I do still exist.

Sorry for my repeated absences from the blogosphere - life has taken a pretty negative turn recently, which means you can enjoy less frequent posting for the time being - but once I am out of this crapness I am sure I will be back to complaining on a regular basis.
But just to recap, for anyone out there who is not sure
WHEN IN YOUR CAR PLEASE USE YOUR INDICATORS
I mean how hard is it really? You want to make a turn, or change lanes? Well, simply flick that little switch and let everyone else know your intentions. It is easy, it makes sense and it prevents accidents...so why aren't you doing it? You know who you are people....don't make me come and bash the sense into you the hard way.

Oh, and one other thing that really peed me off today - I received a letter today from the solicitors dealing with the May car crash asking me to sign a form giving my consent to release my medical records to prove I did indeed receive hospital treatment after the crash. The thing is they don't just want the records pertaining to the injury I sustained, or even for records of any previous similar injuries - they want everything, from the day I was born onwards. Now while I can see why they might want records pertaining to my neck and back I don't see why they would need to know when my next smear test is due, or whether I have ever had an ingrowing toe nail or whatever. Most disturbing to me was the request to access any or all psychiatric records. I just don't see how these things are relevant. So I rang them and asked and I was told that psychiatric records are important as if you have mental health issues you may have caused the crash, or lied or exaggerated about the extent of your injuries. Now this seems to be skirting very close to discrimination if you ask me - to assume that anyone with any previous mental health problems will immediately be viewed with suspicion, that they may have caused an accident or lied about injuries because at some point in the past they had been depressed seems like discrimination to me. It's enough to make you feel paranoid...

euro-elections

Well, tomorrow (or probably today now, it has gotten quite late) is voting day and I have to make a choice between several rubbish parties. I don't even know who is standing in my area, I have seen no campaigning of any type, I have had no letters or leaflets pushed through my door, I have seen no stands in the city centre, nothing. I had a look on iPlayer for the party political broadcasts, but that didn't tell me much except that:
Gordon Brown is next to useless,
David Cameron spends a lot of time travelling first class on trains,
Lib Dems seem to have missed the point of the "liberal" part of their name and do not seem to be making the most of the opportunity afforded to them in light of recent pubic opinions on labour and the conservatives,
BNP were the only party to clearly give their website address, so that I was able to read about their racist policies online,
and the Green party used an awful lot of paper in their broadcast.
So I have a decision to make, and I don't even know who the candidates are for my area.
Isn't democracy brilliant.

looking for an alternative

I sent this email today to the Green Party, I will let you know if I get a response:


Hi there,

I was wondering if you could answer a couple of queries that I have about the Green Party and your policies and viewpoints to help me make my final decision for voting in the euro-elections on June 4th?

I wondered if you could tell me what the Green Party think about the very real problem of overpopulation? As far as I can see it one of the main issues facing our planet is that there are currently more people than this planet can sustain, and the population is growing all the time. On a large scale this equates to extra pressure on resources, over crowding, famine, drought and the easy spread of diseases. On a more local scale it equates to larger class sizes, longer waiting time for NHS care and additional pressure on the infrastructure of this country. I am disillusioned with the major parties stance on promoting reproduction as a good thing for our country and for the world and I wondered if perhaps the Green Party, with its obvious concern for the environment around us could offer something different?


My second query is to do with the Green Party policies on the workplace. As you will be aware the major parties seem to be promoting flexible working and extra perks for those with "families". However it is clear that what they actually mean is those who have chosen to become parents. Those of us who provide care for elderly, disabled or severely ill relatives find it very difficult to be awarded the flexible hours and other perks offered to those who have children, and regardless of loyalty or years of service within an organisation it is practically unheard of for a childfree person to be awarded time off, paid or otherwise, to pursue other interests, such as other care responsibilities or further study.
Despite all the talk of equality it would seem that those without children are somehow less equal than those who do become parents.
Do the Green Party have policies to ensure that the flexible working and other perks offered to those with children will be extended to all employees, who after all are also paying tax into the system that allows for these perks in the first place?

I am very interested to hear the Green Party stance on these topics, and I sincerely hope that you do offer a real alternative to what the other parties are offering.

Thank you for your help with this matter

Regards

Bitchin' Atheist*


*I did actually use my real name in the email!