How-to-spell Rap

Talking of spelling, here's a clever spelling rap. Not suitable for use in schools though…

Spelling and grammar? What next?!

Apparently examiners are to begin (again!) penalizing pupils for bad spelling and grammar - and about time too, though one can't help but wonder, after a generation or so in which many seem never to have been taught any grammar at all, who is going to teach it to them and how competent the examiners will be to assess it…

What does Ofgem do?

Surprise, surprise, gas prices are being hiked again. Funny how the energy companies can respond so quickly to rising wholesale prices when it's apparently so difficult to pass on savings to their customers when prices fall. 

Adam Scorer, of Consumer Focus, points out that "wholesale prices are around half of their peak in 2008, and yet in the same period customers' prices were cut by less than 10%".

Ofgem, supposedly the regulator, says nothing on the matter, and seems likely to do even less. npower's recent refunds to customers who overpaid for gas in 2007 seems to be largely due to the efforts of the self-styled "statutory consumer champion" Consumer Focus, which continued to work with the company when the Ofgem investigation resulted in an average repayment of only £6 to 200,000 customers.

Ofgem's website says that "Protecting consumers is our first priority", and it boasts, in its latest Consumer Bulletin, that it is presently (and ungrammatically) "propos[ing] making energy suppliers give 30 days [sic] notice of price rises". Customers everywhere will feel relieved about that, and doubtless very proud of Ofgem for taking such a stand on their behalf.

It's always good to know these regulators have their priorities sorted — especially since the utilities' retail customers fund them. As Ofgem says, "We recover our costs from the licensed companies we regulate. Licensees are obliged to pay an annual licence fee which is set to cover our costs". Presumably that fee is ultimately added into the utility bills…

Health and Safety - even madder than you imagined

Council workers employed by Tower Hamlets Homes apparently thought they were following heath and safety advice issued by the Fire Brigade when they went on a spree removing washing lines, hanging baskets, doormats, bicycles and security gates. They were halted by a nun, Sister Christine Frost, who pointed out that local yobs were far more pressing a problem.

The council must have realized in advance that its actions would not be popular, as it arranged for police officers to accompany its workforce. Residents understandably considered this a "heavy-handed" approach (and, to add insult to injury, presumably had to pay for the officers out of their Council Tax). 

Housing CEO Jonathan Gregory promised that commonsense would be applied in the future. Why not apply it in the first place?

Amazing that any borough council in these penny-pinching days has the time and money to waste in this way.