Anyone Got The Name Of A Good Luggage Loss Adjuster?

Losing something can lead to tears, particularly if it is something with sentimental value, so I’m wondering what George Osborne lost in his luggage on his New Year trip to Klosters, for a sking holiday.

Read this and fell about laughing, particularly as so many thousands were put under much more stress in the week before Christmas, at airports across the country.
More importantly a lot more people will be losing something much more important than their luggage in the months to come, their jobs.

The Sound Of Music Is a Joy To Hear

Is the sound of music to become the sound of silence in our primary schools and beyond?
Like everything else, there are cuts, with cuts in the arts never seen before, even under the Thatcher Governments, the loss of music inside primary schools is about to hit home, unless of course you can afford to pay the Peripatetic teacher who provides the lessons.
Whilst I'm of an age where other than a weekly sing along with my class teacher, no instruments to speak of, except one drum, (I was never chosen to play it), a pair of cymbals and several triangles, there were no other instruments in the school, except for the piano in the school hall and heaven help you if you ever went anywhere near it.
When our children had an opportunity they took it, we made sure they took it and today all four are still involved with music, playing instruments and/or singing to a reasonably good standard.
It's not that I'm arty in any way, but I've see the joy that music can bring in to ones life, me as someone who watches and listens and our off-spring pleasure in playing and singing it. Our children are now striving to provide the same to their children, already our oldest grandchild has a ukulele to train on.

So is it to be the last post for the provision of music in schools? I for one hope not.

An Emergency About To Emerge - Update 30th December Part II

Well at last it does seem as though he's stirring, even if it is a tad late.

The real question is what is he about to do with around 740 flu cases in ITU out of 3,500 beds nationally, that's about a fifth of critical care beds taken up by flu cases?
I know I keep on about David Cameron not coming out to do something about the impending problem in our hospitals, but is he being quiet on purpose as Andrew Lansley is from the far right wing of the party. Could it be a case of sink or swim A.L., you're on your own on this one?

Some Council Contractors Really Are Sh**e At Customer Service. Why?

Over the past three weeks I have been fed up sorting out problems that residents in Brandwood have had with the Councils building and gas contractors.
Now I know it has been cold and there probably has been an increase in the number of calls made to the call centre, yet there can be no excuse for some of the cases I've dealt with.
1. Woman informed that gas contractor would call again, as he needed to order parts to sort out blow-air heating problem in Tilshead Close. The lady phoned me some eighteen day later in desperation, as calls to the centre didn't amount to much, Morrisons the gas contractor hadn't got back in touch with her and she had a very cold house, eventually sorted after two days of phone calls.
2. Older couple in Bicknell Croft, boiler failed early November, numerous phone calls by resident fitter turns up and informs resident that part had to be ordered. After sixteen days and numerous phone calls from me, contractors fitter turns up, says the fault is what the original fitter had previously said, lights the pilot light, says they need a part to be ordered and leaves, (Does this sound familiar). I get really annoyed make more phone calls and told that the part and fitter would be at the address next morning, they don't turn up, so have to make a phone call in the afternoon and job is sorted, or at least I thought so, on 17th December, boiler breaks down AGAIN, resident makes phone calls, numerous promises and appointments are broken, so she phones me on 20th December. I am made promises and assurances, eventually a NEW BOILER is fitted as a Christmas present on 24th December.
3. A registered disabled person living in Druids Heath, is left by the gas contractor without any heating whatsoever as they had to order spare parts, with no promise of when the parts were to arrive after several days, she's told to phone me. I end up having to chase the problem and I will admit within hours this is sorted, but is this the result of having to deal with me, I don't know.
4. 23rd December, I get a desperate phone call from older residents in a tower block, they had to phone in a water leak around 3:30pm and promised that someone would be out within two hours. no one turns up so they contact me, I spend thirty minutes trying to get someone at the call centre to answer my call, a totally unacceptable length of time, make the report and ask that someone from the out of hours duty team contacts me. An hour later I get a phone call from a Mossvale operative, these are the high pressure water mains team for tower block systems, this was not a leak from their system, all it needed was a plumber, who eventually turns up hours late about four hours late after being called in by the out of hours electricians who had turned up hours earlier to check the electrics in the older tenants flats. Eventually the Housing duty officer phones me after I had sorted out the contractors over the phone. What a shambles.
5. Bicknell Croft again, foul water pipe leak, after numerous phone calls starting early in December, someone originally from the buildings contractor turns up very late one evening, is a little snotty with the resident, recognises its not a job for him and brings in the experts for sewer pipe. These contractors turn up late evening on Wednesday and promise to be back the Thursday morning, no one turns up, hence another call from a disgruntled resident for me to sort out this afternoon.
6. This one takes the biscuit, honestly it really does. A council resident living in a terrace block, along Brandwood Park Road has a water leak, phones it in and the building contractors plumber turns up, sees a water leak, says can't do this now and turns off the water supply. Not only does he turn it off to the house but all of the other in the block, with no knowledge to the other residents of what he was going to do whatsoever, with a promise that he would return tomorrow. You've guessed it, he didn't turn up nor did anyone else till forty eight hours later. In the mean time the other residents attempted to get thing moving, only to be told by Birmingham Council Call centre that they could not talk to the upset owner occupiers as they weren't tenants, the same was said when they tried to contact the contractor direct. The repair took less than an hour. Some contractor, some plumber, some call centre, some procedure eh!
Then this evening I read about the poor mother in Quinton who also went through similar problems, on the BBC website, yet again senior council officers have been chasing around to ensure the repair gets done. They shouldn't have to!!!!!!!!
Being a councillor is a 24/7 job, I don't mind it being those hours. I've been out to residents that have had a tree fall on their house. I've been to residents that have had a drunk driver as a guest in their front room, yes and these were on a Christmas Eve and in the early hours of a Christmas Day, its part of the job and helping people as you've some knowledge takes some worry away from them, as someone else is taking charge.
Taking on housing repair cases like those I've mentioned shouldn't be me, or any of the officers I chase up, the contractor if doing the job right wouldn't get complaints from me nor would senior officers need to ensure my jobs are sorted, they should all be doing their job and doing it correctly.
If these are my cases which are not being dealt with properly, how many others are there in the system to be dealt with, where promises have been made, not kept, worse still forgotten about?

An Emergency About To Emerge - Update 30th December 2010

Don't say I didn't warn you, it's already started in Walsall, when The Manor Hospital struggled for extra space to put up beds for patients.
Will someone please wake up David Cameron and Andrew Lansley and tell them about what their actions are having and will have on OUR NHS.

An Englishmans Castle

With unemployment set to reach a tad under three million next year, the worse figure for seventeen years and that too was under a Tory Government, it's no wonder that house prices will fall. Predictions are that the average house will drop by 10% and no wonder when mortgage companies are asking too high a deposit for first time buyers, with it trebling over the past decade to an astonishing £28,770.

Deja vu Or What!!!!

Unemployment rising. Government cuts public spending and industry leaders are concerned that the economy may just not do what the Government wants it to do. Sounds familiar?

Well the evidence is now quite clear, Cameron and Osbourne are Margaret Thatchers children after all.
The National Archives have just released documents relating to Margaret Thatchers tenur as Prime Minister in 1980, releasing them for public knowledge using the thirty year rule.
So now we have it. Ed was right all along.

More Centurians In Coming Decades

Well it’s official, there’s a very strong possibility that I could live to be 100, or at least a fifth of us could.

To be perfectly honest the chances of me doing it are slim, I abuse my body, I love bacon and egg fry-ups, smoked a pipe until earlier this year, only gave it up because I could no longer get my brand, love a tipple of the hard stuff and being honest don’t do a great deal of exercise, other than leafleting.
So no Government should worry too much about having to pay my pension. Now as for my better half, well that’s another matter, they had better take out a mortgage to pay her pension.

Americans Are More For A Coffee Party Than A Tea Party

The darling or the right in the US, Sarah Palin, isn’t getting any popular in fact her rating has dropped from 67% to now only 49%, So what was to have been a crowning come the primaries late next year, isn’t on. Popularity is one matter, potential leadership is another, whilst I don’t like the woman, Mike Huckerbee former Governor of where Bill Clinton comes from, Arkansas or better still Mitt Romney another Governor this time from Massachusetts would make a better leaders of the Republican Party.
I’m still backing Barrack Obhama to come out of all this smelling of roses, hence being re-elected, for a second term.

Welcome Home - In Style

I just love this, it's so entertaining, look out for 'the boys are back in town'.