The Last Post

PLAY GARY OLDMAN
VIDEO TO THE RIGHT

."Bad to the bone!"


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Well that's all folks!

We've come to the last post . It has been fun writing this blog and reading other peoples blogs. It has taken far more time than I have had , everything else has gone on the back burner cause I've really enjoyed writing it and creating links - adding pics , music files , videos - i'm very pleased with the layout - yes inc the pink! - i know my spelling and grammar are poor but hopefully you can see through that - the spell check on this is as primitive as my ability to spell! - now I've got to go back to reality and write boring one dimensional essays! - its been without a shadow of doubt the best part of semester two and I will be writing more & more blogs from now onwards .

Here are some quick links to the posts on my blog below :

1)Alcohol 2Drugs 3)Field Trip 4)Gambling 5)Health 6)Infidelity 7)Last Post 8)Masturbation 9)Money 10)NEWSFLASH 11)Penultimate Post 12)Prostitution 13 )Religion 14) Smoking15)Stalking16)Stealing 17)Tattoos 18) Telling Lies 19) Transport20)White Collar Crime

Here's a quick link to ALL the Blogs I have read & made comments on : Click me!

Here's my questionnaire ( scroll to the bottom - formatting went adrift!) : click me too !

NEWSFLASH

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I wake to hear the BBC announce that .... shock horror Tony Blair has 'resigned' .... surely this can't be true !? - not after 10 years - resigning on the 10th May from no.10 drowning ( purposeful error btw ! ) street ! could it all be just a coincidence and that there will be a press conference at 10 o' clock for ten minutes ? We now have 7 or 8 weeks while the nations awaits with baited breath - who will be crowned our new Prime Minister ( like we get any choice in the matter! ) - who will Tony name as his successor .....fast forward to 1st July 2007 - its Gordon Brown and he cannot even light up a cigar to celebrate for fear of being the first person to be prosecuted up the new smoking ban - wow we are all in shock again ...how did that happen - how DID that happen!?

I so look forward to hearing Mark Steel's take on the whole thing.

Penultimate Post

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This is my penultimate post , everybody seems to have done a questionnaire so i did one too, I'm sorry but its not positive , trying to work out a way of putting it in a separate file - I gave up but you find it at the bottom of bthe page - it didnt come out very well lost all my formatting! Have a look at the video for 'Bad to the bone' there's a great one of Gary Oldman - just click on the pic or any of the hyperlinks throughout my blog . I have also listed all the Blogs I've read and commented on together with my suggestion for a field trip below

Drugs

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Once upon a time the use of drugs was socially acceptable in the UK , EU and USA . It amuses me sometimes that people in the 'west' look at other countries in the world and sneer at them for banning alcohol like there is something wrong with them . Alcohol can be just as dangerous and addictive as some drugs but still alcohol is readily available. (I'm not complaining I'm quite happy it is I'm just commenting on the hypocrisy) Originally drugs were not banned for the obvious reasons and those reasons namely that they would not be ordinarily legalised today .It as much support from former slave owners who were concerned about the productivity of their workers than it did for any health implications at the time of its prohibition in the US.
Today drug use is synonymous with crime , be it those supplying or in allot of cases those taking it . Banning or legalising drugs will not get rid of the related problems that it causes .Society itself needs to solve those problems- undoubtedly the world be a better place without any stimulant that causes people to commit serious or other crime .

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I looked at a very frank blog ( there's a pun in that ) Cat has shown a link through to website that shows what happens to you if you use crystal - truly awful - some strong views there Cat - I couldn't argue with them.

Gambling

This is me ( gonabeatmark on pokerstars ) playing poker yet again ( yes that's right I'm the one who had to leave in the middle of a game of poker to go to Dennis's gambling lecture and was hoping to get back in time to finish the game ! ) its almost 2am my battery is about to run out , both metaphorically and as you see on the icon on the bottom rhs of my laptop ( if you can't just click on the pic to enlarge ) , Hurray - I've won but will this win be enough ? have I procrastinated enough yet and will I now finally get round to starting that essay! ...oh just one more game ..addictive isn't it & guess what I lost the next game - so now I'm going to have to play again to get that money back - wow its daylight outside - I haven't even slept yet , now where did I put that number for GA ? HELP !!! .. this has NOT been a party political broadcast on behalf of Manchester City Council home of the UK's first super casino !

Health

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Health is an important issue. Its cost the NHS ?? £bn to look after the nation . As we all live longer its going to cost more and more to keep us alive , me personally I've done my pension planning with a view to not being here in 25 years time ( work that one out! ) so its scares me if I suddenly became really healthy ; how am I going to afford to survive ? so ironically & bizarrely I'm better off as unhealthy as I am ! ( if that doesn't get a comment I duno what will !? ) Now where's that burger?
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I read with increased saliva Nathan's story of the man ordering the unhealthy burger and now I'm hungry! But not wanting to join that elite sumo club ( although I probably would qualify! ) but I'll be good and I'll go for the healthy option. Did you ever find out why he was on a get fat diet?

Infidelity

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I don't think anyone likes being cheated on so why do people cheat on their partners? - if you live to the maxim 'do unto other as you wish to be done unto you' - its true we're not swans - its takes hard work to make a relationship last - temptation is all around.

I cannot believe the morality of websites like this that encourage married people to cheat - I can understand swingers to an extent but I know its not for me - i'm too much of the jealous type . I think I'd rather be alone than be in a relationship I'm not happy in and cheat.

Masturbation

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Difficult to find an appropriate pic to go here! - And not sure what IT services will make of my research! …. ( people lose their jobs for this out there in the ‘real world’ ) slightly embarrassing in this crowded gold fish bowl on the ground floor of the MC building – anyway... here’s a web site to wet your appetite !

During the lecture we were asked alot of questions which it seemed to embarass quite a few of the audience into a shy silence. I guess sex whether its with someone you love ( Woddy Allen's definition of masturbation! ) or with someone else - its a fairly private thing. Apart from those people who are into 'dogging' or swinging etc its generally a private affair and masturbation is the most private of them all . I think given the choice of being caught having having sex with someone else ( except where it may be with someone of the same sex and was until that point was generally an unknown fact i.e George Michael ) or getting caught masturbating most people would rather be caught having sex with someone else as there is less or a stigma attached . But why , I imagine that every adult that is capable of doing so has done so in one shape or form. Men I guess generally tend to be more open about disgussing it but having never been a fly on the wall when a group of women ( I am open to offers ! ) are discussing masturbation I cannot say that with complete knowledge! Generally men are born with all the equipment they need to 'sort themselves out' - If they weren't I just couldn't see men all together at an Ann Summers type party looking at toys etc and discussing them !

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Wrote a really long piece about woodstock's blog and Microsoft very (un)reliable IE7 very kindly crashed and lost it all - 20 mins typing gone- urggh! - quick points instead & please don't crash again - bullet points instead this time - 1) have heard many women say same i.e when in relationship they dont need to - don't think its the same for men at all - we still do ( without macks ! ) - its just habit by no means a comment on our partner if we do 2) aged 15 ! scares me as a parent with 2 daughters ! 3) rabbit - sales have increase as women have been emancipated by programs like sex & city & the hard work of Jackie Gold - will sign off publish before it crashes - i need a pint - library about to close

Money

Money is the route of all evil . I find it incredible sometimes that we still have cash . In this day and age with so many electronic transactions is there any need for cash ? if we got rid of cash - would we get rid of crime !!? - very unlikely - the crooks would just get smarter . But do you ever sit and wonder 'what's it all about, Alfie ?' how did we get into the situation where we are a slave to the £, $ or € ? can't we go back to a simpler less stressful life!?

Prostitution

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They call it the oldest profession . Its always been out there and always will be . And increasingly its not just men paying for it - its women too , women who want fun but either are too busy or simply can't be bothered with a relationship . Personally I have never liked the idea of 'paying for it' , I know friends who have and they have all said great things about it but I personally couldnt do it or least I think I couldnt though I have to say I caught a program on TV recently that looked interesting about a resort in Margarita off the Venezualan coast ! I guess its a case of as you get older and rounder your chances of attracting the women you find attractive demisnish with your bank balance whether you pay for it or not - I just love Tom Cruise's character's sales pitch in Risky Business . I was always suprised by Hugh Grant , theres a man adorned by millions of women and he pays for it and it wasnt with someone who looked anything like as good as Liz Hurley !

Religion

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In John Lennon's song 'Imagine' - he mentions about there being 'no religion' but if we didn't have religion we wouldn't have reason to go out and kill people , I say this tongue in cheek but religion has caused so many wars either in-fighting i.e. christian :protestants vs catholics throughout European history since the 16th century or the current horrific in-fighting going on in Iraq everyday with shia muslims fighting sunni muslims . Or fighting each other over the years Christian s vs Muslims , Muslims vs Jews etc Its all very sad . Surely if we all just listen to the words of the great poet laureat of the 20th century Mr George O'Dowd aka Boy george 'war , war is stupid , and people are stupid...' we could live in peace and harmony? In the lecture we spent a considerable amount of time looking at the Jehova's Witnesses and other 'cults' .To me personally religion is a 'code for life' - the ten commandments make a lot of sense , the teachings of Jesus make alot of sense what I struggle with is the one and only God doctrine if that is so then why are there so many other religions? - who's right? I cannot say that Christianity is right to the detrement of every other religion , I cannot say any other religion is right or wrong but what I can say is - If we all treat each other with respect and dignity and understand our diferences whilst embracing our similarities then we have a chance to live in peace and harmony . amen! ( it did start to sound like i was preaching there! )

Smoking

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Hope you like the pic! - I thought it was quite amusing . Not long to go now . look at the Governments slightly biassed website and you can see the countdown. Personally I can't wait till 1st July , I hate being in smoky environments - I suppose we are living in a 'nanny state' a bit and next it will be a day when farting in public is banned , not such a bad thing I'm sure you agree and it would be good for the planet !

I have ben looking at the Govt.'s website and there are some interesting loopholes and ambiguities in the legislation which will mean that publicans who still want to allow their customers to smoke could install a telephone box, since it is perfectly legal to smoke in one! They could also pay all their customers a nominal sum and claim that they are ‘performing artists’ ( p1ss artists you might think ! ) or more interestingly imprison them all ( i.e. a lock in - could that be 'false' imprisonment!?) since it is legal to smoke in a prison. You might think ‘surely they can trust a prisoner to pop outside for a ‘fag’ break and come back! ‘

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I read Saint Alfredo's smoking blog with nostalgic amusement . I too am sadly old enough to remember those cinemas and even worse tube trains in London and people going for 4 pints at lunch and going back to work in the afternoon and not getting the sack for doing it cause we were obviously far more sociable in those days! - catch your nostalgia fix here.

Stalking

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To explain the pic just in case of any misunderstanding - the pic is referring to the song leaning by the lampost by George Formby which in its day was purely innocent but today could be seen by some as stalking - after all why is is standing by a lamp post everyday to see if a certain lady walks by - is that an ok thing to do ?- open for debate - what do you think?

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I have some news for the theatre of cruelty Johnny Depp is moving to the UK - I think there will be quite a few female admirers hanging around the quantocks hoping to catch a glimpse or more!

Like mr alfredo's comment I couldn't help but notice your sex with a lecturer blog as i'm sure most of the staff will too ! - think you will be inundated with offers and don't be surprised if you get an A16 ! - you must see a film called me without you - think you'll like it !

Stealing

Have already talked about white collar crime , stealing generally is thought about as something that poor people do . Its quite often it is drug related . There are no two ways about it- it is wrong . In writing for children we've been adapting The hoarde of the gibbelins - it has a very voilent end and a strong message that stealing is wrong and those who do it will be punished. Somewhere along the way the lines have blurred and we have forgotten what's right and what's wrong -I had a moped stolen once and you would have thought I was the criminal for the amount of grief I had to go through to get my money back from the insurance company - in the end I gave up & sometimes I think that's what society has done . Everywhere you see signs saying 'do not leave your valuables on show ' you rarely see a sign in public place ( except in shops ) its wrong to steal and if you do you will be punished.

Tattoos & body piercing

I love this tattoo . As a piece of art its fantastic . I wouldn't have a tattoo myself . As a rule I don't like to see tattoos on people . The problem with tattoos is that they are permanent and what are people going to do with them when they are older.Now that was one side of the argument , on the other side I think that tattoos in certain places e.g. lower back and other places on women can look very sexy and likewise I can understand women finding them attractive on men as they give that rebellious/warrior look .I don't have any piercings either unlike a certain 19th century Prince! ( wow I sound boring! ) but the idea of a pierced tongue intrigues me , unfortunately I was born 20 years too late to have sampled one !What does worry me is that my daughters want tattoos , being a parent gives you a totally different perspective and suddenly I'm back to my first paragraph again!

Telling Lies with integrity

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WOW ! - think I overdid it a bit on transport - that took ages ! - did you read it? . Anyway over to telling lies ... firstly I love this pic - think its quite amusing and has a point there are times when telling lies are the best thing to do. I made a BIG mistake with an ex-girlfriend - well she wasn't 'ex' at the time but you may sympathise with her once you read this . We were in the swimming pool at the gym . There was another girl nearby who I knew, unfortunately she was physically very attractive and of course I didn't look at her at all and gave all my attention to my girlfriend or so it seemed to me , but women are very clever and can be cunning and can read your mind - she asked me the question ' do I look good in this bikini ' - now the obvious answer whether you think it or not is to say 'yes darling you look fantastic' unfortunately I left my brain at home and said something like 'its ok but i prefer the one on her over there' - yes I know I'm a complete idiot - honesty there was NOT the best policy ! and you can be sure that when it came to the break up - that was thrown back in my face ! - so lie - tell people what they want to hear and make them happy even if it goes against your morals of being honest !

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Liar Liar Pants on fire ! - I like the pic . Interesting link to a children's website - there are tims when children need to know its ok to lie. My children are very honest or at least I think they are - I will give them this link as I think its good some good info on there.

Transport

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London was the first city in the UK to start taxing the poor for owning a car ...ooops started off cynically there!...it will get worse before it gets better ..i'm off on one! - But to be honest £8 ( per working day ) may not sound like alot to some that depends on your earnings and that is the problem with regressive taxation - if you work in the city on £250,000 pa with an annual bonus of £500,000 £8 might be easily affordable but if you are trying to make ends meet and are on min wage £8 out of net income is alot ( thats £1600pa - so you need to earn £2300 to pay it c 25% of your annual income ) - not only that because you may be on low wage you may not even have a bank account so its not that easy to pay it - you can't pay online - you may have a PAYG mobile which makes its difficult to pay by text message so you end up having to pay up to £150 ( plus it gets worse they have the power to clamp , remove your vehicle charge you for storage , disposal etc could run into hundreds ) for accidently not paying & you may not even know you had driven in a charging area because they charge you even more money to call them to find out on a premium rate number ( they call it 'lo-call' I beg to differ! ) .
So what's the alternative ? public transport can be unreliable - admittedly in London compared with the rest of the UK its pretty good with an integrated system . We have one here in WM but personaly I haven't tried it yet so cannot comment. But the problem is its not attractive enough to get people out of their cars.
In Utopia Maybe one of my books I have put alot work into looking into an alternative and propose that ALL 2nd class travel on public trasport throughout the UK will be free on production of a 'compulsory' annual travel card . I say compulsory but it would be voluntary in same the way ( don't worry i'm going through a 'if I ruled the world moment ! - its a book not a manifesto ! ) the unpopular national ID card is i.e. life will become increasingly difficult without one as you need one to make any journey in a car or public transport including taxis - you would need it to pay for fuel , you would need it to travel 'free' on a bus , train etc . This would only cover basic 2nd class travel and companies may charge extra for booking seats in peak periods & pre reservations or traveling 1st class etc . But what it would do is to make people think shall I get in the car and damage (a) my wallet & (b) the planet or shall I travel for 'free' on a ticket I've already paid for . The cost would only be £365pa which compares extremely favourably when you think an annual season ticket to London by train can easily cost iro £10,000pa . The pass would also mean that you would not need to have to pay car tax on each car you own/ drive only an MOT for each car on the road would be required on ALL cars/vans/lorries including those cars visting from other countries ( now ive started its hard to stop ! ) neither would you need to have 3rd party insurance. ( you would however need to consider having fully comp , fire and theft ) As you fill up your car you be paying for 3rd party insurance related to the car you are filling up and your risk profile ( all big brother stuff we know all about you ! ) . The price you pay for your petrol/derv would also be related to the economy of your car i.e a car that does 26mpg would pay the current 95p/litre but a car that does 13mpg ( eg Bentley Anage ) would pay £1.92/litre - which would be a double whammy - but it still allows people to make THEIR own choice - they can travel 'free' on public transport or they can drive a gas gussler and pay c £13,500 pa in fuel ( based on 20,00 miles ) . Alternatively they could buy an economic car like a citroen C1 or 2 which does 68mpg and pay only 37p/litre ( the current goverment would only reward that driver by making them pay £35 annual car tax instead of £190 - no surprise its not made many people change! ) which means their annual fuel bill would only be £490 - obviously the downside is that we could still have lots of congestion if people all decide to drive citroen C2s ! - but at least we'll be tackling the emissions side of things. I also looked at a 'typical' family eg Ford Focus ( 42 mpg ) - which would pay 60p/litre ( instead of current 95p/l) with annual fuel bill of £1290 . This would be a saving of £870 against the current cost which may seem a bit strange and against the grain but the difference would be that ALL revenues from fuel & the annual travel card would generate £53bn and would be directly re-invested in 'free' & sustainable public transport and road improvements . It does rely on people still using their cars to an extent and it is unlikely that the WHOLE population would take advantage of the free public transport but it would help the poorer members of the population who are consistently trapped in poverty and require state assistnce to survive.
If you are still awake and enjoyed reading this watch out for UTOPIA MAYBE where I will go in more detail ( oh no not more ..please don't i hear you say ) not only on transport but on a formula I have developed that would provide for a tax free society ( initially set at 9% flat rate of net worth across the board as opposed to current system which increases the more you earn i.e 22% to 40% - a very poor system since you are already paying more tax by the very nature you are earning more ! - the 9% is designed to reduce to 3% over a period of years and finally zero after 50 years or so ) under this system the state flexible retirement age is set at 16 !! ( yes 16 NOT 68 as is currently proposed - don't worry i will explain but not here - it sounds crazy but you'll be amazed when you see it - cause it works! ) . UK plc is currently worth some £6 trillion and c 50% of that is locked up doing effectively 'nothing' for the country whilst under the current regressive regime someone earning c £10,000pa ( theres a theme running through this - have you noticed !? ) with a company car driving 20,000 private miles pa will pay c 80% in tax ! (hence why we have so many people in the state benefit trap ) - the thing I find extraordinary is that there has been an earnings limit of £8500 pa for years possibly ten ( its never raised ) before which company car tax is 'nul & void ' i.e below that you do not need to pay company car tax - when it was introduced it may have had some relation to the min wage but not any longer since thats now above £5ph so someone on min wage would have their tax allowance wiped out by company tax then pay something like 70p a litre in petrol tax ( out of TAXED income ) while filling up their car ( while the person filling up next to them on £50,000pa pays comparitively less in tax percentage wise ) -I better stop now as im going on & on ! - thanks for reading - I hope you get my point -watch this space

White Collar Crime

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Crime isn't something that only poor and desparate people do .
Rich people 'alledgedly' do it too - its normally referred to as white collar crime . Does anyone remember the Guinness Trial ?- um I doubt it - some of you were only one! - but then again this out there on the world wide web - anyone could be reading!

Alcohol

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What would it be like in a world without alcohol? Governments have tried to either stop or restrict the sale and consumption of alcohol. Would we miss it if it went ? How do people survive in countries that apply a dry law today ? Why was coca-cola so popular as a substitute during the US prohbition? Ever wondered why its called coca .....! ?
Whatever the answer to these questions are ( you can find them on the hyperlinks ) we cannot escape the fact that alcohol has a short term gain, long term pain affect on the body. Some studies have shown the benefiits of the odd glass of red wine but unfortunately in the UK the binge culture ( now I am sounding like my age ! - we've all done it ! ) means that some people will unfortunately do untold damage to themselves and may find themselves reliant on drink for the rest of their lives unless they are able to kick their habit.

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I looked at Gisele's blog comments on Alcohol - an interesting term used for a drunk 'When somebody is drunk, he is not himself. ' I think women are starting to catch up with us men now on drunken front! - some good links there with some scary statistics.

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I love the pic on the Evil entry for drinking . Interesting comment about most road deaths being caused by drink driving , interested to know it made me look up the info and now I know the UK has the lowest road death rate in the EU wow won't I be the life & soul at parties now I know all these interesting govt. stats! - seeing Father Jack brought a smile to my face I love that program. I loooked at your drinking games too - with Eurovision on the Sat 12th May we can all play this game !

Field Trip

I suggest a field trip to the 2007 erotica show . I cannot believe how quickly time flies! - I went to this is 2003, I went straight from work as it was just round the corner , I wasnt sure what to expect , I have to say I was really impressed at how 'normal' everyone was ( don't let that put you off there were plenty of people who were (un)dressed for the occaison! ) , lots of couples , celebrities , single people etc ., . Long gone are the days where this kind of thing was seedy , shops like Ann Summers and Harmony and Pulse in Wolverhampton ( so I've heard not been in myself! ) have changed all that ! When only men ran the business it was all back street and Broad Street ! Not anymore.

So go , enjoy yourselves , Its fun for both sexes and anyone that knows what they're doing or wants to know what they're doing!