Leatherhead Matters

Poor Jeremy Clarkson. I love him. He is a media presenter and columnist who has the courage to actually say what he thinks. We all wince a bit at some of his rants but, then that’s just our Clarkypoos.

Unfortunately he has just come unstuck in one of his latest stunts. He argue that the Government’s loss of half the population’s personal data was a storm in a teacup. He thinks there really is no financial risk to anyone, caused by the 2 CDs of data being  lost. To prove it he published his bank account number and sort code in an article in the Sun and pronounced that the only thing anyone could do with the data was to deposit money in his account.

Oh dear Jeremy! How foolish can you be? He now apparently has 500 less in his bank account after someone was able to initiate an unapproved direct debit.

It may, of course, have been a bit of a stunt with the Sun newspaper but, if not, then Clarkypoos should forego the personal fraud advice and stick to cars! Read more HERE

Blogging away and as I look out of the window on this mid winter’s day it’s cold, windy and damp with BBC News blaring out the latest Government propaganda.

Oh for a beautiful, crisp, white, winter’s day with the family sat around a blazing log fire.

Did you see Gordon Brown’s attempt at shifting the blame for the Northern Rock crisis (BBC1, Andrew Marr Show yesterday)?

“People saw what was happening in Germany and America and were worried”. So Gordon is suggesting that Northern Rock savers are to blame for the crisis!! They were worried about their savings, withdrew them and caused the first run on a UK bank for over 100 years.

Oh Dear. What a pathetic attempt to divert attention from errr…….himself.  He seems to have a convenient memory lapse. The whole world was watching the unfolding global credit crunch…not just Northern Rock Savers. But, somehow no other country in the world, except Britain ,had a run on a bank.

Northern Rock savers were acting rationally….there was not enough cash in the bank and Brown woke up too late to realise his Government is the only lender of last resort. Not something he seems to have thought about when he established the cosy but, flawed tripartite relationship between the Bank of England, the Monetary Policy Committee & the Financial Services Authority.

It’s that time of the New Year when the media is full of predictions for the year ahead. Below are two which caught my eye relating to career trends and also to the web. The third is one I added relating to personal data protection

Thinking of changing careers? Want to position yourself for exciting new global, mega trends? Cutting-edge careers are often exciting, and they offer a strong job market. Alas, the cutting edge too often turns out to be the bleeding edge, so here are some careers that, while relatively new, are already viable and promise further growth. They emerge from six megatrends Read more on “Ahead of the Curve Careers“

FaceBook is so last year! What will be the smash hit web sites of 2008……predictions from the Guardian technology correspondent include: Etsy (Tipped to be the Amazon.com of handcrafted & personalised items)

Twitter (a micro blogging site to keep in touch with your network)

And……..even more social networking sites …with a twist. Read more HERE

And one personal prediction. Given the truly awful record of our Government in managing our personal data, we may see some diversionary tactic in 2008 aimed at imposing higher levels of data protection on the private sector. Easy targets are supermarkets and financial institutions.

In 2007 the European Union made it clear (read more HERE) it’s intent to require Member States to phase out traditional filament light bulbs for the new style low energy light bulbs. At the time, there were some voices warning of environmental and public health consequences associated with the change. This is because the low energy lights contain high levels of mercury which is a highly toxic element. This message appeared to get lost as all politicians battled for pole position to ”Save the Planet” from global warming.

If you buy a low energy light bulb you will not find any safety warning or, safe disposal guidance associated with its toxic contents. However, the Environment Agency have just issued guidance on the disposal of low energy lightbulbs. The new guidance illustrates how far behind the regulation curve government are on this topic. The guidance below shows how dangerous to health & the environment this product is. Even with the intervention of the Environment Agency, most low energy light bulbs will finish up in land fill sites since, Local Authorities do not have appropriate collection & processing facilities to ensure extraction of the mercury. Even more worrying is why Government is permiting sale of this product.

New, technology LED (light emitting diode) bulbs are already starting to come on to the market which have even lower energy consumption, better light characteristics, longer life and are much more environmentally friendly. Over the next 2-3 years they are likely to be also much more price competitive.

The lamp at left mimics clean halogen-like cool white and uses 12 high-intensity LEDs. The lamp at right uses warm white high-intensity LEDs and mimics the standard incandescent bulb.