Support for Alder Hey

Showing support for Alder Hey Childrens Hospital AND wishing Alfie Evans got the best medical care in his last few days shouldn't have been a hard task. Unfortunately, thanks to "Alfie's rent-a-mob" (also known as "Alfie's Army") it almost felt like you had to choose a side.
You supported Alder Hey or you supported Alfie - you couldn't do both. 
Thanks to their mob mentality and lack of understanding, they turned support for Alfie into a sideshow.

Abusing medical staff outside the hospital by calling them murderers. Making phone calls to the wards to threaten the staff and their families. Blocking the roads so cars and emergency vehicles couldn't get through. Threatening to pull fire alarms whilst other children are undergoing life saving operations. These are just some of the unbelievable things they did.
Some of the strangest things they did included erecting a bouncy castle and having barbecues. They gave no thought to the other sick children inside the hospital or their families.

Court after court ruled Alfie could not be moved from Alder Hey but those outside couldn't accept this. They tried to force their way into the hospital to (if you believe some posts on social media) take Alfie out. One post repeatedly shared on Twitter and Facebook was that of a supporter suggesting they take a gun into the hospital so Alfie could be removed!
The police made a line to prevent the mob going in but they were also abused and spat at. Credit should be given to all these officers as they didn't rise to the abuse thus preventing a probable full scale riot.

Just one of the abusive posts posted on Facebook

In the middle of all this was a very sick child with no hope of recovery. He was given the best possible palliative care by the very staff that were being abused by his supporters. He seemed to have been forgotten about.

Given the choice of supporting Alder Hey, the medical staff & Merseyside Police or Alfie, I'd support the former every time... that is, if I couldn't do both.

#IsupportAlderHey

The Bad Friday Agreement

Genuine question, shouldn't we, the people of Britain, have a say in who Theresa May and the Tory party, jump into bed with?

Throughout the election campaign, the Tories and MSM banged on about Jeremy Corbyn and his links to Sinn Féin and the IRA.
It now seems it's OK to be a terrorist sympathiser as long as they're the right kind of terrorists.

Jon Snow (the one who does know things) tweeted "One of the most extreme political entities in the British Isles, the 8 MPs of the DUP,  is to wag the tail of Mrs May's minority Government" - @jonsnowc4

We are already looking over one shoulder due to so called "Muslim extremists", now we have to look over our other shoulder cos the Irish Republicans are probably and genuinely going to be angered by this alliance.

The Good Friday agreement of 1998 has probably been replaced with the Bad Friday agreement of 2017.
The British Government are and should remain neutral in Northern Ireland  as stated by Tony Blair's Chief of Staff in this interview...

 https://mobile.twitter.com/EL4JC/status/873188501990371330/video/1

The DUP's views on things not terror related such as same sex marriage, abortion and even evolution are archaic. I think if they were able to stand for election in the rest of the UK, they would go the same way as UKIP...or the Monster Raving Loony Party.

If we thought the Tories were bad, it seems the DUP are worse and this pact between the two won't end well. Just as long as it ends!

Theresa May should step down

Surely even Tory MP's can see Theresa May isn't strong enough to lead their party, never mind the Country.
She was an unelected Prime Minister calling a general election (even though she said she wouldn't) when the Labour Party were at their weakest in a long time, due to constant in-house fighting.
Despite this they still managed to gain seats and she got more than one egg on her face when the Tories lost seats. "Weak and wobbly" is something I've read lots of times to counter the Tory mantra of "Strong and stable" due to her constant backtracking of their own manifesto.

Not for the first time in recent history has the Tory party had to rely on a smaller party to prop them up.
I just hope the DUP are as passionate about saving our NHS as the Labour Party.

Labour needs to be ready for the next election.
More time needs to be spent on party politics and less time on division within the ranks.

No matter what deals are done now between the Tories and DUP, Theresa May should do the first decent thing and step down.

Good luck everyone with whatever they decide to throw at us now 😔

Teaching Double Standards

Inset days.
Strike days.
Sports days.
Toy days for charity.
Trips to Blackpool, Alton Tower, etc.
End of November and the three weeks in December written off to rehearse the school play.

All the above are almost guaranteed throughout the school year and is hardly conducive to a child's education yet this is the excuse we are given when we want to take kids out of school for a family holiday. Yes, selfishly, parents would save hundreds of pounds (usually over £1k) but I'd argue a holiday abroad IS educational. If you're still reading, I'll explain why.

Geography
Finding the location on a map and seeing how far away from home it is. Looking at the local area and working out how to get to places such as the beach or marina.

Maths
Dealing with foreign currency and working out how much things cost in pounds.

History
Walking around the 'old town' and seeing old churches or castles.

Physical Education
Lots of walking and swimming.

Second Language
Hardly fluent in any language (some would argue that includes English) but we'd always say 'please', 'thank you' and 'good morning' in the native language.

Art and craft / DT
Building sand castles :-D

I'm sure there are other educational benefits but this will do to be going on with.

Before any teachers have a go, I'm not blaming them (they just happened to be in the firing line). It's the hypocrisy and double standards of the Education System I'm having a go at and it has to change.

Thanks to another walk out by teachers, I'm WORKING FROM HOME today which is far from ideal. I should be grateful only one out of my four are affected!

Sir Kenny or not Sir Kenny?

Like many people, I have been calling for Kenny Dalglish to be Knighted for a number of years. I wrote to LFC Magazine in 2003 for an article they were running and wrote about it again here “SIR Kenny Dalglish?”

I now believe this honour will never be given out. Not because he doesn't deserve it, we all know he does, but because of the man he is.

Before an honour is given out, the potential recipient is contacted to see if this would be accepted. This saves any embarrassment should it be declined. It is my personal belief that Kenny Dalglish has refused the top award. Although he was awarded an MBE in 1984, times have changed since then.

During the time of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, the period after that and no doubt the time before that, the whole UK establishment was corrupt. Politicians, the Government, media moguls who had (have!) too much power and senior Police Officers all looked after themselves and each other. Nobody in their right minds would be associated with them.

I contacted a Merseyside MP last year about him submitting an official request to get Kenny Knighted and was told he had already done it.

The fact we haven’t heard anything can only be one of two reasons. One, they think he doesn't deserve it (HIGHLY unlikely). Two. he has refused it.

The Honours Committee are not going to broadcast who has declined the honours as this defeats the object of contacting the potential recipients beforehand.

Kenny wouldn't broadcast the fact as he is modest and has real integrity.

I think Liverpool should honour Kenny in its own way.

The new Main Stand at Anfield is almost complete and for his services to the club and for what he did after Hillsborough, I think this should be named after him. Whether it should be called the ‘Sir’ Kenny Dalglish stand, ‘King’ Kenny Dalglish stand or simply the Kenny Dalglish stand, I’ll let LFC decide.

For his charity work, again what he did after Hillsborough (which affected the whole City) and for generally being a true adopted Scouser, there should be a statue in a prominent position.

There’s one for Ken Dodd at Lime Street train station and now they should make room for Ken Dalglish!

Radio Silence

Icon

Radio City is as iconic in Liverpool as the Liver Birds, (I hate to say it) the Superlambanana or (dare I say it) The Beatles. That iconic status was guaranteed when it took over the old revolving "Tower Restaurant". 450 feet high, it can be seen for miles around and is part of Liverpool's world famous skyline.

I grew up listening to 'City'. The alternative was BBC's Radio Merseyside. My dad listens to Merseyside. That's for old people!

Morning radio

Getting ready for school and then in later years, for work, the Breakfast Show would always be on. I listened to Johnny Kennedy, Tony Snell (I still remember listening to the spilt milk saga c1996), Kev Seed and Simon Ross. I'm sure there were others in between.

I was getting bored near the end of Rossie's reign and there was another local radio station available - Juice FM. I started switching between the two and would stop at the one playing the best music.

After Rossie left the Breakfast Show, the radio was permanently tuned to Juice. Rossie was replaced by a presenter who moved from a later time slot. I didn't like him during 'The Big Drive Home' and he is far too annoying to listen to first thing in the morning.   

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in"

There was one programme I'd always listen to and that was the weekend football with live commentary.

Listening to John Aldridge was like listening to the most passionate fan down at the local. He is an ex-Liverpool player and clearly still hasn't lost his love for the club. He doesn't hold back during his commentary. If a player isn't playing well, he doesn't make excuses, he tells you as he sees it.

Aldo in his Liverpool playing days.

Bauer Media, the owners of Radio City, have announced this week there will be no more live commentary (click here for the local report). I don't know why they have made this decision, they've been quoted as saying it's "part of a restructuring at the station". Their LinkedIn profile states "We’re obsessed about our brands and relentless about going the extra mile to delight our audiences and customers alike". This decision goes against their own ethos. I think this is a massive gamble and a bigger mistake.

There is more to this programme than the commentary. There is the talk show and phone in before and after the match, where fans can have live debates with the experts. This will all be missed.

The only station that will be broadcasting live commentary now is Radio Merseyside. As I've previously stated, this is for old people...but there is no alternative.  I just hope I stay awake long enough to listen to a full 90 minutes.

My old dad has got the last laugh now!

So, after 40 years, it's time to part way with Radio City 96.7 as Bauer have cancelled my weekend visitation schedule.

Thanks Bauer.

When lollipops suck back

I’m a bit cautious when it comes to OS updates on my Android devices and this includes new versions not just bug fixes. I've read too many articles saying devices are freezing, apps crash or won’t load or even the end user is left with a brick.

I was obviously feeling optimistic in November 2014. As soon as I was notified that Android 5.0 (‘Lollipop’) was available for my Nexus 7 2012 I jumped right on it. I had no issues with Android 4 (‘KitKat’) but probably just fancied a change and to get a look at the new features (not that I noticed much difference).

It became immediately clear why it was called ‘Lollipop’, it sucked (excuse my Americanism).

The device ground to a halt and was almost unusable. The screen took about 20 seconds to wake up after pressing the unlock/power button. It would take three seconds to recognise each digit of the PIN number and apps would crash frequently. Daily reboots were required but this only seemed to work for a very short period (and even the reboot took at least five minutes!).

These ‘glitches’ must have been apparent as just a few weeks later, an update was available. I carried out the install thinking my Nexus would be as good as new. Nope, it made no difference whatsoever. I persevered with it, using it for just one or two apps, definitely not for internet browsing. If I wanted to look something up, it would have been quicker and less frustrating to go to my local library...but I just used my phone instead!

A few weeks ago, another update became available. I’m now on v5.1.1.  Did that make a difference? Er, no.

I decided last weekend to bite the bullet and do the dreaded ‘Factory data reset’ - What’s the worst that could happen?

So far, things are going well. All my apps are installed and working. Response time is instant. It feels like it’s fresh out of the box. Fingers crossed it will stay this way.

This does raise a few questions…

1. Has anybody managed to go from v4 to v5 without any issues?
2. Has anybody else had to do the ‘Factory data reset’?
3. Is this a conspiracy to purposely make old devices defunct in order to force sales of the latest devices up?
4. Why do Android give their versions childish names like Jellybean, KitKat and Lollipop?
5. Does anybody know what Android M will stand for (I hope they call it Marathon, never will get used to ‘Snickers’)?

I just hope when Android M does come out, it will work first time. Just to be on the safe side, I will give it at least a month.

(The image is taken from Android.com )