Will The Cowboys Ride Off Into The Sunset?

Last year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders brought in a new voluntary code of practice for garages, aimed at guaranteeing minimum standards of service and protection for customers.

A report today suggests that, to date, only 15 per cent of the UK's estimated 35,000 garages have signed up to this code.

The code requires that all approved garages follow certain rules, including:

• when they provide a quote or estimate for work, they must offer a breakdown of costs, in writing, including the charges for labour and parts

• where it becomes clear that further work is needed, the garage must get the permission of the customer before carrying it out

• garages must not take upfront deposits

Garages on the approved list are subject to a range of sanctions and even termination of membership if they fail to maintain standards.

The watchdog Consumer Focus now warns that unless a greater number agree to abide by the code, it will push for industry-wide laws.

Of course, many garages which have not signed up insist they provide a good service.

Like hell they do!

Being an engineer from way back, I know how long it should take to do these jobs and in the case of non-standard parts, how much the materials are going to cost.

Twenty years ago I had occasion to have a bit of plate welded into the floor pan of an old van. For this job I estimated that it was going to take a fivers worth of material and two hours work. Including overheads, seventy quid would more than cover it.

I went to this particular body shop on the recommendation of a friend, so I didn’t bother to get a quote. It was only a one man band and the workshop was more or less a load of corrugated sheets bolted together.

Three days and £200 later I picked the van up. I didn’t bother to complain because:
a. I didn’t ask for a quote and b. I knew that a bigger firm would have charged me more!

Not everyone in the motor trade is a rip-off merchant though. The guy who used to do the regular maintenance on my car, who had a more salubrious workshop with all the pukka garage equipment, often used to charge me, for a straight forward job of supply and fit, less than I could buy the part for, myself.

To rid the world of the cowboy repairmen, the government should adopt this code and turn it into law.

Who knows, they may even be able to scrap the new scrappage scheme!

Has The Cuckoo Given Us The Bird?

Today‘s story is a sad one. The cuckoo has joined the British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO) "red list" of the UK's most threatened bird species.

The number of cuckoos has fallen by 37% in the last fifteen years and conservationists can’t put their finger on why this should have happened.

Andy Clements, director of the BTO, said: "A gap all of us will notice is the lack of the cuckoo's familiar song. Their decline is emblematic of downward trends in many long-distance migrants from Africa."

I too have noticed that my ’local’ cuckoo hasn’t returned in the last couple of years, although nothing has changed around here in that time (unless repainting the kitchen counts).

Cuckoos are known to lay their eggs in the nest of the dunnock, which are also in decline, although hereabouts they seem to be on the increase. As I write this, Mrs Dunnock is feeding her babies beneath my garden table.

Obviously something must have changed between North Africa and Essex, something that has upset the balance of nature. If the cause can be pinpointed then something may be able to be done by conservationists to redress the problem.

Until then, if our local cuckoo is reading this, come home, we miss you!

Here's One Party That You'd Want To Poop

Watching the party election broadcast by the British National Party (BNP) on TV yesterday evening I said to the Duchess “ Someone’s going to send in a complaint about this.”
“Why’s that?” she replied.
“Well,” I said, “they are using the war dead to promote their policies!”

It transpired that there was a complaint and quite a high profile one at that.
Nicholas Soames MP, grandson of Sir Winston Churchill complained about the use of his grandfather’s image being used in the broadcast.

BNP deputy chairman Simon Darby said: "It is extremely relevant to what is happening today."

BNP party chairman Nick Griffin is adopting part of Winnies's "blood, toil, tears and sweat" speech to promote its manifesto for the European Parliament.

Mr Soames said he had tried to get the Electoral Commission to ban the appropriation of his grandfather's image.
"They should not take my grandfather's name in vain. He would have been appalled by their views and the way they claim to represent the wartime generation. It's nonsense. Were it possible to take action, we would. We find it offensive and disgusting." he said.

Mr Darby said there was a substantial amount of Churchillian rhetoric in the broadcast.
"It is very relevant to what is happening today," he said. "I am extremely upset at what is happening to the country. What was the point of fighting the Second World War if this is where we are going to end up?"

This is a bit of a ’U’ turn on the BNP’s behalf.

In ‘The Rune’ magazine published in 1995, edited by a certain Nick Griffin, an article praising the exploits of Hitler’s SS during the Second World War.

The article contained sentences like, "The tales of Waffen SS courage and sacrifices are almost limitless." and "In an unbiased assessment of war crimes, however, the Waffen SS were undoubtedly no worse than the troops of other nations, countless Allied war crimes are simply not publicised."

In 1996, Nick Griffin picketed Coventry Cathedral where he handed out leaflets that referred to the "mass murder" by RAF pilots during the Allied bombing of Dresden.

With North Korea flexing its military muscle, do we need a man like this leading our country?

I Will Survive

The following quote comes from today’s BBC News website.

“Almost two thirds of over 50s fear they may have to work longer than planned as their savings and pensions have been hit by the recession, a study claims.
The joint report by the Help the Aged and Age Concern charity found that 60% of 943 respondents said they may need to delay their retirement.”

This, and reports like it, suggests that once people retire, they have to go dustbin raking to survive. The truth of the matter is that they just don’t want to make adjustments to their lifestyle, or to put it another way, they want to live in the style that they have become accustomed to.

This is not the voice of cynical youth speaking. The duchess and I have been retired for a couple of years now and we have never really gone without.

Without the backing of a private pension or personal savings we manage very comfortably, entirely on state pension. This may have a lot to do with never wanting to go on holidays or not hankering after a 42 inch LCD TV, but we do more than just survive.

It’s a mindset thing before you retire, don’t expect too much and you wont be disappointed!

So to all of the materialists approaching retirement age, retire gracefully, tighten your belts just one notch and free up your jobs for the young!

There is a happy land, far, far away, somewhere

As it’s Bank Holiday Monday today, here’s just a quick thought.

The government is urging graduates to consider a spell working abroad, whether in internships or volunteering, to avoid the worst of the recession.

Are the government going to let everybody know exactly where abroad this recession free Utopia is, so that we can all move there?

The Pen Really Is Mightier Than The sword

The man who, in effect brought one of the world’s oldest parliamentary systems to its knees by arranging for leaked MPs' expenses details to be given to the Daily Telegraph has been named.

John Wick, a former SAS man, acted as a broker, passing the details from an anonymous source to the newspaper, a working demonstration of the pen being mightier than the sword.

On paper, most of these MPs have done nothing wrong, it’s the system that is wrong.

My local MP in Essex, for example, is as far as I know, squeaky clean compared to most of the others, his claims are within the spirit of what the expenses were intended for, but what he is allowed still appears to be wrong.

He lives in Surrey, around a 45 minute train journey from London or a 45 minute drive by car to his constituency.
He claims for a flat in his constituency, which is a 25 minute train journey from London and he also claims for a flat near Westminster.

It would appear to me that the average working man would find these travelling times to and from work every day a bit of a doddle, so why can’t MPs who live within striking distance of London commute like everyone else has to?

Hopefully, when the dust has cleared and the expenses have been overhauled, we will get right honourable ladies and gentlemen sitting in Parliament who are there because they want to represent us and not what they can get out of it.

Mr Wick, we salute you!

It's Good News Day

After a couple of weeks of government sleaze stories it’s nice to read good news for a change.

After a ‘U’ turn by the government, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that Gurkhas who retired before 1997 can settle in the UK with their immediate families.

What I found strange was Ms Smith saying that she was "proud to offer this country's welcome to all who have served in the brigade of Gurkhas". Why was she proud yesterday, but didn’t give a toss when this was discussed a few weeks ago?

I don’t know if this decision was prompted by people power or by government spin, trying to catch a few votes!

Whatever the reason, justice has prevailed.


In another story, the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), who have been running the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme since 1988, have found that the number of dormice fell by 9% between 2002 and 2008, compared with 31% from 1992 to 2002.

PTES said there was "reason to be optimistic" that conservation efforts were proving effective.

Jim Jones of the PTES, said: "While the slowdown in the decline is very encouraging, the species is still in decline, so conservation and monitoring efforts remain a priority if dormice are not to disappear from the British countryside."

There have been 16 successful reintroductions of more than 600 dormice in the past 16 years.

One small step for conservation, one giant leap for dormice!


And finally, two years ago to this very day, everyone thought that the 140 year old tea clipper, ‘Cutty Sark’ had gone forever when fire ravaged through the ship’s three decks at it’s berth in Greenwich, south east London.

With much dedication, skill and millions of pounds it is announced that this national treasure will be reopened to the public next year.

When the restoration is complete, the ship will have more than 90% of her original features, which is an achievement worth applauding.

I, for one, will be pleased to see this Phoenix arise from the ashes!

After this little round up of the brighter side of life, I can truly say, dear reader, ‘Have a nice day’!