Lib Dems Commit Suicide

I’m very disappointed that the bill to increase tuition fees has been successful. The Lib Dems should be ashamed of themselves. They signed a pre-election pledge to vote against any increase. In the end only 21 of them had the balls to vote against the bill with 8 of them abstaining.

Nick Clegg has spent the last few days insulting the public and the students by saying the policy isn’t bad it’s just that people don’t understand it. We do understand the policy Nick and it’s disgraceful. He keeps trying to tell us that it’s not that bad because students won’t have to pay anything back until they are reaping the benefits of their education and earning £21,000 or more. Well let me tell you Nick, £21,000 isn’t very much these days. A great deal of non-graduate jobs (including mine) pay that much.

Imagine a student who has to pay £9,000 on tuition fess and takes out a £4,000 student loan each year of a 3 year course. Total debt £21,000. If the student marries another student or graduate with a similar debt they are staring adult life with a combined debt of £42,000. If they want to buy a small house in the town where I live (one of the cheapest places in the country for property prices) they are going to need a mortgage of at least £75,000.

That means before they have even considered having any children and raising a family they have a combined debt of over £117,000.

This whole episode is going to be very damaging for the Lib Dems:

How are they going to campaign at the next election?
Nobody will believe a word they say.

How will they be able to campaign against the Tory party on the doorsteps?
They can’t as they are the Tories partners in crime.

Well done Nick! You and Vince have destroyed the Lib Dems as a political force. I would be amazed if the party gets more 10% – 12% of the vote at the next election.

John Lennon

As I’m sure you are all aware today marks the 30th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. I was only 5 when he was murdered but I vaguely remember the day. I was playing at a friend’s house when his Mum came running into the room in tears and told his Dad the news. My little friend and I had no idea who John Lennon was and after his Mum had calmed down we carried on playing with our toy cars. Other than that I have no real recollection of the day.

Anyone reading my Blog won’t be surprised to hear that Lennon is one of my heroes. Lennon wasn’t perfect, he had problems with Heroin addiction and he can also be criticised for the way Julian Lennon was treated (it would be unfair to say it’s all Yoko’s fault) but his music both as a solo artist and with the Beatles is remarkable. Lennon wrote some of the most inspiring music ever recorded. Imagine, Give Peace a Chance and Working Class Hero are personal favourites from his solo career. I also admire him as a peace campaigner and political activist. It is easy to mock the ‘bed-in’ and ‘bag-in’ protests but they did garner massive publicity for the peace movement.

The Beatles changed music and popular culture forever. The impact their music has had on millions of people across the world has never been matched. McCartney may have been the Beatles’ musical brain but Lennon was its musical heart.

John Lennon - “I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I'm one of those people.”

Bloody Freezing

It was bloody freezing this morning when I was driving to work. It took me ages to clear the ice from my car. We haven't had that much snow where I live but what snow we have had has now turned to ice and the pavements and roads are very slippy.

If you have to travel today please be very careful and drive slowly. Give yourself plenty of time and take some provisions with you just in case you get stuck. Make sure you have got some warm clothes or a blanket in your car. Ensure that your phone is fully charged so you can make a call in an emergency. It's all about being sensible.

Live Music

I went to see Madness at the Manchester Apollo on Tuesday night. They did all the classic hits like ‘Our House’ and ‘Baggy Trousers’. It was great fun. I’ve been to see quite a lot of live music this year. I’ve seen Blondie, The Manic Street Preachers and Gorillaz to name but a few and I’m going to see Paul Weller tomorrow night at the MEN arena.

What gets me annoyed is the ticket prices and how far in advance the tickets come out. I booked tickets yesterday to see The Specials at the Apollo. The gig is not until next October and the tickets cost £45 each! I don’t know if this ticketmaster’s fault, the promoters fault or the bands fault but the tickets are far too expensive and making people book almost a full 12 months in advance is crazy.

I'm Rich!!!!!

Well it’s Friday for me and it’s my last day before joining a new team at work on Thursday. My working life is going to dramatically change. In many ways I’m taking a backward step but I’m going to look on it as a new opportunity.

I’ve had a very tough couple of years and it’s not easy when times are hard but I always try and count my blessings. It’s not as important as family, friends and health but one of the things I always remind myself is just how disgustingly wealthy I am. When I say this to people who know me they laugh. My wage is slightly below the UK average. I don’t live in a mansion; I live in a 2 bed terrace. I don’t drive a sports car; I drive a 10 year old Astra. Despite all this I am actually very very rich:


• The average person in India has to survive on less than $2 per day. In Africa it’s less than $1 per day. The average global annual income is thought to be about $5300 (£3385).

• I live in my own house and I have central heating, running water, electricity and piped gas. Many in people in the world will never have these things.

• I’ve got televisions, DVD players, an iPhone and a laptop.

• I can take holidays abroad and stay in nice hotels.

• I can afford to buy foods that are a luxury and a treat. Many people buy food to survive.

I know wealth is relevant to the society we live in but when I look at the facts I’m very lucky, in a financial sense, to have been born in one of the richest nations on Earth.

As we are one of the richest nations on Earth surely we can afford to provide a first class socialised health service, free education, decent residential care for our elderly and all the other things that make a society civilised.

Maybe, we could do even more!

If every country in the world stopped spending money on weapons to kill each other with we could afford to educate every child on the planet, provide a decent level of healthcare for everyone and still have enough money left to develop new types of energy so we can end our destructive reliance on Oil.

Christmas Shopping

I know this is unusual but I saw an interesting item on Sky News yesterday. It was about the first big Saturday for Christmas shopping. The guy from Sky was at a department store reporting on how the current financial situation is impacting sales. He was interviewing the manager of the store (a funny looking orange coloured woman) who explained that sales of lower priced products were poor, but the sales of high end items like Champagne, expensive jewellery and luxury food items were doing very well indeed.

What further proof is needed that we are not all in this together? The recession, banking crises and subsequent government cuts are having a far heavier impact on low and middle income families than the high earners.

According to Sky News the average person earning average wages expects to spend £490 on presents and entertainment this Christmas, down from £548 in 2009. There are so many people living in fear of losing their jobs over the next 12 months that they are terrified of spending cash and even more scared of using credit cards.

So while Nick, George, Dave and all their upper class and rich banking friends enjoy an opulent Christmas the rest of us will have to try and do it on the cheap.

At least the young people in our society are waking up and fighting back. The students are setting the example and it’s high time the rest of us followed their lead.