vivweb01blog

  Just a quick 'heads up' on a very useful tool I came across some years ago for downloading BBC programmes direct from iPlayer servers – and have used regularly ever since. As a committed user of BBC’s services for many years previously, I joined the online viewing revolution and started using iPlayer in the early 2010s. Not being particularly keen on ‘live’ streaming, and in any case having a limited broadband download allowance at the time, I took to selective downloading of anything that particularly took my interest.  As for the old VCR recordings we all remember making in the 80s and 90s, the problem was finding time to actually watch what I'd recorded. I quickly became tired of discovering that much of what I'd painstakingly downloaded from iPlayer, and had finally got round to looking at, had already expired, and was unreadable due to Digital Rights Management (DRM)-protection.  A workround was therefore a must, and fortunately one presented itself in the form...

  The rather unexpected announcement on 29 th November that Louise Haigh had resigned as Transport minister inevitably precipitated much speculation about ‘goings on in high places’. The party line explanation she offered was the bog-standard   ‘I don’t want to be a distraction’ recipe, accompanied by the usual weasel words of support from the PM for the decision and good wishes for the future….which, if course, tells us precisely nothing. To establish what really went on, we need to look at the background. Several pertinent facts emerge: 1)        *  Starmer knew about Haigh’s 2013 conviction for ‘making a false report to the police’ about her mugging when he appointed her to the ministerial posts she has occupied. This rules out concealment on her part as a direct cause for her dismissal. 2)       *  Since the election in July, Haigh has been in the spotlight several times as ‘not seeing eye to eye’ with the PM, most notabl...

  The direction of travel indicated by the new Labour government’s policy decisions since July has left a significant question in the minds of many of us: “Are they based solely on a desire to get the country moving again after a period of stagnation, or is there a large element of vindictiveness against those who traditionally have not supported Labour ?” Firstly, why is this question important, given that Labour is unlikely to be challenged in a General Election again before 2029 ? It’s because the answer will determine whether we do actually manage to dig ourselves out of the slippery economic and social ‘pit’ we’ve fallen into, or just keep slipping back down the sides, again and again….it’s also precisely because the new government is so unchallengeable from a parliamentary point of view that we need to know the true nature of their motives. This may help us to predict what is to come. Let’s look at the evidence we have so far. The principal decisions made since taki...

F or anyone struggling with the recent UK Freeview TV channel changes, here's some relevant info. which might help you make sense of them.... I've just posted an updated list with the multiplex channel numbers for each TV channel included. These are for the Waltham (E. Midlands) transmitter. I've added instructions for getting the equivalent multiplex channel numbers info for your local transmitter. If interested, download the Excel spreadsheet from my website at: https://sites.google.com/view/vivweb01/home I have also added a 'Freeview' page to my website providing more info on UK digital TV and Radio reception. Hint: You can search each column of the spreadsheet via the filter buttons on the top row. Hope this helps,  Update 18.6.22 : Excel sheet revised yesterday - only minor changes, but if you haven't retuned your digital box or set recently, now would be a good time. Update 21.11.24 : Excel workbook revised with new channels for 2024. Happy viewing.... Ver...

Editor's note: For update post-budget,and its implications, see end of text.  ---------------------------------------- The Chancellor is up against it trying to find the extra cash she has decided is needed to fill the 'Black Hole'. This is because she has decided to upgrade its value from the original £22Bn to £40Bn in order to fund enhancements to public services, and the additional public sector union pay demands expected in 2025. Both IHT and Capital Gains taxes look like primary targets for extra revenue, and there were strong hints yesterday from government sources that Starmer had plans for ‘multiple changes’ to IHT.  In a previous blog I predicted that IHT would be a likely target, given the block on IT, VAT and NI rate changes. I made some speculative guesses about what Reeves might do to increase revenue from IHT, which is a much-hated* tax levied on their assets when someone dies. Sadly, at least some of these predictions are now quite likely to see the light of...

  The NHS has never been more ripe for reform. I published my ideas on this initially in a 2022 blog , and the content has been updated periodically to take into account such progress as was made by the previous government. The present government has accepted that the service is 'broken' and decided to request input from the public and NHS staff before attempting to implement any major reforms. This is a welcome development and does the new minister and his department credit. However, in the interests of openness we need to ensure the responses are actively considered, and where appropriate, acted upon. There needs to be a mechanism for providing confirmation of this, and feedback on ideas suggested /implemented. In my previous blog, the main message that emerged was that a new funding model will be essential if our NHS is to become fit for purpose again, and remain so . We have only to look at those of our nearest European neighbours with similar population sizes and demo...

    Now that the dust is starting to settle after Reeves’ so-called ‘Halloween Nightmare’ budget, let’s take a look at what actually happened to pensioner benefits…and what we might expect to happen in future. We all know about the loss of the Winter Fuel Payment for the majority of pensioners – you would have had to have been living on Mars for the last 3 months not to. Starmer is not yet out of the woods on that one, although it’s unlikely he will give way without an adverse judgement in the courts, and he will doubtless fight to defeat any attempt to force an about-turn, since the loss of face involved would be too great for him to bear, both politically and personally. The overwhelming adverse reaction to the move, and in particular to the way it was announced and justified, will have been noted, however, and I think this has probably been responsible for restraint on any further cuts – so far.…. It remains to be seen whether we will ever get universal WF payments ba...

  Those of us who were suspicious of Labour’s motives before the election will not have been surprised at Rachel Reeve’s first salvo in Labour’s ‘war on pensioners’ in August. The only thing that was a little unexpected was the belligerence of her delivery…and the readiness with which she was prepared to ‘let the cat out of the bag’ this early in her tenure. The pronounced ‘gasp’ from all sides of the Commons when she announced the move suggested that even her own colleagues were a tad surprised. Subsequent analysis has shown very little evidence of contrition on her part, although Starmer's 'happy band' of new MPs are getting it in the neck via their mailboxes. It was a virtual certainty that benefits would come under attack following the Tories election defeat. Labour, having successfully hemmed themselves in by their manifesto promise of no increases in NI, VAT or income tax rates, have already agreed several inflation-busting increases in public sector pay. With man...