Josh

Nigel Farage

I quite like Nigel Farage, I may not always agree wit his views but he is always eloquent and entertaining and has a brilliant way of always getting his point across.  Without him UKIP would be a much smaller, much worse off party.

I am watching an episode of Question Time with him in at the moment and he has just been asked a question about banning the Burka and has come out with the most fantastic point of view.

Paraphrased:  I can't walk into a bank wearing a balaclava how is it right someone should be allowed to wear a burka in a bank.

This is then later expanded to motorcycle helmets in Tescos and petrol stations been needed to be removed and then photo ID been needed to enter the QT recording.

If a woman in a burka walked into a bank and was asked to show her face and refused, and so in return was refused service and removed from the building, would this be acceptable?  Now replace the woman with a man in a balaclava. [Or maybe a man in a burka?]

I remember a case being reported a few years ago about a woman teacher being fired for covering her face and the students not being able to understand her.  I also remember an unfair dismissal trial, unfortunately I do not remember the result.

I also remember Jack Straw getting into a lot of hassle a few years back about asking a woman in a public meeting to remove the veil covering her face.  Was this a fair thing to ask.  She came to his meeting, no one would bat an eye at someone being asked to remove a motorbike helmet at an MPs advice surgery, but a woman asked to uncover her face......

Now I feel like I should say two things here.

1, I don't like the idea of banning things and legislating about what a woman can and cannot wear is as daft as this.

2, I do not count religion as a valid argument.  People are (or should be) free to do whatever they damn please.  I hold the two cases of a woman wearing a burka and a man wearing a balaclava in the same light and with the same weight.  If a person is not free to do whatever they please, if they fear for their safety or lives because of some action they may take, then that should be a matter for the police.

So this kind of stopped being about Nigel Farage, but he is the inspiration behind this line of thought.  It is by no means conclusive, but it is something to consider.  One particular argument to take into consideration with all the other arguments and points of view others and I have.

I have started writing a post about Nick Griffin, but I really don't know if I can be bothered to finish it.  It is basically about him starting to appear to become a decent guy, constantly hassled and harassed by everyone else.  Party invites revoked, eggs thrown at him, plenty of abuse from and on the BBC.  Nothing judgemental on my part, just a few observations.

I am currently temporarily unemployed and have no money in a small town where there is not much to do anyway, so I have a lot of time on my hands to watch and listen and read and think about things.

Replace

Times Paywall

I have just read a half decent look at how the times might be faring behind their new paywall, no idea if it is accurate or not, but I suspect it is close:

http://www.beehivecity.com/newspapers/times-paywall-more-analysis-of-the-data191807/

I have always thought that it would fail, but if it could succeed for anyone it would be The Times.  They are a pretty decent paper, usually the one I pick up if I feel like reading one.  And I used to read their website every now and again.

I still come across links to The Times with articles that I want to read, but of course I cannot read them any more, and while previously I would find myself on their site 2 or 3 times a week I do not value this at £2 a week worth of material.  However there is also the argument that if I paid £2 a week then I would not need to buy the paper at £1 a day.   This is not entirely accurate as I still place some value in being able to hold and rifle through the paper instead of clicking on links.

If I had an iPad and made a daily commute I would probably give the app a go, at £10 a month it could easily occupy me on an hour long train journey every morning.  But then again so can BBC News, The Guardian or The Telegraph.

I think the main problem is that there is nothing special about The Times, there is nothing really on the times site that I cannot get from any other.  And if there were something I really wanted that I could only get from The Times, such as Lord Mandelson's book being serialised last week, I would simply buy the paper and put aside an hour to read it.

No point to this post, just a bit of a ramble.  I don't think the paywall will work, but I don't think it will 'fail' either.  so it is probably here to stay, but I hope other publishers find better methods to make money than paywalls, they are rather annoying.

Graduation and Tax

I have finally got my results.  I got a 2:1 for all those that did not know already.  Mid-range, and I am reasonably happy with it.

I also wanted to add my two cents on the new proposed Graduate Tax.  I am not a fan of the idea to begin with.  I think that university should be considered a service, and that everyone receives this service equally and should pay equally for it.  I have no real objection to fees going up, although them being too high would cause some concern, with the proviso that more help was offered.

I think that the basic loan should be higher.  Much higher.

Give students the option of a loan up to, say, £8000 a year.  Then tuition fees on top of that.    It is a loan that almost all will pay back anyway, and it will allow students (adults) to live more comfortably without parental assistance.

I despise that for four years as an adult my income was still based on that of my parents.  Why?  I am an adult trying to provide for myself.

The counter argument is that students are expected to work in the summer and weekends.  If so, then why could I not claim jobseekers when I could not find a job?   And adults in full time work (I consider full time university to be the equivalent to full time work) who earn little are not told to go get another job at the weekend.

And to sum it up, I do not like the idea of subsidising lazy or stupid people doing degrees that they should not at institutions that probably should not exist.  Why should I pay higher taxes (graduate tax would almost certainly be linked to income)so that someone can spend 3 years going out and putting in 4 hours a week in tourism studies, or whatever other daft degrees there are out there.

nb. Most students work hard, this is not aimed at anyone I personally know.  It is just an example and an argument.

New Laptop

I have a job starting in September, for which I will be moving about quite a bit.  I will probably not be in one place for more than 3 months, and I have no idea where I will be for that time.  So the chances are I will be in spare rooms and random places off Gumtree and so on.

I want to travel light so I don't have much to move, much to unpack and then repack.  So I want to replace my desktop.

So, I am after recommendations for a laptop.  I only want to pay £300, hopefully less.  I don't care if it is second hand or refurbished, as long as it is in decent condition.  Because in 18 months time I will probably be back to living in one place again.

I plan to sign up to Love Film or something similar during the year, so it needs to be able to play DVDs and so on, which rules out netbooks.  I would also like it to be slightly larger than a netbook.

So, 13 inch screen or there abouts, optical drive, reasonable HDD storage, reasonable battery life.  To be honest I just want it to be semi decent, so that it works.  I am not going to be doing anything stressful to it, 95% of my computing time is spent browsing or watching media.  So 1Gb - 2Gb RAM probably, 1.2Ghz processor.  I am not that fussy.

Windows 7 compatibility would be a plus, but I will put up with XP for a year if I have to.

So, any suggestions?

Something sensible from a Labour MP

Tom Harris is one of the few MPs with a decent blog, and while I do not agree with many of his views and do not particularly like his sense of humour all the time he seems like a pretty decent chap for the most part and is certainly interesting and usually very upfront about his views, which make a refreshing change from a politician.

So, go and read this:  http://www.tomharris.org.uk/2010/05/09/first-past-the-post-is-a-rubbish-electoral-system

It is a post about the electoral system and a refreshing change from everyone else clamouring to denounce FPTP.

He is worth adding to your feeds, and the comments are sometimes pretty decent too.