I am trying to be “eco-friendly” by not taking free papers anymore. But the guy next to me was reading this article “Jobs Gloom Leads to Baby Boom“.

My mental picture is of all these desperate people who were just made redundant. No money, grim job prospects but their day brightens up because at least they still get sex for free. Lucky.

In Pinas, it’s always the poorest who have the most number of kids they cannot support? Some say that attitude is because of lack of education, they have nothing to do, sex is their only luxury… but most “educated” people would say it’s simply irresponsibility & selfishness (gratification without thought for their other kids).

I’m wondering if the same attitude is permeating in the households here. Afterall, UK has the highest debt in the world & that’s consumers huh not just national debt, which we’re also not doing so well. It is safe to assume that the reason why people are panicking about losing their jobs is that they are unable to support their lifestyles for a prolonged period without income.

So why want to add another mouth to feed? Unless one of you isn’t working, then the childcare costs alone are enough to stop me in my maternity tracks.

The article purports that the people have been wanting to have kids and have now found the chance to do so. This worries me… Does this mean we will have more benefits claim??

I hope all these people who are enjoying their “days-off” are all willing to go earn some moolah & not rely on the flailing economy to support them via our taxes.

photo credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My neighbour woke me up with an early phone call. She asked “weren’t you supposed to see Michael Jackson in o2?”

I said yes, we are booked for January 2010. “Well”, she says slowly and slightly amused, “he died yesterday”.

I can’t believe it. I was really hoping to see him before he goes. I even planned for it to be pogiBoy’s first concert.

I hope & pray his kids will be okay, that they don’t suffer like he did. Perhaps their mum’s well-grounded & they’ll be able to live normally.

No one would want to be Gordon Brown. Since he took over from Blair, he received nothing but derision and faced the most challenging economic problem since the Great Depression.

It didn’t matter that his firm and decisive actions were not matched anywhere else. His government’s policies were good enough to not drag us further down. In fact recent report says the economy seems to be doing better.

After the expenses scandal, some more of his cabinet members resigned. “Good riddance”, I thought. But the rest of the media took a surprising turn. They derided Brown’s leadership that even his cabinet doesn’t have confidence in his leadership. Some of the members resigned with derision and clear intent to damage Brown’s precarious reputation… Has the world gone mad? These are the same people who charged us thousands of GBP for the upkeep of their garden and their husbands pornographic DVDs!

So Labour got slaughtered at the recent local and at the European Election. The racist party, BNP, got two places and UKIP actually placed second from the Tories.

Meanwhile, the Labour party was torn in half just days before the election. In the end Brown is still the PM and leader of the Labour Party. For how long, who knows. You have to admire his tenacity. I don’t know how he can sleep at night. OR even walk without fear of having another knife stuck in your back.

I like his policies. Cameron as an alternative just doesn’t fill me with hope. At this economic crisis, I want a qualified man of action. Brown’s first statement about Parliament reforms said he’ll get rid of sleaze and he did propose external audit for the expenses.

He needs a very good PR person. I wonder why he doesn’t hire one. Maybe he has one already and it’s clearly not working.

I was going to post something light and funny after the last two timebombs, but I can’t take it anymore!

At first I found it amusing but my gulay!

The UK is being rocked by the sleaze claims on MP expenses. It’s mind boggling how they think it’s okay to claim an ipod as an expense. Of course, most of them are now claiming these were honest mistakes.

Yeah, right claiming interest on mortgage payment that doesn’t exist anymore is an honest mistake!

These elected officials and their predecessors got away with these for so long! I can’t imagine how much Tony Blair must have “mistakenly” claimed for. What with Cherie Booth being known for her wily ways with making and saving money. Okay this last one is just speculation on my part.

But wouldn’t it be interesting to have a full investigation on this issue for the current officials and those before them?

I feel outraged and very disappointed. I’m about to lose my job, an officemate has been openly saying his family’s been shopping at bargain bins now… And yet we have MPs claiming thousand of pounds for their moats and chandeliers!

Yes, they’re trying to save face. Tory led the way to paying back these mistakes. And Brown’s showed a little fang by sacking the first victim.

But goodness these people have no shame. Beckett had the gall to say the people do not fully understand the situation and implied that most of the claims are legal! She deserved more than just heckling to be honest. Rotten eggs come to mind.

Even if it’s within the stupid rules, that they probably wrote themselves to begin with, they should be conscious and considerate about using the public’s money!

Those are my taxes and I’d like them back for my hayfever treatment and mortgage payment! Never mind putting an effing chandelier, I could think of a better way to stick that up!

There rant over.

—

BTW, can you imagine this sort of news even surviving in Pinas? That’s a dream isn’t it? To have those crooks declare their expense claims. Actually Pinoy politicos should have a before-and-after income declaration of themselves and their immediate family members. Now that’s a dream!

There was a picture of this German gigolo who’s been blackmailing his clients aka victims.

Obviously the women are all financially-independent.

But what surprised me was the gigolo himself.

Hindi sya si Richard Gere. hehe Nakakasira nang pantasya.

It’s like the time when I joined some friends in a go-go bar. Most of the women were old and… well, they were not Rosanna Roces. Sabi nung mga Pinoy boys ang target market daw kasi e mga puti. “Exotic beauty” daw meaning pangit by Filipino standards. By standard they mean mestiza, matangos ang ilong, malaki suso.

Kung sa Cubao daw ako sumasama, like Hawaii Five-O, dun daw baka mag-table pa ko.

Anyway, nakaka-disappoint lang na first time kong makakita sa news nang totoo’ng gigolo e “exotic beatuy” pa.

There was a very small piece of news on the Metro last night, I almost missed it. It says that recent research concluded that marital problems cause more harm to women than men.

Is it just playing to the stereotypes potraying women as emotional and men with hearts of stone?

The news clipping on the Metro mentioned stress, depression and weight gain as “signs”. Hey, that’s me in one sentence. So the news did hit a very raw nerve.

Now googling for the news item I came across this bit:

“…the institution can either be good for your health - with lower risk of illness and longer life expectancy - or can be bad for you in terms of stress, putting on weight and lifestyle problem”

Living together is basically marriage without a piece of paper, anyway. So are we all supposed to stay single then?

Perhaps women should just treat men like disposal plates or reusable toys. Then we’ll all be healthy.

This piece of news is irritating. Like most who would have read the paper yesterday I did not read the research itself. There are so many factors to consider. Some men are not unfeeling gits, I’m sure they’re as affected as we are.

Like hubby though, they probably just don’t know how to deal with it or how to express their emotions. And that’s my real frustration.

Ewan, basta nakakainis.

What do you think?

May tendency kong mag-aswang pumatol nang batang lalake. And Denise Van Outen gives people like me hope.

She announced her engagement to Pining’s crush Lee Mead last year and recently the media was on feeding frenzy to take a photo of their engagement ring, ang babaw ‘no? Pero talaga namang hottie ang guy and bow ako kay Van Outen. Aba e ilang taon lang ang agwat namin and look at her, proud and happy na “ok pala” ang boy toys.

Sayang at wala akong pang-suntento.

On the other hand… someone is missing theirs. Okay bad joke, I’m sorry.

Aba ang BBC, may kid’s presenter pala na walang right hand! Di ko alam until I read it on the news. I haven’t asked pogiBoy  and he’s often on CBBC instead of Ceebeebies now.

I just saw on the Friday’s dailies that the Beeb has been flooded by so many complaints about it’s disabled presenters. There are parents who claim their kids might have nightmares upon seeing the woman with a stump on her right arm!

How effing twisted. It’s a good thing she’s not discouraged.

This morning pogiBoy and I were queuing at the cash machine and the teenage girl next to us was badly disfigured. Her entire face was either burnt or maybe ravaged some disease. I saw it, pogiBoy saw and he stared, of course. I told him in a low voice that “it’s rude to stare” and all he said is “okay”.

Kids do not know about “difference” in human race.

Can’t those ignorant parents talk to their kids about other people’s limitation?

I think it’s brilliant the Beeb’s got another quality presenter on their roster. Others can’t seem to get past the missing hand.

Ang gusto ko dito sa UK compared sa “tingin” ko sa US ay mataas at mabigat nang katagang “Human Rights”. Sa US kasi parang natatabunan yan nang napakaraming technicalities at historical laws.

Pero ito din ang kinaiinis ko.

I don’t remember how many times I wrote about the yobs, teenage pregnancies and overall terror from these louts pervade England and Wales alone. I might have said it before but a burly officemate said that he makes it a point to stay of clear of swarms of teeners. You just never know.

In the last two years, the use of guns and knives (easy acces to) have been steadily increasing. So what would follow? Weekly news of teenage death, theft (at least those deemed news worthy) and a considerable number of disabled and elderly abuse & crime.

How can I fault a friend for sending her 14 y.o. son back to Pinas when the boy got in a fight?

Better safe than sorry and the boy is happier back home. So happy in fact, he didn’t want to spend Christmas last year with his folks!

So I nearly choked when I read a small item of news on the London Lite on Friday. There are sectors condemning  the Met for the increased stats on the use of tasers on teeners. One group said the Police should only use tasers during extreme circumstances.

It’s almost laughable. These people do not patrol the streets, I doubt they’ve even experienced fear of going out or looking outside their window! The Met already lost, have very limited use, of guns due to potential “Human Rights abuse” and now the remaining teeth they have are being filed to bluntness.

What is an “extreme case” to these people?

Kapag sinaksak ka na? O kapag tumatakbo papalayo at hindi mo na mahahabol pero kelangang mahuli mo?

Stupid.

Kaya maraming bata dito na lumalaki dito thinking they can get away with evil because of their age.

Ewan. Minsan natatakot din ako.

Of course I want pogiBoy to grown up in a safe environment. I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve lost count in thinking of him studying in UP. How cool would that be? Have him wanting to grow up in Pinas?

Baka maiyak ako.

We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour tvs

I know two posts with lyrics on them. It’s an after effect of the Cure concert last night.

The headline on the news today is that UK employees are working for free!

Basically everyone’s putting in more time to show their bosses that they shouldn’t be made redundant if the company is cost-cutting.

Gawd.

UK’s already got the longest working hours and the least Bank Holiday in Europe. I don’t really know whether today’s news makes any difference in that respect.

Most of the staff in our company are working like dogs. We’re not forced (in my opinion), we’re all just driving for the same goal: hit the Live date with flying colours. It’s been the case (the professionalism and staff dedication) since I joined the company, and to be honest I’ve never enjoyed work this much since my first employment.

We could be an exception. And probably in other industries they are working like their lives depended on it.

There are ugly things happening all over the country because of the recession.

The racists are having a field day, pointing out the jobs held by non-British (i.e. non-white) people. News of strikes are almost daily/weekly recently and people (I’ve not seen non-whites in clips or pictures) have banners and flags fostering British Jobs for the British. The BNP’s probably reaping members like Death himself.

These are like scenes out of the film “Child of Men” depicting a futuristic UK, where immigrants are treated like vermins. The “fear” is here.

Now Brown’s infamous words are haunting him. New Labour doesn’t want to be seen as racists or snobs, do they? That’s the Conservative Party’s role.

I hope the resentment stops here. With desperation, things can get ugly.

I  came across these articles while taking a “break”.

A newborn was found inside a carrier by schoolchildren. If you have Faith, then you’d say this child has a Super Being looking after her. It’s so cold today, it could have within a few hours of exposure. If you don’t have Faith, then she’s very lucky indeed.

Now they’re looking for the mum as she might be bleeding etc. The report says the child might be of Black or Asian descent. And now that sort of gives me a little comfort that it’s not Pinoy. They mean either african or middle eastern.

Still point is you wouldn’t think cases like these happen in “developed” countries.

On a lighter note, have you read that article written by a Brit in Pinas where he dissects our eating habit and penchant for “weird names” like Lingling, Lovely, Randy etc?

Anyway, I don’t have the time to trawl thru my emails archive but there was such an article being passed around some years ago.

And today Yahoo wrote about the UK (and US) “weird names” and I tell you these are definitely curse-worthy. Come on, Bill Board? Annette Curtain? And the best Doug Hole?

To think I already pitied this baby christened Alejo Alejo.