Were Blair and Osborne snowed in for the last three months of 2010?

Both Tony Blair and George Osborne appear to have spent the last three months of 2010 in a snow globe. Following the contraction of the British economy by 0.5% in the last quarter, both have decided to blame the heavy winter snow for this slump.

For Osborne it's clear to see where he's coming from. Afterall, there's a lot of snow up in Klosters Ski Resort. Maybe he got confused and thought that the snow capped peaks he saw out of his window in the morning was Ben Nevis. It's not like he'dt know the difference, Tories don't really know a thing about Scotland.

For old Tony though there really isn't much of an excuse. When he isn't answering questions in the Iraq inquiry then he's going round the world getting paid millions of pounds to talk at dinners or as a Middle East envoy, which always struck me as odd because it was a region he helped to make even worse than it was to begin with. Maybe it's penitence or a really bad joke, who knows.

Anyways, the shrinking economy isn't the fault of the snow, at least not entirely. For starters the snow really wasn't that bad as to bring the economic recovery to a grinding halt and it didn't last for three months. It may have had some effect in the run up to Christmas, with some people snowed in or looking outside and thinking: "Hmm, maybe not today..." No, rather than snow I blame it on poor handling of the economy by Osborne and it's hard to see it getting better any time soon.

The increase in VAT will hit the retail sector hard, a major source of income for the economy. Considering how fragile it is at the moment, increasing VAT was probably the worst thing that he could have done. Lowering the VAT rate is what helped to get Britain out of the recession in the first place and helped to stimulate growth. Despite all the cuts, there's less going in to the Government coffers in the first place, making it all a bit redundant. Thankfully it seems that Osborne is reconsidering the planned 1p increase in fuel duty due to the large increase seen already due to the VAT rise.

In addition, unemployment is ever increasing, reaching 2.5 million at last count. Consequently, people are only buying the essentials. Add to that Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, saying that total take home pay would inevitably be reduced, the amount of money going into the governments coffers is getting less and less.

What Osborne appears to have forgotten is that having cuts for the sake of reducing government expenditure doesn't guarantee that the economy will recover. No economy will get better if everyone is too poor to go out and buy things. If anything, the poor will get even poorer as they take out loans they can't afford. It's typical Tory policy as the only people who'll be able to take the brunt of all this is the rich.

If this is what it's like with the Liberal Democrats watering down Tory policy, then thank God we didn't get a Tory majority...

Human Slaves In A ConDem Nation.

It's not especially pleasant to be living in this country at the moment. The political landscape, far from being an abundant countryside or impressive metropolis, is more like your local city dump. Those in power sit there uneasily, like someone who thinks they've just taken somebody else's seat, unsure on how long it'll last. Meanwhile, those who crave power act more like flies round a pile of shit; doing a necessary task but still spreading crap wherever they go.

I can't imagine being a Liberal Democrat is all that fun at the moment. After the dizzying heights of "Cleggmania" before the election, it's been an ever decreasing shit-slide of bad press from one day to the next. Thursday's by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth, the constituency of ousted Labour MP Phil Woolas, may have seen the Liberal Democrats share of the vote increase. However, overall votes for the party dropped by almost 3,000 votes. Indeed, it's rather telling that the Lib Dems will take this as a positive. Afterall, with YouGov listing the publics voting intentions for them at a lowly 8%, it's no wonder they're glad to see that 11,000 people are willing to vote for them in the first place.

Whilst the situation for the Lib Dems is dire (and in many case, rightly so), it's hard to see any way in which the political situation in this country will change. The current Government is so appalling bad that the fact we're lumbered with them for the next 4 years at least is reason enough for me to jump in front of a bus. Ideally there would be a strong Opposition leader across the floor to hold this Government to account for some of its frankly shocking policies (more on them later). Instead, we get Beaker from The Muppets. Ed Miliband lacks perhaps all the necessary qualities important in an Opposition leader. He has no charisma, no charm, no oratory ability and no real sense of passion in what he's doing and saying. He makes Mr Bean look like Winston Churchill.

As for Government policy, well, where to begin. I'll start with the positives as they're shorter. The raising of the income tax threshold to £10,000 was an admittedly good move. The increase will see millions of the country's poorest citizens escape the grasp of the tax man, which can only be a good thing really. Then there's the proposed, much needed changes to the British libel system, which are such a complete mess it's untrue. Although quite why they need a new public interest defence I don't know, considering the Reynold's defence, so long as you fulfil its criteria, covers you just fine.

The bad, oh dear Lord the bad, really is extensive. I'll start off with perhaps the most well covered; tuition fees. This is the area that has seen Lib Dem support dry up like a puddle of piss in the desert. Despite a pre-election pledge to abolish tuition fees should they get into power (which leaked documents later revealed to be bogus as well), the Government has trebled the amount students will have to pay in order to go through University. Add to that the slashing of the education budget and a recent Home Office Tweet which invited people to come up with ways in which to cut the number of (higher fee paying) international students, there's going to be a massive financial black hole due to lack of funds. Now some might say it's unfair to level too much criticism at the Lib Dem for this. Afterall, they're part of a coalition and it's a Tory minister in charge of education policy. However, this doesn't explain why, when it came to the vote, many Lib Dems threw their conscience by the wayside and blindly followed the Tories.

Next, and perhaps most shocking of all, is the slashing of benefits for the disabled. Chief amongst these is the planned phasing out of the Independent Living Fund, which pays out around £300 per week to carers in order to ensure the people they're looking after are able to live at home as opposed to being left in a care home [BBC]. Most shocking of all is that the Government seems well aware that the impact such draconian cuts to these benefits will see an increase in suicides [Telegraph] for those people who feel they can no longer carry on with the situation in which they have been forced to live.

Then there's the Government's plan to sell large amounts of Britain's historically and environmentally important forests to private developers [BBC, The Guardian, Greenpeace]. Labelled as: "environmental vandalism" by Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavillion, the move could see Britain's fragile eco-system damaged beyond repair as private developers cherry-pick the best land for the development of golf courses, Centre Parcs Resorts and residential areas.

It's these sort of short-sighted, ideologically driven policies that threaten to derail this country even more than it already is. Most of them done in the name of fixing a deficit which isn't as bad as the media would have you believe.

Unfortunately for the public, there's nowhere to turn to. Labour are weak, the Lib Dem's are the Tories bitch and the Tories themselves are, well, the Tories! Should this coalition fail, and I really think it will sooner rather than later, the resulting General Election will be the most depressing thing since...the last General Election. Voter apathy will be through the roof and I can't see many people coming out to vote. The ones that do I think will be so disaffected with the main parties that fringe parties such as the Greens and (unfortunately) UKIP and the BNP may get a good look in. If not with Parliamentary seats, then certainly in councils up and down the country.

I honestly wish I knew there was a way of fixing this. If I could, I'd move abroad. Normally retreating to Europe or America would be order of the day, but with the Euro not exactly the most buoyant of currencies at the moment and America tolerating such fuckwits as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, those are out. Possibly Scandinavia. They tend to do things right.

Failing that, I hear the International Space Station is nice this time of year...

A 13th Astrology Sign? Now You're Just Taking The Pisces...

So apparently astrology will now feature the 13th sign of the Zodiac, Ophiuchus. Plunked between Scorpio and Sagittarius. it runs from November 29th to December 17th, resulting in a knock on effect for all the other star signs. For example, I'm now Cancerian as opposed to Leo and poor Baby Jesus is now a Sagittarius instead of a Capricorn.

This is ignoring the fact, of course that all astrology is complete nonsense. The idea that what happens to hundreds of millions of people every day is decided by the alignment of stars and planets that were around before there was even life on Earth is obviously preposterous. However, that doesn't prevent poor schmucks from swallowing this up like their a fat person at an all you can eat buffet.

To me, this clearly shows how stupid these hocus pocus things are. Alongside potpourri and homeopathy, astrology is probably this biggest cons in the world at the moment. Some people base their whole lives around what some bloke with a dodgy beard and a glass ball makes up in his living room. I for one hope that this maybe makes people think about what clear nonsense it all is.

In Praise Of: Stargazing Live

The BBC's recent programme, Stargazing Live, fronted by Professor Brian Cox and comedian Dara O'Briain, was a fantastic introduction to the night sky.

The BBC has a good record with astronomy, with many Horizon episodes dedicated to the subject and the classic Sky At Night. However, whilst The Sky At Night is tucked away on BBC Four with little to no promotion and Horizon usually fronted by uncharismatic boffins, Stargazing Live was a great attempt by the channel at getting the subject out to a wide audience and in a format that would appeal.

Cox and O'Briain should be familiar to audiences. O'Briain as host of Mock The Week and Cox for his recent show Wonders of the Solar System (and for those slightly older and a knowledge of dodgy 90's pop music, as the keyboardist from one hit wonder D:Ream).

Many TV shows would've had Cox as the obviously brainy one and O'Briain dumbing himself down so much that you'd think he wasn't capable of tying his shoes. Gladly, this wasn't the case as O'Briain, though obviously lacking the knowledge of his counterpart, had been given some astronomical facts to remember, giving Cox the chance to fill in the finer details. It's to the credit to both of them that this combination worked like a D:Ream (sorry, couldn't resist).

As for the show itself, it was able to give out a wealth of information about astronomy for both beginners and those with an already decent understanding. I like to consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the subject and even I was learning new things. Personally, the section on photographing the nights sky was invaluable as I'd always wanted to know how to get good pictures.

Alongside that was the bumbling adventures of Jonathan Ross and his suffering teacher Mark Thompson. Contrasting someone so incompetent such as Ross with someone as knowledgeable as Thompson helped to not only provide a nice bit of comedy, but also helped to explain complicated subjects such as setting up a telescope or navigating your way round the night sky in simple terms. Along with Thompson was their "reporter in the field" Liz Bonnin, who as well as being rather cute was enthusiastic about the subject and helped to show the important work going on over in Hawaii.

I'm really hoping that the BBC decide to have another go at this later in the year. Cox recently finished filming the follow up to his Wonders of the Solar System (imaginatively titled Wonders of the Universe), so in theory should be free. Plus, the night sky changes as the year progresses, so it's not like they'd be treading on old ground. The only issue I could see is the long days would require it to be either pre-recorded or on late at night. Regardless of what they choose, I really do hope that they give it another go.

Law Lecture 7 - Codes of Practice

As with any job, journalism is subject to set Codes of Practice.These act as a way of creating consistency between journalists. They also help to create and build trust between journalists and their audiences. Journalism has three main codes:

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC), which is for papers and magazines

The Office of Communications (OFCOM), for broadcasters

BBC Trust, for regulating output on the BBC.

The reason why these codes matter so much is because they help guide journalists through any ethical issues that they may face and how far it is that you can go.

The PCC is often seen as a toothless tiger. It's self-regulated and has little in the way of impartiality. Whilst it acts as a place to send complaints, in many cases these aren't acted upon (such as the Jan Moir article on Stephen Gateley after his death). It acts as little more than a deterrent as it can force retractions and apologies from editors in their newspapers.

In contrast, OFCOM is far more authoritative. OFCOM has the ability to hand out heavy fines to broadcasters it feels have broken its regulations. For example, it fined ITV £5.6million for the vote rigging scandal several years ago. Beyond fines, it can prevent broadcasters from airing repeats, forced airings of apologies and in worst case scenarios removing their broadcasting license.

For the BBC, the BBC Trust is responsible for upholding the BBC's guidelines. They deal with complaints made directly to the BBC and investigating whether there was any wrongdoing. These guidelines are available to the entire public and serve as a referral to all BBC workers and other journalists. This ensures it has a very user friendly site.

Law Lecture 6 - Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act is one of the greatest tools available to journalists today. It covers 130,000 organisations and government bodies, receiving 100,000 requests a year and at a cost of £34million. It allows anyone, not just journalists, the ability to ask for information kept by these bodies and for it to be published. Curiously, only 12% of FOI requests actually come from journalists.

The act covers pretty much everything except when there's a valid reason to not hand the information over, such as official secrets or confidentiality. These "exemptions" are Absolute and Qualified (like privilege). Absolute exemptions relate to official secrets, the Ministry of Defence etc. Qualified exemptions are for things such as ministerial communications and commercial confidentiality. Whilst these are a hinderance as a journalist, there are still plenty of opportunities to uncover great stories due to the FOI Act like the expenses scandal.

Many journalists see now as the Golden Age of the FOI. There's still a treasure trove of information buried away, waiting to be enquired about. In order to combat this, politicians are no longer writing things down to avoid it being "on the record". Such 'on the sofa' politics has allowed for informal chats as opposed to formal meetings where minutes etc have to be kept.

Law Lecture 5 - Copyright

Copyright is an exclusive legal right given to a person who has printed, published or otherwise created something that belongs to them. It could be either physical or intellectual property, but the important fact is that it belongs to that person. The purpose of copyright is to protect the creators of this property. Because of this, copyright infringement is technically stealing. You are able to use a limited amount of another person's work (if it's credited or if it's for the purpose of reviewing). Ignorance to this is no defence and will see you fined for copyright infringement.

Fair dealing is something used by journalists in order to use other peoples work in their own work. However, this work cannot be passed for your own and the usage must be fair and only a small portion of the whole work. Whilst video and to an extent text can be fair dealed, photographes are exempt from fair dealing.