[the local rag] do you think they do it deliberately

Local rags can be highly entertaining, as well as providing SFA, jobwise.

Nevertheless, the question does arise as to whether the sub-editors are naive or naughty. A headline like "Towpath Revamp" only causes a snigger about its provincialism but "Two Cars Gutted" is more promising. Can't you imagine them being one number off a lottery win and totally gutted about that?

Or "Woman Flees Fire" on the left page and tucked down low on the right page - "Man Burnt in Housefire".

I also love "Pains After Crash". Well ... er ... yes, suppose there were.

How about "Appeal to Find Friendly Labrador"? In our area, presumably, they're all savage killers, the labradors.

"Pastors on Patrol" reminds me of Hell's Grannies and "Irish Send Fast Filly to Feature in Festival" is too lyrical to be anything but an alliterate contrivance.

However, my favourite has to be the feature piece, "Forensic Evidence of Students' Work", which sports a large photo of five students, in full forensic scientist uniforms, sifting through the undergrowth in search of any work they might have done.

Local rags are the goods and cheaper too by a long shot.

[britain today] viewed through jaundiced eyes

Credit debt fuels all this and people pretend this is quality of life.

Having only just returned some weeks ago, it's nevertheless been interesting to observe differences and similarities to the last time. Some things I took as read are just not as bad as they are painted and there have also been some nasty surprises.

First up is that almost anyone [except those with specific strikes against their names] can work if they are human enough and want to. There is a labour office downtown here, I was in there and I could be working in a factory or shop tomorrow, for a bit above the minimum wage. Without a base, that doesn't help me, as it would not cover a flat rental, even if one could get it but it is OK if you had a place already and really needed the money.

Going one rung higher, wage wise, is adult education or tutoring. This brings in CRB checks and though these are not a real worry, the lack of any history over the past few years is. At least, there is a well-documented history in my case but an unwillingness for British officialdom to accept that there is what there is.

Costs are the killer. Last time I was back, they weren't good but they seem to have gone through the stratosphere now. This puts any but the most perfunctory travel or basic food right out of the window. So this, in turn, means that unless you are well heeled, in which case you can travel the country at will, seeking your perfect role, you are stuck in one place and seeking work locally.

The perceived solution, although I do believe that the Brit knows it is no solution, is the credit card, without which you might as well be a non-person in this society.

There is very much a three tier society now - the Brownite level with their world travel and bizarre lifestyle [compared to the average Brit], the reasonably well-off with their house, cars, work and the ability to move round Britain and take holidays and then there are us.

To really fall into the dole-check, scratching an existence together life is not one anyone wants but make no mistake - we can fall into that quite quickly through a conjunction of dire circumstances. Readers of this blog are generally the middle category who have not been looking for their next tin of dogfood to survive but some correspondents to my email have been there and not so long ago.

This is frightening and to keep one's nerve is what it's all about, at a time when that is the last thing it seems possible to do. One thing I do know - that the average person I speak with is not a happy chappy about what's happening in the society and very soon, something's going to give and middle Britain is going to react quite savagely, perhaps in a way it has not done before.

I have an interesting article by Brian Walden about the war years but that was still a relatively compliant population. I think those who see us as sheep, as we've always been sheep in their eyes, are in for a rude awakening. Frodo's return to Bag End seems to be the coming scenario.

Yet the parks are still there, mums and dads bring toddlers to play on the swings, the land looks green and pleasant, the weather is not nearly as bad as many think [one can rug up], ASDA, Aldi and others have great prices which make life possible and they're not always miles from town, requiring a car. Bus rides are cripplingly expensive and the roads are clogged.

So the verdict is 50-50 at this time.

[poll interim report] still open, by the way

The poll on this blog is not over but the trends are pretty clear and the overall feeling I get is that people are happy with it as it is, give or take certain things. The results came out like this:

1. There was a strong feeling that I keep the site layout as it is but clean it up a bit. This latter was particularly a need for IE users, for whom lines were all over the place and text too wide;

2. Navigation seems fine but WTF [said one commenter] is Engine Room? ☺ Think I’d best change this;

3. Navigation to the left and fiddly bits to the right was strongly approved;

4. Graphics – not bad now but no lower resolution please and one person suggested keeping them all to one side [shan’t do that];

5. Articles - in depth are all right but not too many, as people won’t read them. Don’t go the route of lazy, small, heavily linked one liners – people want some sort of blogger input. The bulk should be medium length pieces if possible;

6. Content coverage was about right except for quirky pieces and observations which people wanted far more of. One commenter said, ‘I think you are best talking about life and your impressions of it and being a citizen of the blogging world.’

Well, all right. Other than that, people wanted to see slightly less NA, Middle- East, and Oceania politics, global crises, economics, polls and surveys and quizzes. Some wanted more 'identity changes' via the profile and some wanted me not to keep changing the blog all the time.

I’d like to thank everyone so far [hope there’ll be some more responses] and it has definitely made me re-evaluate and tweak. While certain people said that it was my blog and I could do whatever I damn well liked with it, I’m a person who couldn’t be bothered blogging into the night if no one wants what I offer.

This is a discussion point, really – whether we publish and be damned or whether we take into account our readership.

[sitemeter] if it ain't broke, don't fix it

Exceedingly peeved by Sitemeter and it illustrates the veracity of a basic rule of life:

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Sitemeter once had a viewable, clear graphic representation of what the blogger needed. I always looked at the bar graph of how many uniques there'd been the last week, then the list of referrals to see if there was someone I'd missed visiting, then country share.

Quick, clear, taking a minute or two.

Now thay've gone all techartyfarty, with slick gunmetal boxes too small to view, superimposed stats and a distinctly cold feel to it all. They couldn't leave well enough alone, Sitemeter. In the name of Ever Onwards and Upwards, they've blown it like Brown's government. It seems whatever such people touch, they ruin.

This does not even take into account the difficulty in 'migrating', as they call it, failing to recognize passwords and emails and so on and so on.

Not good enough, Sitemeter and as I put in my contact with you just now, seriously thinking of moving to another meter service after all this time with you.

[breakfast] do you believe me

[bikinis] and governing bodies

Fabrizio Rossini, press officer for the Federation Internationale de Volleyball, which officially governs Olympic volleyball, said most female beach volleyball players prefer the bikinis. "It's a very tough sport."

Olympic bronze medallist Holly McPeak, 39, said about one piece costumes: "When you dive, the sand goes down the top and collects in the bottom."

My question is more about why the French get to run international sport in the first place - Fédération Internationale de Football Association, Fédération Internationale de Basketball, Union Cycliste Internationale, Fédération Équestre Internationale, Fédération Internationale d'Escrime, Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron, Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne, Fédération internationale de Natation, Fédération Internationale de Volleyball and the Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées, before we even start looking at winter sport.

I mean, who appointed them? Did we all say, "Go ahead, Pierre - we can't set up governing bodies ourselves," and then let them go ahead and institute them? The Americans are known for turning any championships in the U.S.A. into World Championships but the French seem to have this penchant for setting up governing bodies.