Sunday, November 25, 2007

Celebrity lookalikes pt 8

Hip-hop legend and Eminem's mentor, Dr Dre










Nottingham Forest and Ghana hotshot Manuel Junior Agogo

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Feel the benefit?

Amidst all the furore over the Revenue and Customs fiasco, and the England team's abject failure, one story from the start of the week has been almost forgotten - the changes to the Incapacity Benefit system.

The story didn't surprise me, and neither did the reaction I heard on Radio 5Live. Sadly, there still seem to be a lot of people who don't understand what disability, or more pertinently incapacity, actually means.

My girlfriend, as I have mentioned before, is epileptic, and most of the time you wouldn't know there is anything wrong with her. However, she just would not be able to work full-time - the cocktail of meds that she has to take means that she is permanently exhausted, and needs to sleep about 12 hours most nights - if she doesn't sleep properly, it dramatically increases the chances of her having a seizure (not nice).

I heard the contributors to the 5Live phone-in, and was amazed:
  • "There is a guy at my work who is in a wheelchair, and he comes in everyday to work" - so he is physically disabled, that doesn't mean he is not fit for work.
  • About a woman who phoned in, who works only a few hours per week for her husband's company due to a degenerative condition that causes her pain and chronic fatigue, and claims Incapacity Benefit to make up for the wages she cannot earn: "If she can work, why doesn't she do proper paid work and stop claiming off the state?"
The only call that I could relate to was from an epileptic; he explained how his situation is similar to my girlfriend's. He would love to work full-time, but if he has a seizure he obviously takes time to come around afterwards, and they are difficult to predict.

The trouble is that an employer is not going to take a chance on someone who may not be able to work regular hours due to their illness or disability - I can empathise with employers on this. So unless employers take a chance on people, there will continue to be a number of people who are unable to work full-time, and will continue to rely on the state for financial support.

Of course there are chancers who fiddle the system - but why should people who are genuinely suffering have to miss out because of the actions of them?


As it happens, my girlfriend does not get Incapacity Benefit. This is because she doesn't have enough National Insurance credits. They said that she would be eligible to claim if it wasn't for this, so she doesn't get any money, only her NI credits paid.

So why doesn't she have enough NI credits? This is because in periods when she has not been working before (she has never been able to work full-time, but has done some part-time jobs), she did not claim Incapacity Benefit or Jobseekers' Allowance - therefore, she was not accruing NI credits during this time. Effectively, she did not have enough NI credits to claim benefits, because she did not claim benefits at times when she was eligible! How's about that then?

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Questions that need answering


  • Why is it impossible to open a can of tomatoes without splattering yourself? And also impossible to empty it into a pan or bowl without it slopping over the side - usually over your light-coloured clothing?
  • Why does my car's fuel gauge insist it has three-quarters of a tank left after 120 miles, but then says it is empty after 280 miles?
  • Does anyone know why, even after checking that it is all done, you always find a stray teaspoon at the bottom of the washing-up bowl?
  • How come we can send a man to the moon, but cannot create a juice carton that you can open without it sending a spurt of juice into the air/over your hands and sleeves/all over the nice clean kitchen floor?
  • Why don't cars have mud-flaps anymore? Especially the SUVs, 4x4s and MPVs with the high ground clearance? Surely it would stop spray on the motorways. and help prevent chipped windscreens?
  • How come hedgehogs can run so fast, yet still think that the best way to avoid getting hit by a car is to curl up into a ball in the car's path?
  • Do people who alter the spacing of the letters and numbers on their number plates honestly think that it spells out their name? Example: H48 VEY apparently spells "Harvey", H1 3ARA displays "Zara". In both these cases, I only knew what they were supposed to spell because they had their names spelt out in small letters underneath - if you have to explain it...
  • Why do I remain convinced that it is worth spending an extra £5 at the supermarket that will get me a 5p per litre petrol voucher that will only save me a maximum of £3?

If you can think of any burning questions that need to be answered, then please add them in the comments box. I will be impressed if anyone can come up with some answers...

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Ludicrous laws

Whoever said that the British political and legal system is outdated and archaic is probably right. Examples include:

  • It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store

  • If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are required to let them enter

The full story can be viewed here, including some equally ridiculous legislation from other countries.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Consequences? What consequences?

One of the more upsetting stories last week was the death of two little boys being killed trying to cross a motorway.

I was astonished when I heard a nearby resident say that they needed barriers and signs to warn the kids that the motorway is unsafe. My first thoughts were, "why on earth were two boys that young out by themselves playing with those scooters?". Now I am not a parent, so I suppose it is easy for me to judge... The father of one of the boys said that he tried to teach his son about the dangers of the motorway. But unfortunately the boys were still unsupervised. The dad also added that he thought there should be warning signs. Again, it is easy for me to judge, and it is perhaps unfair to expect a rational opinion from a grief-stricken parent, but he, and his neighbour, are completely missing the point.

It reminds me of a (thankfully far less severe) incident that I witnessed a couple of years ago. If you are familiar with your Highway Code, you will know not to block pedestrian crossings. The queue I was in was not far from a local school, it was shortly before 9am, and there were about three mothers with their kids waiting to cross. The lights were green, but I waited before the line in case they changed. Seeing that I had stopped, but not even glancing at the lights, one of the mums ushered her little one across. Like many boys of his age (about seven or so), he legged it across the road, straight into the path of an oncoming Ford Escort van. Things went into slow motion, as the driver of the van luckily saw the boy coming through the line of traffic, and managed to hit the brakes. Unfortunately she still hit the boy but mercifully at low speed.

After the boy bounced off the bonnet, the first thing he did was get up and run back to Mummy - in medical terms, this had to be a good thing. The van driver was obviously upset, the lights were on green and the boy would have come out of nowhere. The mother went mental at the driver, accusing her of jumping a red light. The driver quite rightly pointed out that the lights were on green. The mother pointed at my car, still sitting neatly behind the line, as proof that the lights must have been on red. My concern for the boy had now turned into anger at the mother for being so irresponsible and having the nerve to blame it on everyone but herself.

I was about to get out of the car and reassure the driver that she had done nothing wrong, but I realised that I was blocking the road, and there was a long queue in both directions. So I drove along about one hundred yards, until I was clear of the zigzags, and then pulled over, got out and walked back to the crossing. By this time, the parents and their entourage were moving on, and the van driver had given up, and not wanting to block the road, was driving on. So I never did get to set them straight...

When I got to work (all of about ten minutes later), I was obviously a little upset by this episode. At first, I tried to give the mother the benefit of the doubt, but I quickly revised my opinion - if you have kids, surely you don't take any chances with their safety, especially on the roads? If she had only looked up, she would have seen that the red man was still illuminated. The thing that gets me really angry is the fact that it is not her that could have paid the price for her recklessness, but her little boy.

Call me Mr Cynical, but I suspect that, to this day (around two years later), the mother will still be trying to convince herself that it was the van driver's fault...