R.I.P Jo…

So, here we are, well into 2011, and the main local news is that journalists are beating up the police investigating the murder of Jo Yeates because it’s now THREE WEEKS since she disappeared (and at least two since she was murdered) and they haven’t charged anyone yet.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather the Fuzz did a thorough job and got the right culprit, rather than just picking on the first passer-by and fitting them up!  Those same journalists would be the first to squeal if the cops got the wrong person convicted.  At least, unlike the ‘good ol’ boys’ over the pond, we don’t top our murderers any more, but locking someone up for twenty years then releasing them with an ‘Oops, sorry’ really doesn’t cut it!

I know that every convicted criminal is ‘innocent’, but some of them really are…

Water, water, everywhere…

So, what else is happening?  Not much.  It’s still cold and damp, but then it is winter.  The snow has gone for the moment, but hovers threateningly just over the horizon…  We had a sad smirk about Northern Ireland and their so-called Water Company.  Sorry, but it’s typical of nationalized industry:  expensive, inefficient, low on investment then “Oh, dear.  We didn’t expect that…”  British Rail and the ‘wrong type of snow/leaves/sunshine’ anyone?

So, what’s the alternative?

I used to be a socialist, but New Labour put the kibosh on that…  Trouble is, there wasn’t a realistic alternative.  Those nice left-wingers in the Lib-Dems seemed like a suitable vessel to contain my moderate socialist ambitions, then they went and sold out to the Tories!  There’s nothing much left of the left…  And Miliband doesn’t seem the one to haul Labour back to its socialist roots, and if he did, they wouldn’t get elected.  Maggie and the ‘me culture’  have a lot to answer for!

Tax-babble

I’ve been helping SWMBO to fill in her tax return.  God, what sh*t the HMRC put in their so-called ‘help’ files.  I’m less edified after reading them than I was before I started.  Luckily, a quick Google search usually manages to put some of their gobbledygook into comprehensible English.  Come on, Campaign for Plain English, HMRC is in need of a good verbal enema…