Month: February 2008

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Record £14m fine for rail company

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BBC NEWS | UK | Record £14m fine for rail company – I’m sorry, but I must’ve missed something here. Are you actually trying to tell me that a government-funded agency has fined a government-funded firm £14 million quid? Where the fuck do they expect they will get the money from to pay it? Who funds the government that funds this government-funded company, in addition to paying a portion of their rail fares directly to this government-funded company? That’s right. Most people are at least one of taxpayer and rail passenger, many are both.

There will be no penalty that might actually mean something to those responsible. Network Rail directors will not only keep their jobs but they’ll likely keep their bonuses too, safe in the knowledge that someone else will clear up their mess and bail them out of their incompetence. The entire board should be fired. That would hit them where it hurts.

I also notice that no form of compensation has been awarded to the affected passengers, who now face a £14m fine for their trouble. It’s just pointless money recycling, with suitably inflated administrative fees being creamed off where it’s deemed appropriate. Stupidity and shortsightedness compounded on top of stupidity and shortsightedness. I’ve come to expect little else from 11 years of the New Labour regime, which seems to prioritise some sort of war on common sense. The scary thing is that it’s winning it, hands-down.

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Selfish smoker in cigarette projectile incident

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When are smokers just going to fuck off? I was walking into the station this morning, following a woman that was smoking, which was unpleasant enough. But when she reached the door, after having taken a few desperate last puffs, she flicked her bastard cigarette, which was still lit, behind her and it hit me.

“Excuse me!” I exclaimed, “you threw a fag at me!“. I didn’t hear what she then said because I had my iPod turned up loud, but from the expression on her face, her hand gestures and her body language I surmised that she considered it to be my fault. I told her that she was selfish and careless before walking off, since to stick around and argue it further would have probably been fruitless and would have caused me to miss my train.

Seriously, when are smokers going to fucking realise that everyone fucking hates them, take all the fucking hints that are now being rammed down their throats, and give up their despicable, bastard habit? Smoking should be banned from ALL public places, restricted only to private residences. I won’t be happy until smoking is considered more taboo and reprehensible than pedophilia.

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The Queen

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Watched The Queen this evening, something which I’ve had in my DVD “inbox” for a few weeks now. I’ve always heard good things about it, and now I know why. It’s a totally brilliant film, describing in great detail the tragedy of Princess Diana’s death from the perspective of the royal family and the Blair family through their interactions with each other. There’s even a bit of comedy thrown in here and there with Prince Philip and the Queen Mother.

However, what I like most about it is the portrayal of reprehensible Cherie Blair and the equally dreadful Alistair Campbell. The former is made out to be a total bitch whereas the latter is made out to be a sleazy, slimy reprobate; both highly accurate character portrayals in my opinion. Blair himself was portrayed as a “good guy”, which he was (at the time at least), as indeed was the Queen herself in the end. I don’t envy the position she was put in; all she knew was establishment protocol, even if said protocol didn’t quite fit into the modern world. You can’t blame her for the actions she initially took, or rather, didn’t take. Nothing like this had ever happened in the history of the monarchy.

I’ve no problem in admitting that the film brought a few tears to my eyes, not only because of the plight of the Queen, whom I’ve always admired, but also because it reminded me of the event itself. While I didn’t think much of Diana, she didn’t deserve her fate and the nation’s reaction to it was very moving. It certainly had my Mum in floods of tears and she totally hated her.

If you’re British then you really have to watch it, whether you’re a monarchist or not. I expect the Americans quite like it too.