My View and the Belfast Public Sector Strike Rally.

This post is just my own opinion, the people featured in my photos in this post may not share that opinion but are included to try and illustrate the public sector strike rally and the feeling on the street that day.

So here goes: If we ever want a fair society that is worthy of our species' potential, then it's about time that our so called 'democracy' started listening to those trying to keep it functioning at its fundamental level. For far too long there seems to have been a disconnect between many of those with the biggest decision making powers (politically and financially) and anyone who isn't profiting from playing the system (the regular honest citizen left to pick up the pieces).

I can't be 100% sure but I'd say this guy might agree a little. Let's face it, his sign has a profound point to make, for really, in how we all got here, I don't understand how anyone (who didn't get into debt, worked hard and is now getting a slap in the face) couldn't be outraged. So many people really do turn a blind eye to the bigger picture let alone on a smaller scale and for a democracy to work well, I can't imagine that being a good thing.

So anyway, as I work in the private sector, I was at work on the 30th November 2011 - the day of the public sector strikes - but I can happily say that didn't stop me attending the public sector trade union strike rally outside Belfast City Hall during my lunch break. The main issue on the day - the issue that forced the strike in the first place (besides the government not willing to negotiate properly with union leaders which didn't help) - was public sector pension cuts. However, in the big picture, the overwhelming problem, at least seen through my eyes, is that the placement of the Con-Lib cuts have totally missed the root cause of the financial mess we've been led into. The cause of financial mismanagement, speculation and outright gambling was not entirely just down to the Tory's blinkered stance over the years, Labour were just as bad in this regard - the problem is systemic. What is unforgivable (now that we know) right now is the seemingly opportunistic methodology in addressing the debts currently being played out by this Conservative led coalition... methodology that smells of the very same conservative ideology that landed us all in this mess in the first place.

I mean just look at what we've had in the last month or so?

- Winding up the Trade Unions to provoke a reaction in order to try and make up reasons to legally curb their influence in the future.
- More plans to just cut, rather than 'reform' (a term used very loosely in this government), the public sector.
- Even further passing of the buck (aka debt) from private to public hands. For instance: Instead of chasing the tax evaders, plans are to cut 12,000 HM Revenues and Customs staff (how stupid is that?). It's now also expected that there will be 500,000 public sector cuts over the course of the next 5 years, up 100,000 from the last guestimate. That is half a million jobs yet we've an ever rising population to provide services to. Yet, the staff still working will have their benefits and incentives cut too. I'd love them to ask CEOs the following question: "if the public sector was a private company, what would you expect such changes to do to morale, motivation and productivity?". It doesn't take a genius to work out what the answer would be. That would be bad even if the public sectors' main role was providing luxuries - maybe making toys or selling coffee for example - but unfortunately, the service involved here is the smooth functioning of the country and the well being of it's people. But who needs that? Oh wait.

If the idea is to privatise as much as possible and divert the responsibility of necessary services (that no profit driven company would touch with a barge pole) to the voluntary sector under the political umbrella branding of 'The Big Society', then I worry what the UK will grow to represent and what unspoken divides will grow from the resulting widening of financial inequality such changes would leave in it's wake.

Thankfully, not everyone is willing to let the buck be passed so easily. Here are some of the scenes from the rally last week:

This is actually how the day began for me; with a dawn walk into town to head to work.

After an early start to work up the extra to take a long lunch, I made use of it and headed out into town to join Norngirl at the rally and the crowds began to gather.

Union members from trade unions such as NIPSA, were out in force.

But like myself, it wasn't just members of the unions that were attending the rally. So were friends, families and anyone with common sense and the flexibility to do so. I think this child's sign sums up the whole point of the rally and quite succinctly encompasses the bigger issues at play. His sign reading 'STOP STEALING OUR FUTURE'.

The crowds made their way to gather outside Belfast City Hall where the rally took place and some speeches were given.

And more common sense was sung in a few lines by Tommy Sands compared to the press releases of the current con-lib coalition so far, when he sang the line “There's a way, there's a better way — tax a billionaire”.

May 5th Elections and Yes to AV

'New Road Layout Ahead' gets my 1st preference!

It's that time again - time to head to the local polling station and cast not one, not two but three votes. The first two ballot papers will be the Local Council election and the National Assembly election and the third for a referendum on the AV voting system.

Voting in North Belfast I already know that I might as well not bother in the first two given there are already candidates almost certain to be elected on the back of their tribal branding.

It's like the democratic version of going to the supermarket and asking for a bottle of water but knowing you're going to end up being given a bottle of engine oil and a bottle of bleach - not exactly what is needed when you're thirsty as both will be hard to swallow and damaging in both the short and long term, but never the less it's what we're given by 'popular' demand.

I will be voting though. No point giving up as it's good to try and dilute things a bit. Sadly, the Greens haven't even been bothered to run a candidate in my area this time (for either vote, to be honest I don't blame them) so the lack of choice is truly underwhelming. I'm quite tempted to make an origami penguin out of my ballot papers just to give someone a smile but in reality, after doing my research again, it'll likely be a 1st preference vote for the Alliance candidate in each but after that I'm drawing a bit of a blank for 2nd preference let alone a 3rd or any other.

There is a silver lining somewhere in these elections though and that is the referendum. Sure, given a choice I wouldn't have AV or First Past the Post... so it is a bit of a bleach and engine oil choice again however at least there is a referendum.

In a twist of fate, the Assembly election will already be using what I would consider a better voting system - that of the Single Transferable Vote (a type of proportional representation). So this referendum for the General Election voting system isn't exactly the most amazing referendum there could ever be but it's a rare occasion anything is put to a referendum so probably good to make the most of it.

I'll be voting Yes to AV. Sure it's not perfect and it's not even as fair as some forms of proportional representation but it is at least a change towards that distant daydream of a majority view of the populous being represented in parliament (even if like in Northern Ireland I might personally disagree with that majority view).

The current first past the post method means that if there are many candidates in a vote, a candidate can be elected just by having the largest minority and a majority view being disregarded and worse than that in my eyes, FPTP is great for the more right wing 'traditional' parties - after all, there is a reason our out of touch Prime Minister and the BNP are campaigning for a No to AV vote. As stupid as they might look, they do have advisor's and they know a fairer representation will eat into their meal ticket.

As I don't really want either voting system but a third choice that we aren't being offered. The overriding thing (other than the reasoning above) for me voting Yes is the No campaign itself.

The No campaign's main reasoning is: "Our current tried and tested voting system gives everyone one vote and delivers clear outcomes. The Alternative Vote is a complicated, expensive and unfair"

Sure, FPTP gives everyone one vote... but then this current voting system means it is very likely that the majority of people's votes are not going to count for anything - your fate is in the hands of a few swing voters in a few locations in England - great if you live there but what about the rest of us whose choices are just swept under the carpet?

As for the criticism of AV as being complicated - The system we have for the Assembly elections here in N.I is already more complicated to understand at a mathematical level - at least with the vote counting - but yet amazingly, thinking of who you want to vote for and putting them in number order has turned out to be scarily simple. Sure, if you want a 2nd preference then it's not as easy as counting to 1 but somehow I think we'll all manage if we've managed to make it to the polling booth- obviously the No Campaigners missed that episode of Sesame Street with the count.

"Expensive"... only if you believe that a new state of the art system of voting machines will be rolled out - and given the fact STV requires more math and we still have hand counting, it seems a little presumptuous they would be needed... again with the whole No Campaigners missing too many Sesame Streets - I'll try to help... One vote... ah ah ah... twooo votes ah ah ah...

"Unfair"... but still fairer than FPTP!

Anyways, that's just my 2 cents on it all.

Happy Voting :)

Religion a leading question - Census 2011

The 2011 Census. A document that was sent to every household in the country - a survey aimed at giving a snapshot of the people who live on these shores at a specific point in time and a handy tool to see the make up of what is an amazingly diverse amalgamation of human beings scattered around the UK. But what about the question of Religion?

Sadly for Northern Ireland, one statistic from the census that is keenly awaited by many is the response to the question that deals with religion affiliation. Groups with vested interests both faith based and political will be swooning over the results to see if they can claim a popularity victory and with it the political and financial sway it provides. Due to the question and answers put to the public by this census, I honestly doubt they'll be disappointed with the affirmation I expect them to receive. For all intense and purpose, through my eyes, the people who wrote the census might as well have written "What is your religion? Catholic or Protestant."

You might think I'm exaggerating, so lets take a look at this question and the answers from the 2011 census on Sunday...

OK, so first of all (in my opinion anyway) this is a leading question aiming towards having someone answer positively and I'm not alone... the British Humanist Association also agrees and here's why; the question assumes a positive response - even with a negative response as an answer - this encourages the respondent to relate to a choice provided. For instance people are more likely to answer to any loose connection they have when asked "What cultural background do you belong to?" (combined with some listed) compared to "Do you have strong cultural background? If yes, please state." (with no multiple choice).

To compound the problem the question comes with both multiple choice and space for an open answer. On this occasion; four denominations of Christianity, a write in box for 'Other' followed by 'None'.

This limited degree of options though seems somewhat unique to Northern Ireland. I'm sure those who designed it would say it just reflects the main denominations and communities in an area but it all has an impact on the responses they will receive. So lets take a look at the same 2011 Census question in Scotland where we see a much longer list and these faiths are practised in N.I too:

It seems odd that he rest of the UK followed a similar route in this question and N.I had to be special, in the same way job application forms want to know which 'side of the community' you grew up in.

The option of 'None' for instance has to be there to make it not stupid too, but in the Northern Irish census this appears even below the write in option. Odd really that the same question should have too very different layouts of answers. I also do wonder why in NI we didn't get a small reminder within the question that these questions were voluntary? Seems an odd omission to make. My biggest annoyance with the Census and this question was universal across the board and that was the 'Other, please state' option. It turns out there are 393 recommended abbreviations provided in the help section of the Census website; from the mainstream denominations of the largest institutions and belief systems all the way through to the satirical such as Church of the Pink Unicorn - not to mention the odd cult along the way.

Of all the abbreviations though, this one took my interest the most:

"OWN PERSONAL BELIEFS"

Yep, only as important to the census creators as Pink Unicorns if the choice of answers they listed in the multiple choice were down to expected popularity.

Yet surely common sense would have 'own personal beliefs' along side any organised religion or lack of belief  at all? Given this option, how many people would tick it rather than stating a denomination of Christianity? Without this answer it seems we've found that establishing an overview belief isn't the main purpose for the inclusion of the question, it's to put people in boxes so politicians can make excuses with 'facts'. I mean does having a bible in the home really mean you have to divide yourself into one of four or more denominations of Christianity, given the question asked, I reckon people will have done, even if they haven't been to church since they were children. That's neither right or wrong, but if these stats are to be used for more than just curiosity, someone really needs to start rewording that question.

As the BHA found; "by assuming that all participants held a religious belief, the question captured some kind of loose cultural affiliation", asking such a leading question is going to give unrealistic results - at least in relation to the interpretation that the stats will be used for. Translate this into the Northern Irish religious and political scene and given the way the question was asked, laid out and with the multiple choice answers selected - if loose cultural affiliations are being responded to, then the religious and in turn, political landscape that is being reflected by the question, will surely just feed back the same old answer.

But you know what, the same old answer is probably the answer some authorities led by community leaders with their heads in tribal politics and religious institutions wanted to hear.

The Big Society: Will All End Whelk?

Another cleaner fish who also enjoyed it's job of eating parasites off the backs of big fish came to the forefront of fishy pollocktics. This fish was more sympathetic to the small fish and at was elected at the next vote. Sadly though, the damage was already done by the Prime Fish who fully supported the big fish and the sharks, that fish who had pushed the branding of 'The Big Society'.

The reefs structure was irreversibly changed; the fish-public sector couldn't afford to buy back what it needed to work properly and struggled to keep the reef in one piece, the big fish continued to grow bigger and criticise the pro-public-sector fish in the hopes they could get their influence back and squeeze as much out of the small fish as they could. Corporation taxes went up but then big fishy business just left the reef, the government of the reef couldn't get the reef out of the social and economic mess left behind. The smallest fish still tried their best to have the best life they could but by now (for small fish) this particular reef was one of the worst reefs in the ocean to exist. The big fish society pre-branding still existed but social-capital was now weaker than ever and no good intentions from a Prime Fish sympathetic to the small fish could twist this around.

The future became bleak for the reef in general but the big fish turned a blind eye, the society of the reef was splintered but the big fish could always leave to another reef if things spilt over into their gated communities or it became unprofitable. In comparison, the small fish could not leave, they were stuck between a dying reef and dying on the reef. The Big Fish Society was indeed a Big-Fish Society but not the Big Society that the key Prime Fish of this story had portrayed to provide. The Big Fish Society was just superfishal.

There were of course booms and bust, but in the boom times the small fish only saw a little of the benefit of their hard work, during the bust times, as much of the burden as possible was unloaded their way. Life went on, but the reef never lived up to the potential it once had; it's potential to create a happy and healthy big society had passed. Instead of a happy and prosperous reef of the even bigger ocean community, it became known as just another unhappy mess of a reef whose leaders only seemed interested in growing their economy. It's environment and ecosystem soon succumbed.

But this is a fishy-tale, and stories can have happy endings outside the realms of reasonable possibility - after all, we are in a fishy world of fantasea.

Thankfully there was another reef. One far away from this reef at the other side of the sea.
There, they had a big society too but it was implemented by a cleaner fish who had much sympathy with the small fish. Though the fish on that reef were not as big, they didn't need to be, their sandbanks were less effected (even during the sandbank crisis) because they used fishy-sense and didn't cripple their social-capital many Prime Fishes ago. Their small industrial and resource providing reef towns had not been decimated decades before, the hard working fishes jobs had been slowly phased out and replaced by other forms of fishployment in a way that didn't decimate their local economies. They didn't cut public spending, they kept hold of many of the utilities that the reef depended on. A wise move for when global ocean energy prices went up the reefs fish-public sector found itself with a huge surplus to reinvest into it's society through research and development. This reef was leading the way in scientific discovery and had even harnessed the power of plankton in a way that didn't harm the oceans.

This far away reef had also invested a pot of money to encourage social enterprise many decades before, however rather than fish-public services being replaced, they were protected, it was the private sector whose enterprise's became social and the small fish knowing that the profit after reef tax from their goods and services was largely being reinvested back into their local area quickly took a liking to them. The social enterprises in the private market soon made a big impact and everyone felt valued. With less vulnerable smaller fish and more stability on the reef, all fish felt happier and small fish felt happy and had a real fair chance to become a big fish. Crime reduced as less fish had to turn to it to get by and more could be invested in reef defence and improving other reefs in need. The reefs economy was localised but competitive with the safety of a healthy public sector to help anyone who might fall off the reef and to provide key services.
This reef had free education to the highest levels. It's occupants had plenty of spare time to volunteer as their lives were easier for all. With more people free to be creative culture flourished and the reef grew.

The big fish didn't get so big but they had a reef and communities they could be proud of and a healthy and sustainable place for their spawn to grow up in.

Thankfully for the reef in trouble from the earlier part of the story, all the small fish from that reef who had good intentions were invited to come to the far away reef.

The old reef's economy collapsed as the only thing supporting the big fish and Sharks was taken away from their control. It was only a matter of time before the sandbanks collapsed again anyway so the small fish did not feel guilty leaving.

Back on the other reef, many of the big fish who didn't jump reef became small fish and realised what they had done, they were left to a decimated reef and were prey to the sharks they had encouraged and pampered.

The fish in the new reef didn't all live happily ever, even fiction has its limits, but they did live out their lives to the best of their ability and it did feel like they were truly a part of a big society. In time future generations learnt from the mistakes and positives of the past and evolved and adapted, eventually venturing out of the seas to other universes in time and space defying machines.

Fish with good hearts lived happily ever after.

The End.

Meanwhile... in a human dominated universe nearby... David Cameron had some choices to make... his Big Society guru Lord Wei led the BBC to describe the Big Society as:

A "coral reef" and we are the fishes.

Oh Carp. We're cooked.

[ Part 1 - A Fishy Tale ]

[ Part 2 - A Load of Carp ]

The Big Society – A Load of Carp.

The Big Society was a fishy government stance where professional and essential reef maintenance/services (which at the time were paid for by reef tax) were hoped to be largely taken off the fins of the fish-public sector to save costs and to allow the private fish sector to profit. Any voids in fish-public sector services would be filled by small shoals of local volunteer fish or private fishy businesses who were given more opportunities to make some more quick fishy money. This appeared on the outside like a good idea as it would save the indebted reef a lot of money. The trouble for the small fish was that the Prime Fish couldn't quite explain how The Big Society would work or what his plans of implementation actually were. The fish who were already playing an active role in the Big Society of the reef (those who already had a fin on the current), had their own ideas, but couldn't quite put their fins on the detail because it turned out there wasn't much there.

In an attempt to help the Prime Fish, one of his fishy party described it as being like a "human country" where the people of "the local citizen groups extend, vivify & shape their landscape".

As the reef was already a 'Big Society' many wondered what difference it would make. Several prominent fish stood up and watered their voices to the masses to ask what difference it would make to those smaller fish who needed the services more than most. The Prime Fish said his plans would go so far as to help small fish to help themselves but it did seem an odd way to go about it. After all, besides saving the big fish more money how could this help? The branding and scheme went ahead anyway, the prime fish decreed it his passion.

No one seemed to really understand the scheme fully, but here is what we understood it to be halibut at that time:

First - the fish-public sector was cut back to save funds; volunteer fish, social enterprise and private sector fishy businesses were urged to fill the wide open waters left behind.

Second, 'The Big Fish Society' that already existed was branded and claimed for the Prime Fish's own pollocktical agenda so whatever good was to come out of it in the future can now be claimed for the governing fishy-party.

Thirdly, a chest of fishy money was made available to those groups of fish who thought they could do a job through volunteering or setting up the reef structures and facilities required to replace areas of the fish-public sector run reef that had been cut.

Finally, a general trend underpinning this particular reef was the tax concessions to private sector fishy-business, given undemocratically accountable fishy business and private individuals concessions to fill any gaps in the reef and exploit it as they wished as long as the prime fish agreed. For anything unprofitable, other private groups of fish were asked to step up to fill the gaps and keep the reef in one piece, obviously for less than it would have cost the fish-public sector.

Simply, the big solution was to tell all fish something that they already knew; that they could do things for themselves. The underlying methods to giving out such control though resulted in leaving the poorest small fish worse off but very much helping those fish who already had the means to help themselves exploit the reef more. It turned out that the only underlying plan was for the small fish of the reef to pay to privatise their reef for the big fish and as well as that they were being asked to do more in their limited spare time to make this unfair reefy system even more detrimentally unfair.

And so it turned out to be: those areas of the reef where nutrients and resources were already still flowing and where the fish were already biggest, were able to take control of their needs and improve things further. They didn't miss the reef maintenance, their small part of the big fish society stood stronger for it.

The small fish soon saw their hopes start to unravelled when the bigger fish who gained from the changes didn't have any obligations in their contracts to help the bigger encompassing society of the reef. As seems to be fish nature, when they didn't have to, they tended not to, after all, it wasn't their problem. Wasn't that what the Prime Fish's government and the fish-public sector was for. They believed the small fish should pay to improve their own standard of life like they had.

For the Prime Fish and the big fish, the reef was being run the most efficiently it could be to give the big fish the best life possible and reach their goals, they could swim the sea so much easier with lots of fishy money in far offshore banks, from reef to reef they swam, gathering all they could - to do what with, no small fish knew, all they did know is that it didn't help the rest of the reef or the worse off fish in what became 'The Big Fish Society'. As life was great for these growing populations of big fish, they praised the prime fish for such a clever plan.

At the edge of the reef, things didn't swim smoothly at all. In fairness to the Prime Fish he did get some small fish into work who had been taking advantage of the reef-system such as with benefits and the likes, but the ways in which the Prime Fish did this also put strain on the already vulnerable fish who truly did need the help and now were left high and dry.

In many highly populated parts of the reef, the poorest fish struggled and this smaller part of the big society, if anything, degraded into poverty: The small fish tried to help one another, they swam together in small groups trying to keep going, as they always did do before this prime fish had come to power.

Lots of the smaller fish also struggled to volunteer because they were not in a position to do so: Many left their school at the age of 16 weeks, went straight into a minimum wage job and began to work long and unsociable hours just to get by, stuck in their jobs. Unfortunately though, with less and less fish-public services available, their health started to suffer, their coral accommodation and living situations became more transient and stretched. Some older poor fish couldn't even afford to cool their water and fried in the summer. Parts of the reef became no-go areas where sharks would prey on the vulnerable and no chest of money from the prime fish was enough to convince enough of the bigger fish to help, there just wasn't any profit in it. The fish-public sector was just a shell of its former self. Those who could afford private care still used it's resources but paid as little reef-tax as they could afford to. To compound issues, pollution soared all over the reef and it was left to the dwindling fish-public sector to tidy up the mess.

There were just more fishes in need and fishy problems then fishes able to help.
Around that time it was also reported that many homeless Squid seeking a shelter were inking themselves all over the reef as the fish-public sector couldn't afford to fund public toilets and voluntary homeless shelters couldn't afford to keep up with growing demand.

Originally when the chest of money was offered, even those with the means to help, those who already did valuable charity work ended up struggling with the fall in resources caused when the fish-public sector was hit and their income sources diminished. Their work suffered. The money that was given out sometimes went to private groups who squanderer it on schemes that were destined to fail but with no fish-public monitoring or accountability, these schemes continued helping waste the little money available. There was just no alternative, accountability or anyone to tell them to stop.

Those who did do a great job were up against it. The cleaner fish in charge of things didn't mind, they were deluded in the belief that market forces work just the same with fishy-social-capital as they did with fishy-financial-capital. The life of a fish in these poorest areas became much worse than it had before. The small fish had very few ways to hold to account those running the required services and provisions and it soon became apparent the big fish society didn't include them. They were as good as tinned.

Some divisions at the poorest end of fish society took it upon themselves to segregate themselves from the bigger society to get by, this compounded problems and lines of divisions much worse than in times of the not so distant past appeared. Fish tensions continued to rise as blinkered educational teachings and social segregation led to further introversion , ignorance and distrust. Small fish everywhere nibbled at the very foundations of the reef in order to get by and stay safe.

The big fish in the nice parts of the reef were disgusted by the small fish and wasted no time in getting their skates on to hire security fish to protect those well kept parts of the reef. Fish society on the reef became more divided than ever before. The Big Society had splintered, the biggest divide was between the poor and the wealthy and it was the small fish who got poorer and the big fish grew richer - society at the bottom of the reef was rock bottom. In the Ocean financial league tables, the reef still came near the top for its size, it's private sector was booming but very little was seen by the majority of reef and the reef and it's society were crumbling due to the divisions.

The Prime Fish however was still sure he had done the right thing and told the masses of small fish that he had given them the opportunity to improve their own lives and society. They had failed him and their society. To the Prime Fish, it was indeed all the fault of the small fish that his plan didn't work in raising social-capital and that the reef was not the Big Society he had envisaged. When the fish-press were not focused on the Prime Fish though, he was proud at how his scheme had risen monetary-capital for his friends the big fish and the Sharks and in turn were pleased with him.

What troubled the Prime Fish most other than trying to fix the mess his reef, was that the opinion polls were showing that he was probably going to lose the next fishselection.

The Prime Fish couldn't work it out in time and although a valiant attempt to put more spin on the whirlpool fishselection campaign, the prime fish was voted out at that next fishselection, but only just; 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you' was the campaign message but it didn't help.

The outgoing prime fish then went on to work for one of the fishy-companies he had helped to grow wealthy and powerful during his time at the top of the reef. He retired to the nicest part of another reef holding the same delusion that he had done to best for all his fishy-kin from the reef and indeed the sea. Other reefs even paid him to come and speak in-front of their leaders as they wanted their reef to be climbing those financial league tables too.

...To be Continued.

[ Part 1 - A Fishy Tale ]

[ Part 3 - Will All End Whelk ]

The Big Society - A Fishy Tale

Hi I'm Simon, a life form living on a reef in the future of a parallel universe. I'm also the author of this fishy story about The Big Society.  Just between you and me, I'm in lots of fishy debt to the Sturgeon Loan Company and I'm very much priced out of even the cheapest and most densely packed coral home locations. As it turned out though, these are small fry problems compared to some fish, fish whose lives are about to be battered and this could turn out to be any Tom, Jack or Marlin. So for their hake, I thought I'd re-tell this cautionary story about a coral reef's Prime Fish.

Before I get into the depths of this story, first, let me set the scene: The setting in which our story begins is a big and populous reef, a small distance across the seabed from the reef where I currently reside. The big reef had been a home to fish for a long time since it first grew. Its fish over time were involved in many events of ocean history, and at the time where we begin our fishy tale, it is a well know reef with a lot of influence around the ocean. Generally there are many pleasant parts of the reef, nice and safe in the shallow waters of sea, tides aren't too strong and the flow of nutrients can easily be harnessed.

Sadly though, the reef has always had a more troubled side; since the early days when the fish population really increased, there have always been those edges of the reef, densely populated parts, where the most fish live, where poverty still lingers and crime is easy to find. Here, a gathering of small fish are led by bigger fishes who can use their time and effort to gain prestige and more fishy money, it's a fish eat fish world. As gloomy as that picture sounds, things aren't always that terrible on the edge, in fact many fish choose to live there for its mix of fish, culture and excitement, however, fish society is a little more tense on this part of the coral, especially amongst the smaller fish with less fishy money. It is a sad fact that some fishes on the reef are very vulnerable but in general the big fish society at this point held out a helping fin funded largely through reef tax and volunteer fish.

So with that in mind for a few moments before our fishy minds forget, let me begin...

One day the fishy reef had a problem. Some of the biggest fish around the oceans had allowed sandbanks to lend to sub-prime small fish in some of the biggest reefs, their greed and poor judgement had led to a lot of bad debt and in turn a distribution of fishy money that the big fish on other reefs didn't want to trouble themselves with, it just wasn't profitable, it was some other fish's problem. It left the governing fish of many reefs needing to take action or have their reefy economies collapse on the humpback of what  became known as the sandbank crisis.

The sandbanks couldn't be allowed to collapse. “They are too big to fail” the big fish of the reef had told their investors in the past, the big fish were clever. There comments were true but only true because without them, fish society would collapse, they had taken the trust of a reef and profited from it. The reefs around the world couldn't hold individual big fish to account, after all, they had been so helpful in lending to the reefs in the past and employed many fish too. So it was decided that the debt would be passed on to the fish-public, the every day Jack and Dori would take on the big fish debts because they couldn't disagree or say no, that would have involved too much churning up in the surf for a reef of this stature.

The outgoing Prime Fish of the day hadn't done anything to stem the Sandbanks Crisis. The motions which set this wave of destruction towards the reef spanned back to much earlier Prime Fish, it was just encouraged since then because life for a lot of fish on the reef had improved from it. You see, the reef is a democracy and this is a good thing but in this democracy not everything is conducted in a democratic manner. Although it may have seemed like the smaller fish supported what the bigger fish were doing, in reality the smaller fish had little choice. Only 3 Prime Fish from similar breeding grounds were available for selection. Small fish were not excluded from the process, but as we will find out, in this underwater world, only the fish with the means were able to do anything. Sure, even if a smaller fish could make it to a position of power, they'd be part of the reef system and unable to rearrange any meaningful without exposing the reef to the rest of the sea and be at its mercy. This was always going to happen since the first big fish set the reef on it's path to trouble.

Reef pollocktics became rather important at the time when the sandbanks were collapsing, it just so happened to be a time when the reef's population had to select a new Prime Fish.

As I mentioned, each leader of their fishy parties was a cleaner fish but there were some who cared for the bigger fish of the sea more than others and some who alleged to care for the smaller fish of the reef more than others. However, it always turned out that the cleaner fish liked to help the bigger fish than them, it was just their nature. Without the big fish and sharks who would fund the required bait for their fishselection campaigns? Indeed, it seems unlikely that some of the cleaner fish would be in a position to be fishselected without their bigger fish support.

In the fishselection that year, not one Prime Fish was picked, the fish of the reef could not choose a  ruling fish-party because not one had enough support from the small fish. Fish opinion was as split as the corpse of a clam. There were of course procedures in plaice for such a scenario and so the Royal Fish let two parties agree a compromise of a coalition government then gave their blessing on the small fishes behalf to the main cleaner fish of the new shoal. A blessing granted to them from Poseidon himself, the ocean god not all fish believed existed, never the less, a new prime fish had been hooked.

The Prime Fish leading this coalition shoal was to be a fish who didn't care much for the smaller fish compared to others. He didn't understand why so many small fish became problem fish, but then why would he, being a cleaner fish he was privileged from birth and have never lived amongst the most disadvantaged fish of the reef. The new Prime Fish was of course from the pollocktical party of fish who like helping the bigger fish stay healthy and aren't so concerned as other parties about looking out for the smaller fish even though they depend on them to maintain their lofty positions - and possessions - on the reef.

In the last fishselection it was largely the areas where reef life is already good that voted for this particular cleaner fish. The majority of the reefs population (the smaller fish who were earning the least fishy money in the most densely populated areas of the reef) either didn't vote in the fishselection or voted for a different party to that of our prime fish. Unfortunately the system was such that their votes didn't matter so much. The reef's fishselection process had led to so many disillusioned fish that they just didn't care any more, what did their vote really make any difference to? The reef was in a pickle that most knew it didn't want to be in but as they say underwater, “every air bubble has a silver lining”, in this case, at least the reef now had a Prime Fish to lead the way.

The biggest issue after the fishselection was still the sandbank problem. In order to resolve the immediate damage to the sandbanks, the prime fish shored up the sandbanks by redirecting the fish-public re-reefing funds. When the time came, the Prime Fish handed over a fortune to the big fish and Sharks of the sea as quickly as he could. This bail-out was done even against the advice of other cleaner fish but the Prime Fish was egged on by the big fish and Sharks waiting to take advantage and didn't disappoint them. Oddly enough, these were the same big fish and Sharks who very much helped in the collapse of the sandbanks in the first place - he told the smaller fish "My fins are tied".

This particular reef wasn't the only reef to experience this, there were many such reefs over the ocean. Some with more problems than others. The small fish were not happy, but they couldn't do anything about it. They could only sit back and see what little they had reduce whilst somehow the big fish (who still managed the Sandbanks that the small fish had been forced to help shore up) were still syphoning profits to the big fish. It was not fair, but life on the reef had never been fair. Why should the prime fish try to change this?

Never fear though, the prime fish (a former PR fish, brilliant in the art of convincing other big fish to swim his way) came up with the next stage of a plan, a plan that was said to be key to helping the reef to resolve both its financial and social issues. Initially it was a big surprise to the reef when the Prime Fish pushed his idea forward. In order to bring some re-reef to the fishy society, his plan was going to promote what he called 'The Big Society', an idea that would help the small fish help themselves - the small fish wondered if this was too good to be true or indeed if the catch was going to be in the detail.

...To Be Continued

 [ Part 2 -  A Load of Carp ]

 [ Part 3 - Will All End Whelk ]

10 O'Clock Live and a laugh of fresh air.

I've been meaning to type one of those posts about current events, world affairs and the ins and outs of all that is driving me nutty in the world. From the Con-Lib coalition helping to force us towards U.K. Corp (where we'll probably just have to be glad to have oxygen we don't have to pay for), to the stresses of the work and the madness of mankind. I know, old before my time, get a life, stop listening to Radio 4 at the age of 26, etc, etc, blah blah blah. The thing is, these things wriggle their way into my conscience each day and must rub my frontal lobe against my parietal lobe or something because it's an action that makes me want to facepalm, then get sorted on some plans to emigrate.

That dissipated a little last night however. After a trip to the Gym, dinner and a short marathon of Star Trek Enterprise, I happened to catch the second episode of Channel 4's new show 10 O'Clock Live. I had meant to sit down to watch the first one but never got chance and it turns out I've been missing out. It was just the shot of comedy on the right subject matter that I needed. As they rattled through their scripts it was great to know I'm obviously not the only one thinking how messed up the system is in this country and, well, the world. Although after watching, the system and 'democracy' in which we live still feels messed up, I don't feel so alone in holding the thoughts I was going to try and express. Thankfully my favourite comedian and his colleagues managed to say it in a better way than I could. Whoever writes it has my kudos flying their way.

Jimmy Carr, David Mitchell, Lauren Laverne and Charlie Brooker are four very smart and funny people who are also perfectly suited to indulge us in what I can only describe as The Daily Show meets a hybrid of Question Time and Mock the Week sprinkled with a hint of Spitting Image - the Spitting Image thing I think is just a feeling of the show, something in the realms of the similarity of the satire rather than the appearance of the hosts.

Unlike some reviews such as this one by Kevin O'Sullivan on the Daily Mirror website, where it was declared after the first show that, 'as of now, 10 O’Clock Live is dead in the water', I found the show oozes with great humour and intelligent chatter but best of all it doesn't hold back in asking the questions you don't seem to get on other shows, though it does poke fun at the tabloids somewhat. Having now seen the same show he reviewed, I think all I've taken from Kevin's review is that he may be missing two cents of humour short of a dollar of understanding. Maybe he'll change his mind when it becomes the must-view show that I'd say it is, going by what I've seen so far.

If you share my little worries, fancy a bit of comedic release and haven't given it a watch yet, I'd highly recommend taking a look over on the Channel 4 On Demand Website for the 10 O'Clock Live show where if you're in the UK you can catch up with the series so far and choose for yourselves. Other than that, it's on Thursdays at 10pm and then repeated on a Friday at 11.20pm. Episodes are around 45 minutes long. Happy laughing :)

Belfast Trade Union Rally against public service cuts

On Saturday Norngirl and I gathered in the crowd before a mobile stage set up in front of Belfast City Hall. The rain was pouring down soaking anyone without an umbrella but with a firm statement to make, thousands had turned out to tell our Finance Minister and the current coalition government exactly what the trade unions and like minded people think of their solution to the country's financial problems. Flags, banners, music and speeches were seen in front of a wet but determined crowd.

I'd never been to a trade union rally before - mainly due to the fact I'm not a member of a trade union or even work in a trade that has a trade union but in this day and age a bit of solidarity is much needed. Norngirl is a member of a union but I think we would have gone along anyway. We wanted to show our support in opposing the austerity measures in public spending to be inflicted on this part of the world and also to try and get some of the politicians in Northern Ireland (the ones who think they are above being held accountable for their actions just because there are hard choices to be made) to think twice... like Finance Minister Sammy Wilson who decided to tell everyone before hand that the protest was "a waste of time".

As reported by the BBC and was said quite eloquently at the rally by ICTU Assistant General Secretary Peter Bunting:

"What annoys Sammy Wilson most is you being here today. [...] Sammy wants us to sit down, shut up and take our medicine - like good patients for his prescription of austerity and privatisation."

Thankfully not all of his colleagues agreed and the social Development Minister and Education Minister attended the event. Maybe he should listen to people first and then make his mind up rather than make his mind up and complain about people's criticism? You would think he would have learnt from his highly controversial spell as Environment minister and look how that turned out for him. To be hoped he's better with maths than science but anyway, back on topic.

For me, the saddest thing is when the government's only plan is to ask the every day hard working person to pay more than their fair share to fix a problem most helped prevent rather than cause. A plan that was dreamt up by the same political party who encouraged the philosophy and ethos which resulted in the need to bail the banks out in the first place. Yet the way the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition have chosen to proceed just places even more trust and control to the very same organisations that have been shown by their failings to be inept, greedy and untrustworthy. So politically the cuts are Conservative in nature - using the opportunity to pass more control of government to business, to pass even more of what I would see as the government's responsibility on to big business in the hope they will be able to do a better job.

I mean why should our government worry about looking after the basic needs of society and its future health and mobility?

David Cameron wants us to look after that aspect of society for free as a part of his 'Big Society', and whilst we'll all be happily doing our bit (twice over) to get the country out of a mess, is he going to put pressure on private businesses to give people more money or time off to help us achieve his public aim? I doubt it very much. I rather predict that if our government didn't bend over to their friends in big business, their friends wouldn't be so friendly and would take their bat and balls away to play with another country and leave us even worse off. Some would say that's 'market forces' other might find blackmail more appropriate.

So the plan is to let big business have more control so they'll stay and even more will want a slice and of course they will. They're operating to make a profit, and so they should if that is what the business is set up to do, but how many investors will hang around when the going gets tough since many are even finding ways around paying tax when the going is good? Unlike our Finance Minister's attitude to those trying to make their voice heard, maybe he, along with MPs on a national scale (especially those who have the final say in Westminster), should be putting up a little bit more of a fight. Maybe standing up for those who elected them when it comes to clawing back the bailout deficit? Is it unreasonable to expect government to first demand a proportionate amount from those who gambled and lost causing the problem? Especially from the likes of the financial sector, an industry where the highest level of incompetence is rewarded by pay-offs. Payouts only outshone by the extremely disproportionate bonuses awarded for even the smallest success.

Yet instead what do we have coming? Well Corporation tax with this government is expected to be dropped to 24p per £1 of profit for large businesses. To put that in perspective it will be the lowest corporation tax of all the G20 countries and the lowest of any large western economy including the USA!

It is also the lowest rate this country will have ever had and a reduction of a huge 9% from 1997. In that time we have gone from boom to bust and instead of asking the businesses who have profited in this time from operating in this country to help bring back their own good times the majority of that bad debt is passed onto the lowest denominator... the individual who isn't positioned to argue back.

I honestly do realise that commerce, trade, the financial markets and interactions between government, the public taxpayer, other stakeholders and the business world are a little more complicated than the simplistic views I'm waffling on about here and there are safeguards (at some levels) in place, but sometimes the set up just becomes a huge joke which might be legal but it isn't right and it winds me up.

I'm sure I'm not alone in being very worried about the attitude of putting even more faith in non-democratically elected hands in regards to the welfare of the state. The current record of private enterprise holding back from making poor choices for short term gain is not good. Things might get better but then, if and when it all goes wrong again, where do we end up? After a few such cycles and a few currency wars, when do we either declare the country bankrupt or have the package we call the UK bought out like a football club with the cost of the debt of buying us secured against the country and further strip the country of its assets?

Inept government choices and greed of the financial world apart, when are the chummy pals in higher government in the UK going to earn their keep? Even our First Minister and Deputy First Minister are trying to get the government to see some sense in relation to Northern Ireland's funding.

It is understandable that people stand up for their livelihoods and that today means saying "no" to non-democratically elected individuals and organisations getting away with not paying their fair share. To call for a change in philosophy when it comes to finding a better way rather than taking the easiest way out of the situation and to call for better governance of what we do have.

What sort of life are we setting up for those future generations who aren't born into a privileged background? If we only have a puppet government which is only there to facilitate economic forces, at what point does the power of democracy shrink to the point where we're not working to live, we're living to work, or have I just got the wrong end of the stick when it comes to the average citizens role in life? I thought freedom was somewhere in that list of human rights.

The job losses in Northern Ireland have been generally reported in the local press at a figure of around 30,000 in the public sector. That doesn't include the knock on effect this will have on the private sector. Unions such as UNISON and NIPSA are trying to protect the public sector. That is, trying to protect jobs and prevent the government detrimentally affecting the most vulnerable in society. They will undoubtedly oppose cuts which impact worst on front-line services in anyway possible. In the likes of myself there is support from those working outside the public sector even if we can't actually do anything but add volume to their voice. I may not agree with every last point I heard at the rally but compared to what I hear from Westminster and from our own Finance Minister here in Northern Ireland, it's a point of view with reason and with people rather than profit at heart. That is admirable in my book and it was well worth getting a soaking for.

The Tropical Ravine and revisiting the Ulster Museum.

On Saturday we had a free afternoon so we made the most of it and headed on down to the Tropical Ravine in Belfast's Botanic Gardens and paid another visit to the Ulster Museum now that Sean Scully's 'art' has been removed from the walls after our previous visit to the Ulster Museum and criticism of Scully's work. We were not the only ones taking in the Museum: Nelson McCausland, the Northern Irish Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure was also viewing the works on show.

We began singing our way out of our rented house with a rendition of Spandau Ballet's “True” (best not to ask) and made our way to the bus stop, a bus wasn't far off and once in town we walked from the City Hall up past Queens University to Botanic Gardens.

It was around 2.30 so we quickly got a bite to eat in the Ulster Museum café. If anything the prices have gone up - a solid meal from the café menu today will now set you back £7.50 (approx $12) but I went with the Mushroom Soup and bread at £3.50 ($5.60) which was nice but a little too salty for my taste. Can't complain too much though - entrance to the museum is free which has for almost the last decade been one of the best things about heading to the UK.

Once fed, we headed to the Tropical Ravine in the Botanic Gardens. I'd never been in it and was expecting something like the Roundhay Park's Tropical World in Leeds. It was a little like it though a lot smaller and only has Koy Carp and Plants. The plants as you'd expect from a Tropical Ravine are tropical species and although it's only a rectangular walk on a raised platform in the canopy of the plants, for free its well worth a quick walk around. Here are a couple of photos of the flora on show today:

From our tropical wander, we made our way into the Ulster Museum, gave a small donation then made the best decision we've ever made in a museum - we got the lift to the top and went somewhat backwards through the exhibits and galleries. This wasn't just a mad idea born on the spur of the moment, this was using gravity to our advantage and making looking around the trip that little more enjoyable as walking down 5 flights of exhibits is a lot less demanding than walking up 5 flights of exhibits.

So from the top down, we were this time starting off in the section of the museum which spoiled our last trip - the Art Galleries. This time however, several huge rooms of simplistic repetition had been replaced by several galleries of diverse artworks. A brilliant change of scene which provided not only painted art but also sculptured small objects to enjoy.

The art on display was an eclectic mix. The first thing we came across was a mix of glasswares and crockery. Some was a bit random but others like a fish-like vase of brown and blue were quite exquisite. Following this we created our own little art works in the kids Art Interactive Area where we created some thumb print creations. Mine was a woodlouse on its back. In the next rooms were framed pieces ranging from traditional oil paints of local scenes to pencil drawn portraits, from colourful fantasy art to framed photographs. This room led onto a room of fashion featuring dresses, shoes, bags and jewellery from some famous names.

The rest of the Art Gallery section was populated with traditional art works largely from the 18th and 19th century. This part of the gallery was where we happened to come across Nelson McCausland and I presume his wife. For those who don't know who Nelson McCausland is, he is a DUP politician who is a Minister in the Northern Irish Assembly. Since we were at the recording of a BBC TV debate last year where I described he and his fellow politicians' performances as only going so far as to “re-enforce my doubt in the usefulness of a political system dominated by polarised viewpoints”, since then he has become famous for his request for this very same Museum to display creationist and anti-evolutionary material. On that subject I have to say I pretty much agree with the article by Malachi O'Doherty on the Belfast telegraph website basically saying, in other words, that if he wants to be the fundamentalist who put unsubstantiated fairy tales into our national museum, let him. Putting his unsubstantiated views under scrutiny will only reinforce the fact that those ideas are only one of an infinite number of science fiction ideas, a genre he should maybe read more of? He is also well known for his controversial views on seemingly pretty much anything beginning with GA... such as Gays and GAA. You may be able to tell, I'm not a fan of Mr McCausland.

Back in the room and there he was, spending a little time at the paintings in the largest gallery, looking at the fine art from scenes of religious iconography to a female nude, yes a female nude, not a male nude. There was a male nude in the previous gallery but we don't know if he took time to appreciated that work of art or not. I just want to make sure I don't give the impression he may have admired the male form at any point because obviously I wouldn't want to infringe on his point of view.

Thankfully for us, we only had to share the room for a few minutes with the Minister who wants the museum to “reflect the views of all the people in Northern Ireland”. Due to his comments I do wonder when the 'Jedward are God', 'an outline to the Jedi belief system' and 'Satan is the head of the Church' exhibitions are opening alongside the proposed creationism displays.

Oddly his presence wasn't infringing on our enjoyment of the art. Being in the same room as him instead added something. Pointing out the humour in the works to one another subtly with him in ear shot made it a fun challenge. We were the naughty school children at the back of the class.

Leaving the guy to his afternoon, we took in a slightly surreal media exhibit created by Turner Prize finalist Willie Doherty called Ghost Story. It featured a path, a few bushes, a motorway underpass, an eye and a guy who needs to either get over it or take some Prozac but at least it made more sense than the Sean Scully video that was shown in the room before.

The rest of the museum was pretty much identical to before and I once again enjoyed the geological section. This time I took a fancy to Azurite, blueness! There is a nice example in the dark area lit up and sparking in all its blue finery but there is also an Irish sample in one of the draws with the fossils and other geological period rocks and minerals. Do open those draws up if you get chance, they're internally lit but no one ever seems to touch them even though they are there to be looked at.

Though the museum was on its countdown to closing, we managed to quickly call into the History Interactive Area and pencil rubbed a tracing of our names in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs:

Simon in hieroglyphs

We made it out of the door before the doors shut and made our way home via crunching through some crisp Autumn leaves and sampling a Vanilla Rooibos.

The Ulster Museum is certainly a great place to visit and whilst there it's worth calling into the Tropical Ravine. As far as something free to do in Belfast goes you can't go too far wrong.

Northern Ireland's alternative general election summary.

Inspired by the funniest bit of media to grace the UK's May 6th, 2010 General Election, I thought I'd try to bring a bit of an alternative review of the political events we witnessed here in Northern Ireland over the last couple of days. So please join me for a few minutes and I'll try not to keep you hanging around as long as Fermanagh and South Tyrone.

If you haven't guessed already the bit of media I'm referring to was the immensely funny Channel 4's Alternative Election Night. A show that was hosted by David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker and Lauren Laverne and made me laugh all 4 of my cheeks off even more than Conservatives complaining on Radio5 today. It wasn't meant to be funny on the radio but I just couldn't keep a straight face. I mean callers were lifting their handsets to their heads to moan that their party has to actually come down off its high horse and 'talk' with other parties. Parties that after all make up the other 63.9% (with one constituency still to be decided) of voters who didn't vote for them... or as the case might be outside of England, the 80.5% of the electorate who voted against a Tory government - and that's a stat including the other comedy gold that was the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists New Force (though not the Fermanagh and South Tyrone unionist candidate who said he would take the Tory whip). How long will the quick attempt to buy a tribal vote just in case of a hung parliament continue is a intriguing question. Is the UUP likely to get Conservative HQ 'junk' status? Or is it just likely there is to be a bit of re-branding? Perhaps "UCU New Force can be felt by Jedi Cameron as strong - trust in the force, party" or "Ulster Conservatives and Unionists Revenge of the Sixth"?

And it wasn't just the Galactic Tory Empire that was having trouble with the Rebel Alliance here in Northern Ireland when it came down to tribal politics. Our fair and benevolent First Minister Peter Robinson found his hand being lightsabered by the positive force. Naomi Long led the Alliance to arguably one of the most significant victories of the election here and one that shows that even tribal leaders aren't above the democratic process. A positive campaign and admittedly although as I'd be biased since I voted Alliance in my constituency, a great step forward in Northern Irish politics. I'm almost tempted to move to East Belfast!

As it is, I'm not alone in the optimism that this might be a turning point in Northern Irish politics. Akin to taking down the shield generators on Endor, in time, maybe the Alliance and the Ewoks, ermm sorry, Green party and other moderate candidates may be able to normalise politics here, letting us finally vote on issues that effect us all as a single community. We can but keep the dream alive.

Why a single community? Well, other than what I said in this Nick Roll post, I hate to break it to everyone on planet Earth but we are all human and part of a global community - our species' future will depend on everyone pulling together at some point - even if it is just to co-ordinate getting away from each other and flying to separate planets like in Dr Who with Starship UK the other week! So even if the naughty boys and girls (who make friends by choosing to sit in separate groups and only agree to play with each other nicely when someone holds the chance of more toys their way) would like to make us all think otherwise, that isn't our future. At least not a pleasant future anyway. I think the Channel 4 Alternative Election Night got it spot on in bringing it all into perspective when they had the charismatic and worldly wise Dr Brian Cox giving the top 5 things we SHOULD be worried about. From Super Volcanoes to Supernovas, which would pretty much kill all of us, number one was mankind's own stupidity.

Which leads me nicely on to another MP elected - Sammy Wilson. His re-election by the votes of the happy go lucky residents of East Antrim may worry anyone interested in the growth of science, technology, niche green markets in renewable power and manufacturing throughout the UK - after all, his vote in Parliament is unlikely to be for green economic change - at least going by the environmental views he's held in the past - but wait! Maybe I'm not giving the credit to the DUP voters in East Antrim they deserve... after all, sending him to London to once again be 1 voice amongst 649 others (where we would hope some common sense on major issues might shine through anyway), we're also getting a free gift! I personally believe it to be one of the best results of the election - now he's re-elected, he's stepping down from his his ministerial position and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Good times!

In North Down we saw popular opinion shine through for Sylvia Hermon who left everyone in her dust and I thought she came across very well on TV. The interview made it seem like she might be in a game of Deal or no deal. If it came to it Banker Cameron or Banker Brown could be calling to test the waters but the good news is she sounded like she'd hold on for bigger money. Sure, if it was needed for any party to join some tangled coalition or informal support, maybe they'd all get to take turns at opening the boxes until it was their turn to play? I reckon we could hold out for £299 million if Plaid Cymru are holding out for £300 million. All we need to make this work is Noel Edmonds on board. Sadly it'll all probably collapse before going to air due to the banker getting a bit greedy selling all the audience seats to people who can't afford them. In the short term maybe getting all the Blues out of the way first is a good idea and we'll leave the Reds for later!

The most hotly contested seat of this general election in the whole of the UK though has to be Fermanagh and South Tyrone. It wasn't the eventual winner that made it exciting but the number of votes involved. In the end Michelle Gildernew took the seat by a margin of 4 votes, yep, wouldn't you be gutted if you were a Rodney Connor supporter and didn't bother to vote or missed the cut off time? Who knew there was actually a place where every extreme vote counted!? After being bored to sleep by the slow results trickling through at around 2.30am we missed this one being called live or the recounts with the final result being declared at 20300 to 20304 after the 3rd recount! Not only that but now it seems even this result is being disputed. Here is the full story of the Fermanagh and South Tyrone count on the BBC site. I feel sorry for anyone counting there, just imagine you've been up all night and get asked to do a 3rd count! All the while, probably being glared at by the two candidates/supporters from opposite sides of the 'traditional' divide. I suspect it would feel like making a funny sound by accident and then making it again to make it sound like you meant to make the sound and then realising they might not have heard the first time and thus have to do it again all the while wondering if they heard all 3 and think you need help.

The rest of the DUP, Sinn Fein and SDLP candidates who gained the public's vote seemed to be elected without much of a shock with no other seats changing hands and not too many delays. With counting happening overnight it also proved to the rest of the UK and Ireland that we've either found a new use for the night staff at a 24 hour Tesco, or, as is more likely, we have joined the rest of the world in planning accordingly for a special occasion. Get us and our in time election declarations, still a wee way to go before rivalling Sunderland.

And that was that for now. We could probably all end up doing it all again before too long depending how all the negotiations go. So next time I want to see TV executives asking the party leaders to compete in Krypton Factor as well as live debates. The good news is that no matter what, most of us who live from pay check to pay check are still likely to be worse off in the near future but luckily the financial system and billionaires will be very grateful. I'm rather dubious at the moment as to how things will pan out, I doubt it'll be as bad as the election scare tactics made out but you never know. Like the public in Greece found, you never know if we hear everything - like those big numbers that have gone walkies. I presume, like IKEA flat packs, where these days they usually give you one extra screw that you weren't expecting, I'm still waiting for one to show up both in the package here and over the water. I'm just hoping this half decent start to a hung parliament does end up providing some real and long lasting changes, both in a shift to normalised politics for Northern Ireland and general electoral reform in the whole of the UK. With nothing more to say on the subject for now I'll sign off today with a video recently posted by Stephen Fry. So just in case it goes mammaries up with electoral reform this time out, here is that light hearted yet serious video starring John Cleese on the subject of Proportional Representation and why we need it:

2010 Election: Capitalism, UK politics shadowing America and an idea.

Its less than a week now until the election and I'm depressing myself more and more investigating, researching and learning about the actual ins and outs of the financial world. For someone who thinks Capitalism has given too much freedom to large and multinational business which is just encouraging something of an Imperial dominion over the world, I find it hard to stomach listening to the ongoing debates which all seem to take for granted the long term and only seem to consider the short term.

This post is all just my view and maybe I'm being a little idealogical, but one thing that does seem to be emerging already is that the UK's Parliamentary elections are becoming more like the USA's presidential elections.

In my opinion the current situation is that the Labour Party is suffering from disenchantment since they've almost become a sub set of the conservative attitude, almost meeting them in the middle though still keeping a little more sense. The Lib Dems have taken great strides with the greater access to publicity, especially amongst the young who are starting to feel the inequality in the country for themselves as they enter further education and the work place. The Conservatives seem to have met labour in the middle from the other side of the fence and are saying whatever they think they have to to try and get elected.

It seems though, all three major parties have convinced a lot of people that the answer to the way out of economic problems caused by the financial world and wealthy people screwing us (by passing us on their debts instead of absorbing the shock themselves) is by giving the same people more freedom and opportunity for bigger profits... short term it is the only solution to prop up markets but surely aren't we setting the country up for a bigger fall? Where are the pledges to the long term overhaul to a fairer society? Where are the plans to limit the extraction of money or the slice of the pie able to be retained for those creating the value and therefore profitability of the country for us to be able to better our society and unlock potential in our children?

The lack of answers to those questions aside and this fall into a some bizarre US type blind faith that the leaders of major corporations will look after their workforce, the main reasons that I feel the UK's politics are becoming Americanised begin with the leaders of the key 3 parties in the UK taking part in live televised debates and how this is changing make-up of public opinion (should the press be trusted).

With the TV debates, a lot is down to the personalities, the two opinions that are gaining ground in the system here are starting slowly to align to the same political divisions in the US. The Lib Dems seem to be positioning to become the UK equivalent of the Democratic Party and the Conservatives matching up to that of the Republican. Labour seems to be being squeezed both ways with the class divisions in society more and more becoming income divisions due to the breakdown of the traditional British community led by Maggie Thatchers reign.

This is neither good or bad as times change so will the political landscape to meet new challenges. However the problem seems to be that the focus has well and truly started to ebb away from the local candidate (who could well be a moron or brilliant) and is probably going to be much more influenced by the personality of the leader. To me this is bad news. What I would consider the downside to politics in the US, that of celebrity culture and hype, is playing an ever increasing role compared to more in depth debate on issues and policies at a local level about what may be best for the long term prosperity of the individual, the locality, the nation and the world. The culture seems to be led by media profiteering and politics is becoming more and more a product with parties/candidates becoming brands, with TV debates selling tag lines and sound bytes, with tabloid newspapers alligning with a candidate and selling a bias view of all events to people who need education to help choose wisely not spin from someone hoping to make money from them.

With the corporate world pretty much leading society where it wants and unelected people largely focused on self gain having such a sway in the eventual laws we are governed by and public spending,  it is slightly worrying. However to be fair, since the same 'independent' advisor's, religious leaders and commercial groups with vested interests have always had a large influence over what actually happens when the country is governed its not like much is changing, only a different face to an old problem.

Being slightly cynical; at least the - 'its who you know not what you know' system will be equalled by something equally as silly. Making a mess of a debate on TV or saying something on a microphone will be blown out of all proportion ahead of policies and could end your brands chances. Combine that with the spin that tabloid newspapers spew out and even with these aspects alone it all becomes quite a farce. A farce of trying to convince a mass of people who probably don't really have a great picture in their minds of the national situation let alone the international scene that policies you have will benefit them even if it screws someone else over. On the plus side its at least making politics a more entertaining spectator sport even if our lives get turned upside down and we're paying more for less to help someone else keep huge figures in their bank statements and investment portfolios.

What an odd political time we live in. The local issues in Northern Ireland are even more perplexing and disheartening due to the further divisions and tribal politics overriding any other issue.

As for me, I've been trying to think of a way I can get along in this society in the long wait for caps on wealth that whilst not adhering to the whims of the rich or reinforcing the injustice faced by the poor. A way to help society with retaining the benefit from its own hard work and not just benefit the greedy and ruthless, the already privileged or lucky. A way that might  empower every individual to unlock their potential within the system that has evolved to how it is today.

Short of the government doing much about it - which in Northern Ireland is like hoping for a piece of an asteroid to deflect the ball into the net at a football game - and in Great Britian with the Lib Dems or Greens unlikely to get into power other than as part of a co-collision government in a hung parliament (those being the parties who I believe have the policies that would at least start a bit of positive change - so come on a score draw on the 6th May and a hung parliament!) things aren't likely going to be much different tomorrow than they were today.

I'm starting to seriously consider doing something I've long thought about as a way to personally go about it... starting a Social Enterprise. If I think of a good idea, and manage to afford some time and money besides trying to eventually find an over priced run down shell of a house to call a family home and to pay the bills and for the odd luxury to keep us sane, then I'm going to be right on it :)

Any ideas?