Election update

My last blog post was an open letter to the liberal democrat candidate for our area. And, to be fair to her, she responded even though she admitted that it had taken a lot of her time. Since then we've traded a couple of emails on the Digital Economy bill, and whilst we disagree on a few things (such as the funding of alternative therapies on the NHS) I'm very glad that she took the time.

I have emailed every other candidate in our area, with the exception of the UKIP candidate, because bizarrely I can't find any email contact details for him. I know that not everyone has email, but surely it's a cheap way to connect to the electorate. OK, I admit that I'm extremely unlikely to ever vote for UKIP, however it seems only fair to ask them all the same questions.

The Green Party candidate also kindly took the time to reply to me, although I disagree with many of his convictions.  He did take the time to reply to my follow up email, which again I appreciated, even if the reply wasn't to my liking.

From the Labour and Conservative candidates? Nothing. Supposedly they are the most likely to win in my area. So why no reply? Were my questions too difficult? Too many? (If so, I think tough. They should just be happy that someone my age cares enough to ask in the first place). Are they just assuming they'll win so don't actually have to engage with me?

So I publicly named my local Lib Dem candidate on this blog, and whilst no more than about three people probably read this I feel it's only right to now publicly say - Dan Norris of Labour and Jacob Rees-Mogg of the Conservative Party: why no reply yet?

Here are the questions, you have my email, feel free to reply at any time before the election:

1) Do you feel that the current paternity leave entitlement is fair?
2) Do you feel that a woman should be allowed to return to work and her partner take over her remaining maternity leave so that she can resume her career if that suits their circumstances?
3) Do you support the reform of libel laws in England and Wales, and if so what will you do to further the cause?
4) Do you believe that schools should be allowed to determine admission based on religious belief?
5) Do you agree with faith schools, and that children should be encouraged to take part in morning assembly with a religious slant?
6) Are you in favour of the current academy system introduced by New Labour, and do you believe that academies should be allowed to set their own curriculum?
7) Should schools be allowed to teach creationism as an equivalent theory to evolution?
8) Do you believe that religious belief should be legally protected from ridicule?
9) Should Sharia law be allowed as an alternative system within UK law?
10) Should an independent government adviser whose views in their area of expertise conflict with government policy be able to express those views publicly without fear of being sacked? (I am of course referring to the case of Professor David Nutt)
11) Furthermore, should policy-makers trust scientific evidence even when it appears counter-intuitive?
12) Should religious leaders be entitled to vote in the House of Lords?
13) Do you support the use of public funds to provide unproven alternative “treatments” such as homeopathy?
14) Do you agree with the Digital Economy Bill in its current format?

An open letter to the Liberal Democrat candidate for North East Somerset

Gail,

Thank you for your recent letter addressed to my wife and delivered to our house. I can confirm that your open letter also reached my mother and grandmother. The title "open letter to women" was most definitely eye catching.

I have to admit that, despite being a man, I have read the letter. Twice. Both when my mother forced it into my hand when I visited her one day (as she couldn't believe some of the things implied in the letter, whether intended or not) and after it was delivered to my wife.

As it was an open letter, I hope you don't mind me replying in kind.

I admire your stance that there should be more women within Parliament, however, I am uncomfortable with this being turned into an election issue by stating "please note that I am the only woman standing for one of the main parties in the North East Somerset constituency in the forthcoming General Election". I sincerely hope that people will vote for the best candidate for the role, not merely because of their gender.

Personally, I don't want to vote for someone within the next few months and then only hear from them again when they need my vote in four or five years time.

I now must jump back up the letter slightly. You opened it with "as a woman who has brought up a family, had a career and supported elderly parents, I want to tell you about my concerns, achievement and priorities for the women of North East Somerset".

Fair enough. But as a man who is bringing up a family and managing a career in the area, I would love to hear your priorities for me. Are they different to your priorities for the women of North East Somerset?

I've got to be honest Gail, I think the open letter you sent could be portrayed as an own goal. It is our first contact before the forthcoming election, and I fear a more general letter would have served your purposes better, with a more gender specific one later in the campaign. My mother was left with the distinct impression that you were implying "I'm a woman, you're a woman, I think that there should be more women within Parliament, therefore you should vote for me".

Whether you intended this or not, I'm sure you'll agree that unless your speaking in person, the meaning of your words (whether via email or letter) can be misunderstood and the message lost.

Now that I've had that rant, I want to cover some of the priorities you listed within your letter, as I will presume that it's safe to assume that they will be the same for men.

It is Liberal Democrat policy to scrap tuition fees for all students on degree courses

I currently have over £15,000 of student loan debt, so I am well aware of the current issues of student debt, which is of course even worse for some due to the introduction of top up fees. However, I am unsure how this will be funded, and furthermore whether it is fair that all university education is funded by the taxpayer. Is there case for a middle ground where some of the cost is met, particularly by wealthier families, with more support targeted at those from poorer backgrounds?

Secondly, do you subscribe to the view that 50% of young people should attend university?

I was proud of Nick Clegg in his support of Joanna Lumley's campaign on behalf of the Ghurkas


I feel that a battle has been won but not the war, so to speak. I am not an expert on the subject but have read reports that Gurkhas have great difficulty coming to this country and receiving support once here. Is there more to be done?

Climate change affects us all


Yes, according to scientific consensus it does, and I'm willing to do my part. However, I can't help but feel that a lot of the focus is on the household and not companies, who must by far contribute to much more damage that households. Time after time I walk or drive past offices at night with every single light in the building left on, but no one working. Is there a case to target businesses more, including in the reduction of packaging? (which I don't think can merely be consumer led)

Within households, what is your position on charging based on the amount of waste they send to landfill, and do you support the use of chipping bins to monitor waste levels?

Liberal Democrats wants affordable bus and train fares


Public transport has long been a bugbear of mine, it is always mentioned by any candidate for any democratic role, but little ever seems to happen. Therefore I would love to hear your proposals in more depth as I'm afraid without this I find this just a hollow election pledge.

Your views matter to me


You also indicated that you wanted to hear our views, and I'm more than happy to oblige. I have several concerns moving into the next election that I am interested in, and as I have no affiliation to any political party will be asking this to all local candidates with the aim of voting for the person that best suits mine and my family's needs.

1) Do you feel that the current paternity leave entitlement is fair?
2) Do you feel that a woman should be allowed to return to work and her partner take over her remaining maternity leave so that she can resume her career if that suits their circumstances?
3) Do you support the reform of libel laws in England and Wales, and if so what will you do to further the cause?
4) Do you believe that schools should be allowed to determine admission based on religious belief?
5) Do you agree with faith schools, and that children should be encouraged to take part in morning assembly with a religious slant?
6) Are you in favour of the current academy system introduced by New Labour, and do you believe that academies should be allowed to set their own curriculum?
7) Should schools be allowed to teach creationism as an equivalent theory to evolution?
8) Do you believe that religious belief should be legally protected from ridicule?
9) Should Sharia law be allowed as an alternative system within UK law?
10) Should an independent government adviser whose views in their area of expertise conflict with government policy be able to express those views publicly without fear of being sacked? (I am of course referring to the case of Professor David Nutt)
11) Furthermore, should policy-makers trust scientific evidence even when it appears counter-intuitive?
12) Should religious leaders be entitled to vote in the House of Lords?
13) Do you support the use of public funds to provide unproven alternative “treatments” such as homeopathy?
14) Do you agree with the Digital Economy Bill in its current format?

I appreciate that there are a lot of questions, however as I have intimated I will ask all candidates these, as they are important to me personally. Therefore I look forward to your response.

Kind regards,

Robert Weeks

Happy Darwin Day

I hope that you've all had a great Darwin Day today. Today I couldn't get this quote out of my head:

"The ash of stellar alchemy was now emerging into consciousness. At an ever-accelerating pace, it invented writing, cities, art and science, and sent spaceships to the planets and the stars. These are some of the things that hydrogen atoms do, given fifteen billion years of cosmic evolution."

That was said by the great Carl Sagan, a man who seemed to be able to verbalise a meaning to things in a way that I can only ever dream of.

If you were to take the whole of cosmic time and compress it down to a year, the history of our solar system doesn't really begin until September, and humans don't register until New Years Eve.

In another example, if you were to take the history of our little planet and condense it down to 24 hours, humans arrive on the scene literally just before midnight (we're talking in the last twenty to thirty seconds here).

So I don't think evolution has done too bad to get us where we are. That's the wonder of life and that's the awesomeness of our universe, and it is definitely something worth celebrating.

Happy Darwin Day all!

Picture courtesy of Colin Purrington.

Which exit? Help settle a dispute

UPDATE: It might be fairer to see the roundabout in context. So here it is. We were approaching from Rush Hill (top left in this picture)


Mappy goodness

Frome Road is A, Old Fosse Road B, Clarks Way C


OK everyone, I need you to picture a scene for me. I will attempt to use as neutral language as possible so that I don't influence your decision.

As you may know, Lucie is learning to drive at the moment, and I'm nice enough to sit alongside her and let her get some extra practice in my car.

Yesterday, we had what can only be described as an 'incident' where we had a disagreement after taking a roundabout exit. Here's how the conversation pretty much went:

Lucie: "Which way do you want me to go?"

Me: "Straight on"

You are Lucie, approaching this roundabout from the direction of the arrow at the bottom. Based on this, which exit would you take? A, B or C?

(Picture courtesy of google maps)

Please leave your decision below with your reason too.

p.s. if you're worried that the 'incident' is that we ended up divorcing no. We just both disagreed which route should have been taken

Follow Friday recommendations - 5th February 2010

I keep meaning to do a follow Friday. The reason I haven't yet is because I wanted to do the same format as my colleague @jakepjohnson did here, which sets out the reasons for the recommendations.

So I'm going to quickly bash something out on my lunchbreak.

A good place to start will be @jakepjohnson himself. He's my colleague, but we won't hold that against him. Frequently seen scouring Twitter for marketing tips and money saving, it's also entertaining to read his Twitter feed when he's stuck in the morning commute and moaning about people being rude on roundabouts. On top of that, he's a bloody nice bloke.

Another one of my colleagues @lgladdy also needs a special mention. He's honestly one of the most helpful guys I've ever worked with (he'll even help with a work problem out of office hours) and is worth following if you're into those video games for kids.

Those who know me will probably know that I spend a lot of my time now moaning about pseudoscience and people that are willing to leave their brain at the door and believe any bizarre claim that a random person on the internet makes. If this interests you, I need to point you towards @hayleystevens, someone who doesn't just moan about these things but is actively engaged within the community. She also contributes to the fantastic Righteous Indignation podcast, and can be quite often be heard scoffing at absurd claims whilst also providing fantastic insight.

In a similar vein I can also recommend @SkepticBarista, who to me targets bizarre claims with both wit and action - he's no simple keyboard warrior.

I should also mention @Crispian_Jago for three reasons - his blog and associated ladybird guides) are ace, I came second in his Friday mystery object competition this week, and he was behind what I consider the most devasting attack on the bizarre methods behind homeopathy - the video "if homeopathy works then I'll drink my own piss". He's also one of the people behind a movement to get likeminded people in the Hampshire area together to fight bizarre claims - another person of action.

Finally, on a lighter note, @psdisasters and @VizTopTips always make me laugh, so both are wholeheartedly recommended. Photoshop disasters spots hilariously bad attempts to photoshop pictures, VizTopTips retweets tips sent in by other Twitter users on a host of subjects (and I'm still jealous that @jakepjohnson got a tip retweeted once when I still haven't).

This has been fun, I'll have to do it again sometime, so if I didn't include you this week I might in the future!

When customer service goes bad... I moan and blog for your benefit

As a money spending consumer, I love great service. This also consequently means that I hate bad service.

I'm quite fair though. Whilst I think that it's better not to receive bad service in the first place, I'm also open to changing my opinion on a company if they sort a problem out swiftly. In fact, it can lead me to place a lot of trust in that company going forward, because I know that if something does go wrong I can put some faith in them to sort it out.

Which leads me to PCTV Systems. I've fancied a TV tuner for a while, and finally took the plunge to buy one. I did a bit of research, found one with generally good reviews and went and bought one on Saturday morning.

A PCTV nanoStick.

I installed the drivers for it, as the reviews for the bundled software weren't great, and started up Windows Media Center in earnest (I'll use the popularly used acronym MCE from here for ease of reading). After the boring task of channel searching was over, I excitedly tried out the live TV. I tested a bit of recording. And checked that the cool feature of recording whilst my laptop was on standby worked (another big reason to use MCE).

Then I noticed a few problems. I couldn't get some channels, including Film4 (one of the main channels I wanted a TV tuner for). And sometimes when I scheduled a recording, it just didn't work (I scheduled a recording whilst I was out on Saturday night, something I had wanted to watch for ages and it didn't record). This fault was replicated by me a couple of times over the next couple of days and couldn't work out what was causing it - even if I followed exactly the same steps each time. Obviously playing Russian roulette whenever you try to record something isn't ideal.

In a quest to try and make sense of the issues I was having, I installed the bundled software (TVCenter). After yet more channel searching, I found the channels that weren't working in MCE worked on this software. But some channels were missing completely (including BBC4, another one of my favourites. Yes, I know that makes me mature).

Or were they?

If I went into advanced channel settings, they were there. And I could click on them to view them. But I couldn't add them to my normal channel list.

So I did a so-called 'best quality' channel scan. This took about 45 minutes. And I got the channels. But lost others. Argh!

Some web searches for my problems found other users with similar issues, and no fixes (it seems that just searching for reviews on a product don't always bring up common faults if you don't know what you're looking for).

So my next stop on Sunday was emailing the company that manufactured it, and hoped that I would get some helpful advice.

Did I heck.

I laid out three issues with detailed descriptions on each:

1) Channels which display in TVCenter will not display in Windows Media Center
2) Recording using Windows Media Center only works intermittently
3) Channels not displaying in TVCenter channel list

The reply I received yesterday (Monday) lunchtime said this:

---------------------
1.)
TVCenter channel lists are not available for Windows MediaCenter. If you want
use Windows MCE with your PCTV Product, you have to scan with MCE again.
If you have any issues with MCE, please contact http://support.microsoft.com.
Furhter to it, make sure you have closed on TV viewing app if you want use the
other one.

2.)
For all MCE issues please contact http://support.microsoft.com.

3.)
I assume that TVCenter scanned crypted channels also, which we do not support.
Due to it you cannot see them in the main app.
If you are talking about not encrypted channels, can you add them manually?

Further to it, we didn't released the nano Stick for MCE.

---------------------

Great help, they just bumped me off to Microsoft, and completely misunderstood most of my problems anyway. Furthermore, they attempted to claim that their product was not compatible with Windows Media Center.

And there was a big, big problem with this. Their website and the product packaging had the words "compatible with Windows Media Center". Hell, the back of the box even had a pretty picture of Windows Media Center alongside these words.

Being a stickler for consumer rights, I got a bit more blunt in my reply, and after a few links to UK consumer law websites explaining how any product sold must be as described, said that I trusted that they would now assist me with my issues and not attempt to palm me off the Microsoft. I even helpfully clarified each issue for the support team.

I also had to introduce a new problem that I had discovered. TVCenter (which was specifically designed for Windows 7) had a setting to place the computer into standby, hibernate or shut it down when it had finished a scheduled recording. This simply didn't work.

I finally got another reply just before 5pm today (Tuesday).

---------------------

thank you for feedback. you do not quite understand, you cannot import the
list of channels from TV center into Media Center, you need to scan for
channels in Media Center again.

---------------------

Now, admittedly, by this point I had already decided to take my product back to where I purchased it and say that it was not as described. But this email annoyed me. My reply was a very blunt:

"At no point have I said that I'm trying to do that!"

They outdid themselves and replied just two minutes later.

---------------------

thank you for feedback. have you run Windows Media Center and scanned for
channels in Windows Media Center ?

---------------------

OK, deep breath. Well, actually, I didn't really need to take a deep breath, as I laughed out loud when I read this on my phone. I already had my replacement product in my hands as the store I had purchased it from had agreed to exchange it for me. I replied just for the hell of it though.

"Yes, as described in an earlier email."

I have wasted literally hours trying to set this product up, so I'm happy to waste a bit of their time now.

I swapped this product for a Hauppage WinTV-HVR 900. And it's been a dream. Compared to a wasted weekend, this took about two minutes to install the necessary drivers, and about 15 minutes to complete the MCE setup. And everything works perfectly, including the nice looking remote control that was bundled with it.

So I can wholeheartedly recommend Hauppage. This is despite me finding out tonight that Hauppage actually purchased PCTV (then called Pinnacle) in December 2008. Clearly, some knowledge transfer between the two companies needs to happen, and fast.

And I must also give a 'great service' mention to PC World in Bath. I've knocked PC World plenty of times in the past, and I think they generally have a bad reputation amongst consumers. But despite me going in armed with emails and prepared to quote consumer law, the representative on the service desk seemed concerned at my experience and was happy to exchange the product there and then. I'm always happy to highlight great service as much as bad.

(And they once swapped a cable with no hassle once that I purchased in error, even though I had opened it and I knew that they were well within their rights to tell me to get lost).

So, congratulations to companies that provide great service. And well done to those who have appropriate systems in place to recover a customer's faith in them. We should always publicly mention them.

But it is also our job to moan about bad service and also not let companies ride roughshod over the very rights that are in place to protect us in the first place. When they do, you owe it to your fellow consumers to moan like hell about it.

n.b. I did threaten to report them to UK trading standards. However, since they started offering (admittedly limited) support for MCE with their product I won't (as I did also say "as I trust that you wouldn't wish I contact UK trading standards about this matter, I expect you will assist me now", and it seems unfair to do so despite their woeful efforts). However, I have satisfied my own morals in letting you all know to avoid this company like the plague.

Why I'm not complimentary about complementary medicine

I thought that it might be a good idea to explain to people why I'm always moaning about alternative medicine lately, especially on Twitter.

I never used to really worry about alternative medicine. I've been exposed to it, because my mother-in-law is a registered practitioner in several alternative fields and will happily seek alternative methods and encourage others to do the same. She will also talk, at great length if you want her to, about how evidence-based medicine is evil and has many side effects that your "doctor doesn't tell you" about.

My viewpoint has always been one of indignation to some of the claims made by the believers of alternative therapists, but at the same time I couldn't see what harm it could possibly cause. Just an expensive way to waste money, that's all.

And then I had a son. Once, our young baby son wasn't sleeping very well. He had bronchiolitis and his cough kept waking him up. My wife at the time was working in a local health shop. She had just come off maternity leave and the shop was a convenient walking distance from the house. It was the type of shop that sells herbal supplements and also offered alternative therapies, and I believe that she was comfortable with the role because of her mother's background. And I pretty much ignored it, after all, if people wanted to spend money on such things that is their choice, although I did show annoyance when I learnt of some of her employer's viewpoints on medicine.

One day she came home from work with a random bottle of pills. It turned out that her boss had heard about our son's sleeping problems, picked the bottle off of the shelf and said “give him two of these” to help him relax and sleep. This was without seeing him, without knowing his medical history and without medical training. What's more, I looked at the label and realised that her recommended dosage was actually the adult dose. And this was an infant that was only a couple of months old.

And since his birth, whenever he has been under the weather my mother-in-law has tried to push us towards homeopathy, something which when you learn the theory behind it you realise is utterly ridiculous. If you don't already know, basically a supposed 'cure' is diluted to a point where it is way beyond containing any active ingredient and the probability of finding a molecule of the original 'cure' are so low that I probably have more chance of finding that I am the reincarnation of Elvis Presley and actually quite a good dancer after all.

Why is it diluted so much? Because supposedly water has a memory and diluting the active ingredient actually makes the solution stronger. As many have pointed out, the water manages to conveniently forget all the shit that it has contained over the centuries, and for an excellent video showing how homeopathic cures are created, watch Crispian Jago's excellent video entitled "If homeopathy works... I'll drink my own piss".

My mother-in-law also hates the idea of many vaccines, especially the MMR vaccine (and lets not forget that all the kerfuffle about there being a link between the jab and autism has been proven time and time again to not exist - if you look beyond most of the mainstream media, that is). When she realised that we definitely wanted him to have the vaccine, she offered as an alternative to pay for separate vaccinations. This is despite these vaccines being unlicensed, the child is unprotected between jabs, it greatly puts other children with leukaemia and similar conditions at risk (as the illnesses more widely circulates within the community and they cannot receive the MMR vaccine), and puts pregnant women at great risk of a rubella infection. See this PDF on the dangers of the single jabs, and do an internet search for herd immunity if you want to see what happens when a substantial number of the population don't get immunised from an infectious disease, or read what happened to Toni and David McCaffery's one month old daughter Dana. This will only happen more if we allow myths about vaccinations to persist and we lose herd immunity from deadly diseases which science can actually protect us from.

Here's a challenge for you. Go to a so-called health shop and tell them that you're travelling to a country where you have a high chance of catching malaria. Ask them if they can make any suggestions. People have done this time after time and discovered that they are often discouraged from receiving the essential vaccinations and taking non-proven alternative medicines instead. That is scary stuff.

Google about Matthias Rath and his libel action against Ben Goldacre, who wrote about how Rath was taking out adverts out in South Africa to promote taking vitamin pills to combat AIDS, and even got the South African government on his side.

Sometimes, we need to see that alternative medicine isn't always harmless. Hell, on a university homeopathy course they used to teach that it could treat cancer (in case you didn't know, it's illegal to claim that you can cure cancer unless you can actually prove it).

That's why I'm supporting the 10:23 campaign and will be taking part in an event where I, along with other campaigners, will overdose  (a whole bottle in case you were wondering) on homeopathic sleeping pills to show that they are nothing but sugar pills. This is partly to protest against Boots selling homeopathic remedies in their stores. I've wrestled with whether this goes against free choice of the consumer. However, you go to a pharmacist for professional medical advice, and even the professional standards director for Boots admits that they only stock them because they sell, not because they work.

However, it is not just about Boots, but also to show consumers that they are nothing but sugar pills, challenging the common misconception that they are a form of herbal remedy. Which they're not. And practically every double-blind clinical trial that is out there shows that they act no better than a placebo. Despite all these trials, the publicly-funded NHS still pumps money into homeopathic hospitals, when most other forms of treatment have to be rigorously checked for efficacy.

There are so many myths around about evidence-based medicine that I feel that it really is time to fight back and start shouting just as loud to dispel them. It is time that we as a population regained our trust in the scientific method and evidence-based medicine.

This doesn't meant that I'm always "pro-big pharma". You only need to read Ben Goldacre's amazingly excellent Bad Science blog to see that he will attack quacks, pharmaceuticals and other scientists without hesitation if he feels that they are promoting bad science. But I trust that peer reviewed trials will treat me better than purely anecdotal faith-based medicine if I am ill.

We are currently on a move backwards, back to a couple of hundred years ago before modern medicine, when doctors practised blood-letting because it "appeared to work" and because they had been taught to do it by their mentors. When we purchased lucky charms to ward off evil spirits. It is time to reclaim medicine and promote the stuff that has proven efficacy.