CWU Cancels Christmas

It looks like the CWU, has announced that postal strikes are to go ahead next week. There will be a blanket strike for 3 days this week and further ones next week too (source: BBC news)

Last night they were meeting Royal Mail in last minute talks. The CWU hinted that they were close to settling or they might be prepared to. But as per usual they failed to come to an agreement and showed the sort of inflexibility that was last seen in the 1970’s. This union and the post office are living in a different time and instead of standing by their country in time of recession, they choose to make it worse, increase the suffering and possibly spoiling Christmas for millions of people.

Small businesses are reeling at this news that rely on the postal service to deliver their orders. On-line retailers such as those that run e-bay based businesses will be particularly affected as there is little alternative carriers they can use without dramactically increasing carriage charges. Businesses that rely on cheques then you might as well forget it, the cheapest alternative is £5 to send a letter in the UK. So, don’t worry about sending Christmas cards and presents this year. Christmas has been cancelled by the Postal Union, the CWU.

Political Changes

It seems that the western world is moving towards the right again and those of us who choose to live our lives immersed in sin are becoming rather more marginalised. In the united states for example there has been since Geoge Bush came into power, he has steadily moved the country back in time outlawing many of its freedoms under the guise of anti-terrorism and then if you speak out they get you under the Patriot Act.

Here in the UK freedoms have been eroded to a lesser extent in some areas, but more in others. In the UK there is a long standing tradition of political debate and slagging off the government and the royal family. This doesn’t mean we are trying to undermine the country, it just means we don’t agree.

At the moment in America I feel gagged like I have to be careful what I say in case I might upset someone in authority or members of the ever expanding right wing bible belt. There’s a standing joke going around at the moment. If you want freedom of expression then move to Russia!

Then there’s the annoyance of how western laws have changed in terms of what and how the entertainment industry publishes content. There are some aspects I agree with as there should be accountability and a paper trail to protect the few who have not necessarily chosen to take part in certain activities.The regulations that have been put in place will by their very nature discourage small enterprises. Thus this is why new start-ups are so few in comparison to only a couple of years back.

The question is, am I going political? Hell no! I just sometimes have things to say like everyone that doesn’t necessarily revolve our chosen industries.

Barack Obama wins!

I don’t think not even this blog can go without mentioning that America has switched sides and Obama will be the next president of the United States. I personally hoped Obama would win, even though I am politically neutral on many things. The votes are still coming in, but Obama has already pasted the 270 winning post.

America so needs a new direction after all the turmoil of the economic crisis and lets hope Obama makes it happen. After all a healthy America means an healthy world economy and we will all have more money in our pockets instead of so many of us worrying about our jobs or losing our life savings in the many failing banks around the world.

Netlog Social Network

Netlog which prior used to be called a little known social networking site called Facebox has decided to block my accounts since I tried to use the platform to make friends in my area. I do feel Netlog are discriminating against those with an alternative prospective in life. I find it funny that up to the point I left the account open doing nothing its been fine, but as soon as I try to use the social network for purely vanilla purposes they close my account. Absolutely madness.

I’m just watching the news as it happens about the problems of free speech in China and people with different ideas to the state (though not endangering the state) having the freedom to exist. Netlog shares many of the policies of a communist country. About the only thing you can do legally is to create an account and then log out. Using it in any normal way like a human being then its highly likely you will be in violation of its many terms and conditions. If you looking for a social networking platform to do any social networking on, then don’t waste your time with NetLog. There are many very good platforms out there that have greater freedom. There’s 2 in China that have more flexible policies that Netlog has. What a disappointing waste of time Netlog really is.

Another thing to consider is that Netlog has such strict rules for its users and yet it advertisers one of the biggest legal mass mailer there is. For the complete story on this, please refer http://www.webrands.co.uk/