Warwick University, again

And so the Gorse Fox has driven across the country to Warwick University, recklessley burning diesel at a rate of 45mpg, but with the perverse satisfaction that the government will be reimbursing his expenses for doing so.

Another couple of days of workshops begins.

Aha a word of truth

Tucked down at the bottom this BBC article on the Fuel Demos that have been going on today is this telling quote:

Justice Secretary Jack Straw told the BBC he "fully understood" the hauliers' concerns, but "government revenues have to come from somewhere".

So, it isn't anything to do with the environment then; as we all suspected, it's just a tax-raising ploy and the environment is just spin.

On a roll

Gorse Fox was just sorting through some receipts. He filled up with diesel on Sunday and in so doing contributed a further £42.01 (of his already taxed income) directly to Chancellor. Warms the cockles of your heart to know that your money is being cared for by this Government and being spent so wisely.

Webwise

The Silver Vixen has been busy completing some projects for a craft fair. The Gorse Fox has been helping where he can - photos for an album, cards, and even a web address. (Though there is no website behind it, at this stage).

Funny how they change...

It's funny how politicians change. When the Chancellor announced in the budget that he had lied(*) about not taxing vehicles retrospectively and that he was going to double the Road Tax on some people's cars (not the Gorse Fox, thank goodness)... the budget was voted through.

Now that many Labour MPs are in fear for their seats (and their salaries and expenses) they are beginning to stand up for their constituents. It looks like there will be a back bench rebellion demanding that this is not enforced retrospectively. It's remarkable how they remember who they work for as their tenure becomes less stable and hoe survival starts to take precedence over party unity.

Good thing too.

(*) Correction: he did not lie. "It was there, if obscured in the detail, and obfuscated by references to a 'Showroom Tax' on new vehicles". The Gorse Fox would like to than GeoffH for this clarification.

The Doors

Well those verses seemed to generate a lot of hits over the last 24 hours!

The Bank Holiday weekend was forecast to be a wash-out down here in the south. Actually it hasn't been bad at all - what rain we had was on Saturday night or this morning. It's been warm and bright other than that.

The Gorse Fox had some chores to perform for Urban-cub... she has been decorating in here flat but needed some help with some finishing touches - so GF helped with a return to yesterdays' brief musical theme - he installed a loo roll holder, and Manzarak, Densmore, and Krieger(*)

(*) GF shouldn't have to explain, but just in case Lou Rawls was a soul singer, and Manzarak, Densmore, and Krieger are the 3 surviving Doors.

With apologies...

You know how a tune runs through your head and just won't go away. The Gorse Fox has been haunted by The Stranglers all day and his mind turned to the lyrics. So with apologies to the The Stranglers:

Gordon Brown treats us like S**t
If he had his way, he'd even tax it
No sense of fun
He'd tax the sun
Letting us down, that's Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown soaking the old
Taxing their pensions keeping them cold
Taxing the poor
Show him the door
Letting us down, that's Gordon Brown

Every lie you'd like to mention
In number 10 stealing your pension
Treats us like fools
Taxing our fuels
Blames it on Esso, it's time that he goes.

Gordon Brown can't make a decision
When he does, hoots of derision
He'll take your cash
For throwing out trash
Says that it's green when really it's mean

Gordon Brown inflation is climbing
Bills are up, but stop your whining
Prudence is dead
He'll lose his head
Revenge on its way, election some day

Letting us down, go Gordon Brown

Letting us down, go Gordon Brown

The Gorse Fox expects the men in dark glasses with interesting lumps under their jackets to come knocking any day now.

Don't Hold Back Now

Piers Morgan writes in the "Live" magazine that comes with the Mail on Sunday:

"Having enjoyed a poisonous decade-long feud with our former First
Lady, I was hoping that her book would finally confirm everything I’ve
always thought about her; namely, that she is grasping, hypocritical,
whining, money-obsessed, back-stabbing and prone to delusions of
grandeur rarely seen in public life since Marie Antoinette said, ‘Let
them eat cake.’

But even I have been dumb-struck by the
sheer scale of shamelessness that seeps from every page of this
hilariously disingenuous and self-serving tome."

Now, come on Piers, tell us what you really think... there's no need to be coy.

Hypocrisy, again

The Gorse Fox has heard this week how the PM, or was it the Chancellor, "spoke to the supermarkets" about the worrying increases in prices.

Hello-o !

If inflation is high (which it is... despite the Government's fiddled figures), then people will want a greater return from selling their goods to the supermarkets in order to maintain their income. If oil prices edge up, and the tax on fuel jumps up, and the VAT on the fuel and the tax is therefore larger, then anything that uses fuel will have higher overheads and these will need to be passed on. So this will affect:

• Farm machinery
• Farm transport to depots
• Transport from depots to distribution centres
• Transport to the individual supermarkets.

The Gorse Fox also hears continually from the Media and the Government about the cost of a barrel of oil and the fact that the "industry" is making huge profits. Excuse me! The Government is making even bigger profits. It is New Labour that is raking it in, not just BP and Shell.

Not convinced?
Observe (*):

Diesel @	126.5 p/l
Cost of fuel itself:	57.31p
Fuel tax:	50.35p
VAT on fuel+fuel tax:	18.84p

So next time that you worry about inflation or the cost of driving to work (because there is no railway infrastructure or bus that will get you there) - remember where much of the blame lies.

Gordon Brown (the man that robbed your pensions) tried to divert opinion with a rather pathetic attack on OPEC during the week - revealing either that he thinks the public are stupid, or that he is stupid himself. The Gorse Fox refers you to "Who Gets What from Oil" and the excellent graphic therein, and also the fact that the UK is a major oil producer (though not a member of OPEC).

(*) Calculations courtesy of http://www.abd.org.uk/fuel_tax_calculator.htm

Slow

The laptop, the PC, and the network all seem incredibly slow today. The Gorse Fox has been busy finishing some more slides summarising the work achieved during the workshop... we have another workshop next week so it will trigger a lot more work.

GF has also been handling several personnel queries, opportunities, and processes.

Company

The Gorse Fox had an opportunity to brief a number of colleagues on the interim outcome of the workshop. He also checked this through with Mother Superior...and it seems that we all have the same picture in our heads - which is good.

It was a sad day in some ways. Boston took his leave of us, having been the longest serving member of the project (other than the Gorse Fox). He is returning to his home in France to keep an eye on his breeding programme (which is coming to a fruition very soon now). GF will miss his company, and hopes he returns after the summer when he realises he needs more sleep than he can get at home with a new-born, and there are insufficient curry restaurants within a sensible distance from home.

GF had company on the way home. One of his colleagues lives in Winchester and as GF had to drive past on the way back to Sussex he agreed to drop him off en route. This made a change from the normal diet of Radio 2 or podcasts.

Life is always made special by the little victories - the last part of the journey involves crossing a railway crossing. As this crossing is closed for nearly 40 minutes in the hour the Gorse Fox is nearly always delayed, sitting there with the engine off for 5 or ten minutes at the end of the journey. Not this time. The gates were open and he swept straight through... a little, but satisfying victory.

No trouble

Wonderful meal last night at Brown's. Possibly the finest steak the Gorse Fox has ever eaten, and pleasant and stimulating company as about 7 of us met dined.

Busy day trying to analyse the output from the past two days of workshops. Brain is tied in knots.

M&S and MS

Gorse Fox realised that changing his weekly programme to leave on Monday, and thus packing on Sunday did not agree with him. Opening his case he realised that a trip to M&S was necessary... as a result he will probably have to build extra drawers at home to contain all items of apparel that he now has!

It's Mother Superior's birthday this week so we are taking her to dinner tonight. Should be good as we are heading for "Brown's" by the River.

Wow

The Gorse Fox now knows what his car feels like when he uses the jet wash. GF likes a good shower, but the one in the Conference Centre took things to extreme... as showers go it was Niagara's teacher and the famous falls could only aspire to what it achieved.

GF should have got a clue from the way the Bernoulli Effect sucked the curtain straight across the bath; but no, he climbed right in and promptly got hammered to the back of the cubicle where he cowered under relentless pounding. He considered not washing his hair as he was concerened that the rinse process might strip the remaining follicles from his head. He eventually climbed out and is sitting at the keyboard trying to recover from the liquid beating.

Workshop

The workshop went well today. We managed to view the problem we were trying to solve from a slightly different dimension and whist this may cause some initial complexity in defining a clear way to document it - it is actually a very powerful way forward. The Gorse Fox is happy.

Rootes

It's Monday morning and the Gorse Fox finds himself at Warwick University for a couple of days of workshops. Should be interesting!

Writer's Cramp

There may not have been a lot on the blog, but the Gorse Fox is suffering from writer's cramp. The drive to gain his next promotion has meant completing a 30 page assessment. Now that is complete he finds he has to complete a further 40 page assessment... and is not a happy bunny.

Back to the list

The Silver Vixen is examining some old patchworking at Worthing Museum, so Gorse Fox has returned to his unfinished list of yesterday.

1. Begging letters for support for his promotion case
2. Technology roadmap for the "office"
3. etc.

Importance of Soundbites

UKTV History have commissioned a survey of memorable quotes:

1. Boris Johnson: "I have as much chance of becoming Prime Minister as being decapitated by a Frisbee or of finding Elvis."
2. John Prescott: "The Green Belt is a Labour initiative and we intend to build on it."
3. Harriet Harman: "Tony Banks described the English fans arrested in Marseilles as brain-dead louts - that goes for me as well."
4. Robin Cook: "They found more dangerous chemicals in Coca-Cola's Dasani mineral water than they did in the whole of Iraq."
5. Harold Macmillan: "It has been said that there is no fool like an old fool, except a young fool. But the young fool has first to grow up to be an old fool to realise what a damn fool he was when he was a young fool."
6. Boris Johnson: "Yes, cannabis is dangerous, but no more than other perfectly legal drugs. It's time for a rethink, and the Tory party - the funkiest, most jiving party on Earth - is where it's happening."
7. Margaret Thatcher: "I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end."
8. Michael Howard: "You are the deals-on-wheels Prime Minister - no wonder the Chancellor is not a happy eater!"
9. David Blunkett: "David is supposed to be a sad, lonely, old, blind bastard. David's not meant to have fun or go to nice restaurants or - heaven forbid - have sex."
10. Edward Heath: "Do you know what Margaret Thatcher did in her first Budget? Introduced VAT on yachts! It somewhat ruined my retirement."

The Gorse Fox is thankful to Ananova for bring these to his attention. he particularly likes numbers 2, 3 and 7.

Reviewing the Situation

Done. That's the Gorse Fox finished for the day. His list is quite empty, but his motivation at this time on a Friday evening is.

So what has he learned today?

1. When someone says they want a 2 page report and you write 8-10 pages they still add more when they review it.
2. However many times you review a document you always find something to tweak.
   
3. The new communicator works better at home than the old one.
4. Adding yoghurt as a substitute for cream in a dish of flat mushrooms and sun-blushed tomatoes is a mistake.
5. There are a lot of Vivien Leigh fans out there who liked the Gorse Fox's pictures of Notley Abbey.
6. It's time for a glass of fine red wine.