First Scotrail, the conveyance people, have upset my Qi once again.
They're having a moment of insistance that I feed my season ticket through the barriers each day again, rather than shgowing it to the chap at the gate, and barely breaking pace.
The tickets are truly awful - an annual ticket, made out of card and with a mag stripe is expected to last for one year (hahahahah) and when it is taken out of the wallet, fed through the barrier a couple of times to account for misfeeds, and eventually gets read, the barriers will let you through. Or not.
Conveniently, my ticket, which expires on 6/6/6 - oh how I laughed when I got that one, has stopped working int he barriers, and the gate staff are only too happy to let me through again. Trouble is, the evening staff are different, and I have to show the ticket fails to read first, wasting my time and theirs. I am mostly worried about wasting my time though.
The reply from First Scotrail was that I could get my ticket replaced free of charge. Whilst the ticket may be free, my time is not. I shouldn't have to go through this hassle, as a regular traveller, sinply beacuse they implemented a poor technology for frequent travellers. They should use a RFID based system, like the Oyster card in London, or the badge that gets me into my place of work... Or like Lothian Buses use for their season ticket holders... But that would be too sensible!
Oh well, looks like I'll have to visit one of the magnetic field testing laboratories at work again, or leave the ticket on top of a large three phase motor for a wee while.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Lords reforms on the cards again - why?
Are the governement hell bent on destroying this country? The beeb report that more Lords reforms are on the way, held back ny the stumbling block of MPs not knowing how to proceed - now there's a surprise.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4751866.stm
I think the MPs are just pissed off that the Lords have kicked a number of their pet projects into touch - and for very good reason. The worrying thing is Parliament are too willing to invoke the Parliament Act to poke bills through into law. This is a shameful and bare-faced erosion of due diligence in out governance. I think the commons should be reformed - give the MPs a taste of their own medicine - the Lords have been looking out for us on civil liberties - Hunting, (soon to be fishing as well, I hear), ID cards... Anti Terrorism, the list goes on.
Well, their lordships have my support. And my MP will get a boot up his arse. (In writing, obviously, since I wouldn't recognise the reprobate if I saw them).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4751866.stm
I think the MPs are just pissed off that the Lords have kicked a number of their pet projects into touch - and for very good reason. The worrying thing is Parliament are too willing to invoke the Parliament Act to poke bills through into law. This is a shameful and bare-faced erosion of due diligence in out governance. I think the commons should be reformed - give the MPs a taste of their own medicine - the Lords have been looking out for us on civil liberties - Hunting, (soon to be fishing as well, I hear), ID cards... Anti Terrorism, the list goes on.
Well, their lordships have my support. And my MP will get a boot up his arse. (In writing, obviously, since I wouldn't recognise the reprobate if I saw them).
EUSA, putting the moc(k) in democracy
So, here we are a week or so after the Rector elections at UoE.
The SRC having raised an emergency motion, which clearly wasn't an emergency - they knew damn fine Boris Johnson was standing, the motion was that EUSA should take a position on the election, and campaign against Boris.
What wasn't mentioned, of course, was that two of the Sabbs were in the opposing camp for Mark Baaaaaaallard. They mentioned it in a couple of early press releases, before EUSA had a position, but strangely failed to mention it again after the bowel motion passed.
Given I am no longer a student, I can't really complain about the SRC making a mockery out of the elections, and themselves, again, however what concerns me is the anti conservative propaganda that was put up funded by EUSA, and that the same people putting up this propaganda were putting up Baaaaaaallard posters. Perhaps they were "wearing different hats" at the time, or perhaps my friends who saw this were hallucinating from an over indulgence of Nestle products.
Anyway, the elections came and went, and Baaaaaaallard won. However, if Baaaaaaallard was so for EUSA, how come he only took out Life Membership a couple of years ago? How come he has been sniffing around at P&P motions - and rumour has it voted for the ban coke motion on a previous occasion? How come he didn't help set up a meeting with Lothian Buses to get EUSA talking to them regarding mature student bus passes... Oh, that's because Boris got it squared away. At the end of the day, Boris is still a legend, and Baaaaaaallard is still a waste of tax payers money that is only there due to a party list.
EUU is now losing members over this - one has opted out of the Association (and therefore the union) and another was making enquiries about how to do it...
This is by far the worst year of EUSA I have had the misfortune to be here to see. We old people only can think of 1 person opting out, and that was more of a legend - I don't think anyone actually knew the guy. This, in the here and now, is rather worrying. We have a shower of lefties who are causing sufficient offence to conservative minded people that they are leaving.
The worst thing is, they who have been making these decisions are unrepentant. Then again, they get to leave after a year or so... The old school who stay around are left wondering if they should try to pick up the pieces, defend the Union's honour, or just let it rot. Perhaps it is some sort of misguided loyalty that keeps me involved. All of those years on the House Committee at Teviot Row, perhaps I feel I need to give something back? Perhaps I am yearning for a return to the glory days where teviot was full on a Friday night...
How did we get into this mess? Perhaps, more importantly, how do we get out of this mess?
The SRC having raised an emergency motion, which clearly wasn't an emergency - they knew damn fine Boris Johnson was standing, the motion was that EUSA should take a position on the election, and campaign against Boris.
What wasn't mentioned, of course, was that two of the Sabbs were in the opposing camp for Mark Baaaaaaallard. They mentioned it in a couple of early press releases, before EUSA had a position, but strangely failed to mention it again after the bowel motion passed.
Given I am no longer a student, I can't really complain about the SRC making a mockery out of the elections, and themselves, again, however what concerns me is the anti conservative propaganda that was put up funded by EUSA, and that the same people putting up this propaganda were putting up Baaaaaaallard posters. Perhaps they were "wearing different hats" at the time, or perhaps my friends who saw this were hallucinating from an over indulgence of Nestle products.
Anyway, the elections came and went, and Baaaaaaallard won. However, if Baaaaaaallard was so for EUSA, how come he only took out Life Membership a couple of years ago? How come he has been sniffing around at P&P motions - and rumour has it voted for the ban coke motion on a previous occasion? How come he didn't help set up a meeting with Lothian Buses to get EUSA talking to them regarding mature student bus passes... Oh, that's because Boris got it squared away. At the end of the day, Boris is still a legend, and Baaaaaaallard is still a waste of tax payers money that is only there due to a party list.
EUU is now losing members over this - one has opted out of the Association (and therefore the union) and another was making enquiries about how to do it...
This is by far the worst year of EUSA I have had the misfortune to be here to see. We old people only can think of 1 person opting out, and that was more of a legend - I don't think anyone actually knew the guy. This, in the here and now, is rather worrying. We have a shower of lefties who are causing sufficient offence to conservative minded people that they are leaving.
The worst thing is, they who have been making these decisions are unrepentant. Then again, they get to leave after a year or so... The old school who stay around are left wondering if they should try to pick up the pieces, defend the Union's honour, or just let it rot. Perhaps it is some sort of misguided loyalty that keeps me involved. All of those years on the House Committee at Teviot Row, perhaps I feel I need to give something back? Perhaps I am yearning for a return to the glory days where teviot was full on a Friday night...
How did we get into this mess? Perhaps, more importantly, how do we get out of this mess?
Saturday, January 21, 2006
People And Planet? What people, exactly? And what planet are these nutters from?
Well, here I am, snooping on the P&P mailing list for Edinburgh Uni, and I find this choice excerpt from their latest mailing...
Are they all arts students? Do they have any grounding in reality? Where do they think the University gets its funding from - certainly not hugging trees and pattig cute fluffy wuffy bunny wabbits!
People and Planet need to get a grip on the harsh reality of the world. Scientists need jobs too! Although, we can all take comfort from the fact that even if P&P manage to het enough hippies out to push this through a EUSA GM, the University don't have to listen - I think even Tim O'Shea would be hard pressed to cut off such a source of funding.
My final message to P&P is this: Get over it you socialist wasters! Booga Booga Booga!
THE ARMS TRADE:A big focus for P&P this year will be the campaign to stop Edinburgh University receiving funding from military sources, and have it replaced by more ethical sources. We'll also be proposing a motionat the General Meeting in February that mandates EUSA to campaign for stricter and more ethical research funding within the Universityand NUS. Keep your eyes open in the next few weeks for articles inthe Student, a giant banner drop, and open meetings to learn more about the campaign. Also, help with stalls, postering and flyering is very much needed! It's a great opportunity to get involved with what is already a very exciting campaign.
Are they all arts students? Do they have any grounding in reality? Where do they think the University gets its funding from - certainly not hugging trees and pattig cute fluffy wuffy bunny wabbits!
People and Planet need to get a grip on the harsh reality of the world. Scientists need jobs too! Although, we can all take comfort from the fact that even if P&P manage to het enough hippies out to push this through a EUSA GM, the University don't have to listen - I think even Tim O'Shea would be hard pressed to cut off such a source of funding.
My final message to P&P is this: Get over it you socialist wasters! Booga Booga Booga!
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Graduates whine about jobs, film at 11.
Graduates are whining that computing related degrees are not preparing them for work in the bad, bad world, says The Register (link to article below...)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/11/grads_say_courses_no_good/
Haven't they realised that IT isn't the field it was 10 - 15 years ago? Has nobody told them there isn't a job for life any more? Has nobody told them that just because you have a degree (probably form backwater former polytechnic) doesn't mean you automatically get a top job with a top salary? It is not up to the government to get you a job or to make you better prepared for a job - it's up to you! Where's that personal responsibility?
The recent adverts on TV stating the average IT salary is £37,000 makes me laugh. I have colleagues who have worked in IT for 10 years, and do damn good work - and they're nowhere near that sort of money.
In short, stop yer bleating.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/11/grads_say_courses_no_good/
UK IT graduates complain that their university courses do not prepare them for
work in the real world and that the Government is not doing enough to help them
find jobs.
Haven't they realised that IT isn't the field it was 10 - 15 years ago? Has nobody told them there isn't a job for life any more? Has nobody told them that just because you have a degree (probably form backwater former polytechnic) doesn't mean you automatically get a top job with a top salary? It is not up to the government to get you a job or to make you better prepared for a job - it's up to you! Where's that personal responsibility?
The recent adverts on TV stating the average IT salary is £37,000 makes me laugh. I have colleagues who have worked in IT for 10 years, and do damn good work - and they're nowhere near that sort of money.
In short, stop yer bleating.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Greenpeace Oops.
Apparently supporters of the Greenpeace lot (remember them, they're the ones who caused more environmental damage by not letting Shell scuttle the Brent Spar, and instead pressured them to towing it to inshore waters and dismantling it - causing more harm than good) anyway, Greenpeace supporters have suffered a bank error (not in their favour) debit £1000.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4567944.stm
Oh how we laughed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4567944.stm
Oh how we laughed.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Rail fares to rise by up to 10% in Scotland
As if my day couldn't get any worse...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4505914.stm
My train was 15 minutes late this morning, getting me in to the orifice at about 09:20.
They announce on the BBC website today that train fares in Scotland are likely to increase (again) shortly. I am fuming.
We commuters are over a barrel. They know this, we know this, and they still take the mickey, and we still travel on the trains. Why? Because we have to.
I wouldn't mind an increase if it weren't for these two simple points... My season ticket, even with a 5% discount for First Scotrail being crap last year cost more than the undiscounted ticket for the year before, that and the trains still don't run on time.
A week or two ago, the 08:45 Fife Circle service left Waverley some time after 09:15 (I hopped platforms to the Markinch service, which is timetabled to leave at 09:15, and did leave on time...) However, that's a half hour delay to the start of my working day. First Scotrail haven't bothered to reply to my email regarding the service that morning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4505914.stm
My train was 15 minutes late this morning, getting me in to the orifice at about 09:20.
They announce on the BBC website today that train fares in Scotland are likely to increase (again) shortly. I am fuming.
We commuters are over a barrel. They know this, we know this, and they still take the mickey, and we still travel on the trains. Why? Because we have to.
I wouldn't mind an increase if it weren't for these two simple points... My season ticket, even with a 5% discount for First Scotrail being crap last year cost more than the undiscounted ticket for the year before, that and the trains still don't run on time.
A week or two ago, the 08:45 Fife Circle service left Waverley some time after 09:15 (I hopped platforms to the Markinch service, which is timetabled to leave at 09:15, and did leave on time...) However, that's a half hour delay to the start of my working day. First Scotrail haven't bothered to reply to my email regarding the service that morning.
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