I have looked up Lancia jokes and I have realised that the jokes are the cars

Okay, I am grateful that our car works, but it is a terrible car.  It has awful acceleration and in addition Europcar gave us a Lancia with no washer fluid in it.  And in case it has not been noted before it has a radio but no functionality for our iPod as in no USB port or, which is present more often, an audio jack.

 

Tuesday is Market Day in Gubbio which is great to browse in and overall visiting the town we had a great day, the only downside being lunch.  We browsed a bit in the market before heading into the historical part of the town.  I have to admit that we missed out on all the market had to offer, which included lunch, a point that we regretted later in the day.  Gubbio is a beautiful town, like so many in Umbria, full of history and beauty.  It was baking hot and we all were grateful that the policeman my wife talked to told us about the lifts that allowed us to go up in the world to overlook the town.  I was embarrassed at the ability of my wife in speaking Italian and we were all put to shame with his excellent use of the English in comparison to my terrible Italian.  Walking up and down the town would have been fun for me but not for both our children.  The museum at the top was fascinating, though my son found it a bit boring at times.  Lunch was in a tourist trap and was not up to the quality we now expect in Italy, however dessert, which was an Italian ice-cream was to quote my kids spectacular, though we had it closer to the square of 40 martyrs.  Some of the pictures are from the museum at the top of the town.

Back at Santa Chiara we got to enjoy the pool that the children has been looking forwards to.  As you can see from these and previous pictures the view is amazing and to describe the place as relaxing is an understatement.

Amid the transfer rumours Jack Wilshere hopes Wenger brings players into Arsenal during the summer. Or Marlboro. Or B&H. He is not fussy

Just a quick one really. First was that I was amazed to hear that Arsenal beat Chelski in the Charity Shield yesterday.  I was dreading the game and fully expected the record that Wenger had against Mourinho to continue so I was surprised to hear that we won!  Not that it counts for much but it helps that we have overcome one psychological barrier.

As you can see, it is blue skies here and today we all just relaxed.  We went out for breakfast as we had no food (other than the left over lasagna) and ate in Umbertide which is not far from here.  It was a trip to the supermarket afterwards and then home for unpacking and preparation for lunch.  Once that was out of the way it was a trip to the pool.  The kids have made a friend and overall, other than forgetting how to turn the oven on, it was a great and relaxing day.  As you can also seen from the picture, one with a great view!

We have arrived, and while I may grow to hate our Lancia...

We are in Italy!  For my wife and I, it is back in Italy.  My daughter has been in Italy before, but as she was not even two, it is a bit much to expect her to remember anything.  So really it is the first time for both to be here. It was a very early morning trip here and we arrived in Pisa in good time.  The only downside was the wait for the car.  As you can see, some companies are more popular than others when booking online and that means the people who book with the other companies get quicker service and get their car sooner.  It was not bad service just popular and slow.  The worst service we had was from GoldCar two years ago when in Portugal, slow and a constant barrage of selling for additional perks.  We were lucky as others had service to really complain about.  We ended up with a nice car then so it was not too bad.

And the car itself.  I guess we have been spoiled in the past with cars, a Focus in Jersey and a Peugeot when in Portugal two years ago are just two of cars that we have driven when on holiday. It is sad but we now expect things like being able to listen to music other than that on a CD or on the radio and are disappointed when there is no USB port in car or jack to allow us to listen to music using our iPhone.  I am not sure if that is because we have a Lancia but this car has not lived up to the standards of our previous hire cars.

Anyway we have visited one old haunt, this being a restaurant that we used to visit when here in the past, BC or Before Children. Ristorante Il Cipresso in Loro Ciuffenna.  We had been here in 2002 and 2003 and the food and service was as good as we remembered.  It was a nice touch that the man who served us said he remembered us, but that might have just been patter.  We did not get to show the kids the rest of the town properly as it was shut, this being Sunday afternoon but it was nice to return to an old haunt.

Now we are in our villa, Santa Chiara, a self catering apartment in Umbria. We have had a very warm welcome and the food which we had arranged in advance was great. I am now to put the lasagna away as it was great and we may have some more tomorrow. Anyway goodnight all!

And the final score is - Margaret Thatcher: 87 The Unions: 0

So, the government is going to take action against the Unions. They are to criminalise unlawful picketing, allow employers to hire strike breaking agency staff and make it harder for workers to strike legally and act against union funding for Labour.

 A lot of it sounds quite reasonable so long as you just look at what they say, and not what the Conservative party are doing.

 Propose that unlawful or intimidatory picketing should become a criminal as opposed to civil offence and new protections should be available for those workers unwilling to strike. All this sounds reasonable, but it has become easier for employers to make a picket illegal. Which in effect makes it harder for workers to protest against an employer.

 Strike breaking appears understandable. After all, an employer still has to provide its function. But it is recognised in most developed nations that it is unfair for this to occur. I have to say that if this was the 1970's when unions had more power, I might be less against this, but unions in the UK have much less power than in other developed nations and there is a more confrontational attitude to unions in the UK compared to other nations where employers and unions work together to safeguard jobs and continued prosperity for the company within the economic climate.

 When it comes to political funding though, that is where I have an issue. It sounds reasonable to ensure that union members can opt in to paying money to the Labour party, but at present, they can opt out. This viewpoint does not apply to corporate donations which the Conservatives benefit from. An employee, or shareholder can not ask for the money that is given to come back to them if that is not what they wish when a corporation makes a donation. As it is, unions are limited when it comes to political campaigning, but the right wing press can smear the Labour party as much as they like.

 But my biggest gripe is with the way that voting for strike action is changing. Not only is the mandate for strike action being limited, but there is to be an electoral threshold where the government are to impose a minimum 50% turnout and for public sector strikes would need the backing of at least 40% of those eligible to vote. This from a government that was not elected by 50% of those who voted, let alone 50% of those eligible to vote. It is argued that the MP's in Parliament are not elected by 50% of the electorate of the constituencies that they serve, but the counter argument is that there was a referendum on electoral reform and the first past the post system was kept. However, when it came to the Police and crime commissioner elections for England and Wales, the turnout was much less than 50%, but the government at the time argued that they still had democratic legitimacy. So, it is all right to have less than half the electorate vote for a police and crime commissioner, but it is not acceptable for this to occur with a strike.

 Sounds unfair to me. But, I doubt that anyone will notice these issues. Which is a shame as this seems to work against having fair and accountable democracy that protects employees and employers.

If being a GP is such an easy job then why are there so few of them?

This is yet another post about the NHS and also about the reforms that are planned for the NHS, which to my eyes appear insane without adequate funding.


First of all, the NHS is in debt, and this debt did not seem to have been there in 2010. Agency working is now being blamed for it, but the causes of people working for agencies are not being looked at. If you can have a better work-life working for an agency and can earn more, well why would you hold down a regular job? But the issue is a lack of pay rises in the NHS and market forces have resulted in those who want to be paid more, leaving to be paid more. Others have argued that the NHS has been underfunded and while this may have been the case before 2010, it has been more apparent since then.


The government want to change the way the NHS works from a five day service, to a seven day service. While this is an admirable aim, this has to be funded. And there are issues with staffing in many areas of the NHS, notably with GP's. There are not enough being trained as not enough doctors want to become General Practitioners and too many are leaving the NHS due to workload issues. (This is an issue with people in the NHS who are not in General Practice as well.)


What was very interesting was the comments of Catherine Davies executive director of co-operation and competition of Monitor, the NHS regulatory body who is reported as suggesting that patients could force GP surgeries to improve by switching to those whose services better suited their needs.


Well, let us look at that in Colchester. There are many GP surgeries present in North East Essex, and amongst them is the North Colchester health centre. It has good reviews and is open seven days a week for registered patients, from seven in the morning until ten at night and it has the largest practice area of a surgery in Colchester. But, despite having these opening hours, it does not have as many patients as other surgeries close to it with hours that reflect the five day NHS system that the government wants to move away from. Basically, if the people of Colchester wanted a seven day service enough, they would be voting with their feet and would be registering there rather than at other nearby surgeries.  

It will be interesting to see if the efficiency savings are seen as cuts and it will be interesting to see how the government will address the issue of GP recruitment and retention.  Basically, in 2015 there were four times as many unfilled GP posts as there were in 2010, one in ten posts for GP partnership being unfilled.  That figure has to improve of the health of the nation will suffer.

Hearing the Hull midfielder said he had to choose between cocaine and alcohol. Saying 'I respect my brain, but I value my Livermore'

At the time of this post, Hull and the FA have suspended Jake Livermore over a positive cocaine test. And Jose Baxter of Sheffield United has been suspended as well. Now while I have stated in the past that I think that drugs should be legal, But this is not about that, nor the loss that Hull had against the Scum, nor even about the upcoming match against Manure.

This is about austerity and can the UK take more.  I, like many think that Labour were wrong to call more increased austerity in the last election.  They had signed up to more cuts and I, like others, do not think that suited the core voters of the party.  In the election, the Scottish Nationalist Party and Plaid Cymru both campaigned on a platform of no more austerity and they took votes that Labour may have gained if they also did the same.  What is interesting though is that Conservative Councils have now stated that they want no more cuts.  In my job I have seen some of the effects of this, but I am lucky not to work with lots of the most deprived.  I fail to see how the police and the armed forces can be cut more, and of course, how council funding can be cut further without affecting the services that they offer.

My personal view is that there have been enough cuts to the services that are there for the most disadvantaged in society.  It is interesting to see Conservatives agreeing as well.

Liberation Day in Jersey

We are back!  My amazing wife booked us a few days in Jersey and we are now finally back.  The children had Thursday off as the school they attend was being used as a polling station and Friday was a "Non-pupil" day so on Thursday morning we travelled down to Gatwick to fly to Jersey.  It meant that we had to wake up early in the morning but as my wife had booked a taxi we slept for part/most of the journey to the airport.  A short flight later on EasyJet and we had landed on Jersey.  We were greeted by the sun which was good as unknown to us, the weather had not been good before we arrived.  Getting our hire car was easy (a shuttle bus to a collection point using Avis) and we were on the road to the Highlands Hotel.  My wife had chosen it for its reviews on Trip Advisor as well as its outdoor heated swimming pool and although the rest of us did not know it, it was a great choice.

The hotel does not look amazing and at first the service was not warm (though even then was excellent) but it was perfect for our needs.  Other than the first few minutes the service was both warm and other than one or two very minor issues, perfect.  We were told about the Tower at the end of the hotel which allowed views of the surrounding sea as well as having a library which came in useful when the kids ran out of things to read.  They loved the binoculars and the telescope that were there and later made use of the playground which while small was on site and kept them both occupied.  While the room did not look as great as it can in other hotels, it was better in that things worked!  Too many times I have been to other places with the kids to find that the television does not work (something that my children need at times).  In addition to this, there were other things for the children to do, and they did.  Both loved the table football and while they did not get to play a game of pool, they did have a go at table tennis.

The restaurant was good though I am fussy with my tea and it was not up to the standards I expect.  Ideally I would prefer to eat dinner elsewhere on the island but they were very accommodating for our two children which is more than many places are, so both good and not quite as good there.  We did get to have dinner at the Oyster Box and that was a highly recommended experience.  While there were initial concerns about its service (our drinks took a while to arrive) after that it was as good as the meal.  One thing that stood out was the way they interacted with the children, something I do not expect in a fine dining restaurant, and offered the children a mocktail.  Little things like that are important and I would highly recommend this both for people with well behaved children as well as adults.

The beaches on Jersey were spectacular and on the first day we drove across the southern part of the island from the south west corner which was where the hotel was to the east of the island.  Along the way we did stop and went for a walk along the sea front, by son sticking to the sea wall with his mother while my daughter and I went exploring along the beach and the rock pools.  There is access to the sea at the Highlands Hotel as well, a great spot to be able to go for walks from.

Even though we went off season, there was quite a bit to do, and while I am not a fan of sea food, my daughter and wife state great sea food to eat.  And that is without discussing our trip to La Mare Wine Estate and Distillery as well as the The Channel Islands Military Museum. I do not know when we are to go back, but when or if we do, we all will be happy to do so.