Year: 2007

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What the CWU doesn’t want you to know

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_46586910_008154934-1This wretched postal strike pissed me off even before it started; my feelings on strikes and unions and all the associated irrelevant and redundant attitudes are well known. The posties are claiming the usual shit – they demand absolute and guaranteed job security and a nice fat pension, two things which the vast majority of people in this country haven’t a cat in hell’s chance of enjoying in a modern economy. But oh no, Royal Mail workers are special, just like the train drivers, and public sector workers. They deserve better!

Except they don’t. Today Royal Mail did the dirty on them (via The Daily Telegraph) and told everyone just what sort of unreasonable shit their workers demand of them on a daily basis. Ninety two points were made in total, the twelve most notable of which are as follows:

  1. Two or three hour minimum daily overtime – so if 30 minutes of actual work is required and completed, then between two and three hours’ payment is demanded.
  2. An additional allowance claimed for using particular vehicles – regardless of whether the individual has actually driven the vehicle.
  3. Automatic overtime if mail volumes reach a certain level – regardless of how many ordinary working hours remain that day.
  4. If a delivery round is finished before the end of the paid shift, the employee expects to be able to go straight home. But if it takes 10 minutes longer two to three hours’ over time is claimed.
  5. Set overtime level is claimed at Christmas, even if there is no need for any additional hours and no extra hours are worked.
  6. An additional two hour payment on Easter Saturday – regardless of whether any work required.
  7. No flexibility between different parts of the same sorting office – if an employee sorts letters for a particular postcode, they will not sort for the adjacent postcode, even though both activities are often in the same room.
  8. Signing in and out for a shift on arrival – so that no record of actual hours worked exists.
  9. Collection drivers expect overtime pay for doing collections outside usual route – even if it is done within usual working hours.
  10. Overtime to cover for an absent colleague – a full day is claimed, even if only half day needed and worked.
  11. Ban on any cross functional working, even of similar tasks under the same roof.
  12. Additional meal and grace breaks as custom and practice.

If you felt sorry for them before then I don’t see how you can now. Royal Mail, now a private company fighting for survival since it lost its cushy monopoly, should at this point be firing those on strike in blocks of 100 and rehiring from the pool of migrant workers who are only too happy to work twice as hard and for half as much. Want job security? Don’t fuck over your employer then. How is it difficult to see the logic in that?

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Crossrail gets the green signal

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BBC NEWS | England | London | Crossrail gets the green signal – oh look, Gordon Brown has announced funding for a major public transport project the day before the weekend that he’s tipped to decide whether or not to hold a general election, his party having previously announced it on the eves of both the 2001 and 2005 general elections. Imagine that.

Crossrail, although undoubtedly needed, is however a bit of a red herring. Most of the new route has already been built and has been in use for many decades. For the most part, the new trains will run on existing lines. The part that needs to be built, that will use up most of the £16bn, and will undoubtedly go over time and budget as all the usual suspects (consultants, New Labour cronies, etc.) jump on the gravy train is the tunnel under the centre of London. It really isn’t like they’re building a brand new east to west rail route through London, so the £16bn price tag and the planned timescale (over a decade from now) does seem a bit hefty. One has to wonder how far £16bn would go towards building one of the many shelved proposals to improve the urban motorway network in London, political correctness over climate change notwithstanding.

In any case it isn’t right that a new public transport project, which the commuting public cries out for every day of their lives as they are packed onto their sardine tins on a railway network that hasn’t seen any significant expansion since the second world war, is used as a shiny election badge. New Labour have had ten years to do something about the railway network in this country and they’ve fucked it up at every opportunity, except of course when it suits them.

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Double awards win for Winehouse

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BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Double awards win for Winehouse – okay, let’s ignore the fact that Amy Winehouse, a terrible role model for anyone, clearly isn’t black despite winning two “Mobo” awards, that isn’t the point I wish to make here. What I take issue with is this:

Kanya King, the CEO of the Mobo Awards, read out the names of all of the children under the age of 16 who had been murdered in the UK this year.

“Guns and knives have killed too many of our young people, especially our boys,” she told the hushed audience.

Cry me a river. It’s thanks in part to “music of black origin” that these kids obtain guns and shoot them at each other in the first place. Rap “artists” constantly bang on about their guns and their violence and their money and their “hos”, making obscene videos to accompany their “music” showing them dripping in cash and surrounded by glamorous women and stating that violence and “respect” were the means by which they obtained such trappings. They are hideous role models and it’s frankly small wonder that gun violence is so rife amongst the young black community.

Get your own house in order before making sentimental speeches like that, please.

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Lib Dems back migrant ‘amnesty’

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BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dems back migrant ‘amnesty’ – right, so it’s not like the Liberal Democrats are ever going to get into power, so they may as well promise free bubble gum for everyone for all the good it will do them, but this isn’t going to stop me from taking issue with this absurd vote-losing policy.

The Liberal Democrats have said that after ten years of living in the United Kingdom, illegal immigrants should get the right to earn citizenship, which would mean passing language tests, demonstrating a long-term commitment to the UK and having no criminal record. There are two major problems with this that I can see:

  1. How can an illegal immigrant not have an effective criminal record? By their very presence in the country they are committing an offence. Whether that offence is a civil or criminal offence is irrelevant, it is still an offence since they are breaking a law of the land. This creates a paradox with the requirement to not have a criminal record when “earning” citizenship.
  2. On the basis that illegal immigrants are, in fact, inherently and automatically criminals by their very presence in the country, the ten year “amnesty” suggests that as long as they don’t get caught for ten years from the time they enter the country then they’re home and dry and absolved of their offences against the law. Why should this therefore not be applied to all crimes? If I go and rob a bank, or murder someone, and manage to not get caught for ten years, should I then expect to be let off? Why is this different with illegal immigrants?

This policy is about as well thought out as the other recent infamous Liberal Democrat policy of stating that they will raise income tax. If this wasn’ silly enough, they announced this policy before a general election. It’s little wonder that the Liberal Democrats aren’t in power, nor ever will be. Leftie handwringing idiots.

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Acorn computer redux

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Archimedes A400/1 series

Archimedes A400/1 series

In my younger days I used to own and cut my teeth on several examples of Acorn computer, starting with a BBC Master 128 and ending up with an Archimedes A440/1 which I used up until I went to university, at which point the price of a new Risc PC (the indirect successor to the Archimedes) versus a normal x86 PC forced me, reluctantly, into the PC and Microsoft world. I always remember the computers and the operating system (RISC OS) very fondly and at a couple of points since the millenium I’ve dabbled with second hand examples such as an A5000 and a Risc PC, although I sold both on because I had other priorities at the time.

You can still buy new RISC OS based computers but I can’t justify £800+ on what is essentially a nostalgic toy. So I took a look on Ebay for a suitable example of an Acorn computer that was dead cheap but had sufficient specification for me to indulge in my nostalgia and access all my old data, perhaps even convert it to a modern format. I needed something relatively simple too, as some Risc PCs can get awfully complicated and they don’t age well with their complicated case designs that have parts that can break easily.

Acorn A7000

Acorn A7000

I found an A7000 for thirty quid. It’s the “original” A7000, as opposed to the A7000+, which was an updated version with more onboard memory, a faster processor and I think it had more video memory too. Mine has whatever the original A7000 processor was, 20Mb RAM, 1.2Gb hard disk and a CD-ROM drive. Those specifications may not seem much now, but these RISC machines always made fantastic use of their resources. The hard disk has 78Mb of stuff on it and, to quote the seller, it’s “full of crap”. Once the OS has loaded there’s still 18.5Mb of usable RAM free, and that’s even after the video controller has used some.

I intend to perform a couple of upgrades to it, nonetheless. First it needs a network card for it to be any use to me whatsoever, which isn’t a problem, I’ve just won one on Ebay for £20 or so. I’m also going to replace the CD-ROM drive with a newer, cleaner unit. I don’t need to do this, it’s just a matter of vanity as the existing drive is discoloured and case is otherwise very clean. I also have a stick of RAM from a previous Risc PC that I owned briefly which will take the RAM to 36Mb, not that it needs that much, but I might as well have it if I have the part lying around. Finally, I’m going to see if I can upgrade RISC OS from 3.6 to 4.something. RISC OS 4 is the development from RISC OS 3 that was completed and taken to market by a company other than Acorn after Acorn dramatically decided to stop making their fine computers in 1998 in favour of set-top boxes.

The A7000 is a “cut down” version of the Risc PC, designed for and marketed to schools and other buyers who could not afford the relatively expensive Risc PC. The Risc PC is a larger machine with much better upgrade options and less integrated components, making them easier to upgrade. I do however prefer the A7000 as it’s much smaller and neater and I don’t really need the upgrade path that the Risc PC offers. I don’t need special expansion cards nor do I need further internal drives. A bit more video memory might not go amiss though, and in that regard if the opportunity to replace it with an A7000+ came along I probably would go for it.

Acorn Risc PC

Acorn Risc PC

The ultimate Acorn RISC machine would be the Risc PC StrongArm J233, which was the last production machine they made before they stopped making computers. This machine is very rare as it was massively expensive and was only produced for a short time. Acorn were going to make a successor to the Risc PC called the Phoebe, which was going to have an amazing specification and would run RISC OS 4. They even got to the stage of taking pre-orders but then dramatically cancelled it at the last minute, selling the rights to RISC OS to another firm who continued to develop it. They’ve since gone bust completely. It’s a real shame because they were such an innovative company that made splendid computers; they deserved better.

If you’re interested in the history of Acorn and their various products then I’ve found a couple of very interesting websites that cover it in some depth. One of them is written by a guy who intends to collect as many examples of Acorn computers as he can. I’d love to be able to do that but I fear that I would be made to live in the garage, along with the collection itself.

  • Chris’ Acorns – this is the bloke who intends to collect the lot. Has some links to PDF versions of product brochures, which are fascinating, plus detailed pictures of the machines he has so far, inside and out.
  • A technical history of Acorn Computers – not updated for some years now, but then since they stopped making Acorn computers in 1998 it doesn’t really matter.
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Fictitious Liveries

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Found a fascinating website the other day called Fictitious Liveries which is run by a very talented photoshopper who’s into his trains and likes to imagine how certain rail vehicles might look in various parallel universes. Of particular note:

Ironically enough, Stagecoach have won the franchise to run the former Midland Mainline and parts of the former Central Trains franchise from November, which they will operate under the brand East Midlands Trains, with branding very similar to that of their existing South West Trains franchise. Although they don’t get any Pendolinos with that franchise, the Pendolino mockup is startling accurate when compared to their own mockup of how their Class 222s will look. They’ll also get some HSTs, so it’ll be interesting to see how similar they’ll look to the HST mockup.

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School uniform ‘competition’ call

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BBC NEWS | Education | School uniform ‘competition’ call – I don’t understand the problem here. Let’s remind ourselves of some basic facts regarding children, school and uniform:

  1. All children have to go to school once aged 5.
  2. Schools have compulsory school uniforms.
  3. School uniforms have to be bought and paid for by parents.

None of these three facts are new. They haven’t just been sprung upon parents by a greedy government or corporation who haven’t allowed them enough time to prepare and budget for a school uniform. Just what is the problem here? Is five years not enough to set aside some of the child benefit that’s received for each child since birth to pay for a set of clothes that is actually in real terms very cheap since the child will be wearing it for seven hours a day, five days a week? That’s what child benefit is for! It isn’t for you to spend on lottery tickets and fags, it’s for your child, since it is child benefit.

Anyone would think that today’s parents are the first generation of humans that have had to raise children. If you can’t afford to have children then don’t fucking have them. I actually completely disagree with child benefit and I think it should be abolished, indeed I think that the third and subsequent children in a family should attract a tax in order to stop rampant baby factories from dumping useless copies of themselves onto the welfare state, which is seen as a lifestyle choice these days rather than the safety net it was designed to be.

Yes, I think that schools could be a little more reasonable about where they allow school uniforms to be bought, because they really are as cheap as chips in supermarkets and I see no reason why schools should be snooty about supermarket school uniforms. Part of the point of school uniform is that it removes snobbery and competition between pupils regarding the clothes they wear to school. But that aside, school uniform has always been relatively expensive but it’s also always been something that parents plan and budget for each year. I know my parents did.

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I know nothing about these complicated machines!

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I didn’t write this, but I think that it’s a splendid analogy, so I’m going to rip it off and post it here. It relates to the assumption on the part of many people that because someone works with computers that they’ll be happy to field personal technical support requests at the behest of their friends and family in their spare time. The question posed is do you think that the following actions would be acceptable, and if not, can you explain how it would be different if you replaced the mechanic with a person who works in IT and the car with a computer?

  1. Call your friend who is a mechanic at home, at dinner time.
  2. Tell him your car is not running right or won’t even start.
  3. Tell him you saw a neon sign while driving that said your car wasn’t running right, so you pulled in and let these strangers install Fuel Helper, Pot hole blocker, Wheel assistants, a special radio station and an engine watcher, all of which you now “need”.
  4. Ask them if they mind talking you through figuring out why the car won’t run properly. Laugh really loud and say “I know nothing about these complicated machines!”, because they love to hear that.
  5. Tell him you have no tools.
  6. When he asks you to open the bonnet and have a look, ask him “Where is the bonnet?” Optional: Tell them your cousin tried doing “something” to fix it, but you don’t know what it was and the problem is worse now.
  7. While looking at the engine, read them the very long serial numbers of the parts. Because mechanics have them all memorised for all cars.
  8. Always keep asking if you should turn things “left or right?”.
  9. Ask them if they see the part near the other part. Because they can see through the phone.
  10. Ask then if the problem has anything to do with the new garage door you installed.
  11. After they patiently talk you through checking for “fuel and fire”, and it still doesn’t work, ask them if they can drive thirty minutes to your home on their day off and come fix it. Whine about how much you need your car.
  12. Have them do all this for just a cup of tea and a thank you.
  13. Pretend to understand when they say not to believe neon signs saying your car isn’t running right. Just smile when they say you need to regularly schedule maintenance on your car, and to use only well known mechanics.
  14. Repeat the whole process every 60-90 days. Call from your family member’s house because you tried to fix theirs and you’ve messed up their cars now. Tell your friends too, have them call to have their car problems fixed as well.
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