In my last post I briefly discussed how I felt dis-enfranchised following the increasingly hard Brexit stance of the Conservatives and the lack of cogent response from the opposition.
The Renew party seeks, it seems to me, to redress that balance and on further reading here are their currently stated core goals :
A new opportunity program - creating a true skills and 'for all' education driven economy
Aggressive house building on brown field sites and using all empty homes
Enhancement to minimum wage laws and a nationwide universal living wage
An intelligent NHS - reliant on technology and innovation
Stop Brexit and hold a second referendum
Promote a Green Revolution
Read yourself (https://renewbritain.org/britain-today/) and see if you think they're worth a punt ? It strikes me that 'centrist' policies can sometimes seem a little wishy-washy almost borrowed from the most liberal elements of both the Tories and Labour - but thinking about it, no one else is pushing the centre agenda and most people exist in the middle not the extremes of the political spectrum.
Certainly cannot hurt to entertain a sea change in politics - the way the world is going at the moment it feels like time for a change to me.
Monday 19 February 2018
The launch of 'Renew' a new political party
I'm one of the 48% of people who voted to remain in the EU in the Brexit vote and one of more than the 48% of voters now who feel totally disillusioned and constantly lied to by the Conservative Party, UKIP and even to an extent the Labour Party who really, really need to get their act together on what is going to happen in March 2019 when we actually, finally leave the European Union.
Or do they ?
What if there was an alternative ?
This week the Renew Party launched and is trying to get to around 300 parliamentary candidates in any future general election specifically to allow a new approach to politics and Brexit. Presumably they are looking to undertake a Macron style coup of the political process and overturn some of the more demagogue-esque hard Brexit nonsense that very few sane people seem to support but which now seems to be the stated policy goal of the Tories. This of course despite every economic report stating the effects will be negative. Don't even get me started on how we can hard borders with European countries, unless they happen to have an Irish accent.
I wish them well and will be supporting them (assuming they turn out to be saner than the last new political movement/offshoot to achieve notoriety). Any party that actually tried to represent that 48% of remain voters in some way, as opposed to not at all is at least worth a cursory glance at ?
Here's their website : https://renewbritain.org
Check them out, have a read, maybe volunteer or donate and lets see if we can at least make the debate around Brexit a bit less one sided !
Or do they ?
What if there was an alternative ?
This week the Renew Party launched and is trying to get to around 300 parliamentary candidates in any future general election specifically to allow a new approach to politics and Brexit. Presumably they are looking to undertake a Macron style coup of the political process and overturn some of the more demagogue-esque hard Brexit nonsense that very few sane people seem to support but which now seems to be the stated policy goal of the Tories. This of course despite every economic report stating the effects will be negative. Don't even get me started on how we can hard borders with European countries, unless they happen to have an Irish accent.
I wish them well and will be supporting them (assuming they turn out to be saner than the last new political movement/offshoot to achieve notoriety). Any party that actually tried to represent that 48% of remain voters in some way, as opposed to not at all is at least worth a cursory glance at ?
Here's their website : https://renewbritain.org
Check them out, have a read, maybe volunteer or donate and lets see if we can at least make the debate around Brexit a bit less one sided !
A warning tale about Apple AirPods ... not for the squeamish
I bought my trusty Apple AirPods in October 2017 having held off ordering them following the initial announcement and finally caving after some review podcasts raved about how good they were.
These items pretty much immediately replaced some Phillip on ear blue tooth headphones I'd used most days and even for working out/running they were better, albeit a little quieter than my MPOW bluetooths.
I did notice that for one usecase, which was walking the dogs, when next to a main road I struggled after a couple of weeks to hear the sound on the 'pods above the traffic. Other than this, everything was great. Sure they occasionally lost linkage with the phone but to be fair less than other bluetooth devices so all was good.
Then in early January I managed to drop my left 'pod into a mug of water. Obviously I wasn't messing about trying to put them away one handed or anything, total accident. I duly fished it out (pun intended) without panicking whatsoever and towelled it off vigorously then whacked it straight onto a radiator to dry it out thoroughly. A few hours later they seemed to worked 'ok' but the volume on the left side ('wet pod') was virtually non-existent. The right also seemed to reduce too a little but was definitely the louder. I put this down to a balance problem or rather lack of stereo effect following the soaking.
This sound issue though now made the devices virtually unusable with any background noise at all to corned with so since the first week in January I've been messing about with the old white wired headphones in a draw near the door and my Phillips headset on an evening with the dogs and the MPOWs in the gym - total multi-device nightmare (yes, my diamond shoes really are totally first world). I even did a text talk with Apple Support to see if I could blag a new pair from them but because of the water 'incident' they were having none of it other than to charge me £90 plus for a replacement pod.
However this morning I was sat in the car in a supermarket carpark staring at my little white box because I swear the sound is getting quieter and quieter on them. I had my trusty Leatherman Juice with me as always so I idly had a scrape at the mesh of the microphone on the AirPods and disgustingly got a skin of muck off it with the first scrape. With a bit more work I managed to pull off about a millimetre and a half of nasty gunk and free up the sound output bit of them.
Two things to point out here. Firstly I don't think I produce any more than average ear nastiness - I'd just not noticed it building up overtime and secondly it transpires ear 'nasty' has a big impact on sound reproduction on AirPods - I'm now listening again at around 45% of maximum volume and having no issues with increasing volume to drown out average to high sound around me. I'm guessing that the 'wet pod' got worse either because the caked on dirt solidified as it dried to exacerbate the blockage or it may have been affected by the moisture more than I thought but has dried out slowly in the intervening weeks.
Lesson learnt. I shall clean the things every three or four days. I love my (newly cleaned) AirPods again.
I did notice that for one usecase, which was walking the dogs, when next to a main road I struggled after a couple of weeks to hear the sound on the 'pods above the traffic. Other than this, everything was great. Sure they occasionally lost linkage with the phone but to be fair less than other bluetooth devices so all was good.
Then in early January I managed to drop my left 'pod into a mug of water. Obviously I wasn't messing about trying to put them away one handed or anything, total accident. I duly fished it out (pun intended) without panicking whatsoever and towelled it off vigorously then whacked it straight onto a radiator to dry it out thoroughly. A few hours later they seemed to worked 'ok' but the volume on the left side ('wet pod') was virtually non-existent. The right also seemed to reduce too a little but was definitely the louder. I put this down to a balance problem or rather lack of stereo effect following the soaking.
This sound issue though now made the devices virtually unusable with any background noise at all to corned with so since the first week in January I've been messing about with the old white wired headphones in a draw near the door and my Phillips headset on an evening with the dogs and the MPOWs in the gym - total multi-device nightmare (yes, my diamond shoes really are totally first world). I even did a text talk with Apple Support to see if I could blag a new pair from them but because of the water 'incident' they were having none of it other than to charge me £90 plus for a replacement pod.
However this morning I was sat in the car in a supermarket carpark staring at my little white box because I swear the sound is getting quieter and quieter on them. I had my trusty Leatherman Juice with me as always so I idly had a scrape at the mesh of the microphone on the AirPods and disgustingly got a skin of muck off it with the first scrape. With a bit more work I managed to pull off about a millimetre and a half of nasty gunk and free up the sound output bit of them.
Two things to point out here. Firstly I don't think I produce any more than average ear nastiness - I'd just not noticed it building up overtime and secondly it transpires ear 'nasty' has a big impact on sound reproduction on AirPods - I'm now listening again at around 45% of maximum volume and having no issues with increasing volume to drown out average to high sound around me. I'm guessing that the 'wet pod' got worse either because the caked on dirt solidified as it dried to exacerbate the blockage or it may have been affected by the moisture more than I thought but has dried out slowly in the intervening weeks.
Lesson learnt. I shall clean the things every three or four days. I love my (newly cleaned) AirPods again.
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