To:

Zcom_simple
Home » Z Blogs » John Andrews's Blog » Tales from the UK 'Madhouse'

Hello,

Blogs are a familiar feature on the internet - where users post content in an accumulating manner, with comments, and search options, etc. They facilitate expression and exploration, and via attached comments, also debate and synthesis.


Reading and
Navigating Blogs

Our blogs are quite powerful. Each writer can post, as is typically the case. Sustainers who have the option can also post, however. All Blogs appear in the blog system, and sometimes also in content boxes the top page of ZNet - and always via the left menu of the top page - and can be found via searches, etc.

Commenting on blogs follows the blogs, attached at the bottom, and blog comments, like all others, are also visible in many places that show comments including in the forum system. In addition, the entire blog system gathers content for everyone - but one can look at the accumulating content in many ways.

  • For example one can look at one writer's efforts - so one is seeing what is effectively a blog system for that one writer, or Sustainer.
  • One can also look at the content by topic, seeing blogs that are tagged as being about a certain topic - or place, as well. Thus, when doing that, it is a blog system about a topic, or a place, with many contributors.
  • One can look at only writer blogs, or only sustainer blogs, as well.
  • One can look at blogs for particular Groups, too.

All this is easily done using the left menu. Searches allow even more variables and refinements.


Creating Blog Posts

If you are a Sustainer with permission, and are logged in, you will see a link in the left menu for you to post a blog - and you can use that to post one, and then tag it various ways (such as with a topic or place, or a group tag), and once you do, it is in the system with you as the author.

You can also use the console button to the left to post a blog - anytime and from anywhere in the site, as long as you are logged in.

Meanwhile, enjoy the blogs - and, by the way, if you are a Free Member or a Sustainer with a ZSpace page, of course you can put one or more content boxes on it, pulling blog links of any sort you may want to filter for, for example, by you or by your friends or by others - and by topic, about places, for groups, etc.

Blogs

Img_9835

John Andrews's Blog

Web Address: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/johnandrews
Bio: Born 1962 Living in NW London Love reading Z-Net, Noam Chomsky; John Pilger; Arundhati Roy; Paul Street; Tariq Ali; Edward Herman; William Blum, Naomi Klein and Howard Zinn. Particular interests... (More)

All Andrews Blogs

Recent Andrews Content

Zblogpost_icon Blog Posts

Tales from the UK 'Madhouse'

By John Andrews at Feb 26, 2009

PDF Version

Printer Friendly Version
Change Text Size a- | A+

Tales from the UK ‘Madhouse'

 

  1. A few years ago I was working on a construction site in NW London. The job was virtually on-stop as we were awaiting the arrival of a specialist piece of cable jointing equipment. The package had been despatched from Germany and was being couriered to site by TNT. After a week of waiting and daily chasing, a postcard arrived on site from TNT. It stated that they could not find our site so they had taken our package to their nearest depot. They had sent the postcard by the national postal service, the Royal Mail. Funny enough, Royal Mail had been able to find our site (approximately 5000m2 in area) even though TNT had failed. 

    Our wretched government has now decided to partially privatise our great postal service. The two and half main political parties in this country agree what a jolly good idea this partial privatisation will be; even though every privatisation carried out over the last twenty five years has been an unmitigated disaster. There are approximately 130No Labour MPs who oppose the privatisation and a few MPs from the Conservative and Liberal Parties. This is about the same number who opposed the Iraq war so I suppose the good news is that there are approximately 150No MPs of principle and sound intelligence in this country. The bad news is that there are about 600No seats in Parliament so there are over 450No MPs with no principles and questionable intelligence.

    2.  

Oh, and one further piece of bad news - TNT are believed to be the government's preferred partner for this partial privatisation.

 

  1. In the autumn of 2008, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) virtually collapsed and had to be rescued by the UK government who now own approximately 70% of the bank. RBS had grown into a ‘Super Bank' in a very short period of time; their final acquisition was the Dutch bank ABN Ambro which turned out to be a ‘pig in a poke' - a disastrous purchase.

    2.  

Now, the CEO of RBS at the time was Fred Godwin - truly a Master of the Universe. The state adored Fred and made him Sir Fred Godwin thus enhancing his Master status to beyond the Universe. 

When the bank collapsed the government decided that the CEO was surplus to requirements and he was replaced. He was not sacked on the grounds of flawed judgement / gross negligence but was ‘released from his position'.

 

Today, RBS announced a loss of £28 billion ($38 Billion USD) for the last financial year. Today it was announced that Sir Fred Godwin, 50 years of age, will receive an annual pension of £650,000 ($900,000 USD) for the rest of his life. The government is ‘outraged' and has demanded that Sir Fred does the decent thing and voluntarily reduce his pension take. Funny enough, Sir Fred has decided that as his contract of employment clearly stated that if he was released from his position then he would be entitled to his full pension immediately and has decided that his contract should be honoured in full. Well, who would have thought?

 

Comment On This Blog Post  See All Comments (0)

Loading_border