In some ways ...[Julia]... was far more acute than Winston, and far less susceptible to Party propaganda. Once when he happened in some connexion to mention the war against Eurasia, she startled him by saying casually that in her opinion the war was not happening. The rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably fired by the Government of Oceania itself, 'just to keep people frightened'. This was an idea that had literally never occurred to him. She also stirred a sort of envy in him by telling him that during the Two Minutes Hate her great difficulty was to avoid bursting out laughing.
- George Orwell, 1984
Friday 27 June 2008
Monday 16 June 2008
Susan Lindauer
"The Prosecutor has said that I am incompetent to stand trial because I am convinced of my innocence and cannot grasp that I might be convicted. Specifically, the Prosecution has used psychiatry to argue that my belief that I worked as an Asset for the U.S. Government constitutes delusional thinking. In a bizarre legal twist, the Prosecutor has argued that since I am delusional, I should be denied the right to call witnesses to prove that I am telling the Truth. Allegedly, my belief in the existence of witnesses is a function of my delusional belief in my innocence. Is that crazy or what? Talk about Kafkaesque! "
Thursday 12 June 2008
Reservations about Barclays Personal Reserve
Many a pound has been stolen from me by my banker, Barclays. Bank charges, wholly illegal. Now declared illegal by the courts. I fully intend to get my pound of flesh from the rapidly eroding corpse of the British banking system.
They, however, would rather have the money for themselves. Therefore I have received a letter. It congratulates me on the gracious and generous decision by the bankers to give me the facility to go £150 overdrawn without an overdraft. How nice of them! Previously when money was taken out which wasn't there they simply refused to honour the payment and, in stead, took the non-existent money themselves, sending me a letter informing me that I now owed them oney. No more. Now I can pay bills with money I haven't got. All I have to do is give them £8 every time I use it. Certainly less than the £35 per letter before. And, incidentally, I have to give them £22 per week every time I use it.
Given that I've previously had up to five months when my rent has been declined because of lack of funds, each time incurring the theft of £35, this would have cost me about £500, at least. Even more than the £175 it actually cost. No doubt this is a way to claw back moneys and to get around the law.
Shame on them.
They, however, would rather have the money for themselves. Therefore I have received a letter. It congratulates me on the gracious and generous decision by the bankers to give me the facility to go £150 overdrawn without an overdraft. How nice of them! Previously when money was taken out which wasn't there they simply refused to honour the payment and, in stead, took the non-existent money themselves, sending me a letter informing me that I now owed them oney. No more. Now I can pay bills with money I haven't got. All I have to do is give them £8 every time I use it. Certainly less than the £35 per letter before. And, incidentally, I have to give them £22 per week every time I use it.
Given that I've previously had up to five months when my rent has been declined because of lack of funds, each time incurring the theft of £35, this would have cost me about £500, at least. Even more than the £175 it actually cost. No doubt this is a way to claw back moneys and to get around the law.
Shame on them.
Wednesday 11 June 2008
An interview
A last desperate lunge for the job market or a poor excuse for an afternoon out of the office at A4E, depending on your point of view.
With a supercillious old bag at Holland and Barret (the peddle fake medicines). I don't think I impressed. Certainly it was over quick enough. I think I spent longer waiting for her to finish with the last woman than I spent in there myself. Those two seemed rather friendly. I believe she said she was impressed.
Probably not a good sign, the quick interview. If I was an employer they're all be quick. Weed out the idiots and the smarms. Pick the best of the rest, or more likely one of the several who could do the job. Not the case with other people who are employers, though. They seem to want to prattle on with their interviewees.
I'd rather gouge my eyes out than become some drivelling idiot. Derren Brown was on not long ago, the master of conjuring, applied psychology and showmanship. He made some lad more outgoing, or that's how it was portrayed. Meant to be good for him. I couldn't help thinking "you've turned him into a cunt". Suddenly won't shut up. An obnoxious fool.
Seemed like she was just going through the motions anyway. Didn't even take one look at me before deciding I wasn't right. Just read me some questions from a bit of paper. The rubbish A4E tell you about interviews didn't come in handy. Eye contact, no she was looking at a bit of paper. Although I'm not big on it anyway, and no-one else should be. Don't look at her tits. not a problem. Something about what to do the week before, the night before, so on. Only had two hours notice. Anyone'd think A4E wasn't tremendously useful. But I now have only one and a half days to go, as Friday is half length. And, better, I'm not going tomorrow as we can have one day off (technically two half-days) and I'd be a mug not to take it.
I've never been enthusiastic about interviews. There seems to be some sort of code which my rough brand of honesty doesn't fit in with. Same with application forms. You get certain questions. When have you made something better? Odd question. What does good customer service mean to you? Well, smacking customers doesn't do it, certainly. Why do you want to work for our company? Well, I understand you pay money in exchange for labour and was hoping to partake of this transaction. I actually used that answer on one form, one of the many forms they've had me traipsing around after (I've got burst blisters on both feet now, and it hurts). Funnily enough they're the only ones I've heard back from. I didn't get the job. Honesty's the best policy my arse.
I'm sure there are correct answers to these questions, "correct" not meaning true, in this instance. I picture cold war era men in trenchcoats making a rendezvous in a park. "The owl flies at midnight." "But his face turns towards the dawn." And a little brown envelope takes the microfilm into foreign hands.
Well, I'm assuming I didn't get the job. Seems likely. If I don't hear I didn't get it, apparently. Not holding my breath. Not on the edge of my seat. A waste of my time, the whole thing.
Can't say I'm overly upset. Do I want to be whoring myself to the highest bidder? Do I want to be working on commission where the job is to convince the gullible folk of the health-food and supplement crowd that these fake medicines can make them better?
I have a certain respect for herbal remedies, I remember how aspirin and artemesinin came about and how few have been tested. But the place peddles soya milk, a highly toxic substance full of oestrogene imitating chemicals. They have many a shelf of vitamin tablets, worthless profit centres. More than one shelf of "lady care", evidently for the hormonally troubled.
So, quite pleased. And I got most of an afternoon away from A4E. All in all not a bad deal.
With a supercillious old bag at Holland and Barret (the peddle fake medicines). I don't think I impressed. Certainly it was over quick enough. I think I spent longer waiting for her to finish with the last woman than I spent in there myself. Those two seemed rather friendly. I believe she said she was impressed.
Probably not a good sign, the quick interview. If I was an employer they're all be quick. Weed out the idiots and the smarms. Pick the best of the rest, or more likely one of the several who could do the job. Not the case with other people who are employers, though. They seem to want to prattle on with their interviewees.
I'd rather gouge my eyes out than become some drivelling idiot. Derren Brown was on not long ago, the master of conjuring, applied psychology and showmanship. He made some lad more outgoing, or that's how it was portrayed. Meant to be good for him. I couldn't help thinking "you've turned him into a cunt". Suddenly won't shut up. An obnoxious fool.
Seemed like she was just going through the motions anyway. Didn't even take one look at me before deciding I wasn't right. Just read me some questions from a bit of paper. The rubbish A4E tell you about interviews didn't come in handy. Eye contact, no she was looking at a bit of paper. Although I'm not big on it anyway, and no-one else should be. Don't look at her tits. not a problem. Something about what to do the week before, the night before, so on. Only had two hours notice. Anyone'd think A4E wasn't tremendously useful. But I now have only one and a half days to go, as Friday is half length. And, better, I'm not going tomorrow as we can have one day off (technically two half-days) and I'd be a mug not to take it.
I've never been enthusiastic about interviews. There seems to be some sort of code which my rough brand of honesty doesn't fit in with. Same with application forms. You get certain questions. When have you made something better? Odd question. What does good customer service mean to you? Well, smacking customers doesn't do it, certainly. Why do you want to work for our company? Well, I understand you pay money in exchange for labour and was hoping to partake of this transaction. I actually used that answer on one form, one of the many forms they've had me traipsing around after (I've got burst blisters on both feet now, and it hurts). Funnily enough they're the only ones I've heard back from. I didn't get the job. Honesty's the best policy my arse.
I'm sure there are correct answers to these questions, "correct" not meaning true, in this instance. I picture cold war era men in trenchcoats making a rendezvous in a park. "The owl flies at midnight." "But his face turns towards the dawn." And a little brown envelope takes the microfilm into foreign hands.
Well, I'm assuming I didn't get the job. Seems likely. If I don't hear I didn't get it, apparently. Not holding my breath. Not on the edge of my seat. A waste of my time, the whole thing.
Can't say I'm overly upset. Do I want to be whoring myself to the highest bidder? Do I want to be working on commission where the job is to convince the gullible folk of the health-food and supplement crowd that these fake medicines can make them better?
I have a certain respect for herbal remedies, I remember how aspirin and artemesinin came about and how few have been tested. But the place peddles soya milk, a highly toxic substance full of oestrogene imitating chemicals. They have many a shelf of vitamin tablets, worthless profit centres. More than one shelf of "lady care", evidently for the hormonally troubled.
So, quite pleased. And I got most of an afternoon away from A4E. All in all not a bad deal.
Tuesday 10 June 2008
A4E
A few things have changed at A4E. The entire staff for starters, the new women being less pleasing to the eye. Shame.
Another thing is that as you enter the door there is a picture on the wall looming over you, Stalin- or Saddam-esquely. A big picture of some silly bint's face signed Emma. Chairman, apparently.
The calibre of the "beneficiaries" also seems to have changed. Last time I was there they were predominately people like myself largely just wanting to get off. Now it's slightly different in that several of them have undischarged criminal convictions (one on bail awaiting trial for burglary, one awaiting sentencing for planning a kidnapping, etc.). The rest are too fond of the dope. I never realised there were so many names for the stuff, evidently representing different types. Normal tobacco is "mix".
Jimminy Cricket! To go back to the bint, Ms Stalin, she's got something on "Women's enterprise.co.uk". Look here:
It was a turning point. 1991 saw Emma start her own business, Action for Employment (A4e). Her aim was improving people’s lives. At last, her business had a drive and purpose that satisfied her.
The turning point was her father leaving her, if you're wondering. She isn't improving my life, either. Still, I'm sure it's easy to manufacture platitudes when you're as rich as her.
Thirteen years on, A4e is involved in an increasingly broad spectrum of activities to continue achieving Emma’s goal. They work in education and training, implement the government’s Welfare to Work services and run Business Link, amongst other huge projects.
Yeah, I know about their "Welfare to Work" and their training. The training is grudgingly given and only on a narrow range of activities they can suck from the government teat for. They're parasites, specialist spongers of government money. It's the ultimate benefit fraud, a very profitable way to sign on.
As for Welfare to Work, I don't think I've ever heard of them getting anyone a job. They get people "work trials" and "placements", both type of below price work which see dole claimants sent off to work without pay. Just today someone was sent off from the group that started with me to work at Morrisons. A good deal for Morrisons, a free worker for thirty hours a week while he won't get any extra. Being on the New Deal he'll get about £60 a week, I don't get that much because I have my dinner provided for me. Well, so they say, but the food is inedible and on those occasions when I've ventured to attempt it I've suffered digestional consequences.
Good for the business, bad for the worker. And for other workers. Morrisons would have to hire people on a proper wage if they weren't getting the slave labourers sent to them. It keeps people out of work. When I was sent on a "placement" last time around I made sure to get myself into a charity shop rather than the local "99p Store", a shop which hires only Polish people and those sent by A4E as government subsidised workers. Mostly Poles, the managers are Poles and there're more Poles around these parts than New Deal victims.
“A4e essentially develops and delivers social change for the Government. I’m proud of the fact that we’ve been highly effective. Other countries are now looking to us to bring about similar changes in their societies. It reflects well on Britain”.
Sorry, Johnny Foreigner, we never meant for this to happen. "Social change", is it. Not half, my friends. The deliberate government policy of maintaining high unemployment to keep wages and worker demands low has been in place for many a year now and is all geared to the increasing servility of society. That's what she's so proud of.
Thinking big comes naturally to Emma, from ambitious growth targets for A4e to the 4-day parties she throws for her friends. It’s an approach she encourages in other entrepreneurs. “Don’t be limited by geography. Think of your business as national – it immediately opens up your view”.
Emma loves being an entrepreneur, and is still creating new businesses for the sheer buzz of it. “Freedom and fun-that’s what it’s all about!”. But she is equally enthusiastic about her other roles. She is a committed national chairperson for the NSPCC and a mother of four young children. She dismisses the idea that her life must be a difficult juggling act.
“I don’t see a work life and a family life pulling me in different directions. I have one life, and it’s moving in the direction I have chosen. It’s a wonderful life and it’s been a fantastic journey!”.
I suppose we can only hope that it ends soon and is followed by the righteous judgement which will cast her into hell.
Polish! The fuckers have a Polish web page! A Polish branch! One of the local employment agencies, the Ambitions I've mentioned before which is so odious people refuse to go there (A4E, for the quiet life, have now stopped trying to make people go to that one) has now movwed its headquarters to Poland.
Wednesday 4 June 2008
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