Come on Britain, WAKE UP!!!

Following a very long discussion with my friend Bob, the Gardener, I’ve come to the terrible conclusion that you humans, and more especially you lot that live in Britain, you seem to be absolutely afraid of sticking up for your rights. In fact, you don’t even appear to like to make a fuss about anything, let alone actually complain about the wrongs done to you. Can I come around and walk all over you, too? (I’m only kidding. J) Croak!!!

I recently spoke about the way you lot are being ripped off by your energy providers, well, I’m going to tell you more. Haven’t you ever wondered why it is that you, of all the people in the Euro Market, are always paying for higher increases in energy costs than in any of the other members of the community? Did you, those who pay the energy company EDF, know that you have just seen your bills rise by 22%, well, of course you have. And yet in France, their government would not allow EDF to increase their customers prices by more than 5%? You should be asking yourself, why it is that the French government can care for its citizens in this way, while yours doesn’t seem to give a damn about what you now have to pay? Of course, could it be something to do with the small fact that Gordon Brown’s brother works for EDF? Croak!!!

Another thing that crops up again and again, it’s that Britain no longer owns most of the energy and utility companies that rip you off. It’s little wonder that foreign companies are lining up to buy what remains of your energy and utility companies. They know perfectly well where the best profits are to be had, and it’s all because you lot are such willing payers. It doesn’t matter how much higher your bills will be, you’re always there for them and ready to appease these gods of wealth. Your government does nothing to protect the public’s interests at all, and even if you do shout about it, it chooses to totally ignore you, at least that’s how I see it all. Croak!!!

My goodness! The boards of these greedy money-grabbing companies must be laughing their socks off while they think about all that lovely money you lot are throwing at them. Croak!!! Don’t tell me that your Labour party has the wellbeing of the country’s economy at heart. Come on Britain, WAKE UP!!!

If you still don’t think that Gordon hasn’t got your interests at heart, then consider this: Why is it that the government appointed Regulator appears to be ignoring your pleas for fairer energy prices? The energy Watchdog is forever trying to protect you against these overly inflated energy prices, but he hasn’t got the teeth it needs to do a spot of hard biting. Quite unlike the regulator on the other hand, but then he’s about as useless as a boil on your arse. Goodness knows how he thinks he’s earning the high wage he’s being paid each year? I suppose that as he works for the government, he’s entitled to protect their interests first. Croak!!!

While I’m on the subject of the government, I want to remind you all of just how distanced they are from the rest of you humans. Now, although this snippet of information was given by a member of one of the opposition parties, it all goes to show you that they don’t give a damn. When Nick Clegg was asked how much did he think that a pensioner receives each week, he replied, “About thirty pounds.”

Now I don’t know much about what it takes for you humans to live on, but if he thinks that thirty pounds seems fair for the senior citizens among you, then he, and others like him have a very low opinion as to what is fair. I bet that he spends more on a single meal, and yet he thinks a pensioner should be able to live a week on it. MPs simply don’t even live on the same planet as the rest of you, let alone realise the difference between the spending power of their incomes when compared with yours. Croak!!! Oh, and before those smart arses among you think that your pensions will be far better than those at present when you retire, remember this: With the rate at which the financial institutions are losing your pension investments in this current credit crunch, you’ll be very lucky to find any pension worth waiting for you at all by the time it’s your turn to retire. Ribbit!!!

Well, that’s enough ranting and raving from me for another week. I’ll see you all again real soon, your friend…

Froggy

PS : Back in April last year, the Energy Regulator was urging EDF's customers to switch their supplier to another company. Now that's a good idea!! So, come on you EDF customers, it's time to strike for freedom. You changed once and you can do it again.

The Freeview Fiasco and other topics

My goodness! There was I thinking that in being a frog, my life was fraught with dangers of all kinds, but my life is nothing when compared to that of you humans. Never a week passes in this day and age, without that something has kicked you humans where it hurts the most. Bob has now told me about something you lot in Britain call, Freeview. Apparently, following a number of years where the BBC TV channels have been telling you that in order to watch television at following the switch to digital, you all have to go out and buy yourselves a Set-top Box. Ribbit!!!

Fair enough, you may think, and many of you did more than just think about it. You eagerly went out and purchased one of these devices, because after all, it was only twenty pounds and without one, you would simply be left with a television that you couldn’t receive programmes on, unless of course, you have Sky or Cable TV. Lovely J

Over the years, the good old BBC spent lots of licence fee money on a fancy advert to constantly remind you that without one of these boxes, your TV would go the way of the Dodo. That‘s all very well and good, but it seems that some of you have conveniently discovered that your set-top box doesn’t work, and here I’m referring to those among you who live in the area that receives digital broadcasts. Apparently, Freeview, the company in charge of the change over, has decided in their wisdom that they had to make some changes to their system by upgrading the signal. This means that your set-top boxes will no longer do the job for which it was intended. Croak!!!

Now, I don’t know about you, but according to your consumer laws, any product that is made, and then sold to consumers, must be fit for the purpose that it was intended. Buying a product that then doesn’t work, regardless of the excuse given, the liability then falls on the retailer to refund the consumer. Remember, the BBC told you to go out and buy one of these products, therefore it was beholding upon them to make sure that the Freeview systems that were put on sale, actually operated in conjunction with the Freeview signal. Letting purchasers discover later on that the system would be upgraded after they had already purchased their set-top box, is no excuse in their defence for any changes subsequently made. Freeview, BBC… Get your act together. Ribbit!!!

Well now, don’t say that I didn’t tell you about this financial fiasco you lot are going through at the moment. Croak!!! How many Banks and Financial institutions have to go belly up before you humans start asking questions? You know, all this money that these people have been losing is still around somewhere, probably in the pockets of all those who made big fat profits from the mortgages they sold you. Now you learn that other banks, etc may go to the wall. I wonder, how long have the executives and board members of these companies known about what was going to happen, before it did, that is? Did they think of what it would cost in jobs and other people’s money? Did they think that someone would bail them out? Croak!!!

If a simple frog like me can see what was going to happen, and remember, I did speak to you lot about this a long time ago, then why couldn’t these people see it and act accordingly? A newspaper article suggested that the CEO of Lehman Bros, Richard Fuld, received a performance-related bonus last March, bringing his pay to a staggering $22.1m. What performance? I’ll leave you to judge what you think is happening here, along with all the other Banks and Financial institutions that have, and are going to fall along the wayside. Croak!!!

I‘m going back to my pond, it‘s safer there… I’ll see you all again next week… Bye for now,

Froggy

Can you believe them?

If I am to believe the things that Bob tells me, then I’ve come to realise that you humans are a whole lot more devious than I first imagined you to be. Croak!!! I know what you’re thinking, that frog is off on his high and mighty horse again, but I’m not! Not everyone is tarred with the same toad, some of you do nothing but good throughout your lives. However, those of you who are in this category are as rare as hen’s teeth. You don’t believe me, well, when was the last time that you heard, or saw anyone perform a really unselfish deed? As I said, some of you can truly say that you have, and I really do believe you, honest! Ribbit!!!

Many of the poor in this country, Britain, will be wondering how they are going to pay their energy bills this coming winter. Of course, being a frog, heating, or even the lack of it is not a problem to me. I’ll be in the midst of hibernation, so it won’t matter either way. But let me draw your attention to the way that these energy companies have gained their win, win situation.

When the Tory leader Mrs Thatcher decided to sell off what you actually owned as a nation, she did so with her friends and fellow Tories in mind. How? It’s simple, she took what you owned, then sold it off on the cheap, making sure that you were restricted in the amount of shares you could buy, if you could actually afford them, but not so her Tory friends. They are the ones who are getting rich from the ever rising profits of these greedy energy companies, not you lot. Croak!!!

You want to know something else, I find it all rather odd in that you can be sold something that you already owned in the first place. Is this dumb, or what? You think not? So, if one of Bob’s friends was to come into your homes and them steal something of value from you, then later on sell it back to you, it would be okay would it? No, too right you wouldn’t. But, this is exactly what you allowed the Tories to do to you. Croak!!! The Tories know only one kind of society, and their motto is; Greed!

If you still need convincing, then let me remind all of you home owners, the ones who are finding it difficult to keep up with the mortgage payments, that those who put you in this situation in the first place, were rich Tory toads. Their concern was to make money from kidding you that your houses were worth much more than they really were at the time. Croak!!!

Which political party do you suppose these rich Bankers and Financiers support, the ones who sold you these mortgages in the first place? I can tell you, the Tory party that’s who. The Tory party in Britain today, and most likely since politics came into being, are only concerned by the amount of money they can make for themselves. Who first suggested that a fifty-thousand pound house could be worth up to two-hundred thousand? You can bet your life that they support the Tories. Croak!!! And, well like a load of sheep, you lot fell for this nonsense hook, line and sinker. I guess that you humans will never learn. You don’t seem happy unless you’re making someone else miserable. How sad. Croak!!!

Anyway, back to those who are having difficulty in paying their high energy bills because of the greedy shareholders. Your current, and seemingly useless government is suggesting that people who are having difficulties in heating their homes, should insulate their lofts. Fair enough, this helps. However, most houses in this country leak heat like a sieve during the winter freeze. This is because most people also have ill-fitting doors and windows, something that Bob says is never discussed by those government officials who think that they know it all. Crap! They don’t know diddly squat. Croak!!!

Another thing that has occurred to me is this, how do these energy companies know who is paying more than ten percent of their incomes, if those who suffer keep quiet about their needs? After all, there is such a thing as personal pride, and nobody wants to have to stick out their hand and announce that they need a charitable hand-out. Bob says that the government thinks that everyone should be able to heat their living rooms during winter, at a temperature of around twenty degrees plus, or so, with other rooms at eighteen degrees. They should all become comedians. Following this sort of advice would tend to see the poor becoming poorer and deeper in debt. If you can afford to heat your homes as they advise, then you are luckier than most. Bob says that he finds it difficult to keep temperatures much above ten or eleven degrees C during the worst of the winter months in his own home, so he should know something of which he speaks. He knows of someone who lives in a council dwelling that has loft insulation already. This same council offered to put in loft insulation, forgetting that they had already done so some years before, plus the fact that they had carried out a property check on this less than twelve months ago. To me, it doesn’t matter whether you are dealing with local or central government, they all act like they’ve got cotton wool between their ears. Ribbit!!!

I wish that I could speak to you all about better things, but to be honest, the worst is to come…

That’s it for now. I’ll see you all again next week… Bye for now,

Froggy

Media Lies…

Tell me something, where would you be now if you didn’t have a frog like me as your friend? Be honest now. I know that it’s hard to believe that a simple frog could be the best thing in your life since the advent of sliced toad, oops, sorry, I mean… bread. But I’m truly only here to help you in anyway I can and for your good. Ribbit!!!

One of the greatest problems faced by humans today, it’s knowing who you can trust. You have all of those officials in government, and let’s face it, they’ve made the telling of lies as a kind of art-form, likewise the media who are supposed to report the news, not lie about it, or embellish it until it reads the way they want you to see it. Me, I tell it the way it is, and believe me, from what Bob has told me, along with what I’ve seen for myself, you need me to steer a clean and honest pathway through life for you. Ribbit!!!

Just recently, I’ve given you my views on this credit crunch you lot are supposed to be enduring. Well, let me inform you about this so-called gloomy economy you’ve got at present. Are you aware that you lot, the consumer, has been spending normally in the marketplace? The only difference between what you’re doing now, and what you were previously doing, it’s that you, if you’re British that is, spent more than £4.8bn in online sales during July this year. Does this sound like people caught up in a credit crunch? Of course it doesn’t. It’s rather that the human way to shop is beginning to change. Most of you are now shopping online, rather than spending on your high street, and why? It’s because you get better value for your money, and importantly, it’s a darned sight cheaper too, that’s why. Ribbit!!!

As I told you all recently, only those who took out mortgages they couldn’t afford to have, are currently suffering any form of credit crunch. Croak!!! The media appear to want you all to think that the general economy is jiggered, and to be honest, if you believe what they say, then the economy will indeed suffer as a result of their misinformation. The human economy relies on you spending your money. Your spending brings about growth in manufacturing and this in turn makes the trade in goods expand, bringing us in a full circle. If you stop spending your money, the economy will be heading for a big crash. Croak!!!

That’s it for this week. Chin up, it’s always darkest before the dawn. Believe me, I know…

I’ll see you all again next week… Bye for now,

Froggy