TV Licensing

TV Licensing irks me no end.

Today, I received an "OFFICIAL WARNING" that a visit from an enforcement officer was imminent, because I do not have a TV licence. I am proud to not have a television licence, because I do not have a television, nor do I watch television. I have not regularly watched television broadcasts since I left home in 2003, preferring to live my own life rather than watching others live their fake ones. I buy DVDs and watch them on my laptop if I want to have entertainment, or I go to the cinema.

Anyway, my point is that I despise being treated as a criminal for simply not conforming to how most people live their lives. It does not seem to cross the minds of TV Licensing people that some people simply choose not to have a TV, and that everyone who does not have a licence is trying to rip them out of their £131.50.

My other gripe is that it is a criminal sanction. The BBC, which granted is a public body, is not the government, thus I object to being subjected to possible criminal sanctions for not paying them their fee for me watching their programmes. Surely this is a contract: I agree to pay the fees for receiving their television signals, pure and simple. If I receive their programmes without paying, they should sue me. They should not prosecute me.

Finally, and this is probably a stupid point but it annoys me nonetheless: what if I have a television, but actively do not watch the BBC? TV Licensing, which is a subsidiary company of the BBC, say that if I watch ANY television as it is being broadcast, then I need a licence. Well actually, the licence fee pays for the BBC, so why should I pay it if I am not receiving anything back from the BBC? Granted I have the possibility of watching the BBC, but since when has having the means of breaking the law been sanctioned? I am not fined for driving my car, that conceivably is capable of breaking the speed limit. I choose not to, and so I do not have to pay the fine. Surely that analogy should apply to television signals?

Anyway, that's just some food for thought. As for food for my stomach, well the smell coming from the kitchen is telling me that it is ready...

Smoking..

I know that this is a very old story, but it was linked from a more recent one. It's very funny, and written with its tongue very firmly in cheek - I thought the BBC was meant to be impartial!!

Kidnap to Adoption?

This is very strange indeed, and makes for very uncomfortable reading. What the article does not do is try to offer an explanation why on earth the boy did not do something about his situation, given that he was as far from a captive as he could have been. But then if he was happy where he was, as he seemed to be, I feel very uncomfortable that he was returned to his family - did anybody ask him? Perhaps he didn't want to go home, and enjoyed his life with Mr Devlin, only for his world to be shattered by the cavalry. I'm probably wrong, but I can't help thinking this.

On a happier note, the fact that France wanted to be ruled by the Queen is kind of cool! Imagine how different the world would have been if Britain and France were the same country: The United Kingdom of Great Britain, France and Northern Ireland. Lol. I think it would have had a fabulous positive effect on our culture. Oh well, never mind, we can go and sample what we missed by going there on holiday!

A night out.

I actually had a proper night out last night, possibly for the first time ever. I had dinner at home, then went with the MCR to the Pickerel, where i had a glass of Pinot Grigio, then I went to Criminology pub which was just finishing at the Anchor and carried on in Darwin college bar, where I proceeded to have another two or three glasses of wine. To top it all off, I went to Gardi's where I met a few members of the MCR to eat greek burger with cheesy chips, and to walk (I think there was some running involved too) home with.

The strange thing is this however, I don't think I felt drunk. I don't think I have ever felt drunk. What is it supposed to feel like? Perhaps I didn't drink enough, but given that I have never really drunk any alcohol until about two months ago, I hardly think I have developed a tolerance for it, and four glasses of wine should be enough to at least render some level of inebriation in anybody. I certainly felt a bit rough when I got to bed, but I think that's quite natural after eating bits of toothpaste-consistency cow. Definitely no hangover in the morning either, I don't think, but again I don't know what that feels like: I felt a bit shitty, but then I was woken up at 9am to go invigilating, and it was no worse than any other morning (and Brian would know how dead I am in the morning!). Oh well, we'll see what happens next time...if there is a next time.

Various musings...

I like doing that full stop thing... don't I?

Anyway, here are a few things occupying my mind at the moment. Firstly, I have had new glasses, but to be honest I am not sure about them. Don't worry - they are not intended as a replacement for the black ones, but just as a bit of variety, particularly with a suit. Although, in that picture they don't look too bad!

I am very into Wil Wheaton's blog at the moment - his post about Star Trek: The Experience is very sweet - though it makes me really want to visit Las Vegas! In case you don't know, he played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and is now a proud thirty-something computer geek. Also he has a mac - respect. (Unfortunately he has the Pro laptop, which is really annoying, as it makes me hugely jealous: the computer of my dreams!!). Oh well, someday maybe - this one is tough and brilliantly portable at the moment.

Also, I promised myself not to get excited about the newly announced iPhone, but to be honest, I am slightly. To buy one would mean throwing out all my high horse beliefs about multi-use devices (Cameramusicphones? Tosh! Buy a decent camera, iPod and a Nokia telephone, I say!), but I must say the functionality of a telephone along with a Mac OSX does sound tempting. Don't worry though, I have a feeling that it will be a long time before it will be available in the UK.

I finished my criminological and legal psychology essay today, I think. Which means all I have to do now is polish that one and my research methods essay before handing them in on Tuesday. That means I should have a relatively quiet weekend, not that I have anything exciting happening over the weekend to look forward to!

Oh, as an update to my really old post about Cambridge Trinity Street Post Office: I was there today, and was again pleasantly surprised by the huge improvement in the quality of service. Good job since the redesign - they clearly buried the old battleaxe in the concrete before re-opening!

Hello again..

Hello again. 364 days since my last post. Oh well! Anyway, I thought I'd give blogger a go again, having changed my page layout, and getting frustrated with the feelings of big-headedness that posting onto people's LiveJournal friends page seems to elicit.

So what have I got to say? Erm, not a huge amount in this post as it is just a "hello", but do take a look at my flickr photos.