Due to the decreased price of cucumbers and another vegetables, I think it's time to spread a rumor that E.coli is caused by petrol, water, electricity and gas...

Just in case anyone is wondering, the post is a reference to the E Coli outbreak.

Anyway, a post about my kids, my wife and me.  As usual, I took my daughter to school and my son to pre-school.  My son rode his bike on the way back home and during lunch, did his best to look as cute as possible.  Of course, getting him to eat now is becoming an issue.  But I have decided that the best way to make him eat it to bore him to death.  That and threaten to eat his dessert.  Which he knows I will do.  In front of him!  My daughter got to ride her scooter home.  From a situation where she kept falling over with it, she is now a lot better on it,  and I imagine that it will not be long before she is using it properly.  It is good exercise for me to keep up with her as she is learning how to go faster each week.

Anyway, time to go as I am going to a school evening today.  I will try to post about it during the week.  In the meantime, I hope you like the video's below...

A Doctor was addressing a large audience in Tampa.

"The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago. Red meat is awful. Soft drinks corrode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. High fat diets can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water. But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have, or will, eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?"

After several seconds of quiet, a 75-year-old man in the front row raised his hand, and softly said, "Wedding Cake."

Ryan Giggs today admitted to suffering from homesickness, saying that, even though he's happy in Manchester, he does Miss Wales occasionally.

Quick post.  On Sunday, we took the kids in the morning to Castle Park.  They loved it.  There is a new playground at the bottom of the area where the original one still stands.  Arriving there early in the morning (thanks to Sally) there were hardly any people there.  My son and I spent some time together once I had been helping my daughter on some of the things there.  He even ran to the old playground where he got to go on the really high slide.

Later in the day, we got the bikes that my father-in-law had bought for the kids.  And they loved it.  Both are really keen to bike and were willing to spend ages riding up and down the road.  Of course, at the moment they need stabilisers.  But they do not care!

And last of all, as I mentioned, on Saturday, the kids had gone out Strawberry picking.  Well, after my son had issues finding red strawberries, my daughter said "Even Daddy would be able to find the red ones!"

"Hundreds of women go on a slut walk in South Wales" Just another Saturday afternoon in Cardiff then........

Good morning all.  The post title is a reference to the Slut Walks, a response to a comment by a policeman in Canada which raises an interesting issue.  While rape is wrong, in some cases, can a woman be viewed as partly responsible?  A statement which does not absolve a man for an act of rape, but one which many people, men and women have felt does.  

Anyway, back to the kids, my wife and me.  The rest of the family had a great day yesterday.  As some of you know, I changed jobs last year.  I had to take a pay cut, at the very least, for the first year, and due to that, I am having to work on Saturdays.  My job, without having to work like a dog on Saturdays, is harder than my last one.  But it is more enjoyable.  Much more enjoyable.  Do not get me wrong, it was not that my last job was terrible, it was just that it could, and should have been so much better.  I am now working in a place where I feel that there is more of a team ethic and where people both look out for each other more and support each other.  So yesterday, I bumped into two of the people I used to work with.  While I am still ecstatic at leaving my old place, and even more about where I am working now, I still liked the people I worked with.  Despite the faults of some of them (but then, who does not have faults).  So it was nice to see them.

But enough on me.  The kids.  In the morning, while I was working, my wife took them out strawberry picking.  The weather was great and the kids love strawberries.  Unfortunately, my son had a problem.  Amongst all the green leaves and green strawberries, he could not see any of the red ones.  Which meant my daughter had to pick them and my son had to eat them.  My daughter, despite people eating them while picking them refused to eat them until they were washed!  Not that many were eaten before paying for them that is.  Just one or two.  (Or three or four...)  But the great thing was that when I got back from work, there were very fresh strawberries there for me to eat!

I had to make sure that I told my daughter that I loved the ones that she picked.  And I was not telling a lie. 

I came home from work and my wife said, "I washed your England shirt for you today."
I said, "What England shirt?"
She said, "The red one that was in the frame on the wall. Whoever Bobby Moore is, tell him to stop drawing all over your clothes."

It's been embarrassing watching those ten excuses for "talent" on ITV.

I thought Jack Wilshere had a good game though.

I've just finished building Rome with my kid's Lego. Took me a day.

Evening all.  

I have been to Legoland!  Again.  And yes, the kids came as well.  It is half term and today is my admin day.  So I took it off, and went to Legoland, and the kids loved it as did I.  It was a good day out for all, enjoying the rides and of course, buying the kids some Lego.  We did give them the option of going to the Natural History Museum, or Legoland, and this morning, they woke me up screaming Legoland.  A chant which was shouted out at the begining of the drive there as well as at times during the trip.

But it was worth it.  Just a note though, if you are going to go, get a Qbot as otherwise it might not be as enjoyable as it could be due to the queues that are present.

What I remember most about Lego:

5%- Building things according to instructions
10%- Building whatever the hell I wanted
15%- Searching my giant box of lego for that one piece
70%- Screaming in agony after stepping on a brick barefoot

The NHS reforms

Right, time to make a post about the reforms on the NHS and my views on them.

I will say at first, I am in favour of them.

But...

My concern is the funding that the government is to give the NHS.

A lot of people are concerned about the involvement of the private sector in the NHS.  Now, I am aware that the private sector are interested in one thing only.  Profits.  They are not interested in patient care, in providing a service, they are interested in profits.  Now, if those profits are dependent upon patient care and providing a service, then the company will work towards ensuring that patient care is adequate.  The last government used the private sector to cut waiting lists.  It was not a popular idea, and it took money out of the NHS, but it allowed patients to be cared for, and brought waiting lists down.

The sad things, is in 1997, Labour inherited a failing health service.  The conservatives, either intentionally, or not and run the NHS into the ground.  Waiting lists were high and the reforms that they had put into place had failed the NHS again and again.  Not everything failed, but a lot of what they did seemed to ignore the demands that the NHS needed.

Labour solved many (but not all) of the problems.  And they did so by doing something that the Conservatives had not dared to do, they got the private sector involved.  The Conservatives had attempted to bring in choice, Labour expanded on that.  A system called Choose and Book was brought in.  I will admit, I loved the initial idea, then the system seemed to become overly complicated.  Well, I have moved jobs to a different area, and I can see how it can work.  Where I work, it has resulted in patients being seen quicker.  I do not like the fact that the private sector has to be used, but I care about patient care more, and patients are benefitting from these changes in England.  In Wales, where the private sector is not being used, waiting lists are longer. So yes, I have seen how these reforms can work to help patients.

These reforms are not about the privatisation of the NHS.

But, my concerns are if the Conservatives can be trusted to fund the NHS.  They stated before the elections, that there would not be any top down re-organisation of the NHS and then they introduced the biggest re-organisation the NHS has seen.  And they said that funding would be protected.  Then went back on that, increasing spending but not enough to cover inflation with spending falling in real terms.  Then went back on that again, but although funding is to be protected, the NHS is to make £20,000,000,000 in savings.  

David Cameron said that if the NHS was more efficient, and worked in the manner that other European nations did, then we would have the outcomes that they have.  But many of them spend more on health than the UK does!  I agree that the UK can do better with healthoutcomes, but comparing the NHS to nations that spend more per person to get those healthcare outcomes, and then saying that the NHS has to save money just does not make sense!

So in summary, the reforms will make the NHS more efficient, but the NHS needs more money to deliver the healthcare that the people of the UK deserve, more money and reform.  And the Conservatives starved the NHS in the past.  Will they do so again.

You are about as useful as Ryan Giggs's wedding vows.

After Barcelona's demolishing of Manchester United in the Champion's League final at Wembley, festivities and partying went on until the early hours in the city centre, of Liverpool.

Evening all.  I have had a really nice day today with my wife, kids and my mother.  We collected my mother today and took them to the London Eye.  On getting my Mum, Dougal came out to say hi to my two kids, who promptly screamed!  And they got to meet my two brothers as well.  And then we went on the London Eye.  I did not think that they would want to go on it, thinking instead that they would want to go in the Aquarium, but my daughter cried when she thought that she was not going, and my son on seeing the Eye screamed about going on it.  So that decided the choice of destination.  And they really loved being up so high.  It was great for me, being born and brought up in London, I will always have a soft spot for the city especially considering the walking around it I used to do when I was younger.

And of course, they loved spending time with my mother, who loved being with them as well.

Anyway, time to go...

BBC News: Bad drivers to face £100 fines Seems a bit sexist.

Evening all.  Well, it has been an interesting time since my last post.

One of the things my son wanted was to sleep in a bed.  He broke my heart on Friday when he cried himself to sleep saying that he wanted to sleep in a bed.  Well, I was not able to make his cot into a bed on Saturday as I was working, but on Sunday I was able to.  My wife was amazing as she was able to work out bits when it came to help me.  However we were not able to make the bottom of the bed properly.  Well, my son did not care, he was overjoyed and come the night, he was very excited about sleeping.  A shame last night though when he fell out of bed.  Not that he admitted to doing so in the morning, saying instead that his rabbit (the cuddly toy that he was sleeping with) fell out of his bed.  And it would have worked on me, had my wife not got out of bed in the night to put him back to bed.

Today, on getting back from work, I got my update on my kids.  My daughter was a bit cheeky.  Well naughty really.  At dinner, she put some of her food on my sons plate.  My son complained, and thanks to my wife being very observant, she was found out.  Did not help though when my daughter tried to lie about it.  It is interesting to see how both develop.  We do try our best to praise the kids when they are nice to each other, and hopefully that will bear fruit later.  Most of the time they get on well together.  And on the subject of my daughter, I was reading with her on Sunday.  Last week, she went up a stage on reading, and I have to say, I can not tell the difference.  She was amazing.  At first, she was not too keen on reading, but when I pointed out I would write in her report book which her teacher reads, her attitude changed.  For someone so young, I am very impressed at how well she does with reading when she puts her mind to it.

Anyway, one other thing that my son is now doing is wearing pants.  Only today, he was to wear boxers.  But as far as he was concerned, and he told my wife this, jeans are not to be worn over shorts!

Anyway, I hope you like this... 

Dear IRA,

If there is ANY attempt made at the Queen's life during her historic visit to Ireland, i will personally see to it that you are all knighted.

Your's sincerely,

Charles xxx 

I noticed a lot of people queuing outside Waterstones today so I asked the security guard what was going on.

He said, "Jedward are doing a book signing."

I said, "Where's the punchline?"

He said, "There isn't one."

I said, "Brilliant, does that mean I get to go first?"