The British Banks have thrown the teddy out of the pram, due to the guarantee of €440bn that the Irish Government for all six Irish Banks for the next 2 years. Fees to be arranged and disclosed 

Even Alistar Darling called our Finance Minister (Brian Lenihan) pleading with him not to do it, to which Lenihan, no doubt, reminded him of his superb handing of Northern Rock, and other market helping comments he has made over the last 6 months.

The British Bankers are angry because of the outflow of funds from British Banks to Irish Banks now that deposits are guaranteed by the Irish Government, bless them.

The Irish Govenment had a gun to its head Monday Night/Tuesday Morning and probably secured the financial system in Ireland by its quick action, which in turn ensures jobs. To have the British Bankers whinge is ironic, since they have been silent through out this crisis.

Maybe the Governments should look at the Irish Govenments move and see if they could replicate it, rather whinge that they did'nt think it up first.I think its quiet refreshing to see a government ACT LIKE A GOVERNMENT and show leadership

I am feckin sick of hearing unions and individuals complaining about the size of their pay packages in the Public Service. One chap was saying he was earning €38,000 and "was struggling", TOUGH SHITE you chose that career.

Additionally, you have a job for life, coupled with a final salary pension. Should Mr Public Service want more money get another job like the rest of us.

Great Britian had a very good olympics in China, and more luck to them. But as usual the british media,especially Sky News just keep harping on on how successful Team GB, giving us minute detail.

In reality Britian fininshed 4th in the medal table which under olympic rules does'nt warrant a medal. Additionally most of the medals were won in non conventional sports like BMX Riding, and just because London is Hosting the Olympics in 2012 does'nt mean that they'll be the best ever, They w'ont............. despite the Borrs Boffoon stating that we did this before, yes Boris in 1908, Christ would someone explain to Boris we have moved on

I'm so feckin annoyed now I have to get this off my chest before I poke someone with a pointy stick.

Why do we insist on giving cancer names that makes it sound invinsible?. Don't get me wrong, cancer is a horrible,horrible insidious disease, that unfortunately kills 11000 people in Ireland every year. But for some reason we Irish have a habit of giving it names such as the "Big C" making it almost mythical and invinsible.

When I was diagnosed with my cancer in Dec 07, I saw at first hand the the effect it had on my family and friends, some were shattered and wept openly other's just kept going. This is as I said a horrible disease, but its not invinsible.

During my journey( and I'm not finished) seeking a cure for this feckin disease, I have had the endure a lot of hospitalisation,injections,blood tests, surgery, radiotherapy on my brain, and gallons of chemotherapy, all willingly, because I want to spend the rest of my life wife my wife and children. It really annoys me when I hear people refer to this disease as invinsible,IT IS'NT.

Cancer is defeatable,numerous people defeat this disease everyday, and they are from all ages and backrounds. They are the brave ones, they are they the one's that decided that this disease was'nt invinsible and that any suffering was worth it, a price that had to be paid.

All of us wish we did'nt have this feckin disease, I wish I was at home now with my wife and children rather than sitting in isolation in a Dublin Hospital but I have chosen to live, and for me to achieve this goal I need to go through this treatment.

I'm no Nuala O Faolain, I d'ont regard any time that chemotherapy gives me as being dirty in anyway, and I'm certainly not weak for deciding to live. I will visit all those places that I want to when I'm better ,not before hand.

Bravery has many facets but I can honestly say that the pure unbridled bravey is all around us when it comes to fighting this disease, patients,nurses,doctors its not a bed of roses but we all "suck up and plough on" together.

Another thing, why do people automatically say " I'm so sorry" when you tell them that you have cancer, I was playing golf two weeks ago and one of the lads I was playing said that. I suppose its difficult for people to know what to say, and I respect that, but there must be a better way.

Perhaps asking them what type of cancer it is, or what kind of treatment are they going through or will be going through, be positive they will appreciate it, I know I do. Christ knows there are enough negatives associated with having this disease, we need as many postives as possible.

Every morning I say the following two things to myself

"Today I need to ensure that positives outweigh the negatives, at least that way I know I'm winning" and

"Success is my only motherfucking option " (Eminem)

So please stop making cancer bigger than it actually is, remember 1 in 3 of us will get this disease at sometime in our lives so we better get used to giving it a funt up the hole.

As I said its curable

"Recession" the evil word that was uttered by an economist in June 08 (tues) and has blighted our daily lives since. People are lost they are forlorn they d'ont know where to turn.

Comparisons to the 80's are everywhere, for christ sake I've being singing "To Shy" by Kajagoogoo for weeks now and leaving my stubble grow for that "Miami Vice" look.

But wait, here are 5 reasons why we should welcome this recession with open arms...

1. Builders will have to learn English and manners, if they are to have any chance of selling anything. "F##k this and F##k that, and F##k off will not cut it with potential customers
2. Construction workers will now be paid a "reasonable"  wage and not €1.40 per block which was the norm. And they wonder why they have been let off "to expensive and shit quality" thats why, enjoy the dole.
3. Auctioneers now will actually have to work for a living, they'll have to call back when they say, and they'll have to tell the truth to prospective buyers, as the buyers now have time to check out the bona fides given.
4. Banks will never lose, but its nice to watch the bastards squirm, bastards, ah a bit of luck one might fall over.
5. The consumer might get back his/her place ie being the spender on goods and prices that offer quality and value, we have for to long being arse raped its now our turn to box clever, after all its our money

We have this opportunity let's use it..............................

PS Just read that there are 15000 more women than men signing on , so if you are a single bloke looking for love, check out the local dole office, its cheaper than pubs.

As a proud Cork man living in exile I beginning to find the reporting of the news in Ireland is lacking passion (gra), and frankly its beginning to annoy me so I have decided to take a story from RTE's Website and translate it into "Cork". Click on the RTE read the original post.

Knackers at it all Day in Mullingar

by Blacksheep

8 shams have been hauled up in front of court with something to do with a large scatter in Mullingar Co. Westmeath today,it happened after dinner. Initial reports indicate knackers are involved

6 knackers ,that were actually in court, fair dues to them, were charged with "acting the langer" with 2 others were charged with "acting the complete langer and flahing the situation all altogether".

All 8 were kept in so that they would reappear in Tullamore,s District court on Monday, with the help of god.

The wig Judge John Neilan was told by the law that the lads are alleged to have been involved in a fierce scatter altogether that took place at Dalton Park housing estate or Mullingar Reginonal Hospital, again, after dinner.

Its believed that the scatter was part of an ongoing row between 2 families.

Locals (non- knackers) said that they saw 30 knackers, f'#@king stones and other shite at each other in what was described as a "riot".

The law say that the scatter was caused by what they described as a "king of the tinkers-style fist fight",or a kick shit.

Residents (Posh locals) say that its been going on for months between the 2 families but only really kicked off today.

More than 20 law were at the scatter to tell people to "stall the balls and cool the emotions, before some-one loses an eye". They went to say that it was a fierce scatter altogether with over 100 lads getting stuck in.

One house damaged by the scatter has had a €5,000 grant claim entered to Westmeath Co. Council in order to have the front door "re-aligned".

Further hop-ons were reported ,again after dinner but before tea and before they all set off for a pint.

Now thats better its gets to the point and there is no "horseshite" about it.

Just glancing at Newsnight on BBC2, and what did I see some liitle Minister from Gordons Brown's Disaster sitting next to a poster which states

"Did you know that having a job is good for you"

Well I'm outraged, I know that I live in Ireland and you are probably wondering how does this effect him?.

Simple this kind of thing catches on,the Irish Sea is'nt that big, if foot and mouth got here, a poster and its message will get here too.

Before you know it there will studies carried out telling us this myth is true. Next thing its reports published with graphs and anything published with graphs is always right.

There will  be a press conference held to launch the report, jigsawed to new Government policy "outlining the way foward" ie getting you work harder and longer possibly for less money.

Clearly its a lie, if you d'ont believe me look around on your commute to work, how many people are smiling?, how many look unhappy?.I'd hazard a guess a say the unhappy ones have it.

Working is shite, you work to make money so that you can buy food, pay for your home,and to live, working is'nt good for you, its necessary. I appreciate that many people enjoy their work, and more luck to them but coming out and declaring "Did you know that having a job is good for you" is simply irresponsible.

At this feckin rate two bottles of wine at night will be bad for you, wait and see its coming and there will a poster campaign to launch the policy, is some hotel during,yep, a wine reception......

Reallyannoyingshit.

I came across this little ditty on Bloomberg today

"Crude oil dropped 4.3 percent to $123.30 a barrel in New York, extending its decrease from an all-time high of $147.27 this month to 16 percent. Natural gas retreated 14 percent to $9.084 per million British thermal units, bringing its three-week drop to 33 percent."

Of course the news that we all received last week was that gas prices were meant to increase by 17% in Ireland and 20% in the UK, with further increases likely in Jan 09, and all this when MMBtu prices are falling our prices are going up.

I accept that many utilities enter into foward contracts to ensure continunity of supply and gas is priced accordingly on the foward market, I also know that many if not all of these contracts will have "get out clauses" with an appropriate fee being paid, which you can bet will be a lot less than the 33% reduction that they have enjoyed on the wholesale market.

So everyone's a winner except you and me, and frankly this is beginning to really annoy the shite out of me.

Should the utilities decide to pass on this saving on to us I'm predicting 2050, not 10mins to 9pm but the year 2050ish.

We need to start exercising our sense of outrage................. otherwise they will always win and it'll be all our own fault.

Ah yes, its that time of year again when the builders get their annual 2 week holiday, for one thing I can't believe that in 2008 this tradition is still being upheld.

Anyway this years break will be longer for some as an estimated 10,000 will not have a job when they are meant to return in 2 weeks.Well based on what I witnessed last night, before 9pm, is anything to go by, a vast majority will be either injured, in prison, or dead before the 2 weeks will be up.

As I will not be able over the next few weeks I decided to get a kebab and chips after I had a few pints, I went to the take away only to be met by a gang of middle aged arsehole builders, langerated 1, inside and outside the takeaway, shouting and threatening the staff with taunts such as "why d'ont ye f#@k -off home and give us our jobs back". The aggression was everywhere.

Irish builders might be pissed off because they are losing their jobs , I can understand that, but to show extreme racism towards 4 Eastern European workers is wrong. Another thing perhaps they should look at themselves, I did'nt see one non Irish construction worker pissed and taunting anyone.

Perhaps they should ask themselves "why am I being let go?", rather than acting like a latch 2.

1 "langerated" to be extremely drunk and to act like a langer when drunk

2 "latch" a foolish person, idiot

Unfortunately, I have to use the services of the Dublin Taxi Service. The standard is absolutely appalling, the cars are old and smelly, the cab drivers are old and smelly, but they come with attitude.

They are experts on everything, they apparently knew that the "recession" was coming, they say that it'll be "worse than the 1980's" and yet they drive a smelly cab for a living. They are also never wrong as they "know what I am bleedin talkin about'

They are agressive as I found out this morning, I was going to the same place as I have been going for the past 3 weeks, I joined the queue and every thing was moving along nicely, taxi came to the rank and the next person(s) get in. They gobshite taxi driver stops to pick someone else up half way up the rank.

 A woman standing next to me says "typical", I walked up to the taxi driver, and said "there is a queue of people up here waiting", he attacked "How the f#ck did I know "he said, "Why, were you driving with you eyes closed,and its a taxi rank, and there are people standing in the rain" I replied .He drew up to the top of the queue gets out of the cab and comes towards me" D'ont you ever f#cking touch my cab again"

I looked straight at him without opening my mouth, He shouts "whose f#cking next", all of the people ahead of me to a person said that they would not get into the cab, with a "lunatic", I think a woman from Northern Ireland called him, he was'nt happy, and off he sped, without a fare, still giving me loads.

Tomorrow will mark my 15th and last Dublin taxi of the 14 previous I would say that 3 of them were genuinely decent people trying to make a living, and provided a quality service, but unfortunatley they appear to be in the minority.

If there are approx 16000 taxi licences in the Dublin area, that would mean that about 3400 are providing a good service, and I for one am willing to pay for good service, whilst 12600 are just there to take your money and treat you like shite.

We do have a taxi regulator in this country perhaps we should start letting her know when things are shite. I did today when I got home by email.

One other thing if you are'nt making a living from being a dublin taxi driver, give it up, and stop whinging, its not everyone else's fault. Thats basic economics

All of the Irish Newspapers have visited the topic of Irish consumers being charged, in some cases up to 50% more, for same goods that are for sale in British multiples that operate here.Cries of Rip-off jump from the pages daily.

They have all being banging on about this outrageous practice, and asking questions like,why are the savings accruing from the weak sterling/euro exchange rate not being passed on by the likes of Tesco.

There has been so much written it has caused Brian Cowen, Taoiseach, to call members of the National Consumer Association "f*#kers", indeed this must be a serious issue.

As the newspapers ask the stores to explain, what are they doing?, exactly the same thing. I buy a newspaper almost everyday, and on Sunday this extends to 2 or 3. All these newspapers carry dual pricing in Euro and Stg£, and here are the prices being charged and what the should be charged if you use £.79 exchange rate.

I buy 5 Irish Times and 1 each of the Sunday Newspapers it would cost you €16.30 for the week, this would be £9.75 and this translated at .79p it should cost me an Euro equivalent of €12.32. The difference is €3.98 , which means that the above Irish Newspapers are, on average are 32.30% more expensive in Ireland than in the UK eventhough they are produced here.

So if the newspapers want to be the consumer advocate should'nt they get their own house in order first? and start explaining why they are'nt practising what they preach.

Waterstones that bastion of thespians and lesbians has changed.

It was always a place where I disliked buying books primarily due to the "langers" that worked behind the counter. Many if not all were college graduates who had the ambition and drive to work in a shop,albeit a book shop. They always looked unkept and could'nt resist having a peek at what you were reading and then snootingly packing then into a bag before handing them back to you.

On Tuesday I was in Dublin and decided to call in to the Waterstones shop on Dawson Street, as I had never paid a visit. On entering at approximately 11am I was overcome with a strong smell, I said "whats that". It was so powerful it stopped me in my tracks, I looked around and realised that it was the smell of vegetable soup, thats right vegetable soup, wafting in the air from the restaurant on the second floor.

Christ it was terrible, the pong filled the air so preventing you from having a good browse. Additionally would'nt you think that due to the "higher intellect" of its staff they could have cooked a nicer smelling soup, for example tomato and basil.

Why cant we live in a world where book shops sells books, coffee shops sells coffee, and cafes sells soup.

Needless to say I did'nt stay very long and I certainly w'ont be back

I noticed an awful lot of middle-aged men, of which I am one, now d'ont tuck their shirts inside their trousers anymore. When did this become a fashion statement?.

They look feckin stupid with their shirt tales hanging out over their arses and the front hiding the substantial girth that they has amassed over the years. They look like walking marquees.

Christ when I was growing up,tucking in your shirt was a must, my father used to say "show a little respect for yourself and tuck your shirt in ". I continue to do it today,and insist that my own son tucks his shirt in .

Would these people wear a suit with their shirts out? no, so why do it when you are wearing "casual" clothes.

Whats next no trousers?

For feck sake tuck your shirt in you look stupid, and no, you d'ont look 20 years younger either.

I have decided to entitle this post "Carbon Arse Print" because I cannot see the point in calculating my households carbon footprint.

For those of you that wish to carry out this exercise, here is the Irish Calculator and here is the UK Calculator

When I was filling in all the information on these websites, I was amused on the level of detail that they were requiring, for example,

• "How many light bulbs in the house?"
• "What is the energy rating of your washing machine ?"
• "How many kms/miles do you travel by public transport every week?"

Unknowingly I began to answer these questions as best I could, I even got off my arse and looked at the washing machine for an indication of its energy rating, but to no avail. This is when the light bulb, a non energy saving one, went off in my head "Whats the feckin point of doing this?", there is no point, its all bollocks.

The reason why governments wants the ordinary person to calculate his/her carbon footprint is to deflect attention from their policies and strategies on waste management,traffic congestion, and the hefty profits that Bord Gais and the ESB make every year, whilst being semi-state companies.

For feck sake my green bin is only collected once a month,when I remember to put it out, everytime I go to the recycling bottle bank, its full.

Whats even more annoying is the fact that the largest polluters in the world, USA, Russia, China did'nt even sign up to the Kyoto agreement, so why the f*#k so the ordinary joe public be shamed in calculating his/her carbon footprint?. Is it going to be the topic of conversation down the pub on a weekend ?, I doubt it.

Anyway even if you did reduce your CO2 would you be any better off financially?. No most of the gas companies are putting prices up by 20-25%, so you use less and you still pay more, whats the feckin point?.

What does being "Carbon Neutral" mean?, the only way I can see anyone not contributing CO2 is by being dead, and a long time dead, as I'm sure decompostion must add some methane to the atmosphere.

This is a scam on a global level for someone else to make money as our expense. Carbon Emissions credits are traded on the ECX on a daily basis, thereby enabling business and Government to buy offsets, the cost of which will eventually find its way into your pocket.

Energy saving light bulbs are more expensive than ordinary light bulbs, in Ireland we pay a recycle tax on any electrical goods that we buy, even if the goods are at the highest energy rating, again showing that someone, somewhere is making money out of this.

If Governments want us to lower our CO2 emissions, they could, make energy efficient goods cheaper and make recycling easier for all.

Why are "Fair Trade" goods so much more expensive than un-Fair Trade goods?.

Take for example a cup of coffee, there are a number of places that you can buy a cup of coffee where I live, additionally there are as many prices but generally they range from €1.50 to €1.95 a cup.

The only exception is the coffee shop selling "Fair Trade" coffee at €2.95 a cup.

Why is the coffee from the Fair Trade coffee shop so much more expensive?. I understand and appreciate that the growers are, or at least are meant to get, a better price for their coffee. You can be assured that they are not getting the 50% premium that you and I are being charged.

Are you meant to feel better about yourself when you buy free trade coffee?, I certainly d'ont , I feel ripped off.

Next time you are in the supermarket look for the "Fair Trade" section, most of the multiples have them, and carry out a simple comparision purely on price. Then ask yourself are you willing to pay that much extra? I know I'm not.

One final thing what have penguins got to do with "Fair Trade" ?

There is to be a push in Ireland to get students to study Latin. In 1971, 9061 students took Latin as part of the Leaving Certificate, this reduced to 117 students in 2007.

Reason, Latin sucks.

Simple.

Over the last number of weeks the Credit Crunch has filled our newspapers and news bulletins. For those who would like an understandable explaination click here.

So there you have it, the credit crunch is as a result of the Banks lending money to people that could'nt afford to repay,lying about the value of these "assets" and hoodwinking some into thinking that they could afford bigger mortgages by giving them "discounted introductionary offers".

Unlike other businesses that are usually allowed to go bust when they make a bollocks of their business, banks are given assistance,( Northern Rock and Bear Sterns), to fix the problem and preserve their vast profits by Governments and Central Banks, only yesterday the Bank of England announced its making £50bn available to UK Banks to assist in increasing liquidity as banks now are'nt lending to each other, because they c'ant trust each other.

Who will end up paying for all this, you and me in the form of higher interest rates, lower returns on stock markets, lower house valuation the list goes on

Really really annoying shit

While watching the news last night a story in relation to the upcoming "Partnership" talks, for those who have'nt heard of this I'll explain simply.

Years ago it was decided for the Government and the Trade Unions to sit down and negotiate pay increases, social policy etc, for the betterment of everyone and the economy as a whole. It has worked very well and many feel that it assisted in the creation of the "Celtic Tiger".

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions have voted to again, enter into these talks with the Government with the usual left wing bullshit, more pay for workers blah,blah,blah.

What I noticed was all the various trade union heads were wearing expensive business suits, I said to myself where are all the socialists gone, you remember the socialist activist, desert boots, chunky jumper, beard, (they nearly all had beards, must be a marxist thing) copy of the "Marxist and Leninist " under their arm, shouting and debating openly for the rights of the less fortunate in society.

Now its expensive business suits, powerpoint presentations, PR consultants, and spin doctors lurking in the shadows, the trade union activists now look and act like capitalists.

It would appear that socialism is dead, which is a shame we need different points of view, you may not agree with the view, but we need different points of view to the homogenised claptrap that is shovelled out everyday by Governments and their agencies.

 I remember the guy who religiously walked through many pubs in Cork selling the "Marxist and Leninist" despite the collapse of communism going on all over the world, and engaging in debate with capitalists like myself, now they are all gone.

A song from Billy Bragg now would be appropriate.

Christ I have heard it all, apparently Aer Lingus had a computer problem yesterday that essentially meant that Business Class flights to the US were offered on the website at €5 when infact they should be €1775.

Aer Lingus "copped on " to this problem after 2 hours and after some 100 people had "availed" of this offer, and paid with their credit cards, which would appear to satisfy the law of contract, but no! Aer Lingus cancelled all of these peoples bookings by sending them an email and "inviting them to re-book".

I heard Enda Corneille, Director, no less, of Corporate Affairs speak on Morning Ireland and saying something to the effect that people should have realised it was a honest mistake, I almost threw the radio out the window.

I heard recently of someone making their way back from a trip and the return date was incorrect on the piece of paper.The return date was entered incorrectly by the person, a honest mistake, but that person had to pay €400 to get home, and Aer Lingus's attitude was " its your fault you pay for it".

So when Aer Lingus makes a mistake, its our fault for not realising that the price could'nt be correct, when we make a mistake again its our fault. One would begin to wonder if you can trust anything that would appear on the website by way of prices.

If Aer Lingus are allowed to get away with this what is stopping them from changing the price of flights after you have paid for them?, I know that sounds silly but were are the customers rights here?. More importantly due to the advent of internet shopping, is the law of contract no longer valid? from this situation it would appear so.

I cant believe that they did'nt simply say "right we f*#ked up let the people go for the fiver", they could have actually used it for good marketing, I know thats an oxymoron,but no,they came out with a defense that frankly in the same class as "the dog ate my homework".

Why is doing the weekly shop such a pain in the feckin arse ?.

I have just completed another "sortie" to the supermarket, I use military terms because I now plan my weekly shopping trip with military precision.

I make a list, I visualise the route I am going to take through the isles, I have a few contingencies in my head just in case something out of the ordinary happens. I now go early in the morning in order to get the feckin thing done and out of the way, and to avoid some of the feckin ejeets that occupy parts of my world.

This becomes a bigger chore when my children are with me due to school holidays, for the constant pleas "Daddy can I have this " or "this is my favourite" despite knowing that the last time we bought that "favourite" it ended up in the bin with a large blue hairy mould attached to it. When I say "no" and I do, just because my six year old decides to throw a hissy fit does'nt mean that everyone has to stop their shopping to have a gawk, I genuinely feel like telling them to "piss off"(not my children, the gawkers).

Another thing I firmly believe that people should be taught how to push a trolley through a supermarket, I love the common practice of simply abandoning the trolley in the middle of the isle whilst the owner peruses the shelves, meanwhile a trolley tailback is now forming behind the offending trolley, and still the perusing continues. Perhaps the trolleys should come with hazard warning lights that can be switched on when stopping. Why can't people simply think?. Just pull your trolley to one side and this will allow other shoppers to pass, you moron.

Couple the above with the trolley pusher that simple bashes their way around the supermarket, you begin to wonder what goes on in peoples heads, if anything at all.

And just when you think that people cant get any ruder(not sure if thats a word,but I'm using it anyway), you find yourself looking for a product, you stand, well I stand, about 2 feet from the shelf and some gobshite squeezes into the 2 foot gap between you and the shelf, whats all that about? you feel like giving him/her a kick up the arse.

When all this is done and your trolley is full to the brim, you finally make it to the check-out, the gateway out of the hell you have just endured. You spot a checkout with another customer almost finished you pull up and begin to unload your shopping, you're half way through the unloading and the checkout person says "I'm closing this position now", "Why did'nt you tell me that when I arrived?" I ask, a shrug of the shoulders is the reply.

You relocate and get unloading again, the first question from the checkout assistant "do you have a loyalty card ?", "No I d'ont" the assistant looks shocked, everyone has a card, the cards are free, she continues in a state of shock.

Beep,beep, beep, your shopping gets scanned and pushed down, so that you can pack them yourself, the checkout assistant makes no feckin effort to help you , and then it happens the person behind "only has a few items" and the checkout assistant starts scanning eventhough you're not finished. I am boiling now, "excuse me can you please display some level of manners and allow me to finish my packing before you attend to other customers" I hiss, you know they think you're a grumpy old fart but I d'ont care manners are free.

So the next time you decide to part with your hard earned cash and do the weekly shop, just be prepared for the gawker, the trolley abandoner, the unhelpful checkout assistant,and the pusher.

Many of us, if not all of us, now carry a mobile phone. We all have different methods of paying for the usage of these phones from "Pay as you go " or "Pay Monthly", I have been a pay monthly customer of Vodafone for a long time.

I decided to carry out a little analysis of my bills to see if I was getting the best value for money from the tarriff that I was on. When I was reviewing the data that I could get my hands on from Vodafones website I noticed that I was calling and continue to call 1890 numbers.

1890 numbers are shown on many advertisements and documentation to be low cost numbers, well they are not if you use your mobile.

My tarriff gives me a monthly allowance of 200 minutes of calls to any network and landlines in Ireland, and I find it hard to meet this on a monthly basis, and usually have minutes carried foward to the next month, yet I still get charged for calls that I have made to 1890 numbers at 25c per minute, which does'nt meet my defination of cheap or low cost.

When I called Vodafone to ask why this is the case, "Its always been like that" was the response, I asked could it be ascertained why 1890 numbers are not part of my monthly commitment? "I'll need to find out and get back to you" I'm still waiting, and have a feeling will be waiting for sometime to come.

Another thing I noticed that Companies and Government Agencies, such as the Revenue Commissioners, print these numbers so that you can contact them cheaply, but they never print an alternative number ie an ordinary landline number, which I can assure you is part of your monthly flat charge and you won't be charged extra.

One would have thought that 1890 would be part of "any network" but it would appear to be apart of "some other network".

When I penned my original blog about iphone, iphone me bollocks ,this piece of technical crap was'nt available in Ireland yet, well come March 14th all that will change.

Please follow the link below as Pat Phelan articulates these points much better than me. If you decide to buy one of these phones after reading his blog God help you.

This morning I bought my newspapers and had a good browse, whilst I was doing so I came across a full page ad for PC World. Contained in the ad was a 8GB flash drive, reduced from €104.99 to €44.99, I said thats good value I'll get that.

I called my wife and asked if she could call to PC World today and pick up something for me, "no bother" she said. I said if you have any trouble call me.

She called me from the shop and said that they were'nt on the shelfs, I suggested ask an assistant, what was I thinking?, here is something like the conversation that took place,

Wife; Sorry I'm looking for the 8Gb Removable memory drive that was advertised todays newspaper.

Asst; Are they on the shelf?

Wife; No thats why I'm asking for help, they were advertised this morning on the newspaper.

Asst; Ok I'll check, I'll come back to you.....

Fifteen minutes later he arrives,

Asst; They c'ant find them in the warehouse either, and you're sure they were on todays newspaper?

Wife ; yes why else would I be here asking so specifically.

Asst; We must have them so, maybe if we go to the and enter the code you'll be able to pay for it and then they'll have find it then as we can't sell stuff we d'ont have stock of.

My wife was totally confused but went along with the idea, she was there for 30mins anyway, at that someone came along waving the product they found them in the warehouse, apparently they were in an "unopened box".

Anyway my wife paid for the stick and left it only took 40 mins to complete the transaction.

Well done PC World and you are wondering why profits are down, look around its not that difficult to see why, if you advertise it should increase "footfall" its what you do who dictates the rest, that advice is free.

Why is it that when something goes wrong in the "backyard" of some backbencher be it serious or not so serious there is an immediate call for a "public inquiry" by some backbench politician, that gets on the T.V once a year.

What feckin planet are these gobshites living on "planet bo##ocks" because thats all they seem to talk.

Do they not realise that inquiries cost money, they need lawyers (not cheap), agreed terms of reference( which the laywers will debate endedlessly for an hourly fee), they need somewhere to be held.......... the feckin expensive list goes on.

Public Inquiries have a place in all societies if the subject deserves it,and its the greater public good that the truth (that nugget that no longer seems to exist in society)will be uncovered,then hold one if it helps, but a two foot pothole, a months rain, or a local man failure to be drawn out of the "Winning Streak" bubble last week do not deserve a Public Inquiries.

Half of these muppets anyway are elected due to being the local undertaker, publician,auctioneer and greyhound owner, they get on telly and rather than say nothing they feel they must contribute to the vox pop by "calling for a Public Inquiry".

And the reason for this because they can tell their electorate "I called for 36 public inquiries on your behalf, and will continue to do so", the average punter "what a guy, I'll vote for him" .

So rather deal with a problem on a commercial basis, find the cause and fix it, politicians call for a "Public Inquiry" and guess what they are using your money......

Chris de Burgh is to become the first "Western Artist" to play a concert in Iran since the revolution in 1979. This honour has'nt gone un-noticed by the Irish press which seem to think its great.

Well at least the fecker will be miles away is one plus.

My concern is for the ordinary Iranian people, at present they live under the following circumstances,

• The constant threat of being attacked by George W Bush
• An economy that is hyper-inflationary with mass un-employment
• A U.N. (US backed) embargo on just about everything.
• A Dictatorship that will not allow any level of free speech to occur.

So the Iranian Government not content that its people are suffering enough have decided that an few verses of "Lady in Red" will lift spirits.

Well it will not lift anything except depression rates, Chris on the other hand gets to gig, a novelty for him,( smarmy gimp) and I suppose a bit of exposure, albeit in a closed country, next stop North Korea.

He'll probably be top of the charts in both countries in 2008, which like his music will be meaningless due to the fact that nobody has any money to buy records,(or what ever you call them now).

This does not rank the same as other recent comebacks, Take That, The Police,to name two.

I feel sorry for the ordinary Iranian and North Korean, would you not think that de Burgh would simple feck off and retire and leave us all alone.

Having spent time in hospital I just have to blog about hospital food, it's a feckin disgrace, and somebody from the World Health Organisation should investigate.

People go into hospital to get well, and all the nurses,doctors and other staff do a good job, but the grule that the "Catering Dept" shovels out on a daily basis to sick people is simply sub-standard shite, that quite frankly I would'nt give to a dog, let alone a person.

Apparently the food is cooked 3 days in advance and then frozen, only to be re-heated and then issued to the sick masses, this is feckin wrong.

The HSE spends €14.8bn on the health, I know that most of this is spent on care but for feck sake could they not spend a few bob on trying on giving sick people a meal that would'nt consist of rock hard turnips or dried gravy, you never know it might speed up the healing process of the patients, or at very least it might show a little respect for them.

The Jelly & Ice-cream is fine, but how could you feck that up?

Well, its happened, not only do the American's have to deal with having George W Bush as "Commander and Chief" they now have to confront Sir Terry Leahy as "Commander in Shite". Tesco have trumpted the beginning of its US campaign with the opening of Fresh & Easy in Florida Avenue in Hemet, Califorina, poor ba#t#rds.

Apparently, "Tel boy" is'nt happy with gleaning £16.7bn from its UK operations and $11bn from its international operation's its now set to spend $250m in opening 250 stores accoss the US, $1m a store, quality is apparently rife in this strategy. Additionally Leahy would pursue "everyday low price, strategy", keeping prices low on the basics such as milk ans sugar as low as possible rather than using promotional price cuts, coupons or the loyalty cards,why the different strategy in the US?.

No doubt in time Fresh & Easy will morph into the Tesco that we know and grossly dislike on this side of the Atlantic, Vannilla Cornet,will be become the norm and once the Tesco self check-out becomes the norm , I feel that we will have much more in common with our American brothers, I am sure that they will say what the feck did we send so many of our sons to Europe in the in 1940's in order to suffer this shite. Every little helps my arse.

The reason why I am writing this post is becau