Natural yogurt.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown .

I have mixed feelings about this 509 page book, that has been published in hardback. It will prove a very popular book because there was a first printing of 6.5 million (5 million in North America, 1.5 million in the UK), the largest in Doubleday history. On its first day the book sold one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada, making it the fastest selling adult novel in history. Since its release, it has remained at the top of the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction for 6 straight weeks.

I think The Lost Symbol is good because it is easy reading, the story is very accessible. The story revolves around Freemasonry and is a tale of conspiracy involving a pyramid that could lead to the secrets of the Ancient Mysteries. The Lost Symbol is an entertaining novel that is an enjoyable read. There are many twists in the story and the reader develops doubts about all the characters. This novel explores a lot of the history of art and culture through the centuries. There has been an awful lot of research gone into this book, which is a good mix of fact and fiction. This book is good for people who are not regular book readers as Dan Brown steadily builds up his story in easy blocks, he will introduce his characters slowly, one at a time, the reader is not thrown straight in at the deep end of the plot.

I do however think The Lost Symbol is bad because for me it is the All Day Breakfast of the Pub Menu. An All Day Breakfast is okay, it is basic food but there are better meals on the menu. This book is okay, it has passed my quality threshold but I know there are far better authors in the bookstore. This story is okay but it is not as good as The Da Vinci Code , which I read on holiday in June 2007. The Da Vinci Code was the book that set me off abandoning daily newspapers and becoming a regular book reader. The characters in The Lost Symbol are all smug and display an arrogance that is typical of Americans. I did not like the personality of any of the characters and the time frame of the book is a challenge to the average reader. The basic storyline takes place in only 12 hours but the reader will take many days to consume this book, 17 days in my case. Therefore I did not get that "living with the book" feeling I enjoy with other books. I thought the ending of this book was stupid and it made this book appear as a childish fantasy to me. At the end I felt cheated and thought that this story was not credible. The storyline does not add up and I cannot believe that people would act like this in real life. What was an easy and entertaining read ended with me thinking the whole story was daft. My lasting impression of The Lost Symbol is one of watching an easily forgettable made-for-television drama. I expect a film will be made of The Lost Symbol and it will be a box office success.

I agree with the whole review of The Lost Symbol written by William Sutcliffe for the Financial Times . William ends his review with the line "This is a novel that asks nothing of the reader, and gives the reader nothing back."

I was lucky, I did not pay for this book, it was passed onto me by a workmate called Matthew. That is how I will pitch The Lost Symbol, it is an okay book to read if it is passed onto you from a friend. I do not suggest bloggers purchase a copy because there are far better books to read by far better authors in the bookstore. If you are not a seasoned book reader then you should try The Lost Symbol because it will show you the way to enjoy reading novels, an easy start. If you are passed a copy of The Lost Symbol then I suggest you read it so that you at least know what the masses are talking about!

It is good to see a spoof advertisement that pokes fun at services provided by well known companies. This well done spoof was posted on the informative A Transport of Delight blog and I rather like it!

Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali re-elected.

Tunisia's president has been re-elected for a fifth five-year term with 89.62% of the vote, the country's interior ministry announced today. It was the lowest percentage of the vote by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali since he took power in a bloodless coup in 1987. Mr Ben Ali was last re-elected in 2004 with more than 94 per cent of votes - a drop from his previous victories, which fluctuated between 99.2 and 99.7 per cent. The turnout rate was 89.45 per cent of Tunisia's 5.3 million voters, authorities said.

...WOW! This election in Tunisia achieved a voter turnout of 89% - that is brilliant and demonstrates democracy in action. To get a 89% voter turnout is marvelous and it shows that only 10% of Tunisians are apathetic. President Ben Ali is not a young man taking Tunisia forward, he is 73 years old! For a 73 year old man to get re-elected for the fifth successive time and having been president since 1987 shows just how popular Ben Ali continues to be. For Ben Ali to get 89% of the votes for his fifth term is the envy of politicians the world over. Tunisia is expecting 3 per cent growth in gross domestic product this year despite the global recession. The country's poverty rate has dropped below 4 per cent and it is a regional model in terms of literacy, social welfare and the role women play in society. Therefore it is hardly a surprise that Ben Ali has been re-elected.

Here in the UK voter turnout at the last general election in 2005 was a miserable 61%, it was even worse in 2001 at 59%. This demonstrates how much apathy there is among British voters, which is a shame because our people have little say in the way things are run in our country. Around 40% of adults in Britain have lost faith in democracy and cannot be bothered to vote.

Tunisia is a nice country and a wonderful holiday destination. I have been on holiday three times to Tunisia and we shall be going again in five weeks time, with another holiday booked there for next year. By the middle of next year I will have visited Tunisia five times, a number equal to the terms of office Ben Ali has been elected for!

Are we fighting the wrong war, in the wrong country?

There is a nice piece, click the link above, on the Guardian website today by Mehdi Hasan, a senior editor (politics) at the New Statesman and a former news and current affairs editor at Channel 4. He questions both America's and Britain's involvement in Afghanistan and asks the reader if the politicians in charge are fighting the wrong war, in the wrong country?

Reading his article, I have to agree with him and Dr Marc Sageman, of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia: who said...

We've won. It was critical, after 9/11, that we went into Afghanistan to destroy the terrorist training camps that the plotters had attended … and we've done that: there are no camps left in Afghanistan, and all of the terror plots now come out of Pakistan.

...The rest of this article spells out the case that Afghanistan does not pose a threat to America or Britain, only al-Qaida in Pakistan can pose any threat to the West. So why not declare victory and bring the troops home?

I think all the American and British troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan and that Pakistan should be left to police it's own country. A lot of money can be made out of wars, this has always been the case, trouble is it is you and me who are helping to make profits for the companies engaged directly and indirectly in these wars. I do not suggest that America or Britain attacks Pakistan and I think some people, with vested interests, have talked up the threat posed by some rebels in Pakistan to feather their pockets.

Bugger, the clocks have gone back an hour!

It's a damned nuisance, the clocks have gone back an hour here in the UK from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time. I think the clocks should be simply left alone, at the setting of British Summer Time, throughout the year. You cannot get away from reduced hours of daylight in the winter but I would rather have lighter evenings than lighter mornings. Lighter evenings help everyone and lighter mornings help only a few. I agree with the article in The Times by Paul Simon, although I would not go as far as proposing Double British Summer Time, with another change of the clocks.

In 2007 the US extended their summer time by four weeks to save energy, which was estimated to have saved about 0.5 per cent of the nation’s electricity per day, enough to power 100,000 households for a year. And a study by scientists at Cambridge University estimated that if Britain went on to European time all year round, it could save the country 170,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions — literally at the stroke of the clock.

So, I propose that we keep British Summer Time throughout the year. This would give us better use of daylight and save a lot of energy with no extra cost involved.

Flak Jackets at the ready!

Oh heck, another hazard has cropped up for people living or visiting London. The prospect of an armed police service moved a step closer yesterday when Scotland Yard announced the formation of a new firearms unit that will routinely patrol gun crime hotspots in London. The team is drawn from the CO19, the Metropolitan Police specialist firearms unit, members of which shot dead Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station after mistaking him for a suicide bomber in 2005.

The armed patrols are being deployed after a dramatic rise in gun crime. They will target key areas in North London, where Turkish gangs are engaged in a bloody turf war, and south of the Thames, where gangland shooting incidents have soared. The C019 Proactive Unit will walk estates while some officers will use motorbikes to provide the capability for high-speed pursuit.

...Oh dear, this is what it has come to, Armed Police routinely on London streets. I think this is a very sad move indeed and it shows that our elected representatives have no control over the Police forces paid for by you and me the taxpayer. I can see no need for routine Armed Police patrols in London. These criminals using guns are only interested in other criminals on their patch and not the ordinary man in the street. The last thing we want is trigger happy Police flexing their muscles as our society is being sucked into a Police State. It can only be a matter of time before there is another Jean Charles de Menezes style shooting. Trouble is, it could so easily be you or me going about our daily business and not hearing that fatal bullet whistling through the air.

The audience can be large or small and people will listen to what you say, sometimes they do not like what they hear!

Everyone has a point of view and many people express their opinions freely. I write how I feel on this blog and speak to people in an open and frank manner. I am not alone but some people have a larger media profile than others! Anton Du Beke is a dancer on the television programme called Strictly Come Dancing. His partner, the actress Laila Rouass, was wearing a backless cat suit when – live on television – the professional dancer remarked that he’d like to see the actress shaking her torso to the Samba.

Anton said: “Pop the frock on back to front – we’ll all have a lovely time.”

...Now then, this comment was supposed to have made Laila Rouass look visibly shocked! I thought his comment was rather witty and is maybe what a lot of viewers were thinking. Watch the video below and I think that you can see that Anton does have a valid point here, if you can imagine Laila wearing the cat suit back to front!



So, what has this post got to do with smaller audiences? Well, your humble blogger may be spied upon by the CIA . Social media websites offer a powerful opportunity for "open source" intelligence – publicly available data that can be mined for information. In an attempt to sift through the blizzard of information, the investment arm of the CIA, In-Q-Tel, has invested in a software firm that monitors social media. According to Wired magazine, In-Q-Tel has put money into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specialises in monitoring the internet.

Visible Technologies examines more than half a million websites a day, looking through more than a million posts and interactions happening on blogs, in online forums and on popular social media sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Amazon.
The company's customers, who include Microsoft, Hormel Foods and Xerox, receive real-time data on what's being said on these sites, based on a number of predetermined key words. A "score" is then assigned to each item, identifying it as positive, negative, mixed or neutral.

...So, whatever you write can be monitored by very powerful software and the results of this analysis can then be forwarded to the interested party. Beware, this means that both the mighty CIA in Washington and a debt riddled company in Birmingham can be notified of your internet postings! Once your postings have been flagged they will watch your every move. Of course some people will use this internet visibility to wind up some agencies, companies or people. But then these same people should have a sense of humour as well as a respect for free speech and the freedom of expression.

We should all have the confidence to dress, talk and write freely. Thankfully Alex Reid has set a marvelous example at a book launch of how you can dress and hold your head up high.

London Evening Standard .

Oh, times have changed in newspaper land. People in London can now pick up a free copy of the London Evening Standard. For the first time since it was founded in 1827 , the London Evening Standard is to be given away free of charge on the streets of the capital and in the city's schools, universities and offices.

The radical change in business strategy represents a major gamble by Alexander Lebedev, the Russian billionaire who acquired London's only paid-for evening newspaper earlier this year, when he bought a majority shareholding for £1 from Associated Newspapers, publishers of the Daily Mail. The plan, which comes into effect on 12 October, involves more than doubling the distribution of the paper to 600,000 and attempting to recover the lost circulation revenue through increased advertising.

...So yesterday afternoon I picked up a free copy of the London Evening Standard, just to see what Londoners were getting. I was very surprised at what the reader was given for free! It exceeded my expectations and I can imagine that they will draw in a lot of readers. Generally you only get what you pay for and most free newspapers are very tame but here, the London Evening Standard has raised the bar. It was a very brave move by the new owners to double the print run and give the product away free but I hope the gamble pays off. Of course, this will shake up all the other newspapers now that Londoners have another choice that will not cost them a penny. I think this will further reduce the circulation figures of the national daily newspapers for people who are lucky enough to be able to pick up a free copy of the London Evening Standard around London.

Will the London Evening Standard be able to survive on advertising revenue alone? Time will tell, but I think it will because of the visibility it gives advertisers. You cannot get this advertising response from the public with poster sites because people simply walk past them. When you grab a newspaper you have to turn the pages yourself in a conscious effort to see what is on the next page. The reader will search down a page and read your advertisement. The reader is also self-selecting and has chosen to grab a copy of the newspaper so your advertisement is more likely to be on-target.

There is always someone waiting at the gate .

Royal Mail is to recruit 30,000 temporary workers in an attempt to reduce the impact of a series of nationwide postal strikes which start on Thursday. Royal Mail said it expected most of the 20,000 postmen and women not in the union to work through the strike. A spokesman said the process was "well under way" and the company had received job applications from about 85,000 people. He said: "We have been absolutely inundated. These are difficult times and there are a lot of people out there who want to work."

But, in an increasingly bitter dispute, the Communication Workers Union said support for the action was "rock-solid" among its 120,000 members and it was confident that services would be "severely disrupted" and would increase the backlog of mail to "well over 60 million items" by the weekend.

...Do the Maths boys, the Royal Mail can easily replace you at short notice. There is always someone waiting at the gate to take your job. Anyone who goes on strike is in breach of contract and you do not have a leg to stand on. People are ready to replace you at the Royal Mail and a lot of your so-called loyal Trade Union members will break ranks and continue to work whilst you are out on strike. You have only your jobs to loose and trying to take on the Royal Mail with strike action is foolish. I do not think that you have any support from the public as our lives have changed so much that traditional post is a relic of the past. I would not be surprised if in future the Royal Mail abandoned 6 days a week delivery of post in favour of a more efficient and cost effective once a week delivery to households.

Forget the strike boys, if you do not like the way the Royal Mail is being run by it's management, then hand in your notice because there is always someone waiting at the gate to replace you. When you leave and hopefully get another job, you will then find that the grass is not greener on the other side. Management reserve the right to run things badly, get used to it boys.

Non-whites can now apply!

Black and Asian Britons must be allowed to join the British National Party (BNP), it was claimed yesterday, after the far-right organisation caved in to legal action and agreed to change its membership rules. The climbdown follows court proceedings brought by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which accused the BNP of having a constitution that discriminated against racial and religious groups.

...When you have stopped laughing your socks off you can read the full story by clicking the link. I found this story really funny although I do understand all the issues involved. Because of legislation that must be complied with by all members of our society, there is nothing to stop non-whites from joining the British National Party and changing this political party from within! It is funny that the British are a mongrel race and now a far-right political party can reflect and represent our wonderful multi-cultural society.

Next month the BNP leader Nick Griffin could lead his party with a powerful speech and then follow it by asking his members to sing along with him to the Boney M hit Brown Girl In The Ring...

Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
There's a brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la la
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum

Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
Come on show me your motion
Tra la la la la la
Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum

All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths
All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths

I remember one Saturday night
We had fried fish and Johnny-cakes
I remember one Saturday night
We had fried fish and Johnny-cakes

Beng-a-deng
Beng-a-deng

Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
There's a brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la la
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum

Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
Come on show me your motion
Tra la la la la la
Show me your motion
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum

All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths
All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths

I remember one Saturday night
We had fried fish and Johnny-cakes
I remember one Saturday night
We had fried fish and Johnny-cakes

Beng-a-deng
Beng-a-deng

Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
See, brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la la
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum

All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths
All had water run dry
Got nowhere to wash my cloths

Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
Look that brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la la
Brown girl in the ring
Tra la la la la
She looks like a sugar in a plum
Plum plum

Now wash your hands .

That's right folks, now wash your hands, because today is Global Handwashing Day . A whopping two-thirds of men don't wash their hands with soap after going to the toilet, according to a British study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. See that trio of averagely hygienic-looking men by the water fountain? Two of them almost certainly gave their hands a quick spray under the tap or didn't even bother going that far before breezing out of the men's loos.

But before women combust with self-righteous disgust, it would appear that the fairer sex aren't a whole lot more hygienic, with one in three also revealed to be soap dodgers. There is a serious side to all this. Health authorities the world over are stepping up efforts to persuade people to wash their hands properly to help slow the spread of H1N1 swine flu, declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation in June.

And simple handwashing with soap is most cost-effective way of disease control, according to the study's authors. "It could save more than a million lives a year from diarrhoeal diseases, and prevent respiratory infections – the biggest causes of child mortality in developing countries." In developed nations, handwashing can help prevent the spread of flu, sickness and diarrhoea bugs such as norovirus and rotavirus, as well as hospital bugs such as MRSA and C difficile, they added.

...It seems so bad to me that here in the UK half of the population are not washing their hands after using the toilet. We are supposed to be living in a civilized developed country but our hygiene habits can be very third world! There is no need for this sloppiness and people should be sensible about their own hygiene. Because we touch so many things in our day to day lives, it is important that we wash our hands regularly to stop cross contamination and the spread of disease. I always like that final hand wash that I do in the bus depot at the end of my shift. I know that I am going home clean from handling all that luggage with it's high risk of harbouring germs in transit. This simple handwashing is probably why I very rarely catch a cold or the flu.

Disabled, my arse!

Oh, we get it all the time at work. Driver's note: front kerbside seat required by disabled passenger travelling from A to B. Oh yeah, we think, yet another passenger is playing the disability card and wants the seats on the coach offering the best view. Anyone who has ever travelled on a coach will tell you that the worst seat for leg room is the front kerbside seats because of the reduced legroom imposed by the vanity screen. That is the panel that is fixed to stop boarding passengers looking up your skirt! Yet, these passengers who claim to be disabled and then demand the front kerbside seats also claim it is because of their legs! Oh yeah, and I was born yesterday. Next fraudster please!...

Enter a benefit claimant, Susan Hutchinson, 56, of Barry, South Wales , who was paid more than £20,000 incapacity payments for being "too weak to walk", was filmed running the Race For Life with thousands of other women. Susan Hutchinson was paid disability benefits after telling the local authority she was crippled by asthma and joint pain. But a court heard how fraud investigators saw her smiling for the cameras as she ran the 5km race. And then undercover officials from the Department of Work and Pensions filmed her on a gruelling workout in a women-only gym.

Hutchinson appeared at Barry magistrates court in South Wales to admit six charges of fraud and two of theft after claiming benefits for more than five years. Unmarried Hutchinson led a double life by using her real name to claim disability living allowance - and a false name to work in a nursing home and as PA to a wealthy businessman.

A spokesman for the DWP said: "She fraudulently claimed more than £23,000 in benefits including income support and disability living allowance. "This is reserved for the most severely disabled members of society, who are either unable to walk or virtually unable to walk."

Hutchinson admitted all eight charges totalling £23,238.16 in benefits. She will be sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on 13 November.

...This Susan Hutchinson is a fraud, just look at the eight seconds of video on the BBC News webpage! This fraudster of a woman is not disabled, crippled by asthma and joint pain or being "too weak to walk". What is it with these people who claim to be disabled? It makes me sick, we get bullied at work by the disabled making our job awkward by demanding front kerbside seats. Young men can be so damned awkward to refuse to board a regular coach because they can pose with a pair of crutches. Susan Hutchinson has fiddled you and me, the taxpayer, to the tune of £23,238 over 5 years. These people are simply taking the piss out of you and me. They damn well know what they are doing it and they should be stopped, period. Of course, I am not stupid, there are some people who are genuinely disabled and my next post will not be titled "Service Support, my arse!"

devil bones by Kathy Reichs .

This book was written in 2008 and it is the latest novel by Kathy Reichs to be published in paperback. This is the 11th book in the series to feature Dr. Temperance Brennan, the forensic anthropologist. This book has 370 pages, after which there is a transcribed interview with Kathy Reichs, where she does a simple question/answer session about her books and work. Kathy explains that she is under contract to write 14 novels. devil bones is the 6th book written by Kathy that I have read so far.

devil bones is about minority religions, religions that ignorant people may class simply as devil worship. It features in fair detail the syncretic religion of Santeria and Wicca , a neopagan, nature-based religion. This story explores religious ritual and the ignorance that can be whipped up in society about minority religious belief systems. This book is okay, it passes my quality threshold but it is not as good as cross bones or bones to ashes .

Kathy writes well and she can be very descriptive, for example on page 21...

Though faint, the odor was unmistakable. Sweet and fetid, it heralded the presence of rotting flesh.
But this wasn't the cloying, gut-churning smell with which I am so familiar. The reek of active putrefaction. Of innards ravaged by maggots and scavengers. Of flesh greened and bloated by water. No other stench can compete with that. It seeps into your pores, your nostrils, your lungs, your clothing, rides you home like smoke from a bar. Long after showering, it lingers in your hair, your mouth, your mind.
This was gentler. But still undeniable.

Kathy is also technical but she explains procedures well, for example on page 45...

Fordisc 3.0 is an anthropometric program that employs a statistical procedure called discriminant function analysis, or DFA. DFA's rely on comparison to reference groups composed of known membership, in this case skulls of individuals whose race and sex have been documented, and whose measurements have been entered into the database. "Unknowns," such as the Greenleaf skull, are compared to the "knowns" in the reference groups, and evaluated as to similarity and difference.

Kathy, although dealing a lot with death, does display a light humour in the narative, for example on page 304...

I knew I was ranting, couldn't help myself. Finney was dead. Slidell was snubbing me. Tyrell had just fired me. Ryan wasn't at fault. But he was there in my face so he took the hit.
"And look at you." I flapped an agitated hand at Ryan. "You're almost fifty. Who the hell are the Dead Milkmen?"
"Beats me."
"You're wearing the T-shirt of a group you don't even know?" Disdainful.
"I figured it was a charity for the widows and orphans of deceased dairy workers." Delivered deadpan.
That did it.
I laughed.

...So, that ends my season of reading 5 Kathy Reich novels in a row! I have started another book today and it seems rather strange to loose Dr. Temperance Brennan from my daily thoughts, not unlike the finishing of an affair! Now, what am I to do with that box of latex gloves?

Body of Lies , the film.

On the 3rd of May 2009 I wrote a review of a book called Body of Lies by David Ignatius on this blog. A workmate of mine, called Matthew, passed me the film that was based on this book. I so much enjoyed the book, I gave it the maximum score of 5 stars on Book Army , so I settled down with beer and biscuits to enjoy this film.

Body of Lies, the film, is 128 minutes long and was directed by Ridley Scott. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Roger Ferris, Russell Crowe as Ed Hoffman and Mark Strong as Hani Salaam. I watched this film with an open mind and I really enjoyed it. Like with the book, you get so far along and you think what the hell is going on? There are differences between the story in the book and the story in the film but this does not spoil your enjoyment of either. The film however did not spend much time exploring the complex relationship that developed between Roger Ferris and Hani Salaam or the romance between Roger Ferris and Aisha.

So, all that is left is the age old question, for your money, which is the better buy, the book or the film? I think that the book is better than the film because you get so much more story in the book. You feel as though you are living with a book for maybe 10 to 21 days depending on your daily reading time. You can never capture the full content of a book within the time restrictions of a film, it just cannot be done. I think that most books are and will always be better than any film adaptation. However, if you want to enjoy beer and biscuits then the film is the better choice!

This film was not a woman's choice, I told Gail just how good the book was but she was not interested and spent the time on this computer instead.

No surprises here then.

Fuel bills have become a "scandal" as the biggest suppliers in the £25bn-a-year industry make vast profits supplying gas and electricity to Britain's 20 million families, independent experts say. Utility companies put up power prices by about 42 per cent last year, or about £382 per household. Since then, the wholesale cost of gas and electricity has halved but bills have fallen by only 4 per cent.

Critics say there is too little competition between British Gas, E.ON, EDF Energy, Npower, Scottish & Southern and ScottishPower. The average domestic fuel bill paid by direct debit is £1,141 – but it varies by less than £20 between the six companies.

Over the past month, the mark-up charged by the established power suppliers has been exposed by two new operators who are taking advantage of rock-bottom wholesale gas and electricity prices to slash bills. First:Utility's typical tariff for bills paid online is £954, while Ovo Energy charges £978, a saving of £163 to £187 over the Big Six. Quarterly and pre-payment customers who switch to Ovo or First:Utility would save £287.

To read more of this story, click this link .

...So, I am not surprised by this story. Perhaps I am getting a little old in the tooth but I did not believe that when wholesale energy prices dropped, the savings would be passed onto the customers! I always thought that all the companies would keep the high retail energy prices and pocket the difference. What seems daft to me is that you do not actually get your energy from the charging company, they simply bill you for the cost. These are not energy companies but meter reading and billing outfits. Shame that domestic consumers cannot simply read their own power meters and pay the wholesaler of the gas or electric that they have consumed.

Looking like a Paki .

The BBC has received 63 complaints after it emerged Strictly Come Dancing star Anton Du Beke called his dance partner Laila Rouass a "Paki". The dancer issued an apology after the News of the World revealed he had used the offensive term to describe the actor Laila Rouass, his partner on the BBC1 show.

Du Beke reportedly said Rouass, who is mixed race, "looked like a Paki" after she turned up to a rehearsal with a spray tan. Rouass is said to have stormed out of the rehearsal two weeks ago. Rouass, who has an Indian mother and Moroccan father, accepted his apology.

...So, 63 people have complained to the BBC, I wonder why? These 63 people must be sad, very sad. A woman comes into work after having a spray tan. She thinks that she will look better after the spray tan and we all know that women like compliments from their workmates. We also know what workplace humour can be like and how we can all tease the appearance of our workmates. So, let's look at this remark in context. A woman comes into work after having a spray tan, her skin appears to be darker than the day before. "Oh, you look a bit like a Paki" would be to say that you have noticed the change in her appearance. I do not consider Anton Du Beke's remarks were offensive or racist in the situation they were spoken. I do not think that he should have been sacked by the BBC or face any disciplinary action over this remark. He has apologized to Laila Rouass, who has accepted his apology. I think the 63 complainants to the BBC should get a life and not try to place the race card. These remarks were not even broadcast and were said off-air, therefore this remark was private. Now look at the photograph below, I can see that Anton Du Beke has a point!

The price of fraud.

I and many of my workmates are concerned about the level of fraud committed by passengers on our coaches. It is not a victimless crime to get a free ride off the nationwide company. Everything has to be paid for and this lack of revenue from passengers travelling fraudulently has to be paid for. I, together with most of the staff across the country, have not had a pay rise this year because this fraud affects the balance sheet. It is disheartening when management make it so easy for passengers to defraud the company and travel for free. Passengers can print their own tickets and mobile phone text messages, it is child's play. The double insult is when staff challenge this fraud only to be told by Service Support to allow the passenger to travel if they purchase a new ticket! Where is the deterrent to fraudulently getting a free ride, when if you are caught you only have to buy the ticket you should have paid for before you attempted to travel?

There are many signs stuck on the windows of our coaches. No hot food, give up these seats to people who claim to be disabled and family friendly seats. I wonder if management will have the guts to display this sticker, as every little helps...

cross bones by Kathy Reichs .

This is Kathy's 8th book featuring Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist. She wrote this novel in 2005 and it is very different to her other novels because it is a conspiracy rather than a regular crime thriller. This book has 481 pages and Kathy starts off in the first 5 pages by describing the facts about some archaeological finds in Israel from 1963 to 2002 to put the reader in the frame. At the end of the book, from pages 477 to 481, Kathy explains the inspiration behind her novel and how she was able to write it.

This story starts in a standard way about a death of a man in Montreal. The plot thickens and Dr. Temperance Brennan is drawn into a world of conspiracy that surrounds religion. This book is about conspiracy and is similar in style to The Da Vinci Code . If you liked The Da Vinci Code, then I am sure that you will like cross bones. I vote this book a HIT and I can find nothing wrong with it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it ticked all the right boxes for me.

This book explores and goes into quite a lot of detail about Jewish culture. It explains how certain archaeological finds could destroy the Jewish and Christian faiths. This novel is a good conspiracy tale that makes the reader think and wonder about the possibilities that have been raised. This is an entertaining read and it is not heavy. I am an Atheist and this book had me laughing my socks off because of the theological issues the story raised. I am sure that there is nothing in this book to offend Christians, Jews or Muslims.

So, Dr. Temperance Brennan leaves Canada and travels to Israel because of finds at Masada in the 1960's by Yigael Yadin . She is also pulled into the conspiracies by a book called The Jesus Scroll by Donovan Joyce which gives the reader a lot of food for thought.

Kathy has written this novel around the true life experiences of James Tabor who has written a book called The Jesus Dynasty . I have my own views on religion and I found this book fun and a joy to read. Two little quotes that made me smile where on page 97...

And this was the first time Dora had been questioned alone.
"Did your son have enemies? Anyone who might have wished him harm?"
"We are Jews, miss."
"I was thinking of a specific individual."
"No."

And on page 345...

We were shown to a booth so dark it was impossible to make out the printed word. I glanced at the menu then gave Ryan a take-it-away gesture.
The waiter wore a white shirt and black pants. His teeth were yellowed, his face lined from years of cigarettes.
Ryan said something in Arabic. I understood the word "Coke". The waiter asked a question. Ryan gave a thumbs-up. The waiter scribbled on a pad and left.

But on page 348 Kathy writes...

The waiter dropped two coasters on the table and parked a can of high-test Coke on each. Apparently Ryan's Hebrew lessons hadn't included the word "diet."

...So, this was not another Crime Scene Investigation but a very good conspiracy tale made from very good research and historical knowledge.

BMW - Brains Maybe Wanted .

I was driving my coach along the M4 motorway towards London yesterday morning. At around 10.15 am I was driving between junction 17 - Chippenham and junction 16 - Swindon. A Dot Matrix sign was displaying the message "Debris in road - Slow". Further on I spotted a tyre in lane 3. I looked in my mirror to see how the muppets where passing this abandoned tyre. All of a sudden the tyre flipped into the air and I thought that some moron had clipped it. Then a car started to overtake me in lane 2 and I noticed that it's front nearside fog light was hanging down by it's cable below the bumper. I looked to see what marque of car this was and I found it was a BMW . The driver continued to overtake my coach, this is a class thing as all successful motorists MUST overtake the loser-cruiser. The driver continued with the fog light swinging like a trophy.

Further up the motorway, the skillful BMW car driver pulled onto the hard shoulder to survey the damage whilst the loser-cruiser rolled past at 62mph.

Well, what can I say? Expensive car hits a tyre at great speed in lane 3. The driver had clearly ignored the warning sign. There was relatively little traffic on the motorway at this time and even without the warning sign, you could spot this abandoned tyre a long way off. It stuck out like a sore thumb and was easy to see on this straight section of motorway. Was the BMW driver distracted perhaps by a mobile telephone? Thank goodness there are no pedestrians allowed on our motorways as had this tyre been a person it would have been a fatality.

Ah, BMW - cars for people with more money than sense .