Did God make man or did man make God?

This might sound a heavy subject but it's not intended as such. I understand that some people believe earnestly in God and follow their chosen religion in their own way. I am not clever enough to know how the universe came about, but after being brought up as a Catholic I know how young minds can be influenced by strong minded teachers, both at school and church. I was taught to accept teachings that at the time did not make sense at all, but being young and vulnerable I thought it must be right otherwise it meant my elder peers were liars. I was told to have faith, which ultimately meant that no matter how unrealistic the teachings were we had to believe them. When I left school and went to work I had numerous religious arguments with my co-workers because I could not understand why they did not believe what I believed? I now have no religious leanings whatsoever, so perhaps all that doctrine that was rammed down my throat has backfired and why the once packed churches on Sundays are now  populated by fewer people. What troubles me even to this day is how people are willing to accept what they are told. An example I can give is a television programme I watched recently about events 5 years after the Tsunami disaster in Indonesia. Prior to the disaster the attendance at the Mosque was low, but because the Iman said  the Tsunami was a direct concequence  of  God's displeasure and a punishment for their wrong doings, attendances have gone up. This to me smacks of man's manipulation of the facts to suit their own ends. Guilt has always been a big weapon when it comes to religion as I well remember. Religion is big business and so employs a great many people all with a vested interest in pursuing the idea that we were all created by God. I no longer accept this, nor do I accept an afterlife. Nor do I believe that if we did not have religion we would not have law and order. This to me is another way of religion controlling the masses. I suppose Humanism would be the most acceptable "religion" I could think of, because they believe in a world without religious privilege or discrimination, where people are free to live good lives on the basis of reason, experience and shared human values. Amen to that.

Northern Ireland

Once again Northern Ireland is back in headlines. You would think that after all the troubles of years ago and the progress made since then, the last thing the province needs is a colapse of the power sharing executive. Of course the timing of Peter Robinson's wife scandal has not helped the situation and in some way has detracted from the seriousness of the current assembly problems. We all knew that finding a political solution in Northern Ireland that would suit all the parties would be a difficult thing to achieve. Especially with breakaway elements hell bent on returning to the old ways, which if achieved would benefit nobody. The province has come on leaps and bounds and has put itself firmly on the tourist map, which has brought a welcome boost to local economies. The latest problem is around the devolution of justice and policing from Westminster to Belfast. Disagreement between the two main parties DUP and Sinn Fein revolve around agreeing a date for the transfer to take place. The DUP want "community confidence" in place before a full transfer takes place. This appears to be centred around the handling of parades and they want the Parades Commission who put conditions on marches to be scrapped. Sinn Fein are wary of this happening because they feel it gives the Orange Order an advantage. Let us all hope that commonsense prevails and a compromise can be agreed, so enabling the province to continue moving forward and by doing so benefit everyone.

Is the Premiership doomed?

We have all been affected by the events of last year when the World's Banking system very nearly collapsed. In this country we still do not know how the coming year is going to map out. This will only come to light once a new government is installed and they spell out how much it is going to cost each and everyone of us. Yet clubs in the English Premiership seem oblivious to the financial troubles outside the world they inhabit, this despite several of them dicing with administration. Even the mighty Manchester United has admitted to be in debt to the tune of £700m+. Liverpool and Everton too are experiencing financial difficulties and yet there seems to be an attitude similar to the banks last year before they crashed that they spend ridiculous amounts of money for players they can ill afford. Take Manchester City, to compete with the major players in the league they have spent obscene amounts of money on new players. They have also sacked a manager who will have to be compensated. But the new Arab owners seem to be hell bent on spending even more money. What has recently happened in Dubai should ring warning bells to them in that the Arab world is not immune to recession. Many Premiership clubs now have foreign owners, some have fallen by the wayside and some are waiting to come in. I honestly think that unless the Premiership takes hold of its finances, this year could prove to be disasterous for them. The sooner they stop paying ridiculous transfer fees, excessive wages and agent's fees the better, otherwise I think the Premiership is doomed.

Cadburys take-over.

Well another old established bit of British history has gone. Cadbury's shareholders have opted for a Kraft take over. The best chocolate manufacturer bar none, is now in the hands of a cheese manufacturer who would not have me as a customer even if they let me have their cheese for nothing. What will all this mean? There is no doubt the 25,000 worldwide work force will be slashed to a fraction of the present size to accommodate their hostile bid of £11.5bn. I just hope the taste of Cadburys chocolate is not compromised by this take-over, because to me there is no comparision whatsoever with other chocolate brands. I suppose the decision by the shareholders to accept is understandable but for me the loss to Kraft is a sad one.

Compensation culture.

I used to laugh at the Americans when I read  about some of their  ridiculous excuses for claiming compensation. That was before the desease spread over to the UK. This "no win, no fee" system has spiralled out of control here too now and has encouraged a blame culture, rather than owning up to one's responsibilities. Everyday we are bombarded on TV, radio and newspapers asking if we have had an accident in last three years, if so you may be entitled to compensation. One of the most irritating TV commercials is the one about the fellow who managed to get £7,500, because someone gave him the "wrong" ladder to fix an alarm. WHAT!! What wrong ladder? First of all, if he knew it was a wrong ladder, why did he use it? Secondly, why did he not put something at the bottom of his ladder, like his tool box to stop the ladder from slipping back. It's something I always do because to me it is common sense. In other words I take responsibility for my own actions. All these compensation solicitors should hang their heads in shame and take responsibility for theirs.

House Sale.

Well, like thousands of others I have decided to sell my house. It might not be the best time to sell because  house prices seemed to have dipped since the credit crunch kicked in. Ok, if I had decided to sell 18 months ago I might have got more then than now, but logic goes out the window when you feel the urge to move. So I have started the process off this week. I contacted two local Estate Agents, who in turn sent their reps around to give me a valuation. Their offers had a £10k variation, with the first one being very positive and confident that she would be successful in selling. The second, on the other hand was the complete opposite. She gave me the impression that she would struggle to sell unless I went with her low valuation and considering their fees were 1.5% compared to the former's fee of 1.25% I was not too impressed. In the meantime I trawled the internet, doing my own research and came across a site called http://www.theadvisory.co.uk/. I am so glad I did. This site is totally independent and offers impartial expert advice for house sellers. By following their advice I arranged for the HIP assesssment to be carried out (HIPs are compulsory these days if you wish to sell your property), but also arranged a further valuation, contacted an on-line Estate Agent and solicitor all for the fraction of the cost of going through the traditional Estate Agent route. If you decide to use this site, let me know or better still if you want to buy my 3 bedroom, 1 on-suite, detached, integral garaged, very long driveway, gardens front and rear, in a quiet cul-de-sac house, (pictured above) let me know on the blog or email mrrybrn@aol.com.   

Blog help??

Is it me or I am not alone in thinking the help you get when trying to put together a blog or website is lacking? I understand that the difficulties people experience are varied and diverse, but if you are new to the whole process, even what appears to be simple instructions to the technically minded can be very confusing to others. Even trying to embed a link into your blog is not as simple as they make out. Trying to get an explanation from the company supplying the link is often non-existent.  Wouldn't it  be nice to discuss the problem with someone on a one to one basis at the end of your computer instead of placing your query on a discussion website in the hope some kind person replies to you with an explanation. Invariably no one replies, so your frustration increases further. How many times have you gone through the forums and eventually found someone else with the same query but like you nobody has replied. Ughhh. I have got to say though, one site I personally found extremely helpful is http://www.w3schools.com/. Their tutorials are very informative. I pass this information onto you without prejudice or reward from the company. I just thought other new bloggers and webbers would benefit by viewing their site.

New Year, same story.

So, just when we thought our MP's expenses debacle had come to an end, we are told that the commission investigating the excesses are not going to implement all the recommended changes. In fact, not only are the recommendations going to be watered down but there is also talk that MP's are going to give themselves a huge pay increase to boot. Add this to the news that the world's biggest investment banks are expected to pay out more than £40bn in salaries and bonuses in the next couple of weeks. So the two biggest scandals of the last year show no signs of coming to an end. I hope the electorate show what they think of MP's who have milked the system when the General Election comes around and get rid of them irrespective of the party they represent.

What is the most anti-social item you can think of?

The most anti-social thing I can think of is the car. Why you might ask, especially as it seems to be one of the most essential items for people to own. Or is it? I suppose this cold, snowy spell that we are all experiencing brings it home to me. At times like this you are more likely to abandon your vehicle for the more strenuous mode of transport, walking. This activity whether you like it or not brings you in direct contact with other human beings of all walks of life. You are taken out of the comfort zone of your portable "home" and have to be more sociable than you would normally be. Notice how many people speak to one another whilst they are out and about. Something which is sadly missing when you get behind the wheel of your pride and joy. In fact, usually the only other type of dialogue that comes with driving takes the form of even more anti-social behaviour, accompanied almost certainly with gestures of a more aggressive nature. I think over the years the car has made us more independent and capable of going further afield, but it has also made us more aloof and isolated as far as mixing with people is concerned. To me this can only be a sad thing. What do you think?

Football Manager merry-go-round

Here we go again. Following on from the Mark Hughes sacking at Man City, Alan Irvine at Preston and Gary Megson at Bolton get shown the door. None of them doing a particular bad job, but all of a sudden their respective chairmen start to get relegation worries. Now Bolton want to poach Owen Coyle from Burnley as Megson's successor. Incredibly Coyle is now contemplating the offer. Ok, so Bolton must be offering considerably more money than he's getting at the moment, but surely his priority should be in keeping Burnley in the Premiership rather than a sideways move to Bolton. I empathise with the Clarets fans anger at such a move because being a Blackpool fan we went through the same thing when Simon Grayson jumped ship to go to Leeds. To me Grayson undid all the good work he did for us by choosing them in the manner he did at a very difficult time. Unfortunately there is no loyalty what's so ever in football these days. All this kissing the badge nonsense one minute and leaving for more money the next makes a mockery of loyalty to the fans.

It's that time of the year...

It's that time of the year again when some people decide to make New Year resolutions. Some want to lose weight, some want to reduce their debt, whilst others just want to try something different. But the one thing that links every resolution is "willpower". What starts off with all good intentions can soon turn into a chore, which develops into guilt. In the past I have wanted to play the piano, guitar, drums and harmonica. I get all the equipment, the instruction books and start to learn in earnest. I think to myself just do at least some practice everyday, at least that way it becomes part of your day. But what tends to happen is things start to distract you and what you've learnt soon becomes lost in amongst all the distractions, so to start again takes greater effort. Then I see a new instruction book claiming to teach me even quicker, which I end up buying and trying until my patience and determination starts to waver. In fact as I write this blog I can see my guitar lying forelornly in the conservatory gathering dust. Still it's the start of a New Year, so surely this time my attempts to play at least one musical instrument will be achieved or would I be better to accept that I will never master any of the instruments and go onto something else. Anyway here's wishing you all a Happy New Year and good luck with your resolutions.