Ella Fitzgerald - 'Summertime'

Changing the subject completely: Here's something to soothe and mesmerise simultaneously. I love Ella's voice, she makes it all seem so effortless. She allows the song to just be. The musicians hold back without overkill.
 Just. Beautiful.

The Pope arrives in the UK...

He arrives in the UK on 16th September 2010 on a state visit paid for, in the main, by UK taxpayers. Why isn't the British public up in arms about a criminal being lauded and paraded on a state visit?
I cannot write about this charade any better than Christopher Hitchens, so here is an extract from a piece he wrote in 'Slate' entitled: 'A Call for Earthly Justice: Holding the Catholic Church accountable for it's crimes':

"As if almost timed to coincide with its publication, and with the impending arrival of Ratzinger on British soil, the recent disclosures of the putrid state of the church in Belgium have thrown the whole scandal into an even sharper relief. Consider: The now-resigned bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, stands revealed by his own eventual confession as being guilty of incest as well as rape, having regularly "abused" his male nephew between the ages of 5 and 18. The man's superior as head of the Belgian church, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, has been caught on tape urging the victim to keep quiet. A subsequent official report, commissioned by the country's secular authorities, has established that this level of morality was the rule throughout the hierarchy, with the church taking it upon itself to "forgive" the rapists and to lean upon their victims. Very belatedly, a few months ago, the Belgian police finally rose from their notorious torpor and raided some ecclesiastical offices in search of evidence that was being concealed. Joseph Ratzinger, who had not thus far found a voice in which to mention the doings of his Belgian underlings, promptly emitted a squeal of protest—at the intervention of the law..."

We should all rise together as one voice and remove these criminals from their positions of power.

I believe most people here are parents or guardians of children.
Imagine that you had placed your child into the care of these men and then years later you were told by your adult child that they had been sexually abused by these paedophiles for 5, 10, 15 years.

Tell me how would you feel? Would you say 'it was God's will'?

Would you be happy to know that Ratzinger was fully aware of these criminal, violent acts yet silenced your child and moved the paedophile priest to another parish where he could and did commit those same crimes against hundreds of other children?

We have been so brainwashed to the point where these things won't concern most of the faithful too much as  they flock to see 'The Holy Father', spend their hard-earned money, walk miles, stand for hours, buy the tacky, junk souvenirs and return home having done their bit for 'God'.

You couldn't make it up.

My First Contract

I signed my first contract today and I am pleased! I have also employed one member of staff and am sifting through the 48 others who have applied for positions in my company.
One thing has surprised me: People seem not to know how to complete CV's correctly, to complete an application form, I am shocked. The education system here seems split between the haves and the have nots.

A few of them submitted CV's and when I asked them to complete the detailed application form suddenly referees who were either friends or relatives suddenly didn't appear on the form.
So many people said they were 'obedient' or 'docile' - honestly, I'm not making it up! How sad that they see those traits as being positive in the job market. But we seem to be breeding clones who just do as they are told, which is necessary to an extent, but...
I don't want people like that around me. Some staff members will have far more skills, experience and abilities in certain areas than I have and I want employees to feel that they can contribute to and benefit from sharing knowledge as the business grows. I cannot pay a great deal of money to start but equally I refuse to pay people the minimum wage. Not really great for business but how can I feel good about paying people peanuts and expecting them to work and feed themselves and their families?

Anyway, it is early days. My marketing strategy is progressing well and although I have kept my expenditure to a minimum things seem to be going tickety-boo. So far.

My only real problem now is lack of sleep. It is affecting me more than I realised. I awoke this morning after only 4 hours sleep and lay prone on the bed thinking,  'I cannot physically move'. It took me over an hour to be able to muster the strength to release myself from the duvet and then stand - with my eyes closed throughout. All the while repeatedly muttering 'This is crazy!' It's this business.

I promise myself at least 7 hours of quality sleep each night now. Mmmm....