I am shocked and disgusted that a person can be allowed to leave school without even elementary reading and writing skills; it is a terrible enditement of our education system.

The programme featured a 28 year old man who had clearly struggled at school but instead of receiving extra attention or encouragement he was given word-searches to do at the back of the class. He would be sent home at lunchtime, as English was taught in the afternoon, and the teachers said there was no point him being in the class. This man wasn’t being taught in the dark ages; he’s 28 years old, 10 years younger than me.

Whilst I was reading the information on Channel 4’s website I saw the image you see here and it made me think of my own education and the gaps therein.  You see I don’t really know what an adverb is. I was never formally taught grammar at any point in my schooling and to this day I’m ever so slightly jealous of people that know what a past-participle is and how to use one.

I mentioned this to a friend’s Mother, who has taught all her life, she explained that it wasn’t fashionable to teach grammar in the 70s; it was thought we would learn it from reading books. I find this appalling as well; because of some liberal experiment in the 1970s I was supposed to go through life with little formal knowledge of English grammar – something I have tried to remedy.

However as I sit here writing this post before heading to bed to read a book (on economics – which is another story) it’s clear that I haven’t been failed by our education system as dramatically as the people featured in Can’t Write Can’t Read.

Tomorrow is the last day of the exhibition (yes I know we should have gone earlier but we wanted the day to be part of my wife’s birthday which was earlier this week) so we now will be unable to see the terracotta warriors in this country.

My first thought was that the museum just wanted to pack up early but then it dawned on me that tomorrow is the day the Olympic flame travels through London and that significant protests against the Chinese actions in Tibet are expected.

I fully support Tibet and abhor the recent actions of China but am saddened that the risk to these Chinese artefacts is so great that the exhibition must be closed early. That somebody would attack and damage such a global treasure saddens me almost as much and China’s human rights abuses.

It’s a messed up world out there…

I am sick and tired of bad service. Not of bad products and goods but of the service that supports those products or is the product itself.

I am fed up with you seeing me as an annoyance, as something that costs you money to provide a service to and of your belief that I will accept the poorest possible service and not take my business to your competitors.

Here’s the thing; I will, and at the drop of a hat.

Here, out of the goodness of my heart, are a couple of clues for the clueless companies out there:

Clue 1

I am fed up with receiving terrible service because it “boosts your bottom line”. Here’s the thing, “off-shoring” your call centres to India is a terrible and short sighted idea. Yes, it boosts your bottom line but for how long? What happens as your customers wise up to the appalling service and start to move to your competitors with call centres in the UK? What happens to your bottom line then?

I have never had a positive experience with an Indian call centre. The moment I get through to one I know that you the service provider and the person I am giving money does not value me as a customer; you see me only as a cost. The service I receive represents your company – don’t you see that?

I get through on a crackling line to somebody that calls me Mr David or even worse Mr Hugh-geeze. Who then says things like “may I have your address?” Yes you may… oh wait you want my address? Well why didn’t you say… Then once we are past the name calling invariably my question or issue cannot be dealt with and I am transferred back to the UK. I was once dealt with by one of BT’s India call centres and found that they couldn’t even talk to the UK; they had to email the issue to the UK.

You are handing your competitors a real a true advantage. Think how many adverts you see on TV where a UK call centre is used as a positive selling point.

Clue 2

I am fed up with dialling your customer “service” number to hear the message “All our representatives are busy now; please hold and we will deal with your call as soon as possible.”

Arrrggh…

If you are going to provide a telephone line for customers make sure there is somebody there to answer the phone.

Then when you make me hold for an eon or two don’t have a message that says “your call is important to us” – no it’s not. If it was, you’d be speaking to me.

Dear Customer

You are as much to blame. You continue to accept service this bad; you continue to give these companies your money. You do not complain and you do not move your custom and money to a competitor.

Stop accepting it.

Complain.

Above all stop giving people who treat you this badly your money.

That’s the other problem; stop thinking only about the cost and start thinking about the experience of dealing with this company. What’s the point in saving a few quid if it means an hour on the phone every time your bill/statement arrives?

My Dream

I have a dream that one day people will stop accepting poor and insulting service, stop accepting being treated as an annoyance and will vote with their feet and take their business elsewhere.

Already some companies have seen the light, Adverts are on television promoting UK call centres, Apple and Dell have already brought some their service back from India – only some in Dell’s case I believe but would be happy to be proved wrong.

The Future

To make my own small contribution to this cause I will be writing about every piece of bad service I receive or see and the companies that deliver that service.

But I will also be celebrating the great service I receive or see and celebrating the companies that delight and deliver.

If you receive good or bad service then please share it here. Let’s name and shame those companies that don’t care and let’s celebrate and congratulate those that do. That’s what it boils down to you see – caring. Too many companies simply do not care about their customers.

Note: This entire post was written whilst waiting for BT (British Telecom) to fix the lates in a string of mistakes they have made on my account. Mistakes happen I get that but I really shouldn’t have to spend an hour or more on the phone to make you fix them.

Of the 12 men that walked on the moon only 9 are still living and the death of Wally Schirra brings home that at some point in the near future there will be no living man that has travelled to another planet and walked on it’s surface.

What saddens me about this situation is that there are no actual plans to do so again, despite what Bush says.

The human race reached it’s technological peak at the beginning of the 1970s.

In 1969, we could put Astronauts on the moon and by 1976 ordinary people could travel around the world at supersonic speeds on Concorde.

The Apollo moon missions were curtailed in 1973 partly due to the cost, Vietnam was in full flow and costing the US billions, and partly due to lack of public interest. Apollo 13 didn’t even get live TV coverage until it went wrong. How could anybody ever think that travelling to the moon was less interesting than the Lucille Ball show?

Concorde was also axed because of cost by British Airways at least that was their excuse. As Concorde had been paid for by the British taxpayer I was appalled they were allowed to do so. Then, in another travesty, BA refused to sell Concorde to Virgin Atlantic; imagine how marvellous the world’s greatest airliner run by the world’s greatest airline would have been.

If the US and British governments can afford to spend billions and billions of pounds on the new Vietnam or “the Iraq conflict” then they should be able to spend money advancing technology and discovery for the human race. I believe that it is man’s duty to push our known boundaries and to explore our universe.

What if the Spanish had decided that they couldn’t afford the Santa Maria for Columbus?

What if Wilbur and Orville decided that the Wright Flyer was a bit pricey?

Here’s a clue Boston… if a terrorist is going to plant bombs across your city they probably aren’t going to make them very obvious by covering them in bright blue LEDs in the shape of an amusing cartoon character.

Come on; how stupid and paranoid can you be?

The same marketing campaign was run in a total of 10 cities across the USA but only you had a collective paranoid freak out.

What annoys me even more than the stunning stupidity and paranoia (have I mentionned paranoia?) is that the chaps behind this are consistently called ‘hoaxers’ as if they had wanted to pass their marketing devices off as bombs. If you or I were going to build a hoax bomb I suspect it would look a little more like the usual Hollywood version… you know sticks of dynamite and TNT with a loud ticking alarm clock and some curly wires ready for the hero to cut? Or maybe one of those fancy new liquid bombs were two liquids mix together to devastating effect?

Here’s a video of the ‘hoaxer’ terrorists. Do they look like bombs to you?

There have been many decisions taken by the F1 authorities in recent years that ‘favoured’ Ferrari and Schumacher and penalised his main competitors to engineer close finishes to the F1 championship but today I have seen the most blatant fix yet.

Fernando Alonso is leading the championship by 12 points making Schumacher and Ferrari’s job difficult to say the least. So it seems awfully convenient that at Ferrari’s home Grand Prix Alonso should receive a ridiculous penalty for something that he in the opinion of many didn’t do.

Alonso has had his fastest three laps from qualifying dropped for blocking Ferrari driver Massa dropping him five places down the grid to tenth.

This is without doubt THE most blatant pro Schumacher and Ferrari fix I have ever seen.

The Spanish press think so also with headlines such as “The FIA fixes the championship with another penalty to Alonso” and “Low blow to Alonso”.

It saddens me that a once great sport has to resort to such obvious and blatant fixing to engineer results. Are Max Mosely and Bernie Ecclestone really that scared of losing Ferrari from F1? Do they really think that fans and viewers will accept being treated as idiots? But I guess the most important and telling question is do they care?

Alonso has said today that he no longer considers F1 a sport and sadly I and many others will join with him.

In the year when F1 has lost the last great racers and individuals Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneauve it seems that they may yet drive away another great driver.

RIP Formula One

George Best is the genius footballer that essentially drank himself to death.. is he not?

Why the hell is the life of a suicide victim being celebrated like this?

What message does this send to kids? Hey it’s OK to have everything and then throw it all away through self destructive drinking and drug taking; don’t worry you’ll still get a hero’s send off.

With modern day footballers being viewed as celebrities and apparently being able to get away with rape because of who they are this all seem very wrong to me.

For pete’s sake how many blades do you need? Well I’ll tell you. One.

When I started shaving as a teenager I hated it; I had terrible razor rash and suffered the whole day with a sore face. The problem was I really had no idea how to shave. I eventually gave in and grew a kinda beard; looking back on old photographs this was a mistake.

A year or so later I was in the Body Shop buying something or other and found a small leaflet that changed everything. I can’t remember what it was called but it should have been called Shaving For Dummies. I quickly read it and thought ahhhh so that’s how you do it. Pretty much everything I’d be doing was wrong.

I went and bought a razor and shaving cream and have never looked back.

Being the compulsive obsessive gadget freak I am I have tried many different razors, gels, soaps, creams and oils and over time have found that the simpler the product the better the result.

This is why I find the new multi-blade razors so amusing. I’m now shaving with what can only be described as retro equipment.

I use a traditional shaving brush and shaving cream; my brand of choice is George Trumper I’m currently using the sandalwood which is marvellous. The recipe hasn’t changed since King Edward was on the thrown and it is amazing. You need just to dip the end of your brush’s bristles in the cream and you will have more lather than you can use.

Then I use a Merkur Futur Brushed Steel Razor – yep that’s right a safety razor like your Dad or your Grandad used albeit a very nice modern take on a classic design.

You’ll notice that this razor has only one blade in contact with your face at a time but you know what… I have never had a more comfortable or closer shave in my life.

The secret to a good shave is water and warmth.

• Shave after your morning shower or bath as this will help make your beard softer and easier to shave.
• Use a brush as this helps work the shaving cream into your beard and most importantly lifts the hairs from your skin making them even easier to shave.
• Use a sharp blade. Use as many as you wish but you have to try a classic safety razor.
• Rinse with cold water to close the pores.
• Use an after shave balm or cream DO NOT use aftershave unless you want to undo all your hard work.

Most importantly - enjoy.