lizziefison

concert alert

2007-05-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

Gracchi, especially for you...

The Bloomsbury International Recitals series is restarting. As always, it's at 6pm on Wednesdays in Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, kicking off tomorrow with a piano recital including works by Liszt, Mozart and Frank Martin, with some folk dances thrown in for good measure.

Sounds good, though not sure whether I'll be able to go. Still have a high temperature and feel very grotty, a week on from when all this started. Hoping for a very speedy recovery and soon as it's not helping revision and my exams are fast approaching.

online tantrum

2007-04-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

Right, that's it, I'm so fed up, angry and upset by the state of my kitchen I'm resorting to an online tantrum (about all I can manage as I don't have the oomph to scream, stamp my feet and generally throw things around). Going into a messy, unhygienic kitchen which has been a problem for MONTHS, when you are running a high temperature has reduced me to this. Warnings and requests have been issued by more than me and bugs have made their presence known. So, maybe, just maybe there are people out there who do not actually know HOW to keep a kitchen clean.

As a public service, here's my guide:

1. Rubbish - this really is one of the most basic things. If there is rubbish, put it in the bin. Rubbish does not belong on the floor/table/worksurfaces/in the sink. Apart from the obvious, the following items also count as rubbish: leftover food that will not be consumed, those little plastic bits from the top of fruit juice cartons, the foil from a milk bottle top, egg shells and vegetable peelings. Well, so the latter are better in compost, but if you don't have access to compost bins (hint: the kitchen is not one), these are best placed in the bin along with other rubbish.

2. Spillages - this one's closely related to rubbish. If you spill some food or the saucepan bubbles over or the frying pan spits out oil or something bursts/spills out in the microwave, wipe it up. Your first course of action is to grab some tissue/paper from the kitchen roll, wipe up the mess and then place in the bin (yep, that's right, it now counts as our favourite word "rubbish"). Second, if the spillage left behind stickiness, greasiness or possibly unfavourable bacteria (this happens with RAW or COOKING meat and fish), which is generally the case with most spillages, use an antibacterial wipe on site of spillage, followed by hot water and detergent with a cloth if greasy (unnecessary if antibac wipe is combined with a degreaser - these are great, seriously think of getting some, like I have). Then, throw the wipe in the bin (this is now rubbish too) and rinse through the cloth with HOT water.

3.

Argh, not fair - hurts too much to continue typing at the moment. What's the use when you can't even have an online tantrum properly?! Fear not, I shall update this soon with the rest of my very helpful guide.

how to be a good blogger...

2007-04-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

... do not follow my example and instead post REGULARLY.

Hmm, I've decided to stop apologising for being an infrequent blogger. Truth is, I have an awful lot of things going on in my life: full-time degree (with 4 exams fast approaching), part-time officer on the LSE SU exec, more than enough interests AND living with M.E. When it comes down to it, I do not always have the time or energy to do posts, so that's it. I've decided to accept it and acknowledge that I am a sporadic blogger. But, I'd rather be that then end up writing posts with little meaning/interest that are just written for the sake of it. My blog will go through fertile times when I post a lot then lie dormant while life is more hectic than usual or I need to take more rest breaks.

I will take this opportunity to flag up another free concerts this week, as some of my readers seemed to appreciate hearing about these before. So, this week I'm very much looking forward to a Concert by State Center College Choir and Recorder Consort,
Fesno, California 6pm at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church (very near Tottenham Court tube). As a recorder player (tenor and descant), this one particularly appeals to me - it's not often you see/hear recorders being played outside of schools, which is a great shame as they can play truly beautiful music.

from cockroaches to the Royal Opera House

2007-03-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

Guess that title makes this sound like a rags to riches tale. Not quite, but all is explained below.

Sadly couldn't make it to Bristol for the CF "How to be an MP" event held on Saturday, but it looked like a useful experience for those who attended.

Been busy with SU exec handover tasks, last week of term and removing my things from the flat kitchen which appears to have an infestation of baby cockroaches and getting a load of bottled water (there ain't no way I'm drinking water from the kitchen tap with those delightful creatures around, seeing as how they seem to be quite content swimming in patches of water and dropping into the kettle, so no cups of tea either - given the drop in temperature, this feels like a hardship!).

Anyway, moved on to the joys of revision... But, looking forward to a glamorous evening out at the Royal Opera House tomorrow (enjoyed all the more for having student priced tickets).

bandwagon or genuinely good bill?

2007-03-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Maybe I've gone mad, because I seem to be in the minority here, while multitudes of Conservative party members appear to be keen on the Sustainable Communities Rally coming up where Cameron is speaking. Perhaps I've not got a full understanding of the bill Nick Hurd is trying to get through Parliament. But, for reasons already stated in Sustainable Communities or expensive bureaucratic mess? I think that while well-intentioned, the bill if passed would actually create more problems than it's attempting to solve.

Thus far, I've not heard any reasons why we should support it other than that Cameron is speaking at the upcoming rally and it's supported by a number of Conservatives. But then, jumping on a bandwagon makes for an easier life doesn't it? Forgive me for sounding unimpressed, but I've seen policies come and go (scrapping higher education tuition fees, anyone?). I like to think about the issues carefully.

So, I appeal to people reading this... please let me know what you think of the Sustainable Communities Bill. Especially if you support it - why? Is there something crucial I've missed here? I'm willing to believe I've got it wrong seeing as so many people of different types of Conservative do seem to approve.

Update (20.03.07):
Following conversations with friends and Nick's comment, I'm not so against the Sustainable Communities Bill though still fail to feel truly enthused by it. We'll see...

'Romania in the EU: Asset or burden?'

2007-03-09T17:10:00.000-08:00

Sadly too unwell this Wednesday to face travelling home for Sutton & Cheam CF's first event with Philippa Stoud, I was at least able to attend a public lecture (see title) at the LSE, hosted by the LSE SU Romanian Society.

I found the most interesting points were made by Mr Andrei Postelnicu (Financial Journalist, Bloomberg), but he requested that his personal comments were not published, which is a great pity. However, hearing such a speaker with insightful thoughts was a delight and if his articles are anything like his participation in the debate, I encourage you to read some.

Otherwise, the debate was interesting (though a tad more economical than I was hoping for) and a good look at an area I'm not all that familiar with (hence lack of personal analysis in this post). Overall, the consensus was that Romania faces a number of problems, but investment is taking place and that has a lot to do with joining the EU. Also, the future is reasonably hopeful. However, there was some disagreement over whether joining the EU was right or should have taken place later. The points that stood out most for me (as I picked up) are listed below:

Mrs Marian Sturdza (Vice-Chair, British-Romanian Chamber of Commerce):
~ Romania, like other eastern and central European countries in the Soviet bloc, suffered a terrible loss of history and its stories, ideas and heroes under communism - the effects of this were far reaching and powerful
~ Romanians were also shocked by the images of children in institutions when those infamous, tragic photos emerged
~ joining the EU is a very good opportunity for young Romanians (though the elderly are still vulnerable)

Mr James Dauman (Senior Director, UBS Central and Eastern European Team):
~ the EU has had a positive impact on Romania and vice versa
~ both institutional and strategic investors are looking for growth markets which are a feature in Romania (Romania is how Poland used to be for investors as they shift their focus to the latest states to join the EU - the EU stamp gives investors confidence that contracts are legally binding and enforceable)
~ some bribery still exists but the Romanian Government is cracking down on it (e.g. some competitors for deals who were involved in bribery have been fined)

Mr Alan Smith (Professor Emeritus of Political Economy, SSEES (UCL)):
~ Romania in good position with highest growth level (7.7%) in Europe last year and inflation down to 4% in January
~ however, 4 interrelated macroeconomic problems:
1. size of budget deficit (IMF wants balanced budget) and the structure of expenditure
2. current account deficit is nearly 10% of GDP (economists worry at 5%) - loans are mainly from outside investment and personal purchases are mainly of external goods (so not being reinvested internally)... what happens if/when the funds stop?
3. tension at the top of Government, seen in the recent accusations shot at each other by the President & Prime Minister on a TV show phone-in
4. division in Government over Bucharest co-operation with the US (especially over involvement with Iraq)
~ despite these 4 problems, people are still investing in Romania

BBC Castaway - misleading to increase viewing figures?

2007-03-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

Castaway started tonight on BBC1 - though will have to wait to see it on DVD as my mum's kindly recording it for me - featuring Clare Hilley (former London South CF Area Chairman), as plenty of other bloggers like Mark Clarke have already mentioned. Congratulations Clare!

So, what's new about my coverage of this news? Well, an apparent factual error on the BBC Castaways website A case of the BBC trying to increase interest in their programme with misleading information? I await a response to my email to the BBC via the feedback section on the site - see message below.

You appear to have made a factual error on your information about Clare Hilley. You state "Last year she was the youngest candidate to stand in a local election in the UK whilst still a university student."

However, I stood as a candidate in the elections for Sutton Council in May 2006, am still a student at the LSE (currently repeating my 2nd year) and believe I am younger than Clare. Her blog profile (http://www2.blogger.com/profile/16001613813425496831) says she is 23, as the date and information in the following BBC news article would also indicate (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3539351.stm). I am 22 and will be until 4th December 2007.

I suggest that if your statement refers to 2005, you state this specifically rather than just saying "last year" - perhaps you're basing information on an application that was sent in 2006? If not, where did you get this information? I don't know if I was the youngest, but it goes to show that there were candidates younger than Clare.

I'd be very interested in hearing how you came by this information and how you intend to correct it.

Many thanks,
Lizzie

Update (20.03.07):
Thanks to Mark (and others on Facebook) for helping clear up what the website may have been referring to. Shame the BBC hasn't been able to reply to my email or clarify the year meant on their website yet! Ah well, shows what active, responsive people we have in CF...

Watched the first episode of Castaway which mum recorded for me. Haven't seen any later episodes, but if Clare does as well in them as she did in the first one then I'm sure she'll have a fantastic time in addition to raising the profile of CF.

busy times...

2007-03-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is becoming something of a habit... The intention to be a good blogger who posts regularly is there, just life seems to get in the way (especially a busy life whilst coping with M.E. and the obstacles it loves to throw in my path). So, again, I apologise to anyone who reads this blog and was hoping for some analysis/comments from me on various things in the news/that took my interest etc and failed to see this for a few weeks!

So, what's been the main thing in my life this time? Well, SU elections (voting was Wednesday & Thursday last week). Tempting though it was to talk about various things on this, online campaigning is strictly forbidden for LSE SU elections and I did not wish to face the consequences. Incidentally, this is something I think ought to change and will write about at some future date when I've gathered together my arguments/thoughts some more. Anyway, I had a successful campaign to become the SU Students with Disabilities Officer, the other candidates being Shayaan Afsar and good old R.O.N. ("Re-open Nominations"). This was at first not so good news for me, as I did have to step up my campaigning efforts. However, in reality it was a good thing, because it helped me formulate my ideas into clear manifesto pledges and raised the profile of disabilities during the general campaigning compared to when we have (all too often) just one candidate and R.O.N. Incidentally, Shayaan is a nice guy (hadn't met until the hustings we did) who I look forward to working with - he's just been elected as the ULU Students with Disabilities Officer (i.e. University of London Union, which the LSE SU is a member of).

You can view our speeches at hustings (I signed mine as well as speaking it) via Loose TV In the Contents box (top right of the home page), click on LSE SU Elections 2007, then Quad Speeches. Disabilities is the second video clip down. Our 30 second Video Manifestos (again, I signed and spoke mine) are also available via the LSE SU Elections 2007 section. Election results can be viewed at http://www.lsesu.com/elections

I take office in the Summer Term, but have set up LSE SU Students with Disabilities Officer blog to let people know how the handover is going and to report on what I'm doing until I manage to set up a "one-stop-shop" website as I pledged in my campaign.

With the preparation, campaigning and elections out of the way, I'm now finishing off various assignments and essays for all those end-of-term deadlines (last day of Lent Term in just a week), then off to Bristol for the CF "How to be an MP" event (see post from Tuesday 6th March if link doesn't take you to exact post). Then, straight down to revision for a couple of weeks, before a fortnight's R&R with family. I aim to blog more often and should get good opportunity during the 2 weeks of revision during those much needed breaks!

the predictable slip from entitlement to ID cards

2007-02-18T05:57:00.000-08:00

I'm angry, really angry. I do not want to have an ID card, that contains information about me that will become the only reliable source of such information. I do not trust humans not to make the odd mistake/typo on a computer system that would store such information. I do not trust that the computer system would be so secure it could not be hacked into. I do not want to have to carry an ID card, so that we are no longer treated with humanity as fellow human beings, but as creatures who have their identity through a piece of plastic card, issued by the state which is not some higher being but in reality the collective sum of we individuals.

I've followed the issue of ID cards from the start, when David Blunkett announced in Parliament (this was back in the summer of 2002) the idea of introducing voluntary entitlement cards. This is such a load of ... (rubbish seems to tame a word really)! If to gain any kind of financial support (especially necessary if you're on an income that's taxed so much you need money back from the Government to live), you require an "entitlement" card, this is hardly a voluntary scheme. Now, not only will you have to deal with the problems I listed above (and more) and the cost of the card itself, it has emerged that there will be only 69 locations for interview centres where we give our fingerprints etc This article in the Sunday Telegraph states that for applicants this will mean 'round trips that in some cases will be more than 100 miles'.

These journeys are to be self-funded, which penalises those on low incomes the most. It hardly fits in nicely with this government's anti-car policies either! Worse still, I wonder what happens to people who cannot travel the distance required. What happens to people with illnesses/disabilities that severely restricts their travel? Will they be penalised from accessing financial support etc? Even that is supposing though that the wretched cards are still only "voluntary" and "entitlement" cards. However, the article I mention also says that if Labour 'wins the next election, it will make ID cards compulsory for all British citizens over the age of 16, whether they have a passport or not' (emphasis added by me). This dangerous, downwards slip from entitlement to ID cards was inevitable as I said to my fellow A-level Government and Politics students back when we started in September 2002. In this circumstance, I hate being proved right.

'Last night David Davis, the shadow home secretary... repeated the Conservative pledge to abolish ID cards" - Vote Conservative for the only effective way of overturning this appalling state of affairs!

queueing for 999

2007-02-15T18:03:00.000-08:00

It's an odd thing, calling 999 twice in under a fortnight for the police (well, mum called one time but I was with her). But, life is odd sometimes. What is odder still is that on both occasions the call was held in a queue. Ok, so it was a short queue, but disturbing nonetheless. Anyone else had/or know of this happening? Anyone know why there's a queue (just a case of too many people calling)/if it's just the police/how it can be sorted?