Fed up.

As you can tell from the title of this blog I am not having a good day, I am sure that my frustration is not unique to me as many people I speak to are also feeling the frustrations of living and working in the UK. I feel like the harder I work the more money I give away. My utility bills, council tax, business rates have all risen dramatically whilst customer service from major companies and the government has declined.

I am also starting to feel like a racist, I have never considered myself a racist before but I do feel that if I visit another country then I am expected to abide by the laws of that country which is more than fair therefore if people choose to come and live in our country then they in turn should have to respect our culture. If you want to read more on this subject then I will let Pat Condell do the talking as he is much more interesting than me. I thought I lived in a civilised society where homosexuality was accepted and women had freedom to make choices but I am starting to doubt those facts.

In the past month I have written 3 letters, 1 to my MP Linda Gilroy and 2 to my councilors Lynda Bowyer and Micheal Leaves. I have not heard back from any of them although Michael Leaves did pass my letter to a relevant department but failed to respond personally to specific questions I had asked him.

I used to believe that MP's and councillors took their posts because they cared about people, I believed that by working for the government you had a duty of care to your constituents but now I feel things have changed.

What is more if an MP is now on a basic salary of £60,000 (that does not include expenses) then already they are far removed from most normal members of society who do not earn anyway near £60,000. Our MP's now want an increase of £40,000 to take their salaries to £100,000 to work for 26 weeks of the year - nice work if you can get it! Surely it is about time that we acted? It seems that if you are a hardworking nurse, policeman, fireman etc you get a meagre wage for doing a very important job but if you really want to rake in the pounds then why not be a footballer or pop star! Interestingly a recent survey suggests that when schoolkids were interviewed about what they wanted to do when they grow up the most common answer was 'to win the lottery', this answer hardly gives our kids aspirations for the future.

I am aware that I am ranting and may not have all my facts exactly right but I do feel I am justified in my thoughts and do feel like it is time for change!

As I descend, temporarily, from my soap box I must try to reduce my current stress levels as simply getting angry will get me nowhere, I am off to write a few more letters to the relevant councillors and MPS about why they have failed to respond to my previous correspondance and why they feel justified in receiving a payrise and ludicrous expenses! I am sure that this is not the last you will hear from me on this subject.

Please feel free to coment on this blog or go to the shame on you site to publically air your views.

Stay healthy,

Sam x