Short political memories

Tony Blair is today celebrating ten years in power. He's achieved lots of things that've made our lives easier, and improved education and the NHS by quite a lot.

He's not been a bad bloke, and partly because of him peace in Northern Ireland has reached levels that people never thought they'd achieve.

So why do people hate the bloke so much?

In fact, why is it that people find it socially acceptable to find fault in our Country's leadership?

I'm excluding those who genuinely oppose the party as political candidates, or those who want different reforms. I'm talking about people who vote someone in, and then systematically set about pulling them to pieces.

They'll vote with their support, pick out a mistake and then never let their prime minister forget it. They'll still probably vote labour for the next term, and then they'll find something else to hate him about.

It's fashionable to be cynical, and I simply cannot understand why.

If you think we'll be much happier under the tories, fine. Vote them in. Exactly the same people will be vilifying the new prime minister for something he or she can't help, or for a risk he or she has to take to make the world a better place.

This blog isn't a comment about Iraq, or whether it was right or wrong, I just think it's a bit unfair to remember the bloke purely because of this one thing he did over all the other good things.

If you vote somebody into power, you have to accept that they're going to have their methods of getting things done.

Stop your moaning and be glad we haven't got Adolf in charge.

Celebrity sex toys?!

VH1 and MTV are particularly bad for producing those silly TV programmes about what celebrities do in their spare time with a panel of talking heads that you've never seen before, but claim to be stylist to the stars, or somebody's personal groomer. They're usually journalists.

They routinely appear on these shows to let you know how much stars spend on their cars, nights out and pets. I'm not interested, but somebody obviously is.

Now however, they've taken it a step farther and further into the gutter with:

Celebrity Sex Toys!

Yep, that's right. Now you can find out what toy Eva Longoria is using, and which toy Britney Spears is rumoured to be using since her split from big Kev.

For Christ's sake, this is ridiculous, not to mention surely bordering on slanderous.

Dodgy items of adult nature are paraded on the screen followed closely by celebrities rumoured to be using them!

The notion of celebrities being public property is further worsened by shows like this epitomise everything that is wrong with celebrity culture.

Traffic Patterns

They're determinable to a point, but eventually they start to get a bit ridiculous.

When you do your best to analyse which way the traffic's going to go and when, for the most part you are going to get it wrong.

I've been driving from my hometown into Bristol for nine months now, and I can't work out what causes certain types of congestion.

The rush hour is inevitable because a lot of people in my hometown have to get to, and home from, work at peak times. This I can understand.

What I can't understand however, is how the hell it can change by a thousand cars depending on a factor I have yet to determine.

Wednesday morning. 6:55am. My Dad and I pull out of the usual road onto the usual busy road. It's rammed, and there's traffic queueing back for at least two-hundred yards behind us. We go to work.

Thursday morning. 6:55am. My Dad and I pull out of the road onto the busy road. Nothing there. Not a single car. Empty.

Friday morning. Medium density, not as bad as Wednesday.

The following Monday. Nothing on the road.

Tuesday: Horrendous.

Wednesday: Empty.

What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On?!?!?!

I'm like a mugging victim. If I could work out why it was happening, I'd probably be a bit happier about it. Find routine. Find a way around it. But no!

Raging rant concluded.

Welcome back

The majority of the population are today waving goodbye to the Christmas period, and saying hello to full working weeks once again.

Some have taken holiday over the Christmas period, others have had their offices closed by default. Some have taken no holiday whatsoever. One way or another, you're likely to be heading back either this week or next week.

What I'm looking to comment on is how people can call a sicky today?!

In some rare cases, I can see a sick day being required. One of my colleagues contracted a flu virus over the Christmas period, but was back for work, so I can understand how this can happen. But surely employers must be getting a little bit suspicious when the majority of their work force doesn't turn up because of a bit of a runny nose / sore throat / other ailment?

This has to be a bit of a lame excuse. I got to work faster than usual today due to the fact that there was zero traffic on the roads. It usually takes me twenty minutes to join the motorway.

Today took two and a half.

Factor out those still on holiday, and I refuse to believe that all of them have no holiday during the year.

While I'm at it, how much holiday do all these people get? School half-term? Traffic greatly reduced. Mid-Summer holidays in Benedorm? Horrendous. Traffic at home is greatly reduced. Christmas? Nothing on the road for weeks.

Skiving gits.