Thanks... I think!

A few months ago, when the weather was a little warmer than it is of late, I decided to go out for the day with my wife. On the way, we stopped to buy a few provisions so we might have some sort of meal on the beach. While in the supermarket buying the said provisions, I walked past a couple of young girls who would, I think, have been in their late teens/early twenties. Both of these girls worked at the store and were stacking the shelves. Because the weather was unusually warm I was only wearing a pair of three quarter trousers and a vest. As I passed the girls, who were in deep conversation about who they liked and hated, one nudged the other and said in a loud whisper, “He's got a good body... for his age!”

Is this a compliment? Just how old does she think I am? I liked the first part, the bit where she thought my body was good enough to pass comment on in a positive manner, but what if she thinks I'm in my seventies? I'm at an age where any compliment from a woman is greatly appreciated, and from a young woman, it's even better, but I can do without the tag line!

Last week, I visited a school and, as usual, had a lovely time meeting all the staff and students. One of the teachers was a big fan of my work, which is always good to hear. She was very positive about the effects that my books have on her students telling me that the kids love them. Then she went on to say, “It is lovely to see children laughing out loud as they read. Some of the boys in my class have no interest in books but will happily sit and read through your books. I have told them that you don't have to be a genius to write a book, and if you can get your books published, then anyone can get a book published!” I was with her all the way until the last sentence! I do understand what she meant, as the books are meant to be simple and easy to digest, but I think she could have complimented me in a different way!

All this brings me to the real reason for this blog. I laughed when I heard the news today that the Lords had told Osborne to go away and re-think his evil little bill to make the poorest in society suffer with his working tax reform. He claims that by forcing businesses to pay a living wage there will be no need for working tax benefits. But the companies that are now having to pay more in wages will pass it on to the customer, so prices will go up and negate the 'Living wage'. Besides, most companies will just make lots of redundancies to cover the cost of their new wage bills.

If you are not from Britain and are wondering just what the 'Lords' is, it's an archaic institution where unelected people interfere with bills past by the elected, this is the problem that I have with this situation. I don't like the House of Lords. Along with royalty, I think it's an outdated unnecessary waste of money. Although I applaud the fact that they made Osborne do a U-turn, what right do an unelected body have to tell an elected government what to do? We are a democracy and, unfortunately the people of this country voted in this mob of school-tied, banker-loving, self-congratulatory public school boys and a couple of girls. I know that they have a couple of working class ne'er do wells in there, but that description just about sums them up. So if they were voted in by the people with the manifesto that they had, then I'm afraid you have to wait another five years for them to tell you another load of bollocks for you to eagerly vote for. That is the way our democracy works; we vote for the government we want.

Just because the House of Lords stuck the boot in on this loathsome little bill, which I personally hated, doesn't mean that they can't do the same on something that would benefit millions! What if there was a bill saying that people should get an extra fifty pounds a week and the Lords didn't like it? What if they voted against it? You can't say you believe in democracy only when you benefit from it! I'm self-employed so I don't ever seem to benefit from anything! But that wouldn't stop me from voting to make sure we get a society where we look after our most vulnerable. I think it's time we looked at our political situation. There are lots of things that need changing. I also don't want a second house as they have in America which makes it nearly impossible to get things changed. But I certainly don't want unelected bodies interfering with an elected government, even if it's not the government that I would personally chose.

Now I'm going to sit back and see if I get any compliments to this blog such as, 'I like your blog, but you talk a load of crap!'