Tough

In today’s Guardian there’s a story about a survey that’s been done into Britain’s attitude towards those with Hiv/AIDS. It makes for some disturbing reading.

One fifth of those polled said they felt it was people’s own fault if they got HIV/Aids. Almost a quarter said that drug users who contract the infection through shared needles should not get treatment on the NHS. 26% felt people had the right to know who in their community had HIV/Aids and 17% said they would worry if they knew their doctor had treated patients who were HIV positive.

A large proportion – 41% – thought that asylum seekers should not be allowed to stay if they had HIV/Aids. The survey shows ignorance about the virus – only 64% knew that babies can be infected in the womb, 73% knew you could get it from a blood transfusion, while 11% thought you could get it from kissing and 5% from eating with the same cutlery.

The Rubber Tax

If you do happen to click on the Terrence Higgins Trust site, you might also notice the link to the “Erase Tax on Rubbers” campaign. The THT has joined up with the National Union of Students to call on the government to stop charging VAT on condoms and contraceptives.

The income the Treasury gets from VAT on condoms is tiny compared to the cost of preventable sexual ill-health in the UK. Sexually transmitted infections cost somewhere around �1 billion to treat annually in the UK, and HIV care costs are around �350 million and rising. Wider condom use would save health and money.

Condoms in the UK are some of the most expensive anywhere in the world. They are almost twice as expensive as they are in the US, and more expensive than anywhere else in Europe. In theory condoms are sometimes available free of charge on the NHS; but clinics ration them and they are often hard to ask for, especially if you are young. Please click on the link to email your MP and ask them to write to John Reid, Secretary of State for Health asking him to support the recommendation of the Independent Advisory Group and remove VAT from condoms.

Anti-Spam Screensaver

via Gordon, the BBC is reporting on an anti-spam screensaver made by Lycos, of all people. By upping the bandwidth costs for spammer’s websites, it’s possible that it will make spamming into an expensive proposition. And of course the main thing with spam was that it was cost-effective advertising…

You know, Watson, it might just work.

Train Chaos

Hardly a shocker really (it seems to happen every year) but as always, the UK Rail Christmas timetable still hasn’t been finalised. The various Train Operating Companies (TOCs) can’t organise a piss-up in a brewery for their own “services”, let alone organise anything between them.

Of course, there’s an air of profiteering about it, too. As the story says,

Although open tickets are available beyond Christmas Eve, more affordable rail deals require passengers to specify which train they intend to take – impossible without an agreed timetable.

Anthony Smith, national director of the Rail Passengers’ Council, said: “It’s very, very disappointing. When you’ve got a rail industry which is based on airline-style advance purchases for long-distance travel, this kind of delay undermines the whole system.”

Obviously the last bit is purest bollocks, the rail industry isn’t based on advance bookings, it’s based on fleecing the punters for as much as possible – which is why I’m never surprised that they haven’t agreed the timetables. This means that rather than the ultra-cheap advance tickets, passengers have to get a higher-priced ticket instead. For example (from the story) on First Great Western, an Apex return ticket between London and Bristol ought to cost £20. But without a firm reservation, travellers can only buy a £43.20 Saver.

Since privatisation, the TOCs primary concern has always been the bottom line, the profit margins, and as such getting every punter to spend extra cash is going to have a beneficial effect on that bottom line, and that’s what matters to these money-grabbing cockmunching weasel bastards.

Stunned

So now supposedly Tasers should be classed as lethal weapons according to a study? Now of course yes, in some cases 50,000 volts is going to be lethal – and according to the report in the story, Tasers have killed 70 people in the US. However, what the report (well, as quoted, anyway) doesn’t say is what the sample size was.

If it’s been used 1,000 times and 70 people have died, that’s a 7% mortality rate, and as such it’s quite dangerous. If it’s been used 1,000,000 times and 70 people have died then it’s more of a “shit happens” 0.00007% mortality rate. Just saying “70 people have died” is lazy statistics, and not particularly useful.
As Amnesty International’s UK director is quoted as saying,

“Tasers have been used in the US against pregnant women, unruly schoolchildren and mentally ill people.

In some cases, simply walking away from a police officer has led to people getting a 50,000 volt electric shock.

Is this a glimpse into the future of UK policing?”

Again, yes, maybe it’s in the future of UK policing. But it isn’t a certainty. The sample comes from the US, where the Taser’s been in use far longer than in the UK, and it’s obvious that in the cases listed in the quote, it’s been mis-used.

So yes, regulatory controls are needed on Tasers, as they are with batons, CS spray, and the rest. CS Spray can be seen as lethal too, IF the person sprayed has an allergy to capsicum, for instance. Tasers can be life-threatening if used on someone with a heart-condition or pacemaker, but they’re still a better non-lethal alternative to being shot.

To me, a lot of this article is hype, and should be seen as such.

Non-entity

I must admit, I haven’t worked at all hard at not mentioning “I’m a non-entity, call my agent!” so far during its fourth series. I haven’t watched any of it, and if I’m completely honest I didn’t even know who half the celebrities publicity seeking whores were when the names were revealed.

However, I do find it amusing that they’ve now lost two of the “stars” already. After four series, you’d think that they’d know what they’re letting themselves in for – but obviously not.

Travelling

Sitting here again on a Virgin train from Reading back to Manchester (at least this time the bloody toilets are working!) it’s just occurred to me that I’ll only be doing this journey once more before I move. Five months of this journey three weeks out of four, and it’s finally coming to an end.

In a lot of ways it’s the end of an era – I’ve been in Manchester for nearly six years, and it’s coming to an end. In a month’s time I’ll be moving down to Reading/Bracknell, and then a new phase will start. There’s a lot of changes due to be happening over the next year, although a large percentage of them will be happening in the next two or three months. New job, new house, new living arrangements, new lifestyle. It’s not about New Year’s resolutions, or any of that shit, but at the same time the start of 2005 will bring about a lot of new stuff anyway.

It’s time for change, and more importantly the changes feel like the right thing, at the right time. But it’s still weird to look back on how I was when I came to Manchester, and the changes that I’ve been through since then. Would I now recognise the person who came up here? In many ways yes, but in many others, no, I wouldn’t. The person I was then has grown up a fair bit, and altered a fair bit too – I know myself far more now than I did then, and know more about what I want and don’t want from life. Of course, I still don’t really know what I want to be when I grow up, but I’m working on it.

There’s still a whole lot of things that will be happening over the next few months. I’m going to be working on a lot more creative things – the photography, the writing, the websites – as well as hopefully getting back into some form of academic work, which is something I do feel I’ve missed out on a bit. I’m going to be taking some big jumps, seeing if I can interest a photographic agent in some of the images I’ve taken, and I aim to be getting involved with some of the local photography clubs etc. once I’ve moved. If I can make money from it I’ll be happy, but if I can’t and it stays as a personal hobby/love then that’s fine too.

Some things will stay the same too – or at least with a minimum of change. D4D™ will change too – I still intend to redesign, and move from Blogger to WordPress at the same time (assuming I can get all the old posts out of Blogger) so there’s likely to be new sections as well as removing old sections I don’t use any more.

Yes, there’s going to be a lot of changes. But d4d™ will be there all the way through to chronicle them.