Can't say the same for our editor though. If there is ANY problem with the programme tonight, please blame David.
We are having a private bet in the office about the first time someone on PM tonight says "slushy deposits". It hasn't occured since our last Ann Clwyd was on the show.
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What did you do with all the Ann Clwyds that you had before the last one?
Hurrah! Well done, Eddie!
Now, about the snow in Sussex ....
I notice there's all the usual moaning about how 'we didn't shut the schools during the war...' and I too remember walking to school in deep snow and not thinking twice about it.
BUT what I think people forget is that walking is the operative word. Almost everyone walked to work or school and those that didn't got the bus or train using networks that were far less congested than now.
By encouraging dispersion of population and commuting we've made a rod for our own backs only partly mitigated by tele-working.
Meanwhile, as it's not likely to last long, let's just enjoy the snow.
It would have been nice to have had -- at least a splattering of snow down here.
On a different tac, I installed Vista on the laptop last night, that's the PC that holds all the PM Blog files on it. Although I backed everything up and did a clean install - Office (2007) has already had a not responding error and generally everything seems slower. I have installed all Vista drivers from Dell for the correct model incidentally.
Laptop is a 6 Month old Dell with 2.00 GHz Dual core processor and oodles of memory. So not that impressed at the moment. I'll hang on to XP for the main PC for a while.
No more techie talk but thought I'd share that with any interested parties.
It would have been nice to have had -- at least a splattering of snow down here.
On a different tac, I installed Vista on the laptop last night, that's the PC that holds all the PM Blog files on it. Although I backed everything up and did a clean install - Office (2007) has already had a not responding error and generally everything seems slower. I have installed all Vista drivers from Dell for the correct model incidentally.
Laptop is a 6 Month old Dell with 2.00 GHz Dual core processor and oodles of memory. So not that impressed at the moment. I'll hang on to XP for the main PC for a while.
No more techie talk but thought I'd share that with any interested parties.
Eddie, my only advice for tonight's show is:
Please cut one of the multiple adverts for another show, so that your own show does not bang into the bongs. No point sacrificing the quality of production just to advertise something I will never watch anyway. You did well yesterday though.
And if you talk for half an hour about the 'snow' and 'disruption', I will cry, I am warning you.
I very much enjoyed my journey to work today. Even proceeding at a careful considered pace, I arrived at work in half the time, because there were no little menaces being ferried to school clogging up the roads for working people.
Why can't schools open at weekends instead?
Anne P(3) Yes that's right. My husband is in charge of keeping the roads clear in a large town. He cancelled the rubbish collections, and was considering requesting school closures in order to reduce the amount of rush-hour traffic. My son walks to school, as do a large proportion of his fellow pupils. Pupils from outlying villages are bussed in, so they couldn't make it this morning, but neither could the staff, as very few of them live locally. The days when teachers were at the heart of their communities have long gone, especially in Secondary Shools, in our area at least.
Regarding the proposed changes to the House of Lords.
Why didn't Blair just leave it as it was? The system of Hereditary peerages worked perfectly well for centuries and was what other western democracies modeled their own parliaments on. The system customarily meant that an older man, who had spent his working life in any one of a number of disciplines, was randomly selected and would attend the upper house when there was a bill passing through parliament that he felt strongly about. The randomness of it was similar to the jury system.
Rather than having a second house full of politically motivated people (surely we could do with fewer politicians?) why not bring back the Hereditary Peers?
So, is there going to be anything in the programme tonight for those of us in the 50-60% of the country that doesn't have any snow?
Or is the London & Home County bias of the media going to extend even to the normally unparochial PM?
Anne P(3) Yes that's right. My husband is in charge of keeping the roads clear in a large town. He cancelled the rubbish collections, and was considering requesting school closures in order to reduce the amount of rush-hour traffic. My son walks to school, as do a large proportion of his fellow pupils. Pupils from outlying villages are bussed in, so they couldn't make it this morning, but neither could the staff, as very few of them live locally. The days when teachers were at the heart of their communities have long gone, especially in Secondary Shools, in our area at least.
As I look out of my Manchester office window I can see the distant Pennine hills completely covered in a deep blanket of... absolutely nothing. No snow. Nowt.
Yet according to Reuters: "Britain was hit by travel chaos on Thursday as much of the country was covered by a thick blanket of snow at the height of the morning rush-hour."
What they mean is "The important bit of Britain, i.e. London and the South East, was hit by travel chaos..."
Lady K: That's all fine and good, but it's hardly representative is it?
By contrast, juries are randomly selected from across the whole community, which hereditary peers patently are not.
Do hereditary peers pass incontinence problems to their offspring?
Philip (12). Yep the north is currently snow free. Bradford has had afew flurries but nine have lasted.
As for closing schools. My daugther goes to what we believe is the highest primary school in the UK. She has only had one day off in three years due to snow. Much to her disappointment :-(
(9) Sue Lady Kilbracken
I fail to see what hereditary peers have done to deserve the honour and reward of representing me. Or are you claiming that they have inherited a genetic feature that enables them to respond in a judicial and democratic manner to all they legislate on? For it to be otherwise would be partisan and therefore a matter that requires some valency in their voting rights.
I think Lady K is right. All these modern democratic revisions to the process have done no good. Let's repeal women's right to vote too.
I trust Lady K has her husband's permission to be speaking out in public in this manner. It's quite unseemly for a lady to do so, I think
Ian(16) - I wish I'd thought of saying that!
Ian: And, while we're at it, how about reintroducing serfdom?
RJD - you beat me to it again :o)
Beautiful sunny day here in France.
Stuart (15),
Yep the north is currently snow free.
Rubbish! Northumberland and Tyne & Wear are covered in it. As far as I know there is some in Scotland too.
Your point about the South-East-English-centric nature of the concern about weather is, of course, well made, but this is clearly not the day to make it.
Mumble, grumble, Bradford? North? Bloomin' soft southerners... etc....
The forecasters said that the blasted stuff would be in England and Wales but here in Perthshire we woke up to a couple of inches of white treachery.
tomi
Sorry but I have to shout now.
THERE IS HARDLY ANY SNOW ANYWHERE!!!!
The most reported was 10 inches.
Now, I grant you, there are circumstances where that measurement might constitute a talking point. But February weather isn't one of them.
Please, may we have some News now?
Fifi
given that most hereditary peerages were originally given to blokes for being mates of the king and helping him gain/keep a crown, ie basically being successful thugs, or to women for being royal whores I fail to see how their descendants can claim a right to be part of the governance of the country.
The crown no longer needs services of the kind which their ancestors provided and modern government needs something more sophisticated qualifications than that my great great great however many it takes grandfather killed for or slept with a long dead monarch.
AA (24)
given that most hereditary peerages were originally given to blokes for being mates of the king and helping him gain/keep a crown
I wonder if I am the only person who, on reading those words, thought about the present investigations related to honours for loans? For me, the main reason for reform of the upper chamber - whatever you choose to call it - is that there is a certain wiff with the present system.
H.
The point made by the guest about paying councillors is well made; perhaps more people would actually go into local goverment if they could devote more time to the job rather than balance being a councillor and working for a living.
when you pay people to have accountability they normally demand the power to do a good job.
Humph, yes there are certainly some very unpleasant smells hanging about the current government, as there was with the previous lot, but for me this just adds to the argument for the total abolition of the honours system.
It certainly isn't an argument imo for keeping hereditary peers.
What annoys me about the current proposals for the upper house is that there is:
a) abolition
b) totally appointed
in the list of options. As if a unicameral system is a wonderful thing - where is there a unicameral system we can admire? And how well has cronyism worked for an appointed chamber - remember Lord Gould a couple of days ago?
One only has to look at a random, rather minor law, to find what a mess was originally passed, and how their Lordships, who usually know what they are talking about, knocked it into shape. These days, the people drawing up new laws are not fit for purpose.
Actually, I'm not totally against a small number of hereditary peers, and bishops (but slip a few other faiths in as well), if we're not going to get a totally elected SENATE (the word they dare not say). Some of the hereditaries do useful work. Which is how they are still there, having been elected from their rather small electorate.
As for paying councellors a living wage - see the mess of the B/Parking scheme in Richmond for reasons not to encourage them at all! (personal opinion). A rigged consultation, ignoring or twisting evidence (this is from my own personal experience of dealing with them). Currently it seems the proposal is illegal, apart from a secret (but publically paid for) legal opinion.
Quite right Deep, one camel is NEVER enough. I think all ours ought to be made Lords. I doubt anyone would notice the difference.
Aunt Dahlia - I think you are a tad confused, as is Deepthought.
Unicameral - of or pertaining to a camel with one hump - cf Dromedary
Bicameral - of or pertaining to a camel with two humps - cf Bactrian
Dromedary camels are much more common than two hump camels and much less common than camel cigarettes.
It is possible to cross breed the two types of camel. Some people would expect that by breeding a one-hump camel with a two-hump camel that the result might be a three hump camel. The actual maths equation is closer to this: one-hump camel + two-hump came l= a camel with one really large hump.
I know of only one Humph on this blog so I assume we are Unicameral and he is a Dromedary. I don't think he has ever professed to be a Lord.
Is that all clear now?
Would that be Sue! Lord Dromedary? The well know blight of Priv*te Ey*
Aunt Dahlia - If you're going to be silly, there is not much point to this! (and with these words he took the hump and left)
Gro-an..."not much point"...that's really scraping the bottom of the barrel :o)
Thwap, thwap thwap. No I am sorry RJD (31), but this horse is no good for playing percussion on [Dromedary]. Oh and thanks Appy for the information. I have not been looking this far back in blog because of a busy end of the week type thing.
H.
(no animals were harmed in the making of this post)
It's good job I enjoy the surreal.
"Frapper your own mere", as my mother once said.
Pier Man (27) : I totally agree.
Last local elections, I was literally grabbed by the lapels and begged to stand for the District Council.
In 2003 my County Councillor approached me about standing, so she could retire in 2005.
But as a struggling self employed person I simply couldn't afford to do either. County would have paid around £6k, and District about £2k. I would not have been prepared to do either job half-heartedly ... it would have been a full time commitment.
It's the same reason I decided against training to be a magistrate too: two years of training, at my own expense, in my own time, in order to do an unpaid highly accountable job...? Not viable!
Fifi
Aperitif - was your Mum French then?
Valery (38),
No -- hence the confusion: Having just learned the terms, I was slapping her arm, laughing and crying "frappe la mere", to which came the above response. Oh how we laughed.
Appy - My French is tres limited. Pourquoi are you talking about hitting your mother? Is there some idiom that this idiot doesn't know?
RJD (40), yep. It was really funny to a 12 year old.
After being away in N Devon last week, I come back and am surprised no-one has asked, "What do you call a camel with 3 humps?" Humphrey, of course.
Wasn't able to send a postcard as no comms and I'd failed to take the postal address of PM with me. Will post today.
And there are not too many speed cameras. There are just too many speed limits. 50 limits are popping up all over the country nowadays, and for those of us who have to make long x-country journeys they are most irritating. Where I live they replaced a 40 limit with 30, and very soon had two of the worst crashes I have known in the 24 years I've lived in the area.
Paying councillors? No, we'd still get the same wasters. Hereditary Peers? We might think they are poorly qualified, but what about elected MPs? An A-level in obfuscation is usually sufficient. Membership of a political party and a safe [insert party-name here] seat are hardly qualifications.
And so to road-pricing. I'm totally against it for many reasons, including:
1) If Govt had spent even 1/2 of road taxes on roads there'd be no congestion;
2) If Local Govt had not declared war on the car because of the green lobby, they would have continued their programme of improving traffic flow intead of working in the opposite direction;
3) The Big Brother aspects;
4) The incredible cost of the technology and administration; there are rumours of US being charged for the kit installation; and think about all those thousands of workers who have to put in travel claims to their employer (often the Govt). Who can guess the admin. cost of adding road charges to claims? For businesses it doesn't bear thinking about.
5) It's a cost per mile, and if you are stuck in a jam your miles per gallon drop, so you are already paying a congestion charge. If the Govt wants to try and deter us from driving, they should just put more duty on road fuels.
Ah, Vyle, so cynical yet so eloquent.