Monday, July 30, 2007

No Shipping Costs

Check out this story in USA Today about Amazon . http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2007-07-29-amazon_N.htm It's about their website Prime and how they don't charge for shipping - a really interesting read.

Later.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Soul II Soul is Back!

Yes folks - Soul II Soul is releasing a new single. It's been 25 years since their heyday and they're back in the studio - Jazzy B the founder and vocalist Caron Wheeler.

Take a look at the link for more details. http://www.mirror.co.uk/showbiz/2007/07/25/soul-legends-are-back-89520-19517928/ Can't wait to hear the material.

Later.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Bad FLoods

Things are rough here in the UK. A few weeks ago there were bad floods here in Yorkshire - people died and some still haven't been able to go home.

Now in the south west there have been even worse floods and more are to come. The pictures on the news are terrible. Thousands of homes are without running water and electricity because the electricity plants have been flooded.

So far there has effectively been no summer in the UK this year - the weather is going crazy.

There's a lot of talk of whether or not it's because of climate change or not yada yada - whatever you believe it's pretty sure that massive weather change is here and we will have to adapt to deal with it or more people will die.

It was odd to see people lining up for hours to get handouts of drinking water - much like people have to do in other parts of the world that experience frequent natural disasters. Kind of makes us all one eh?

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

U-Turn For Foreign Teachers

The British authorities have finally seen sense and done a U-turn on requiring foreign teachers to get UK qualifications after working here for four years.

It finally dawned on them that there would be a significant gap in schools - schools which desperately need teachers - if they followed through with this ridiculous requirement. But it is only a postponement. All foreign teachers have been given an amnesty until next September.

Again though, this smacks of 'not much thought being put into it.' At this point teachers have already been fired in anticipation of them being deported. In order for them to enroll in the necessary courses they would have to have an anticipation of being able to stay in the country. And what if the relevant courses had a sign up deadline of before the amnesty? By next September these teachers would still be in the same position.

Why oh why can't they admit their xenophobic or racist reasons for having this rule in the first place? As I have repeatedly said, if these teachers are performing - and all evidence so far says they are - and if they are allowed to teach for FOUR WHOLE YEARS on their own qualifications, CLEARLY there is no real need for them to get others in order to continue doing the good job they are already doing.

The authorities must stop the foolishness, stop impeding these teacher's (and by extension their students' - BRITISH students') progress and instead should help them as much as possible. If foreign teaching qualifications are substandard - then foreign teachers should either not be hired or at least not be allowed to teach on 'substandard' qualifications for FOUR years.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Facebook and Immaculate

A school friend of mine from Immaculate sent me an invitation to join her on Facebook the other day and I have become hooked! It's really fun contacting old friends and checking out their pix etc. It's also very easy to use.

Along the same lines - I was reading my high school alumnae newsletter and it had a link for a website some old girls started. It has a lot of really good photos which brought back a lot of surprisingly good memories. Check it out. http://www.ichsalumnae.net/

When I was at Immaculate, I never thought it was really cool to be associated with the school as the feeling was that a lot of 'Cherry Gardens' people went there. and I most certainly didn't fit into that bracket. Add to that my sisters going to Queens (they refused point blank to even pick Immaculate as one of their choices!) and that explains my feelings. No doubt there were many snobs at school, but there were also a lot of girls (most of them really) who weren't and who were a lot of fun and good friends. It was nice to see some of them again.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Advertising and Race - The L'oreal Issue

Read this story in the guardian today. http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2120789,00.html. It's about the fact that Garnier - a part of L'Oreal made it pretty clear that they only wanted white girls to stand in stores and push their products. This was in France. Apparently racism in the work place happens a lot in France.

It reminds me of a time in Jamaica in the early 90s. I was at UWI and a part of the University Dramatic Arts Society (UDAS). A leading ad agency was doing an ad for a feminine hygiene product and they contacted UDAS for people. However, they outrightly said they only wanted 'brownin's' or light skinned people.

We couldn't believe it! Well that sealed their fate. We all decided that only the darkest skinned people would go to the shoot. Suffice it to say they weren't happy.

And now this almshouse is still happening. Thankfully the company involved has been penalised. They are appealing the decision - I wonder why?

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

BBC Journalist Released

Today it was announced that the BBC journalist who had been held in Palestine for 16 weeks had been released. Lovely to hear some good news for a change.

In other matters . . .

His Royal Highness would like an SUV so we are doing the rounds. Test drove a Chevrolet Captiva today. It was a very nice ride and it didn't feel too big for me to drive. The outside looked god too but the interior was very disappointing - it looked cheap. Part of the deal is three years free service and it comes with a five year guarantee so that's good. It doesn't hold a candle to the Santa Fe though.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Why a Live Liver Transplant Now in the UK - years after . . .?

Apparently live liver transplants have been taking place for the past 15 years.

However, in the UK, the first NHS live liver transplant took place this week.

Again, the first time chip and pin was introduced in the UK was last year or the year before. That is, before then you couldn't use plastic to buy something without signing for it - something that has been done in Jamaica for years.

Why on earth has it taken 15 years to do the liver transplant here on the NHS - a service most people use. I assume the qualification of saying 'on the NHS' means there might be a possibility it has been done here privately - but I wouldn't bet on it.

Globally, we must revisit ideas about who is truly advanced and who is not.

Monday, July 02, 2007

The muslim point of view

I guess by now you would have heard of the terror attacks - sucessful and unsucessful here in the UK.

A while back I mentioned the reaction of 'moderate' muslims or rather the lack of a response. Here's some reactions from muslims themselves.

http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/article2727903.ece


http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2727899.ece