another new year

well we got to the end of 2006 and find ourselves at the beginning of a 2007. Like many I wonder what will it hold for us - but realise that it is not for us to know the future; we will find out soon enough what is in store for us.

The media is full of doom and gloom at home; we are in for an unprecedented number of bankruptcies based on our greed [surely banks and other financial institutions have a significant role in debt as well]. If commercial drives were not so strong - encouraging us to buy now and pay later then perhaps debt would not be such a problem. On the other hand if we were not borrowing to buy then perhaps the economy might not be as strong as it is and interest rates would have to be higher and we would all be up to our necks in debt ........

Is debt a necessary part of our economy?

It is no use looking back on 'how good' it used to be. We are in the here and now; whilst we do need to understand how we got here and where we might be going we can not return to those halcyon days [were they that good anyway?]. We have to accept that we can only move forwards. We can not change the facts of history, only learn from them. However we do not seem to be able to learn very well.

Even further afield there is not much to cheer us.

Even in this 'enlightened age' we allow people like Saddam to be executed which in turn is likely to fuel unrest rather than quell it. I do not suggest that he was not guilty only question the need for blood letting. What purpose does it serve to execute someone, however heinous the crime - we only reduce ourselves to the same level of barbarism. There should be an alternative.

So let there be some hope for the future, that 2007 is not blighted as have so many years in the past; that we learn to live with each other more peacefully.

Football Financial Bully Boys

We read again today about the so called ability of Chelsea to buy who they want as they seem to have a bottomless pit of funds. They are 'interested' in Micah Richards as they have not yet found any one to fil that role. So the smaller clubs will suffer their teams becoming a little bit weaker and the Chelsea bully boys get a bit stronger. Short term gain may be a long term disaster for the likes of City and others who provide the long term investment in football through their academy policies. City still miss the skills of SWP - who probably regrets his move as he no longer has regular first team playing opportuities and has lost his national team place [but no doubt his agent doesn't].

They are following in the footsteps of the likes of United [hiss] who had a similar policy in the past but no longer seem to have the same kind of money since the Glazers took over [it couldn't have happened to a nicer team!].

Isn't it time that we look at the size of squads, if Chelsea and their likes continue to buy up talent no one else will have enough to put a team [worthy of the Premiership] together and we could end up with a much smaller top league and our national team will will aslo suffer. We must put a stop to these bully boy tactics.

Education

We hear that our illustrious Government is focussing on education, it seems that this is not before time. At the check out today I noticed a grave inability to count by both a customer and the check out staff. At the 'basket till' with 5 items or less [not just one sign but two] as he had 8 items to pay for. Will some of this expenditure be invested in people other than children?

Maybe I am becoming a grumpy old man!!!!

Ordnance Survey - Ed Parsons

The recent announcement that Ed Parsons, CTO at Ordnance Survey, is to leave leaves questions unanswered. The Agreed Text on Ed's blog suggests more. However the question must be asked, is his leaving related to the recent announcement that OS were parting company with Tadpole and the non completion of Phoenix? Rather sad that someone with such vision pays the price and of course will be si difficuklt to replace. Ed is a visionary of such proportions that OS need him more now than ever with stuff like Inspire etc still around, time will tell!

Global warming

if we take power out the wind to create electricity, what effect does that have somewhere else? Surely we can't take this power without any cost somewhere else. Are we being deluded by scientists and politcians?