I generally try to avoid being in pubs when sports are being shown, but this weekend I accidently found myself in a couple of pubs when there was some live sports event on a large TV screen.
It was bizarre - and more than a little scary. Why do they shout at the screen like that?
I love the new PETA anti fur advert featuring Sophie Ellis Bextor.
It's scary that in the 21st century we still need documents like this. But we do. So everyone should read it.
Been a long while since I signed on (there was a four week period after my degree finished and before my first job) so I thought it would be interesting to see if I could get any money out of the government whilst I'm unemployed.
So on Friday I wandered down to the local Job Centre asked them what I needed to do. They gave me some forms to fill in and told me that I'd need to take them to a different Job Centre to start my claim.
Looking at the forms over the weekend, it's clear that many things have changed in the 14 or so years since I was last unemployed. For a start, the name of the payment has changed. It used to be called "Unemployment Benefit", now it's "Job-Seekers Allowance". The name change indicates the way that things have changed. You used to get money just for being unemployed. Now you have to be actively seeking work in order to qualify. I wondered if anyone has ever claimed it on the grounds that they're seeking work, even tho' they aren't unemployed :)
And the forms are very complex. They need to know all sorts of stuff. I'm sure they deliberately make it as hard as possible to discourage people from claiming.
This morning I took myself off to the Job Centre. I took the completed forms togther with all of the other information they said they needed - redundancy letter, last two payslips, CV[1]. When I got there I found a machine dispensing numbered tickets and a display showing the number currently being served. My number was 35, they were currently serving 22. Ten minutes later they had moved on to number 26 and I noticed the sign on the wall saying that new claimants should go to the first floor.
I went upstairs and pulled another ticket from another machine. I was number 60 and they were currently serving number 58. It took about ten minutes until my number was called. The woman who was serving me checked all of my forms and asked me a couple of trivial questions on the contents. She then wrote me a list of all the information I needed to bring to my "new claimants interview". I pointed out that I'd got them all with me. Se said that I didn't need them today, but that I should come back with them on Wednesday.
And that was it. I went there today simply so they could check that I was capable of filling in the forms and following the instructions on what information to bring along to the interview. There was nothing there that couldn't have been done over the phone. But it ended up taking up an hour of my time.
And I have to go back again on Wednesday.
[1] This is a good example of how the forms talk down to people. It says "do you have a written record of your skills and experience - this is often called a CV".
Today is Remembrance Sunday in the UK. It's always held on the nearest Sunday to November 11th. All of the royal family and the big name politicians get to lay wreaths at the cenotaph in front of representatives of the survivors from the two world wars. Of course, each year now, the numbers of survivors get fewer (anyone who fought in the 1914 - 18 war is now over 100) so they bring in survivors from more recent conflicts to make up the numbers. This year is the twentieth anniversary of the Malvinas Conflict so there are a lot of people who served there getting involved.
But it's a losing battle (no pun intended). I remember when I was at school 30 years ago you were seen as very strange if you didn't wear a paper poppy in the run-up to remembrance day to show your support for the survivors. These days poppies are very rare. It only seems to be BBC newsreaders and a very small number of other people who bother. You'll see hardly any on the street.
I'm reminded of a verse from Eric Bogle's The Band Played Waltzing Matilda whic talks about the Australian version of the tradition - ANZAC Day which takes place in April.
And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask meself the same question.
But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.
When I got back from holiday last week, I was told by my employers that due to cash-flow problems they weren't able to pay any of the staff October's salary. Like good little employees we all signed a form saying that we didn't mind if they deferred our salary until more money came in.
Then the directors went out searching for more investment. On Tuesday, we were told they'd found another £500K so all was well. Today they told us that they'd need to economise in order to make the new investment last until the company started to make a profit. They made a number of people redundant. This included me.
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