TESCO International Calling Card

Beware of this international calling card scam. The rates look good but you lose it all after 90 days - the card expires after 90 days of purchase date and all your money goes with it. So I lost most of my £10. They don't warn you and it's only in the fine print.

If you ring the 0845 no there's nothing they can do.

The TESCO International calling card is a rip-off

I've asked the manager of the store where I bought my card to see what he can do. I want a refund! Then I'll be using a different card!

Festive Message from my Bank

"The Clydesdale Bank would like to advise customers to be extra careful regarding the security of your Internet Banking access on the run up to Christmas. Always check your account transactions regularly, don't disclose your details to a third party and NEVER open, respond to or click on any links in emails purporting to come from the Clydesdale Bank or any other financial institution. Remember that the Clydesdale Bank would NEVER contact customers via a personal email address regarding Internet Banking. If you receive an email you believe to be fraudulent, please forward it to reportphishing-CB@CBonline.co.uk, for investigation, then DELETE THE EMAIL. If you are ever asked to answer more than one security question or asked to confirm full password please contact the Internet Banking Helpdesk on 08447 362616 immediately. Further information regarding security advice is available within the Internet Banking pages on our website www.CBonline.co.uk, look for the section entitled Security."

Thanks for that, and Merry Christmas to you to.

Why people blog about illness

Hundreds of people blog about their illness or trauma every day. Sue Eckstein explains why - Guardian.

Weight Loss

3 months ago I weighed in at 99kg, so at 177cm tall, I had a BMI of 31.6. Meaning I was OBESE. I've been on a diet since, and though it hasn't been easy I've been steadily losing weight. I reach an important milestone a few weeks ago - I was not embarrassed to tuck my shirt into my belt when I went outside!

Today I reached another milestone. I'm at the mid-point of OVERWEIGHT for my height 86.1 kg, BMI 27.5. My goal is 78kg just within the NORMAL range for my height. I haven't been that weight for 20 years.

My body has changed quiet a bit. I'm much less round. My inner thighs no longer rub together I walk which used to give me rashes and chaffing. My face has changed - my cheeks are now slightly concave instead of convex. I've had more holes made in my belt because I'm 16cm less in circumference. I don't get out of breath walking up our stairs. I can go for a long walk every day now. I've bought some new clothes recently without feeling like a fat pig - and I now look quite sharp in my black moleskin jacket, black jeans and Dr Martin's shoes. Well I fancy that I do.

Sadly it hasn't made much difference to my FIBROMYALGIA but I wasn't expecting it to. I feel healthier though, and a little less repulsive.

Proforma Press Releases

I've recently been struck by how the Brits report what politicians are going to say in advance, "so and so will say blah blah about blah blah tomorrow". Once the so and so has said "blah blah" that is also reported. The so and sos get double the mileage from their PR budget, and the media seem to go along with it presumably because they also get twice the mileage from the story.

I wish they would focus more on what the so and sos are actually doing, and less on what they say they will say they are going to do if they can. Sadly the gap between what they say and what they do is often vast and it is only the light weight satirical media like Have I Got News for You or The Now Show that pick up on the discrepancies. The so and sos say so much, put out so many press releases - and as we have seen recently the press don't always bother to check their facts! - that the details become overwhelming. The media cherry pick according to their own agenda - which I think more or less consists in outraging as many people as possible.

It is good to have a reprieve from IDS/DWP press releases in the last week or two. They were coming thick and fast for a while and I was feeing suicidal trying to keep up and understand what it meant for me.

Some stuff

I've now lost 10kg on my diets (in old money that about 1.5 stone). Feeling good, though it's more difficult now. Aiming to hit 80kg mid-Feb, and will be in the normal range for my height - it will be the most normal thing about me.

I've been thinking this morning. I'm not sure if people grasp the reality of the economic situation. What the govt are doing is lowering the standard of living for all lower and middle income earners. The rich will maintain their standard of living. On the other hand Cameron's initiative to measure happiness might be intriguing if I wasn't so cynical about the uses he'll put it to. Anyone with an interest in this stuff already knows that money doesn't make you happy, and I think DC will be using this fact to try to make us feel better about lowering our standard of living, while maintaining his own millionaire lifestyle. Someone somewhere pointed out that 23 or the 29 cabinet members are millionaires - "we're all in this together"? Fuck off.

Finally, we have a new Queen in waiting. I'm a subject, and I don't mind that much. Compared to politicians the royals are an honest and useful bunch. I'm a great believer in myth and archetypes, and we need someone to bear the archetype of ruler, because let's face it those dishonest bastards in parliament inspire zero confidence. People keep saying dumb things like Elizabeth II (peace be upon her) will bypass Charles and hand the crown to William. Duh. When Elizabeth dies or abdicates the crown goes to Charles unless he dies or abdicates. The Queen can't subvert that without subverting the whole principle of monarchy. Of course William is being groomed to be King though, because that's how it works - he has to be ready to assume his duty as King should he be needed.

Despite not feeling well enough to work I have no doubt that the WCA will judge me fit for work. In my experience of these tests they seldom actually test for what is wrong with me. I can do most things once (they make you do things like squat, push against things, grip things). Once is fine as long as it's not too vigorous. Twice, or three times even, but 10 causes me pain that takes a while to wear off and it's cumulative. Because no doctor has ever tested me for this, and really it is the central physical problem I have, I am starting to get quite nervous. Actually I started to plan on a massive drop in income - jiggling my budget around to see how I can live on what I'll be getting. It won't be easy.

It's a Sin

Ian Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, said today it was a "sin" that people failed to take up available jobs as he prepared to announce a tougher-than-expected squeeze on the unemployed. Guardian.

So. Another round in the war on the welfare system. The rhetoric comes thick and fast, and now takes on religious overtones. I agree that it should always pay to work, but of course there are 3 able-bodied unemployed people for every job in this country, plus a few less than able-bodied; so I don't see how this is going to work. About 500,000 people are about to be culled from the civil service. Another few 100,000 will lose their jobs as down stream effects. Growth is only just above zero.

What we don't know is whether any of this going to help.

It wasn't unemployment which created the mess the country is in. It was bad financial management, and greedy rich people - compare the UK with Norway which has weathered the storm much better. China, and India do not have the same problems that we do either. Unemployment is a symptom. Massive numbers of sick and incapacitated people is a symptom of a broader malaise. This campaign is ideological, not economic, and not interested in the causes of our problems.

The people in this country who inherited money, whose family connections got them into the best schools, and whose old-boy networks get them into the best jobs are incensed that someone should get something for nothing. It is outrageous.

It seems to me that I must completely fail to understand the British public - presumably the PR people, who do understand them, have a firm hand on the tiller and all this rhetoric is deliberately crafted for the public, who are apparently lapping it up (except for a few students). But then back in New Zealand we voted for conservative governments for years as well. Maybe I'm just out of step?

I wonder how all this will look ten years hence? A brilliant stroke, or the beginning of a disaster.