I don’t know if she is the right person for the job, I know very little about her other than she has worked he way up the public service and political ladders with apparent ease. Her appointment is a good example of the problems with decisions based on consensus, you tend to get the one everyone is willing to accept not the one who would come top of the voting.

At least the the new President of the European Council, Belgian PM Herman van Rompuy, has been through the electoral mill. He is a big federalist who will probably turn his focus inward to concentrate on increasing the EU’s influence and control over the member states, which is a strange situation when some countries, like Scotland and Wales are pushing for more independence.

My favourite uncle died in the spring of 2002, aged 58, and several ex-work colleagues also died that year. I have never coped well with death and avoid funerals unless absolutely necessary. As one gets older inevitably more and more of our friends and relatives will pass away. There are compensations from growing numbers of nephews, nieces, other younger relatives, friends and work acquaintances. However, these never adequately replace our parents or older relatives.

Having lost my mother I now understand how much she missed her own mother and father both of whom died during her 20s. Death may be our constant companion and the fate that will befall us all, but I know I shall never come to terms with its impact and the gap it leaves in ones life. I have a close family and many friends, but none can replace the sanctity of a home created and maintained by loving parents.

Anyone who have been involved in designing, installing or maintaining lighting will tell you that fluorescent lamps have two problems; their working life is significantly reduced if they are frequently switched on and off; and the light output slowly reduces over time. In locations where these lamps are left on for long periods such as in offices, shops and other public places they can achieve life spans of many times that of the tungsten lamp. In areas where they are frequently turned off and on their life span can be reduced to a, not very impressive, life that is the same as a tungsten lamp.

Now research by the Institution of Engineering and Technology has confirmed what many of us have known for a long time, compact florescent lamps, the most common type of energy saving lamp, suffer the same problems as their bigger cousins. Manufacturers also often over state the equivalent level of output and the usable life of these lamps. Its time the EC introduced stringent standards and controls along with their plans to ban the sale of all traditional tungsten lamps and were more honest about the actual savings that can be made.

This will probably be the longest and most boring election campaign ever, it will be like no other. The parties will sling mud like a muck spreader stuck in fifth gear, they will criticise each other, deride each others policies and paint the future under the opposition so black we will think global warming is the best thing to ever happen. Throughout all this the one thing that will be missing will be honesty.

Political parties will never tell the whole truth, never say sorry, they know if they do they will be pilloried in the media for being weak and inadequate, even though the same media continuously criticises politicians for not being honest and not saying sorry. There will also be a whole bunch of new candidates with little political experience who will largely rely on the party machinery for their spiel and thus be entirely on message. Prepared to be bored, totally and utterly bored.

Now we are getting so risk adverse its even been suggested the health and safety inspectors will be given powers to enter our houses to ensure our knives are blunt, our baths cannot hold more than half an inch of water, our beer and wine is kept under lock and key, our house plants and flowers are pollen free and we men put down the toilet seat after a number one.

I’m sure the pedants who work for the HSE could find a multitude of risks and dangers in every home in the land, including their own. Life is a risk and we must all learn to live with those risks. Several kids at my school had their lives cut short because of their own misfortunes, its very sad but it happens. Turning our homes into padded cells, regulating every interaction with other people and seeking an utopian idea of safety will leave us frustrated, lonely and dead from boredom.

There are over 1,200 Quangos and include such wonderfully useful bodies as the Yorkshire Cultural Consortium which spends over £1 million a year, the Competition Service which spends over £3 million a year and Visit Britain, which spends over £70 million a year, which is not to be confused with the English Tourist Board that spends over £13 million a year or the Scottish Tourist Board which spends over £25 million a year.

Not all Quangos are a waste of money but many are indicative of the bloated government and public services this country is struggling to support. For many years the NHS was set annual efficiency savings targets which forced the organisation to become leaner and learn to do more with less. Perhaps the government needs to set itself some tough targets for cutting public expenditure starting with the Quangos.

From a few long standing brands a whole host of choice has developed each vying for a niche in the market based on its exclusivity, image and its source. Fiji water has become something of a mixed blessing, it provides some income for the impoverished island but at a huge cost to the environment as its shipped across the world.

New we are told there are ‘buckets full of water’ on the moon. It was discovered when NASA crashed a space probe into the moon’s surface back in October. The idea that there was water on the moon has been around for sometime, now its been proved one wonders how long it will be be before you see a bottle of the stuff on the supermarket shelf.

Simon Reed of the Police federation said, ‘It’s the police who patrol public space and we should be very wary about giving those powers to private security companies’. Er, when was the last time he took a walk around our streets, many years ago I suspect. If he had he would know beat bobbies are rearer than hens teeth.

If the police are concerned about the growth of the private security service then I suggest they ask why the public feel it necessary to buy these services, why they consider their safety so important they will invest the time, effort and cost in contracting people to patrol their communities. The answers might just surprise them, the again they would have to stop wasting time and manpower going after easy targets and do some real police work.

Looking down the list of people and their jobs one quickly comes to the conclusion the BBC is living in a world of its own where every minute task needs to be controlled and directed. Thus there are nine directors just to look after all the BBC staff and another to look after audiences. Scanning the list of staff is like watching a gravy train passing by with each carriage full to bursting.

In defending the very high salaries the BBC trots out the well worn argument of the need to pay the going rate to get the best staff. Its an argument used by many organisations, but one they fail to realise is a spiral that can only end in disaster. If everyone is chasing the best the cost will just keep increasing to unsustainable levels. I’m sure there are many capable people who would do these jobs for a lot less. However, that would mean those who appointment them seeing their pay packets drop. Turkeys and Christmas come to mind.

Its clear that medical knowledge, technology and pharmaceuticals have developed beyond all recognition; the seriously injured who would have died 25 years ago now survive; surgeons can now perform almost miraculous operations; and new drugs and treatments have brought hope to suffers of many cancers giving them every hope of a long life. All these developments have prompted changes to doctors training and greater specialisation, it would now seem the nursing profession is about to catch up with these changes.

There is a risk, however, the risk the vital tasks of personal care and the human touch that helps the sick and injured to cope with their predicament is lost. We do have care assistants, but these poorly paid individuals are often seen as little more than bottom wipers and spoon feeders. Their role needs to be grown to fill the gap left by the enhanced role of nurses. Otherwise it will be the poor patient who suffers.