Harvey Goldsmith Gripes
Roadworks and cyclists.
05.Oct.2009 15:37
I am getting very fed up travelling through London with roadworks. Do you not think that someone who approves the dozens of roadwork disruptions in London would make sure that that perpetrators put road signs a distance away from the works. The entrance to Holborn is currently closed. However you do not find out until you have sat in the traffic for 15 mins. down a one way street and then find you cannot turn right into Holborn. Howland Street is shut and again no sign to tell you until you get there. No wonder the traffic is bad in London.
Cyclists continue to abuse the highways by travelling the wrong way up one way streets and flying over red traffic lights when they think nothing is coming the other way. The Government has the audacity to announce that the motorist will have to take prime responsibility when there is an accident in future.... completely mad.
Filling in forms!.
03.Apr.2009 13:15
I have spent the last 10 days doing nothing but filling out forms!
I am filling out questionnaires for insurance where the broker doesn’t even understand them, so how can the client!!!
If I have to do one more money laundering form I will scream!
In the UK we have absolutely become the country that Karl Marx dreamt of, pen pushers and form fillers.
Yet, we still have a system of thieves lined with greed.
You can’t get a mortgage, you can’t get a bank loan, you can’t find a property, why? All the government wants us to do is spend. But spend on what? Do I need a new couch, TV Set, DVD player, car? When I can’t get the ones I have already to work properly.
All we really want is to earn a decent return on our savings, for the Government to stop taxing us to death, for a banking system that’s honest and fair and for us to be able to get on with our business so that our colleagues and staff can make a living…………
THEN WE WILL HAPPILY SPEND
Weather and Banks...........
11.Feb.2009 13:05
On Monday 2nd February I had the misfortune to arrive at Heathrow from New York.
It is quite incomprehensible that BAA can not deal with adverse conditions at the airport.
It was apparently a minor miracle that my Virgin flight landed at all……… thank you Virgin.
It took over an hour to find a set of steps so that we could get off the plane. Clearly BAA are unaware that this very flight lands every morning at roughly the same time. What does this say to visitors coming to the UK?
The final blow to a very long morning was of course the fact that the Heathrow Express was not functioning due to the wrong snow landing!
On Sunday 8th February I did the newspaper review for Andrew Marr’s show which was great fun. The key issue of the week was of course Bankers bonuses. To me it is black and white. The banks and financial institutions have collectively caused the biggest financial upset in history. It is true that in part they were allowed to because authorities closed their eyes to the obvious bad practices that were taking place. It has become equally obvious that what the banks did was package up complete uncollectable debt in such a way that the next person down didn’t recognise what they were buying. As of today no one in the banking world is prepared to own up who is holding ‘the baby’.
Where in their dictionary does the word BONUS come?
Isn’t it time somebody from the banking world actually owned up to the mess that they have left us all in.
What the public want is some confidence that there are people out there who care about their customers and not just their own bonuses and who are prepared to stand up and be counted to get and offer some solutions which may help get the system working again. Yet all we read is how much they want to pay themselves.
My view is strong government, fire the existing heads, bring in new people who want to work for the common good and receive rewards on positive delivery.
The failing upwards society is at an end.
Harvey
Banks and the Economy.
22.Dec.2008 13:59
The Banks and the Financial Institutions have a lot to answer for.
If confidence is to be put back in the system then day to day banking must be separated from high risk investment banking. Banks have no right to play with the public’s hard earned savings.
If they want to take high risk investments then they should use their profits not ours.
The Government cannot continue to print more money to try and rescue the economy as we will pay dearly for it in the future.
If the Government wants to stimulate the economy then
1. Drop the price of petrol
2. Force the utility companies to
drop their prices.
3. Lower the price of public transport
Lowering the VAT has done nothing but cause confusion. On my current tours I cannot even get consistency on how the new VAT rules work.
It has cost companies a fortune resetting their systems to deal with the new VAT level and the public have gained nothing from this fruitless exercise.
10p off a gallon of petrol and a decent percentage off rail and bus transport will help the average worker much more.
We cannot bail out every bad business and still pay huge bonuses to bad senior executives. Why do people like John Varley (CEO of Barclays) keep feeding us with future bad news. Its like a self fulfilling prophecy.
Why push people who are struggling already, to spend more money?
And what about savings!
After all the sweat to save…. There is no incentive any more as interest is minimal.
So what is our wonderful banking system doing about stimulating the economy….. absolutely nothing.
The heads should all work for minimal salaries until they have put right the mess and certainly NO bonuses.
What a cock up!
At least in the entertainment business we offer some light relief and fun and in the main for fair value.
Its time for change
Harvey
Cyclists.
30.Jun.2008 17:52
Could somebody please explain to me why cyclists believe they have the right to:
Cycle over red lights,
Cycle the wrong way up a one way street,
Generally ignore all the rules that the poor suffering motorists have to follow
Many roads now have cycle lanes which means that at least a third of the road has disappeared for motorists, yet has anybody ever seen a cyclist in a cycle line?
I am sick to death of going up one way streets, many of which are quite narrow to find a cyclist coming at me the wrong way and when I point out that it is a one way street, I am told to get stuffed or other appropriate sayings. If I drive over a red light or drive up a one way street the wrong way I would get decapitated at least.
So could somebody explain to me the policy for cyclists.
Harvey
The Refuse Saga rambles on!!.
25.May.2007 16:08
HG GRIPES 25.0.07
The Refuse Saga rambles on!!
Do our local authorities and David Miliband’s department seriously think that we the long suffering public wake up every morning and think “Today is rubbish day; how much rubbish can we find today?!”
The consistency of the government and in turn Local Authorities in finding new ways to tax us is unbelievable!
Why do they not look at the cause rather than the result?
Clearly there is a problem with how to deal with waste.
However why don’t we start with excess?
Packaging is one simple area to look at. The government should lean on Supermarkets to buy more open goods. Many of the items we buy have superfluous packaging around them. Let’s stop all the unwanted junk mail that are distributed in newspapers and through the post.
They are unnecessary and indeed add to the cost.
I like most people bin them as soon as they arrive.
Yes we have a problem with landfill, yes we have a problem with separation for recycling, but the current proposals are not the answer!
If the Local Authorities have their way we will go back to pre Victorian times before rubbish collection was first instigated, when litter was just dumped into the streets.
How on earth can fortnightly collection be the answer?
What do they think happens to the rubbish when not collected? It lies in bins and on the street rotting and encouraging vermin and disease.
What exactly do we pay local taxes for anyway?!
David Miliband’s new taxes on rubbish which are due to start shortly must have had the approval of Gordon Brown. I wonder how often their rubbish is collected.
This surely is another pointer in what we are all going to look forward to under his future leadership.
We are constantly being taxed on the results rather than dealing with the cause?
Why not encourage people to buy goods without excessive packaging?
Why not give people benefits if they manage their rubbish properly using the recycling separation bins.
Why not create more rubbish collection points at the end of each road to make it easier to store refuse?
Why not supply everyone with eco-friendly bags to put the rubbish in?
Isn’t that what we pay council taxes for?
Why not build more eo-friendly recycling plants if landfills are full.
Lets not waste money putting chips in bins and the extra cost of monitoring.
Lets have more user friendly bins.
Let’s ban plastic bags.
Lets ban non bio-degradable plastic.
Dealing with waste is not about taxes, it is about helping us, the public become more responsible about waste.
Lets use lottery money to encourage inventors to design better ways of removing waste and making refuse more bio-useful.
We must stand up to this money grabbing government who have, yet again, got is so wrong!
As Mrs Doretta Cocks has said “should we be putting up with this in the 21st century? There must be a better way, because people will only put up with so much before they begin to fight back”.
Councils are there to provide a service to all tax payers.
Sign up to her website www.weeklywaste.com and let us show our strentin in resisting this madness.
The Government!!!.
09.Feb.2007 10:24
This government is hell bent on legislating everyone out of existence. I am filming a series of documentaries for Channel 4 about entertainment.
In this area alone there is so much legislation to deal with that most small entertainment companies can no longer cope. For example the new Public Entertainment Licensing laws:
WHAT IS THE POINT AND WHY ARE THEY THERE?!
Who do these laws help other than another ton of bureaucrats who have nothing else to do than make people fill out forms. Circuses, which are one of the oldest forms of family entertainment are suffering terribly because of these idiotic licensing laws. Isn’t it time, that this government let us get on with our lives instead of hindering those small businesses who are trying to give great entertainment.
Climate Change.
09.Feb.2007 10:22
What is the point taxing us on flights?
Other than Gordon Brown getting even more money for the exchequer, how does that help climate change?
Isn’t it time the grey people who govern us start to think out of the box with a positive menu of activities where we can help eachother? All they do is come up with another way of taxing us!
Did you know that the government are considering a car tax called ‘pay-as-you-go Road Tax’. There is a petition which you can get on the No10 website which I urge you to sign.
Yet another tax under the guise of dealing with climate change.
It’s about time that all these grey people who spend more time tripping over themselves because there are so many of them put some serious thought in to how we can all help ourselves other than finding a new way to tax us.
airports.
03.Jan.2007 16:53
When are the UK airports going to get back to normal and remember that we are the customers who are paying everyones wages.
Heathrow must currently rank as one of the worst airports on the planet.
BAA are more concerned with stuffing the place with shops than taking care of its customers.
Your comments please
PC.
12.Dec.2006 19:15
Christmas is a UK and a tradition that has been widely celebrated for centuries.
Why are there so many busybodies trying to stop it.
It interferes with no one, brings good cheer to many who have worked so hard all year round and has a deep religious meaning to believers.
So why are so many pc idiots trying to stop Christmas.
The best story so far is the community group who wanted to serve mince pies and hot chocolate at a kids party. By the time the local idiot pc authority had finished with the organisers it would have taken an army of health and safety experts to clear both the mince pies and the chocolate.
The best part was the insistance that the tempreature of the hot chocolate had to be constantly checked in case anyone burnt their tongues. Its time the pc brigade got a life!!!
