We as a nation, need press that holds up shining examples of the things our society should aspire to…..stories of local heroes, stories about honest politicians, in other words feel good & good new stories to balance out the bad.
We need to believe that a national newspaper is speaking the truth, but for too long this past integrity (call it currency) has been completely spent with no regards for the consequences.
It’s like the boy who cried wolf…and lied and lied so often to get attention…then in the end he was not believed.
The press is so busy reporting the ill-advised moves of famous people at whatever the cost that it never thinks about the cost of losing its own credibility.

If people would like to have a press that has integrity….we have to speak out against it’s lack of integrity. The focus should on both national and international news, then sports and gossip columns bringing up the rear.

Those papers should stop pandering to the lowest common denominator (sex) for the short term spike to the circulation figures and realise the damage and lack of quality can do to the continued decline in Newspaper sales.

Give me something interesting, not frivolous….something meaningful to add value and make me want to buy newspapers on a daily basis.

The press is so busy in a smarmy way holding everyone else to account…no one is holding the press up for scrutiny.

Chris and I wanted to start a debate about the English football team and why individually there are some great players (world class if we believe the media hype) but for some reason they are unable to perform consistently well as a team?

Are there too many distractions….now that top players live like pop stars?….don’t they have the same pride to play for their country?……………..would any of them turn up if they were not being paid?…….. Do the players weld too much power?……….is that why Mclaren dropped Beckham?……….. Has the media got to take its share of blame in all of this by…………building up the egos of these players?……………..of trying to get each manager fired?…..just to sell more newspapers?………A journalist once told me…never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

We seem to have the same problem with other English sports teams and other individual sport-persons…where they are trotted out often prematurely as the next world-beaters.
Rather then letting them mature and perhaps be better in their chosen field.

Tacking on a little extra about the cricket team………..how could Freddy Flintoff get drunk during the world cup cricket tournament? …Do these highly skilled sportsmen have a deficit
in the cranial department because of their athletic talents?

Kids and Food
I’m so tired of hearing the phrase “My kids wont eat that………there finicky!”
Oh…..was my reply….so what do they eat then?…… “Well they like chips, and chicken nuggets of course and burgers as long as there is no salad in the bun”. “I can never get them to try vegetables…so I have given up”. “I know…I know I let them have a breakfast of crisps and a tin of pop…..but what can I do?…..I don’t have time to make breakfast these days”. “What’s the point of having a dinning table?……they usually eat their TV dinners on their laps in front of the TV or computer. “My mom burns everything if she tries to cook……..that is why she only uses the microwave”.

And just like my ex..they certainly stuck in my throat!!!!

Due to the fact that I was taking my young daughter with me. I reluctantly booked a First Choice holiday to Majorca. Usually I create my own holidays abroad via the Internet because I find I can get better value for money that way.

For years successive British Governments have for the most part allow the package tour operators carte blanche. And thus the pricing structure is mind numbingly complex.
With fuel surcharges, paying for in-flight meals, legroom, and underoccupancy, seasonal prices that really penalise you if your travelling during school holidays....I'm sure that there are several surcharges I have forgot to mention.

Then there is the issue of being a single parent traveling with your kids...you get penalised by paying almost full adult price.

If all that wasn't enough to put you off forever....then there other annoying situations like checkout times. I had to checkout my room by 12noon even though my flight home was not until 4am the next day!!!
Since I was travelling with my young daughter I decided that I had to pay extra for a late checkout room....First Choice wanted to charge me £32 to have room from 12noon-6pm...I queried why the late room was only available until 6pm?
Looking for alternatives I phoned the hotel directly in Majorca and was told I could book a late room for 30euros about £22 and I could use the room until my coach left for the airport.

I don't buy daytrips via the holiday rep because the exact same trip can be bought for less if you book directly...sometimes the price difference is 20%!!!

The day that I arrived I foolishly lost a shopping bag containing my reading glasses. Even though I spoke to several reps at length for 2 days they made no attempt to either help me find the lost glasses or offer to write a report that I now need for my insurance claim.
Overall I had a good holiday in spite of First Choice not because of them.

One more important point I'd like to make about pricing is how often they change....often to pressure you into making a snap decision. The company admitted to me that holiday prices on their Internet site changed more than once a day.

Would people buying a suit or trolley full of groceries put up with rising prices by the time they reached the checkout?

Today I meet perhaps the only other person in the UK who does not watch or like Big Brother. Has the whole world gone mad?…are peoples lives some meaningless and boring that they need Big Brother…like a starving man needs a bowl of rice?

What is the fascination with watching a bunch of no talent weirdo’s live in a house?
Why don’t the people watching the show know that they are just encouraging more similar rubbish?

The production companies laugh all the way to the bank, because they make so much money on a show that costs them so little. Perhaps there have been quality TV pilots made and dropped because high-powered TV executives demand more reality shows.

Will the rabid watchers of this drivel be happy when the only shows on TV are reality shows? No more historical dramas..after all they are too expensive and don’t make as much profit…No more award winning nature programs, their audience is ever smaller than the historical drama.

Nearly all the quality programs these days are made in the US not the UK, we have more and more channels filled with repeats or dross. Of course there are exceptions (Dr Who is one of them) but can you name another 6 quality British made programs?

To me watching Big Brother is like being a nosy neighbour and peering through your curtains to see what is going on. Each show the producers play one person off against another, encouraging the contestants to sink to new lows. How far down this road do we go? When is enough …really enough? Should the contestants kill each other to decide who the winner is? I know that sounds far fetched but..if the concept of Big Brother was explained to audiences 20 years ago they would think you were mad.

Another great topic to get our teeth into.
Often parents argue it helps to keep my child safe,
But unfortunately that is not been the case in some of the highest profile cases concerning missing kids.

Often kids use up all the credits chatting or texting gossip with their school friends so they rarely have any airtime left when mom has asked them to call.

My brother-in-law who is a teacher tells me they even text each other during lessons when they are in the same class…. a bit like passing a message…only more expensive.

Then there is the health concerns and of course phone companies and manufacturers have greatly down played these... its bad for business. (Wonder if there are any former cigarette executives inside phone companies?)

Communication
Does the parent of a phone carrying child have better communication after purchasing the phone…in my experience no. Often kids spend several hours texting talking once they get home with friends they have spent all day with? This extra chatting/texting shrinks the chances of talking with mom and dad even more.

The only plus side that I can see is the child’s mobile phone frees up the house land line so you can call a friend and bemoan the fact that your child never talks to you?

In recent memory I guess the creation of all these extra directory inquiry companies is a great example of consumers ending up with something worse than what we started with. Why are these services allowed to charge so much, even if they cannot find the number you seek?

In my experience with these companies since the change from 192 BT run service, none of them seems to have a complete data base…it conjures up the mental picture that when the change happened one complete yellow pages was fought over and torn into 3-4 pieces. It’s a classic example of what happens when people ignore the adage “If it aint broke don’t fix it”.

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I don’t know about you………but there has definitely been a few times in my life when I felt I didn’t belong. In other words, the people around me have behaved so strangely….I end up wondering whether an Alien invasion had taken place whilst I was asleep. I know, I know……it sounds far-fetched….but what other explanation is there? When so many seemingly normal people do so many boneheaded things.

The phenomenon I wanted to talk about started roughly 2 years ago. Young women began wearing short t-shirts that exposed their tummies. My first few “viewings” were very pleasant because the women in question were both attractive and slim. One morning however…it happened….the scary thing…suddenly overweight young women started to wear the same short t-shirts and I want to know who is to blame?
Who forces me to watch beached whales and wannabe beached whales shake their undulating rolls of sweaty fat as they waddle down the high streets of the UK.

The Suspects

The fashion designer: Oh course they have to bear some of the responsibility for coming up with the design in the first place; however since they always use skinny super models perhaps they couldn’t foresee how their fashionable efforts would be misused.

Mainstream clothing stores: Surely the shops on our high street must take a large share of the blame, after all if certain fashions were only manufactured in smaller sizes then I wouldn’t be writing this article.

Tattoo artists and naval jewellery makers: Obviously these two groups would also gain if their art and jewellery got maximum exposure.

Parents: I’m constantly amazed at how little they seem to know about their teenage children, where they go, who they are with. They give a bunch of clichéd answers when referring to their teenagers…”going through a faze”…..”It’s my daughter’s friends who are the bad influence”… “If I buy her clothes she just wont wear them”.
What a cop out!!! Until the teenager starts work and earns their own money the parents have all the control they need…they should regain control by removing privileges when necessary. Nobody said parenting was easy…sometimes love also involves saying no to stubborn kids and following through.

You: It may be your first opportunity at being socially responsible, for goodness sake don’t let us all down. If your about to step out of your house with a women who should definitely not be showing off their body please…please find a way to break the news to them…. perhaps by screaming in their ear… “Your gonna scare old men with that!”

In summary
If I want to see fat bellies…I can go to a football match….thankyou.

Kev and I would just like to thank many of you for taking part in discussions and leaving some thoughtful comments.

It’s hard to believe that this blog is only 10days old! Already it feels comfortable like a pair of old slippers.

We are just a couple of comme il faut geezers who feel it's time for common sense to be heard…so please keep the comments coming and tell your friends about our little blog and how it’s a haven from the madness out there.
Chris (aka grumpyoldmen)