The Charts will never be the same

History was made this year.

Proper world changing history. For one of the first times ever (I think), the general public had a say in the outcome of something that was pretty much pre-decided.

The battle for the coveted 'Christmas No. 1' spot has been won for the last 5 years, by the X factor winners. Basically, and I'm sorry to be harsh, an unknown erm.. talent* singing a cover of a song. Why the British public has fallen for this year after year, I don't know but that's a different gripe. This year, a couple from somewhere had enough of the X Factor monopoly for Christmas No.1, so they started a Facebook social networking campaign to try and get an alternative song to number one - Rage Against the Machines 'killing in the name of'.

I have seen these type of groups spring up before and have never really taken any notice but because RATM is part of the soundtrack of my youth, I joined. I joined when it had 1 hundred thousand members thinking it would fizzle out before it got to Christmas. 3 days later, it had three quarters of million members, the group was active and it had the attention of the mainstream media. My interest peaked, was the feeling of the general public that strong that this group could topple the pre-determined 'Cowell' factor?

Indeed it was. RATM outsold Joe McElderry by a lot. It was a small victory for those wanting music borne of passion and emotion, but a victory nevertheless and this is why the charts will never be the same for a couple of reasons.

People (I am being very general) are now getting tired of the pre packaged un-original dross that gets manufactured by record companies. In the eighties it was Stock, Aitken and Waterman, in the noughties, it's Simon Cowell. Now 'we' realise that we can do something about it. The track 'Killing in the name of' was never so relevant - oppression, dictatorship - 'I won't do what you told me'. It even took the music business by surprise. Not the fact that it happened, but the fact that it happened at all and that the public felt so strongly that they were prompted to act.

The other main reason for this change has far more global consequences. The masses can now see the results of social networking and particularly its economic power. If you don't like something, change it. Democracy - long since been a joke in the UK - finally reared its head again and stood proud by hanging the norm - even if it was only for a music single

This could carry on, what about how the country is being run? Could the masses with their own thoughts, opinions and ability to think for themselves be able to influence how the country is run. Perhaps its a pipe dream but one thing is for certain, if people feel strongly enough they do protest and hopefully, with some of the 'epic fail' decisions the government has taken over the last 24 month or so, we will.

* There is no doubt in my mind that Leona, Alexandra, Joe, Olly and the others who made the finals in the past 5 years are very good vocalists (Joe has an amazing voice and it's still maturing). The X Factor was/is a vehicle for them to achieve their dreams and ambitions in singing. I wish them the very best of luck and hope they can maintain the level of hard work that they will need to maintain their stardom - they are now 'owned' and will be used and abused as such.

But ask yourself this - would you buy a cover of a Miley Cyrus song, that didn't reach the top 10 when originally released, by a teenage lad named Joe McElderry from South Shields?

I think not.

I feel sorry for the police

I really do.

They must have so much red tape and bureaucracy to deal with that when a concerned citizen reports a mild yet potentially dangerous bit of naughtiness, they do as much as they can to avoid acting on it.

So this car was weaving in and out of his lane on a dual carriagewy, going slowly. I thought drunk?
No, he was texting!

Now I don't really care what people are doing in their cars provided they are not endangering others but this chap was being foolish. So when I got into work, I called my local constabulary for them to have brief word - not arrest or anything like that but just a word 'in is shell like' to say, be careful. I didn't think he would respond to me.

Before you all think I am being completely over the top and have lost my 'common sense' chip, let me give you some context.
Back in my youth, not soooo long ago, if you were naughty, your local copper came round, took you to one side and had a word. Depending on how old you were, it was in front of your parents and that was seriously shaming. The police were people you could (and did) respect, if you gave them jip, they would either give you a thick ear or a quick trip to the station. They didn't nick you but you had to walk across town back home!!
So my thinking is this, receive a letter from her majesty's boys in blue and it would at least make you think about the consequences and then you choose whether or not you carry on being foolish. Make sense, common sense, that is policing, letting people know that the law is there should you break them!!

So back to my story, I call and say, there was a chap , driving erratically and weaving over the road and as I passed him saw he was texting. They say, sorry, you need to call us at the time so we can do something about it.
I say, I couldnt I was driving
They say, well we need two witnesses to charge.
I say, I have details, wife was with me, is that enough or can you send him a letter to let him knw he was driving like an idiot?
They say - Not really.
I say - I am sure that there is a big crackdown on this kind of driving by TVP at the moment including TV adverts no?
They say - mmmm..
I say - What harm could it do to let him know he was being a pratt?
They say - I'll check with Sarge (delay ) No sorry
I say - I'm shocked!

Eventually they take the details and give me a ref number. I feel really sorry for the police, because I know some coppers and they could PNC the car, send a letter saying that he was seen driving erratically and that if the coppers catch him, he could face charges.
If they stick a couple of stats about concentration levels on driving when texting that would add gravitas. Allegedly, you are 50% or half as attentive on your driving when you text than when you're not.

Armed with this knowledge, and the possible consequencs, he can then make the decision for himself if he will continue driving like a pratt.

Like I said earlier, I have no problem what people do in their cars, provided it doesn't endanger anyone, I don't care, but the police are so hog-tied in bureacracy that they can't police like police should.

Those thick ears that me and my mates got didn't do us any harm, and I'll tell you something, it made us think twice before acting like pratts again. It worked back then, why not now?

Weddings

Weddings and, in particular, their invites are sometimes taken for granted. I happen to think that there is not enough premise put on marriage but that is a rant for another day.

I had the honour and pleasure of being invited to the wedding of two friends. These friend are very special to me and Mrs L. Graeme is the friend that let me drive his Smart Roadster Coupe, so you could say the Brabus is his fault, and Nicki has been a friend to my family since my wife and I got married.

So to be invited to their wedding was truly an honour.

Also, I think I found the perfect wedding car. Being careful with their budgets, Graeme decided to use one of the most exclusive cars in the UK, he drove his new bride to the reception in his Smart Roadster Coupe.

I couldn't think of a more fitting mode of transport for them both.

And as a parting gift for the evening, some of the guests (not me I might add - I have far too much respect for that particular Roadster) decided to erm... decorate it. Pictures included (apologies for poor quality - camera not good in the dark)




So my love and heartfelt congratulations go to Graeme and Nicki.

What a weekend

I've had writers block recently and decided to put my mind and talents to something else last weekend.

Despite being a bit (well a lot) under the weather on the Friday, a good rest seemed to have put me right enough to work out some projects in the house.

For those avid fans who are 'regular readers' of my writing, you will know that, outside my family, my main passions in life are music and cars. This weekend, I have completed my own unique piece of art, turning music into art. Being a keen guitarist and bass player, I think my guitars look splendid and when we re-decorated a while ago, wifey and I wanted a piece of 'art' to go on a large blank wall.

The only thing we found was a metal sculpture that was hideously expensive - too expensive (but a wonder to look at) and since then, we have not actively looked for a piece of art to fill the wall.

2 children later (yes that long - we will be re-decorating again very soon) and we finally got round to doing something. The whole guitars on the wall thing came about because my studio has turned into a bit of a storage unit and with all the kids, getting time in there is nigh on impossible. The solution was to have my beloved guitars in the house, but guitars in cases take up a lot of room and with 3 young children running around, space is always at a premium.

I had seen many shops with guitars all on the wall. But rather than hanging vertically, they were hanging at an angle.

I tried to find the same type of hangers through some contacts and although everyone knew what I meant, no-one could get hold of one. Then one day while walking around Tesco's, I found some hooks, they were large enough for the body of my acoustic so I bought some, and then the following week, I bought smaller ones - suitable for the Les Paul and the bass. After drawing on the wall, some judicious use of a spirit level, tape measure, precisions drilling, and no small amount of screwing, I completed what you see in the photo.

Standing back and looking at the wonder that was my wall, I felt like Andy Warhol, turning music into art, displaying the tools of my hobby with fierce pride. Mrs L appreciated it, the kids thought it was cool and I could get my guitars down whenever I wanted. Result all round. Okay, the hooks and pipe lagging are not as pretty as a custom made holder but hanging my guitars cost me less than £10 rather than £40 each!

However, I didn't stop there. The 'computer area' needed to be less cluttered as it houses the family old banger PC and my own laptop with it's splendid keyboard. So I also put a shelf up (perfectly level I might add) and a couple of nails for the calendars!

It didn't stop there, behind the TV there was some plaster damage from previous and that was filled in.

Mrs L's Mothers day present was a photo frame with very recent pictures of the kids, that was affixed to the wall.

But I still didn't stop - our youngest child needed to go into her own room in her cot and out of Mummy & Daddies. This meant moving the 2 boys in with one another, so a bunk bed was purchased, the room cleared the bunk bed built and the children moved in.

By this time I was properly tired so I stopped - had a bath and went to bed.

All this DIY had taken the entire weekend and I haven't included the trip to; Mrs L's works, IKEA to buy the bed, and Next to return some clothes. These kind of weekends are always good, very productive but also tiring.

There are still loads of projects left for the house, not least sorting out the studio, but while I can, I am enjoying my kids and my music and thanks to my efforts with a drill, the family can enjoy it too.

The Proud Father moment

This post has a very different theme to my usual writing. On Wednesday the 18th March 2009, my wife & I were invited to attend a musical extravaganza at the Royal Albert Hall. The reason for this festival was a culmination of 52 schools, or 1700 children, learning and rehearsing to provide a show called Echoes 3.

I am not keen on London, the hustle and bustle and abject lack of manners there grates on me. But I am very keen on supporting my children and hence the reason why I am in London. My eldest, had the opportunity to sing at The Royal Albert Hall with his school singing club! Wow!

As an almost lifelong musician, and having seen Eric Clapton at the 'Albert' many years ago, I was very excited for him. When I asked if he was excited, his reply, 'yes Dad, and we're going to Pizza Hut!'
Bless him.

The run up to this event has been fraught in the Lloyd household. We are a competitive bunch (well I am) and so we wanted him to be the best that he could be. All of a sudden, his Mum and I become the worlds greatest singing tutors (admittedly I know some theory but I am certainly no El Divo and wifey is a long way off Beyoncé) but he did follow us and sounded er.. interesting. Thank fully, iTunes is an excellent resource and now my iPod sports 'Scarborough Fair' the lullaby 'All Through the Night' among other.

As parents, we wanted him to do well, sing like an angel and enjoy the whole experience. The offers of professional singing coaches to help strengthen his voice, helping him learn the songs, I even learned some of the melodies on the guitar to help him but it wasn't until I was chatting with a singing friend, he pointed out the obvious. He is singing with 22 other children and takes his cue from the conductor and the tone from his buddies. Shock horror realisation, we were actually making it more difficult for him. So we shut up, just encouraged him and looked forward to the event.

So tuneful (less) catastrophe averted, we approached the day.

When the day came, it was the perfect day to travel into the ‘big smoke’. Beautifully sunny, birds singing in the morning, Junior woke up and was beside himself with nerves & excitement. With his pack lunch in a plastic bag, we sent him off to school.

The day would be an adventure, for sure. Coach trip into London, a tour around the Albert Hall, a sight seeing tour, a rehearsal and then Pizza Hut before returning for the performance.

For us, it would turn into an adventure but not before we earned our daily bread at work. A quick change and then to the train station in the Coupe. A very rare moment where I was able to take my wife out in my car. (Brabus Roadster coupe only has 2 seats. Great fun though, check out my journal).

The train journey was relaxed, not crowded and very pleasant. Another rare moment, wifey gets to play her DS with her games without being interrupted by a little. I was happily writing away, enjoying the sunshine and the views of rural Buckinghamshire.

With such bright sun, even the outskirts of London looked nice. The train arrived, we alighted and began our journey towards Hyde Park. I have been there a few times but never with Mrs L.

Hyde Park has to be one of the most picturesque places in London, especially in bright sunshine. The March late afternoon sun had warmed the earth and as the temperature began to drop, so a mist had begun to appear, just hovering over the ground. It was enticing, eerie and very romantic.

Having seen the ‘Albert’, Mrs L and I turned our attention to our stomachs. Knightsbridge was our destination, it was a glorious day so we strode it out; her in boots, me in new shoes. Knightsbridge is actually a lot further than the map looks and we arrived at the restaurant with blisters and sore feet. However, the food at the Spaghetti House was worth it. I am thoroughly recommending it, it was good value; good service, great food and they take Tesco Deal vouchers as legal tender. That’s handy to know in these economically interesting times.

On the way back to the Hall, with feet really REALLY hurting, we got to meet a unique breed of Londoner, the Black Cab driver. What a bloke, he was ace. The cab cost a cool fiver for a mile – I think we would have paid £500!

We had travelled, had eaten and were ready for the entertainment. We gathered outside the door with a lot of other parents, some from the more exclusive Buckinghamshire primary schools, and some that were not, all joined in unity to see their little darlings on one of the most famous stages in the world. And what a stage!

Such a glorious building, and imposing as one arrives at ones seat (well we are in the Albert Hall and the correct decorum and etiquette are required). As 1700 children fill the Gods and the stage, 5000 parents start looking for their own little stars up in the Gods.

It took a little while but we found our own little star and waved and waved until we developed RSI. The house lights dim, the noise subsides and an incredibly well spoken and articulate man by the name of Petroc Trelawny introduces the evening. Petroc is a Radio 3 presenter and Mrs L suggested that he would be fantastic forhim to stand there a tell jokes. His accent was, well, posh, but his articulation immaculate and, jesting aside, I could have listened to him reading the dictionary it had that much tone.

The children start singing. Junior isn’t on stage until the second half for the song spiral. The theme for the first half is the sea and the singing is beautiful. They were in tune, had several part harmonies, some quite complex vocal melodies and they had split them into different vocal parts. What was very surprising was that this was the first day they had all rehearsed together. That is 26 schools singing together for the first time in what sounded like perfect harmony.

It was nothing short of amazing.

The interval came and went and the children swapped places.

Before the song spiral, we had a musical extravaganza from the Aylesbury Music Centre Big Band. Opening with the theme from mission impossible these guys made brass look cool. Adding character to there playing with movement and dance, they sounded brilliant as well. It was clear they were enjoying themselves – which adds to the enjoyment for those watching. Finishing with some audience participation for the Cab Calloway classic – Minnie the Moocher, they were fantastic. I would pay good money to see those guys again.

The song spiral began. The song spiral is a journey around the world in song. It started with Scarborough Fair, moved to the Lullaby ‘All through the night’, then the Skye boat song, a hearty jaunt around Africa with some traditional songs and what I can only describe as drum solos’, off to Japan, Polynesia and then America. The kids were getting tired towards the end but their drive and enthusiasm was still keeping them going.

We finished up with a Samba procession, which woke us up (they processed through the audience with really LOUD drums and whistles) and then a George and Ira Gershwin song to finish off with.

Petroc came out and articulated his thanks and congratulations to the children and closed the show in perfect style.

Echoes 3 had been a complete success, a proper evening of entertainment and I will always remember the day that my son sang at the Albert Hall.

Getting back to basics

Having looked over my recent blogs, it seems they focus on the negative side of things, - why education is wrong, more gloom and doom but today I want to be a bit more factual and utilise some common sense about the current economic climate and how you can try and minimise its impact on you.

Firstly, all these things are quite dependant on having a job. A regular wage, no matter how small, is kind of essential.

Now I don't think that the following is going to be new to anyone, this type of advice can be found at www.moneysavingexpert.com with the exceptionally chirpy Martin Lewis but lets just re-iterate what the problem is first

DEBT

plain and simple.

Sorry to state the obvious but we need to reduce our personal debts to put us in a better position to save.

Reducing debt is hard work and will take major sacrifices. Again Martin Lewis and the forums on MSE can give you some very practical and achievable ideas. In my own experience, you need, shelter, heat and light as your essentials and so long as that is covered (food is helpful but I will get onto that in a minute) then the rest of your income can be used to reduce the outstanding debts.

By the way, when I say heat and light, I do mean being a little more frugal with the thermostat, re-discovering the wonders of woolly jumpers and only having lights and appliances on when you need them. This is particularly challenging to teach children.

An aside.

Today, after we picked up my son, he opened the front door for us and then proceeded to turn on every light in the house to 'welcome us in' as we unloaded the car. It was a nice; thoughtful, gesture - to help us really but was greeted with 'what the heck are you doing boy, don't you know how much that costs?'. To which he replied quite honestly "No". Kids - they are precious.

If you look at business, when they need to make cutbacks, they reduce costs, find efficiencies and become diverse in approaches to increase sales. Look at your home in the same way.

The next tip is to increase the income. Now lets get a bit clever here. First increase your income by reducing your outgoings. Heat and light I have covered, but what little luxuries can be cut out of the normal weekly shop to make the luxury a monthly luxury?

Do you need the Finest brand? Can you use something else for 3 weeks and have the last week as treat week?

By doing these small things can have a significant impact on the whole monthly shopping bill.

The other way to increase your income is to create the money - no not printing money, but by exchanging goods or services. E-bay, online auctions, car boot sales etc. If you don't want it, try and sell it, if it doesn't sell, give it to the charity shop - it will be made use of somewhere.

An important note: These suggestions require time and effort and a great deal of integrity and will power. Realise that you will never become a millionaire selling your unwanted trinkets but any money extra means more paid off and less interest.

Use these earning to reduce credit card debt. Credit cards are great, if you pay them off in full every month. If you can't it's a slippery slope and it only leads down.

Now lets look at the mortgage.

If you have one, your mortgage is likely to be your largest debt.

I won't get into figures because Martin Lewis' website has overpayment calculators, and sound advice so look at his site and seek advice before making massive payments/commitments on your mortgage. You also need to understand the terms of your mortgage to make sure there are no penalties - again this is common sense.

To substantially reduce your 'debt' you will need to pay off capital. To speed up your debt free life, you need to overpay your mortgage

Why?

If you overpaid by a small amount, it reduces the capital that the interest is calculated on. The more capital you repay, the less interest is applied. If you are currently on a base rate tracker and it is low, your normal monthly payment is working harder for you already. If you are in a position to overpay your mortgage and don't have any other debts, do so now. Make hay while the going is good because sooner or later the interest rates will rise and when they do, your normal monthly payment won't be touching the capital as it once did.

The net result is a much reduced term, reduced term, mean less interest paid. In real world terms, this could be tens of thousands of pounds.

This does work. After a re-jig of our own finances, we began overpaying and coupled with the reduced interest rates, our term has reduced by at least 5 years.

Please don't be fooled into thinking that your savings, investments and endowments will provide the money to pay off the remaining sum, it is highly unlikely that they will. Every 6 months or so we get the 'alert take action now' letter. Start paying off now and use the endowments (when they mature) as bunce!

However, a very important tip.

These times can make people edgy and are as much about cautious thinking and preparation rather than knee jerk reactions. Panicking is not a good option. If you can, before hitting your mortgage, get yourself a few months of buffer - just in case. At least that way, you will still have a place to live if the worst happens.

And lastly, people are very tempted to 'change' things because of the downturn, these changes in direction could throw you head long into the fire. Heed this, if it was working before and rather well, don't change it, progress it so it is appropriate for the current climate but keep working very hard and eventually the results will come through.

Till next time.

When your bubble bursts!

I think that almost everyone has had a rude awakening with all the stuff thats happening with the economy

However, the economic downturn hasn't hit everyone in the way that the last recession did. A lot of people are 'okay'. In their own little worlds, if you; can pay the bills, have benefitted from the interest rate cuts and have made sensible cutbacks in your lifestyle, your own little world could be quite comfortable and potentially be financially better off.

The problem comes when something rocks the boat, for most it's when that dreaded letter is sent or a meeting is called by your employers. It's the infamous, and remarkably unwelcome, 'we need to make cutbacks' theme.

Now what we see on the news is that companies are 'making redundancies and millions more workers are going to be un-employed'. By the sound of the media, all that has ever previously happened is that companies get in to hard times and make people redundant without even thinking about the other possibilities. This isn't the case, I am sure that most organisations look at alternative possibilities

Possibilities that can ease the financial/cash flow burden and still keep the workforce and therefore the expertise in the organisation.

Things like;

• Wholesale wage cuts. If everyone gives a bit, the sum of little from many make a lot.
  
• Offering a reduction in hours if you are in a role that is less busy. This option not only eases cash flow but enables you to be able to earn additional income elsewhere.
  
• Working from home. What is the cost for people to work at work? Of course, their role may not allow them to work from home though.
  

These items on their own could potentially save a job in the workforce. With minimal impact to your own life.

I say that flippantly of course as we, as a nation, have been encouraged to borrow, borrow and then borrow some more to fund a lifestyle based on grossly inflated house prices. The times where we 'needed' to replace our TV with the most up to date version, to get the latest games console or i-pod are now in question.

No-one has been safe and almost everyone was duped in some form or other as our house equity increased, the loans came a plenty, with us thinking we were safe in positive equity, and then what happens? The market crashes and the bubbles burst.

We as a nation and as individuals need to learn our lessons from these troubled times. To start making provisions for these rainy days, to become a nation of savers again and to reduce our own personal debt.

Only by reducing debt can we stimulate spend.

We cannot stimulate spend by borrowing more.

By teaching ourselves and our young ones the value of money and of delayed gratification i.e. saving for what we want, rather then getting it now on a credit deal.

Credit is a useful tool and is sometimes essential, but I have been taught by people various, you should never get something on credit that you couldn't afford to buy. To live on credit is to live on borrowed time.

Education (or ejukashun)

Rant alert.

I am getting remarkably hacked off with our so called education system in this country. 

Schooling is meant to prepare our young folk for the world of work, to understand what it takes in the world of commerce and industry.   At the younger end of the scale, it is to teach to read and write and comprehend what is written and what is in front of them.  To garner an understanding of the subject.

But what is it now?  I t feels like it is more to do with preparing for tests rather than actually teaching them anything.  I don't blame the teachers, they have a tremendously hard time trying to teach through all the political correct rubbish and regulation and health and safety and ensuring that the children don't feel pressured or get told no . Aaaaaaaaarggh.  In fact I really pity the teachers because it is a vocation to teach and a good thing to do.  To put yourself in front of 2 dozen (more like 3 dozen) children/teenagers who think they know everything and actually engage with them en-masse must be a calling because no-one on their right mind would subject themselves to that these days.  teachers aren't allowed to discipline children 'because even if they are naughty it breaches human rights' oh please. The direct result is absolute lack of respect for authority.

So teachers, I really feel for you.  I really want you to teach but you are 'guided' (told) to do this by our illustrious government.  Thats another rant and done far better by those on Pistonheads.

What the system does is prepare the kids for is tests and tests only.  And by doing so, excludes those who struggle with tests or those that are so brilliant, they could do these tests with their eyes closed.   I would call it, in fact - training.

Just to clarify, training is to impart knowledge and information about a certain curriculum.  As an entrepreneur I know called it 'by rote'.  This means learning it piecemeal or parrot fashion.  

This is the best way to get knowledge across for tests and exams.   To educate is to impart the knowledge and the means of using it effectively.

Example.

You can train a child to do a sum in a certain way and they can do those sums because that's the way they have been taught.  Sums for sums sake.

But when you educate a child to use the process in different scenarios, that has so much more value for proper life skills. Sums to work out what they earned for pocket money and where it went.   The next step is household budgeting, work budgeting etc.  

Forgive me for using a trivial example.   But the point remains the same throughout all the subjects.

Don't get me wrong, their needs to be stages and levels of learning that are appropriate to the capability of the individual and this is where schools get it completely wrong.

Children are currently progressed not through ability or capability but by age.  This method again only caters for the average child, those born between a certain time with an expected level of understanding.  

Those born later and consequently don't have those vital extra months of mental maturity suffer - greatly.  Those born early are usually bored because they can do the subject easily and are not challenged.

Surely a better way is to make sure that before they move through to each year, every child reaches the designated capability level.  In one of the Nordic countries (can't remember which) they keep the small children in the first year until they can read a bit, write a bit and do some maths a bit.  I am not sure how much a bit is but I can guarantee that it is to a higher standard than some of our children who are studying for their GCSE's at the moment.   Before I carry on, I must state that this idea has been bandied around before and I read it in the Mensa Magazine.

By adopting this principle, no child would ever leave school without the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic.  For sure, some of them will leave a year or two later than their peers and some will be in a position to leave sooner, there will be mixed year groups - possibly upto 3 or 4 years difference in certain exceptions.  But guess what, the exceptions will be easy to spot.   The prodigals and geniuses will fly through the years, they can be challenged at an education level appropriate for them, those that struggle can be easily identified and extra help given thereof and the rest will carry on. 

While I am ranting about education, why don't we add some other subjects onto the curriculum. How about, business ethics, hard work, living within your means -why credit is bad (contrary to Gordon Chubber tongue Brown's dictate that debt and more debt will get us out of recession -fool), delayed gratification, how to write a CV, how to conduct yourself in front of people, what respect means (I really am ranting now). And so and so forth.  

Perhaps, if our education system started churning out young people that had the capability to walk into a job and hit the ground walking, there wouldn't be such a need to import expertise. 

Or perhaps the populace would become better educated to see the tomfoolery that is our supposed governmental leadership.  I think the government prefer sheep, but perhaps that is a different post.

Just a quick story to finish off and illustrate my point.  

I was having a wander around Tesco's near my son's gym class and was in the DVD section.  A young couple - early twenties I guess - were browsing the DVD's looking for their evenings entertainment.  He had a cap on (it wasn't Burberry but you can see where I am going) and she was in what would pass as 'fashionable lounge wear' (and would look alright on Paris Hilton).  They were stereo-typical of their age group.

She - lets call her Waynetta - picks up a DVD and says (shouts) "ere, Wayne (made up), its Soor."

Translation: "Excuse me Wayne, I have found the movie 'Saw'"

He replies "ugh, which one?"

She replies "I dunno, its got Sooor wun vee"

Translation "I am not sure which movie of the series, it says one vee on the cover"

At this point I am now staring in disbelief. 

She couldn't work out what IV was or even began to work it out.  It wasn't hard.  

Saw V (5) was running at the cinema's so that was ruled out, the original - SAW is just that, SAW II and then SAW III are quite obvious.  So even without knowing that IV is roman numeral for 4, you could make a pretty good guess.  

I could stand it no longer, I walked over to Waynetta and said that it is SAW 4, the IV is Roman Numeral for 4.  

Waynetta replies "Ere Wayne, its soor fooor. This geezer knows roman noomarools" I won't bother translating  - say it as you see it, it was really that bad. 

I am not sure where my disbelief came from, the lack of  trying to work it out, the lack of core knowledge around English history (the Romans had quite a bit to do with it) or the fact that she had possibly never seen an old fashioned clock face.  I still wonder to this day.

Had her schooling been appropriate to her, she would have left school with the ability to use her brain to relate IV to Roman numerals and work out what it meant.  

It would take a brave leader to shake up the education system in this country, it would cost a lot of money, but I truly believe it would be for the better and have a much more positive impact on the economy and to make Great Britain Great again and not the laughing stock of the world it currently is.  Thanks Gordon, you have created a nightmare that my children will end up paying for.

What is this country coming to???

Oh my word.

The country seems to be falling apart at the seams. 

What with Chubber tongue Brown ruining the country day by day by throwing our money (yes, you and me) at failing businesses and then letting them carry on with their bad business practices.  Attempts at stimulating the economy with interest rate cuts (good for me thank you very much), reduction in VAT (bad for business), printing more money (devaluing the pound further) and yet he keeps on encouraging people to borrow more, to buy what they want without the real understanding  of the consequence of getting into further debt. 

The banks basically lent the money out and got us into further hot water. 

The answer?  The current ones aren't working and perhaps a more radical idea is needed.  An entrepreneur I know suggested something radical and I think it could work.  He says to cut debt, in half or a percentage to release everyone back out of the cycle of debt.   Not be paid off by bail outs, the banks actually are forced to write it off.  It's happening with bankruptcy's and defaults anyway so why not stop the painful process of bankruptcy and give people a chance to solve it themselves.  There are several forums posts on Pistonheads regarding this

And whats with the weather?  A week an a bit of snow?  The country is not geared up for such weather. Now the debate is whether or not we should invest in infrastructure. Er No. This happening is so infrequent that the amount of money lost is so much less than the potential spend to ready our infrastructure. 

Please won't someone get these eejits out of parliament