You are currently browsing the The English Guy's Personal Blog weblog archives for March, 2008.

 

Posted by richard

Finally, we have it. No evidence at all for a conspiracy to murder Diana.

So I suppose that means Mr Al Fayed will finally be able to move on? Yeah and I’ll win the Euromillions jackpot this Friday…

As the Times Online reported:

The jury in the inquest into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, must not conclude that the Duke of Edinburgh unlawfully killed her, the coroner said today.

The theory that the Duke masterminded a plot to murder the Princess and Dodi Fayed, her lover, does not have a “shred of evidence” to support it, the jury were told by Lord Justice Scott Baker in his first day of summing up.

I know what will happen though. Mr Al Fayed will go on to say that the coroner was a pawn of the state, a paid employee of the Duke and the queen. The coroner is after all, a peer, and probably (in Mohammed Al Fayed‘s mind at least) in some way indebted to the Crown for his position in life.

So then, can we finally put this to rest? Can Diana, the people’s Princess, finally find some peace in her grave? It seems unlikely. I have a sick feeling that this will drag on and on for many years to come yet.

 

Posted by richard

After running through popurls today I saw a comic strip and this is the image that popped up (click it to see the full version on their original post). That’s how I feel some days …

 

Posted by richard

I have had the opportunity this morning to upgrade the blog to WordPress 2.5 (you can download it here). Nice and easy and usual. Simple to upgrade, and no problems whatsoever.

The admin panel looks really good, clean and bright, nice colours.

So now I have to go through all the other blogs I run and upgrade them… this is going to be a long day!

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Posted by richard

Tonight on the news: Terminal 5 is a national shame.

National? How the f*** has this got anything to do with me? I don’t get my share dividend cheque in the mail from the BAA revenues. How has this got anything to do with England or Britain as a whole? BAA is the one that manages it, the one that built the terminal, and BA is the one managing the aircraft at the terminal, and the debacle of luggage there.

The Times Online has a good article showing the disruption. Stories, tales of the woes of passengers, the ridiculous situation of BAA employees not even being able to get into Terminal 5 because of the lack of parking spaces.

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Posted by richard

This is one subject that really gets me riled up. I understand why certain prisoners might be released early, such as thieves, embezzlers and so on. If there is no violence in the crime, no intent to harm others, and the prisoners has behaved well in prison, I can see where the state would let them free early.

To my mind however, someone convicted of a terrorism offence, would be considered as committing a violent crime. Wouldn’t you? Apparently the government did not think so, and has subsequently reversed that policy.

Easing overcrowding in our prisons, anyone’s prisons for that matter, should be done by releasing non-violent criminals. Or alternatively BUILD MORE PRISONS! As I have said a number of times, the United Kingdom or Great Britain is comprised of hundreds of islands. Why not find some remote islands and build prisons on them? Make the prisoners grow their own food, tend crops and livestock, and spend less of the citizens’ tax money.

 

Posted by richard

The Germans have introduced some new speed cameras. Beware.

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Nothing like a bit of harsh justice to sort us all out!

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Posted by richard

There used to be a cigar commercial here in the UK, and the title of this post was the punchline: Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet. The brand of the cigar was (obviously) Hamlet, and the guy in it always won out and closed out the commercial smoking the cigar. The last of the great 1960′s smoking adverts, no doubt.

The modern equivalent however, should be: Fairness is a gas price nearing $4. That’s for any Americans reading this, assuming you do.

I used to live in the US and you get used to cheap petrol (gasoline). Really used to it. Filling up a Ford Expedition for under $50, that was a treat. Talking to family members here in the UK and hearing that petrol was over £3 a gallon (that’s $6) and this was over four years ago, it really made you wonder about the world’s economies.

That’s why I’m now of the firm conviction that petrol prices should be the same everywhere. Here. South Africa. The US. China. Instead of having the local government set the price, make an organisation like OPEC, except for refined petroleum/petrol/gasoline instead of oil. They set the price, and that’s what we have to buy it at.

It may be difficult for Americans to come to terms with petrol that’s over $1.25 (which it was around 2000), because they’ve always paid dirt cheap prices for it. But you have had it easy. Very easy, compared to the rest of us. Now it’s time that you see what we’ve had to put up with – prices are now reaching $3.26 for gasoline and diesel is at $4.06 (average prices in the US). That’s about half of what we currently pay here in the UK, and -YOU- are whining about that!

Maybe if we’re all equal, everywhere in the world, we’d moderate the use of cars, or alternatively spur car manufacturers to produce more hybrids or electric cars?

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Posted by richard

Having written about it recently, about how snow was forecast, it actually arrived!

Yesterday was a bit of a disappointment after the weather programs telling us it would be here, I got up half expecting a covering of snow but nothing. So it was just another day really.

This morning however, I pulled back the curtains and nearly blinded myself, the white was that encompassing. As you can see from these pictures I took of the (once in a lifetime) event, the first one is out the back window looking at Louth church, quite a shot:

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And out the front window, which was more amusing as when I took the picture, not two seconds after I heard the camera ‘click’ (cameraphone), a huge lump of snow fell from the roof into the front yard:

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Out the back window again, you can just see next door neighbour’s clothes on the washing line that they’d left out, now covered in a thick dollop of snow. Serves ‘em right:

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And the last one, a picture of my back patio, fully laden with snow, and showing it falling down just as it got thicker too. Love the whirlybird covered in the stuff, great pic:

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So I know that it’s not up to Mac and Corey‘s standards (those Canadians will tell you less than two feet of snow is just a “light covering”) but for here, it’s a bloody miracle! Fitting really, considering it’s Easter …

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Posted by richard

Yesterday at work it was one of those last day days. We were all hyped up about having four days off (even though most of us will spend it doing nothing whatsoever). Also the news that we might actually get some snow this weekend was a little exciting.

Snow covering this miserable winter landscape devoid of leaves would be a welcome sight. In spring summer and autumn Louth is nice, one of the best places to live in, but in winter it’s a bit dreary.

So, bring on the snow! Not that it matters much to me since I’ll be watching Hamilton win again …

 

Posted by richard

For once in your life Heather, show some class and shut your mouth, because quite frankly you are making a real fool of yourself.

You just made a potfull of gold from a man who has worked hard for it, and you’ve basically done nothing.

As the Telegraph reports:

While Sir Paul, 65, left the High Court with a smile and no comment, his former wife launched an 11-minute tirade against the British judicial system in front of scores of journalists and the television cameras.

Lady McCartney, 40, who represented herself, said the couple’s daughter Beatrice, four, was now “meant to travel ‘B’ class while her father travels ‘A’ class”.

I suppose that depends on where your daughter is going. Shouldn’t she be at school though? Maybe with your £24million you can spend some of it on her travel?

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