Just Punishment

I had meant to remark upon my delight at hearing that Fred Goodwin had lost his knighthood. You see, for me this has significance because it is due to Fred Goodwin that I lost my job in 2005, a job I had held at one of the UK's largest insurers since 1989. Of course, I wasn't the only one affected as more than 500 staff suffered the same fate, the majority in IT roles such as mine. When I finally lost my job in the summer of 2005, I felt  terrible. I really enjoyed my job and had been loyal and committed to my work for over 15 years. I missed the routine and the teamwork. I did get a good redundancy payment and the novelty of having a large amount of money was great at first but soon wore off and dwindled away leaving me desperately searching for another job which I eventually found.
I recall very well a number of meetings where reassurances were given to staff that no jobs would be lost. I also recall an in-house video production in front of specially selected staff and presented by TV's Nick Ross. In it, he questioned Fred Goodwin on what the RBS takeover of Churchill Insurance would mean for the 70,000 staff in the group. Again reassurances were given.  But over the coming months, the real truth began to emerge and gradually IT functions began to be migrated to the RBS head office in Edinburgh. The end was in sight and we had all been let down, lied to and misled.
So it is no wonder that for me the news of Fred Goodwin losing his knighthood is good news, very good news. I want him to sample just a little of what I and many like me had to suffer in 2005. We lost our jobs, in some cases our livelihoods and more besides. He won't ever need to worry about money as despite everything, he still has lots of it. I doubt very much whether losing his knighthood will affect him very much. He'll no doubt feel humiliated at having to return to the ranks of a 'civilian'. For that I'm pleased. Just punishment for such an individual who nearly brought the country to its knees and caused countless families to endure financial hardship would be some kind of monetary penalty. He has an enormous pension paying a reported £60,000 per month. This should be taken away and his assets seized. Above all, this should be a lesson to others where greed is their only motivation.

Thoughts on Sunday

Christmas has certainly arrived at Asda. The store is decorated and the staff are all wearing Santa hats. I doubt whether this is optional judging by the look on some of their faces. Shoppers are definitely in that Christmas frenzy mood. They have no consideration for anyone or anything else. They are now simply programmed to get whatever is on their lists and at all costs. The ones in Asda today probably all had the same idea - to shop early in case anything runs out. It was busy, verging on overcrowded. If more than one person stopped in in aisle this would cause a bottleneck. Yet supermarkets are very much like roads. People drive about like idiots. They meander about in their own little worlds, their eyes fixed on their target - a box of sage and onion stuffing or the current two for one offer. I was glad to get out. I can stand those places for a limited amount of time I'm afraid and my clock was ticking.
Argos was pretty much the same but a little less organised. The store layout lends itself to chaos with people crossing each other and others just looking confused. Today we had a clear objective. We had to collect a toy dinosaur our son had set his heart on. It had been out of stock for a long time at all the local stores and it was only by chance that I was able to reserve one last week - the only one remaining. It has become so rare that examples have begun to pop up on eBay at ridiculous prices, £80 being the highest I've seen so far. The toy is just £39 normally. We also bought a nice portable CD radio which I don't think he's expecting. So I'm quite pleased with our work today.

No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot escape the fact that Christmas is almost upon us. For some, it is already time for celebration. My wife had threatened to begin putting up the decorations and assembling the tree this afternoon. This would have entailed a visit to the loft and the precarious job of balancing on the ladder whilst wrestling with boxes and bags of tinsel and other paraphernalia. It's looking likely that we'll do this on Wednesday. Our Son can help us after school - he'll love that.
It feels as if we've had just a couple hours of daylight today for it's now beginning to get dark once more. I do have a sense of what it must feel like for people who are affected by the lack of daylight. I really don't mind it too much. I preferred it when I was working as this would herald the winding down of the working day and home time. For me it was a 45 mile drive back from the outskirts of Lincoln. I loved the drive, it was the best part of the day.

It looks like we could see our first snow of the winter this coming week. According to the forecast, the temperature will fall and snow will begin creeping further and further south. They've already had a covering in many parts of Scotland. It'll be nice if it arrives in time for our trip on the Santa Express at Sherringham next Sunday.

It's a slow news day. The top story is the arrival of two Pandas from China, on loan to an Edinburgh zoo. It is ridiculous how much coverage is being given to this. People have been lining the route from the airport - as if they will be sitting in an open car waving at onlookers. With everything that's happening in the world at the moment, I suppose it's the only real bit of good news so I suppose we should enjoy it while we can. I'm sure it'll be back to doom and gloom tomorrow.

I won't give much time to this but I read an article in the Mail on Sunday and The Express newspapers regarding an attack on a toddler. In fact it is so horrendous that I won't repeat the article in any detail suffice to say that it sickened me to the bone and produced a feeling of anger and disgust I've seldom experienced before now. All I will say in response to this article is this. If there was ever a reason needed to justify the use of capital punishment, then this is it. I only wish that our pathetic justice system had the powers to inflict the same level of pain and suffering these people have inflicted. But it doesn't and the tragedy is that these scum will be served a slap on the wrist and be released into society. These 'people' are not human, they are wild animals and should therefore be treated as such.