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.