MERRY CHRISTMAS

The kids are off school so I'm not getting much Internet time because the moment I get the laptop out the kids put away whatever they are doing, mope about, and mumble "I don't know what to do" over and over. A none too subtle ploy to get me to let them go on the CBeebies website.

I quite like being a mother, but I don't like the parenting. It's like being a Manager but with the knob turned up +5000 and in your own home. And children are really random. They like baked potatoes one week, scream their heads off when you give it to them the next week. They refuse to put coats, hats and scarves on before going out and then when they're out complain how cold they are. They happily ignore you engrossed in their play until you take a phone call / pop to the loo / start to read something, when suddenly they need nothing but oxygen and your immediate and absolute attention. Parentland - it's quite a culture shock to be here.

It should be quite an exciting time, our first Christmas with our children, but, tell you the truth, I feel quite sad tonight. These children have known us for two months and so are spending their Christmas this year with virtual strangers, even if they don't appear to see it that way. It should never have had to be like this for them.

Here's to us all getting to know each other in the coming New Year.

Merry Christmas everyone. Have a good one.

CADBURYS

If ever there was proof that the human race is not on a continuous course towards a better world it is the current story that Cadburys are cowering in a corner from big bad confectionery company, Kraft (who?).

Cadburys, who need no introduction to any person British, was started in 1824 by a family of Quakers. Chocolate was ethical you see and no Quakers wanted to make money out of anything that brought any harm to the world.

Cadburys not only brought us all chocolate, they gave their workers exceptionally good pay, conditions and pensions as well as building for them Bournville Village, which is still there not far from where I live. The people of Bournville had parks built for them, boating lakes, football, hockey and cricket pitches, bowling greens and swimming pools, as well as beautiful houses to live in the arts and craft design, with large gardens so that the occupiers could grow their own fruit and veg.

It was important to the Cadbury family that the emotional and physical well being of their workers, and they people they lived amongst, were taken care of. They cared about the quality of the lives of the Bournville residents.

The whole story is like a fantasy of mine where I come into lots of money and turn West Bromwich one of the best places to live in the country. At the very start I'd take a wrecking ball to the ridiculous waste of public money The Public and give the town its bloody swimming pool back, stock its library and bring back the heydays of Dartmouth Park.

Now although Cadburys can no longer be considered a Quaker company, it does still treat its workers well and the idea of a nasty American "snacks" company coming in to snatch it up so that it can be BIGGER and SELL MORE and MAKE MORE MONEY, as if there was nothing else in the world worth aiming for, could fair make one weep.

CLIMATE CHANGE CONFUSION. AGAIN

I've mentioned here and here what my confused thoughts are on the whole debate about whether or not humans are responsible for the earth's current changing of climate.

I am confused even more at this latest story that scientists at the University of East Anglia manipulated data to support the theory of man-made climate change.

A few e-mails taken out of time and context should not wipe out all the data, research and accumulative opinions of the scientific community about the cause of this phenomena. But in terms of political will and public faith, this news might be cataclysmic.

I don't know whether the leaking of these e-mails is all sound and fury signifying nothing or if it is the first blast of evidence that will show us that a small number of trusted and powerful scientists, with good or bad intentions, tried to dupe the world into believing something the evidence did not support.

However, I don't believe that asking why the earth's climate is changing is as important as the fact that it is - and that we need to make our environment capable of dealing with extreme weather. As the recent floods in Cumbria have shown us, the readiness is all.

RBS BOARD IN DENIAL ABOUT HOW VERY CRAP THEY ARE

The Guardian reports that:

"RBS said it had reluctantly agreed to government demands for control of its bonus pool, but ministers would limit its ability to make profits if it encouraged staff to leave for rival banks where bonus controls were absent. According to some reports, which the bank has not denied, its board has threatened to resign if the government slashes bonuses."

It's board has threatened to resign? Oh no! That must not happen! We can't have these incomptetant, narcisstic, greedy, reckless individuals leaving a major British bank ... er... erm... oh.