed into a conference room to hear him go through the year's figures and explain that although we had made a profit, it wasn't as good as the one we made last year and how we have embarked on a project to cut out waste etc etc.

To be fair, there is a lot that needs to be done to sharpen up our act and changes are already being made. On the whole, people are supportive. But the tone of the end of year brief left me more than a tad worried.

You see, it was all about money and efficiency. And whilst I wholeheartedly agree that these are crucial to the company's success, I felt there should have been something more. Do we really just do this for the money? Do we not care that the work we do is a vital public service?

At one point, the boss even asked 'what do you come here for?' with the implied answer being 'the money'. After sitting (or standing) through about a dozen slides with graphs, percentages and the new management structure (there's always a new management structure) he finally came to the slide of most interest to the viewers - the amount of the yearly bonus. Which was puny. In fact last year's was puny, this year's was punier.

Is that it? What about the professional achievements this year? What about the people who's lives have improved as a result of what we have done? What about making the workforce feel like they're doing something good?

As I said, I'm a tad worried. I fear that a workforce motivated only by money is a workforce of a company with a difficult future. Fortunately, I don't think it's truly as bad as that. The professionals I work with do have pride in what they do. But will they be inspired to do better in the coming year?

One person's attitude at the very top of the organisation needs to change. I suppose, that since no one else seems to have spotted the problem, then it's up to me to tell him .

Do you get job satisfaction? Or do you do it for the money?