What We Did On Our Holidays

I am lucky to live within distance of the sea, although some might think that the Thames Estuary is not so alluring as the Bristol Channel. However both have their charm and history and I love both.

The pace of life is more frenetic the nearer one gets to London and not having access to Twitter whilst away means that I have missed out on a lot of political gossip. So I did not know the latest about Boris Johnson's alleged 'love child' and really its not that interesting. However I have heard enough radio news bulletins to hear that the ConDem government seems to be trying to faster and faster bury their election promises! One idea was about less prison places [I seem to remember a Tory poster suggesting that Gordon Brown had released too many prisoners too soon - was that only three months ago?] and Vince Cable [who - prior to the General Election - I had thought reasonably sensible. But there again that was when the LibDems had little chance of gaining power on their own so he could promise what he liked. Now reality has hit and I suppose he must please his Tory paymasters] was heard too propounding his ideas for a 'Graduate Tax'. Oh dear - there has been enough comment on this and I particularly like that of David Lammy in the Gruniad:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/16/education-liberal-conservative-coalition

My own comment is that - back when rocks were soft - I was taught in school that if one worked hard in school and managed to achieve a university education, this would in turn lead to one gaining a better job/career and thus a higher wage/salary. Obviously one would then pay more in tax then a lower paid worker and this tax would pay back for the university education more than sufficiently over one's working life. This seemes an eminently sensible system and personally I cannot see any reason to change it. Certainly in my own case I would never have had the career I did without a university degree.

For all those who had hoped for a postcard of 'What We Did On Our Holidays' I am going to be mean and show you instead the cover of the fabulous album by folk heroes Fairport Convention. Great thing about blogging - I can be as didactic as I like about what I think everyone should be enjoying in the form of books and music......