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The blog of Rich Stakounis

To Spend or Not To Spend…

Posted by richstakounis on 14th February 2010

Does anyone else think that Labour are almost guaranteed to win the next election?

David Cameron and his travelling circus almost seemed a viable alternative.   Right up until the moment they started revealing their policies.

The latest of which is a promise to cut, cut, cut within days of coming to power.  What they fail to realise is that every cut that gets made will have a knock-on effect to services being purchased from the private sector.  Unemployment will rise, interest rates will fall, and we’ll be back into decline along with our Italian, German, and Spanish friends.

Where-as Labours policy seems rather more sensible to me.  Let the Government take the strain, wait until the country has it’s own momentum in the direction of growth (lets say a year – well, actually the boffins said ‘a year’ as that’s when they’ve forecast the economy will be strong enough), THEN cut the deficit over a very reasonable 4 years to a tune of 50%.

We seem to have a party that will say what it thinks people want to hear, wihtout actually using relevant data to inform themselves.  I want my economic policy decided by a trained economist, who is being fed with all the latest data and opinions from across the globe, to then create a steady, conservative approach to deficit reduction, growth, and job creation.  What I don’t want is a party lurching around, changing it’s policies based on Daily Mail headlines regarding the state of our finances.

Economies go into recession when people stop spending, so the very last thing we need is the Government to lead the charge.  Four years is ample time to clear the deficit in my book.

The only thing that worries me about a Labour win is the effort their ministers and think-tanks put into social engineering policies.  Things like raising the minimum price of alcohol; what a crock!  Government should concentrate on the big things.  Over the past 13 years Labour have succeeded in a lot of ‘big’ areas;  things like Independence to the Bank Of England, Stopping genocide in Kosovo, The Northern Ireland Peace Treaty, repealing Section 28, creating Civil Partnerships and equal rights for same-sex couples, leading the charge to whip off African Debt, the smoking ban creating the amazing entertainment space which is the O2 Arena and surrounding area (which is already making more money than it cost), the successful Olympic bid which is creating Billion of Pounds worth of regeneration to hundreds of acres of land across the country, and we have led the world on climate change, 3rd world debt, resolving the financial ‘crisis’ amongst other things.  But all of these things have been mired by other things like ASBO’s, and those crazy children’s savings account things!

I may update this later,  but it’s Valentine’s day and I have preparations to make for my Valentine! ;)

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Posted in Bad Ideas, Columntary, Discussion, I Saw This, Social Commentary | 16 Comments »

Final piece of baggage being cast aside:

Posted by richstakounis on 14th February 2010

Okay, so my other flatmate has gone completely loopy.   I think he’s been on the sauce again.  He always believed that cracking open a bottle of wine every night wasn’t affecting him but Chris and I always thought different.

I haven’t exactly worked out why he’s suddenly developed from being a pompous arse who ignored me for two months whilst I was working away.  He tried to blame me for being out of touch for 8 weeks when I was working away, poor, with no access to email whilst I was working for a defence contractor), and no mobile phone as I couldn’t afford the bill.  But if he took that personally, then he is certainly not as emotionally mature as a 40-something man should be.

I think the other housemate (the one I blogged about a short while ago) may have had a hand in telling tall tales.  It makes me laugh somewhat as Mark has developed Chris’s talent of ignoring any points of a letter/email/msg that they have no answer for.  He has avoided the reason he ignored me for 2 months since before Christmas, he avoided the fact that financially he is not worse off, he’s ignored the fact that everything I told him came true, and he’s buried his head in the sand as soon as I ask for a simple reason for why he’s behaving like a 10 year old.  He thinks he’s such a big man.  In truth he’s a 40-something loser in a dead-end job, who tries to act way above his intellectual level.   Maybe he should concentrate on being a father to his kids and find himself someone he can settle down with.

The full facebook convo, is below.  I have nothing to hide and I’m sick of people walking all over me, and I’m not going to stand for his threats.  I’ve also put auto-delete, and auto-forwards on my email addresses, so that any further emails from either Chris, Mark or John get forwarded onto all three and deleted from my inbox.  I don’t need to be aware of the fantasy minds of complete loonatics.  Maybe the boiler is leaking in the flat causing mass hysteria! lol

I walk away from him knowing that I have acted with the best of intentions, and my lifestyle was severely curtailed during the latter part of 2009 whilst I made sure that they still had a roof over their heads, and because I couldn’t hold their hands through the whole process, they rebelled against me; oh…..and the dishwasher door still hasn’t been fixed after 6 months.

Chris and Mark are very well suited to eachother :)

Final Facebook Conversation: RICH / MARK

Rich 13 February at 15:16

If you’re both ignoring me it’s going to be REALLY hard to arrange the Sky engineer!!! I wish you two would sort yourselves out!

Mark 13 February at 15:30

i am not ignoring you, stop being paranoid, last time you tried calling me on the 2nd i was working and could not answer your call, i have tried calling you many times and left messages for you to call me and you never did i did explain its really important you contact me and now you are being evicted,

whats happening richard ? why has it come to this when it could have been avoided if you had just spoken to john and sorted it out earlier, i tried to contact you i even asked dale to tell you to call me but you did not.

Mark 13 February at 15:33

don’t send me a message saying “i wish you two would sort yourselfs out” thats antagonistic and by the way you need to sort yourself out MATE. baliffs turned up here the other morning lucky for you chris did not let them in, they will be back and if they get in they will take anything thats yours

Rich 13 February at 16:07

The last time you tried contacting me was the beginning of December when I was unable to communicate easily. The small amount of communication I did do was to talk to John to arrange clearing everything by 15th January, to give Chris payment details and ask that you pay John directly, and to assure you that you wouldn’t be evicted. Funnily enough, it all came to pass, and the only negative outcome is because Chris lied to John about my contribution towards the flat. Since then I sent you Merry Christmas, Happy New Year messages, and have sent you 6 FB messages, written on your wall, texted you 4 times, and called you on 3 different occasions. You haven’t replied once, despite sending my application request on FB on a near-daily basis. When I tried calling you on the 2nd it was to try to arrange when you’d be in to get the sky engineer round. I’m still trying to book him but noone will tell me when someone will be in!!!

I have been speaking to John and agreed to be taken off the tenancy agreement, but I’m not being evicted. On a monthly basis I am paying £124 council tax, £9 water, £32 sewage, £120 sky tv and broadband, plus £20 in phone calls, and quarterly a £250 electricity bill and a £350 gas bill. I am paying over my equal share The outgoings for bills on that flat are a regularly exceed £460 per month. I have also covered £2000 in extra gas and electric payment over the course of 2 years, which while not relevant to you, should be VERY relevant to Chris who has happily sat back and watched me pay it without offering a penny. John started the process of removing me from the tenancy agreement in December on the same day that payments hit his account to bring things up to date, the reason he did this was because John had been told by Chris that since I asked you two to pay your money to John directly and gave you the account details, that I haven’t been in touch and am not paying anything, which you both know is an outright lie. The second I stop paying your bills your monthly flat outgoings will be the £1340 split 2 ways.

So ask yourself….should you really be listening to Chris all that much?

Chris told me the bailiffs stopped by, so I emailed a reply and asked for a company name, reference number, and contact number, but he won’t reply. So how can I find out who the debt is with when I’m living/working in London??? He obviously wants my stuff out of his way. He is a bitter man.

Chris also claims that the sky bill is overdue, despite the fact that every time I call them to arrange the engineer they state the account is up-to-date, and when I ask if anyone has called regarding the account other than me, and if anyone has tried with the incorrect password, they say no.

As I said to John, Chris has turned into a very unhealthy minded person who seems to tell people whatever he can to get his own way. After all his rants about how he thought I had turned you against him, I guess that he has got his own way and turned it around.  You fell for it completely.  Well done.

I got an apology from John after I talked to him in January and get my refund of the money Chris had double-paid, and he is aware I still plan on purchasing the flat in 3.5 years. I guess that you realising that you’ve been suckered in by Chris’s lies is too much to ask for since you are around him most days. So I’ll cut my losses.

I’ll be coming to get my stuff sometime soon, and from that day I’ll be officially moved out and you will be responsible for your own bills.

I can’t believe the two of you have treated me this way over a blip that lasted from the 25th October until 15th December, especially after all I have done for Chris in the past.

I guess you learn who your friends really are.

Mark 13 February at 16:27

ok then i am off friday 19th and you book a shy engineer on that day and tell me what time and i will make sure i am in. ok. let me know.

Wow that was a rant and a half, by the way don’t confuse me with a fool because I really do know the truth and I think i can make my own mind up to whats happened, Richard I KNOW whats happened and I know you are being evicted, and by the way thanks for the information you are paying the bills and you are responsible for them as me and chris are paying the rent.

Before you move out I do want my £200 deposite back I paid you by direct payment in to you account.

Rich 13 February at 17:49

That wasn’t a rant. Don’t patronise me. That was a description of everything that has happened from my perspective. From someone who claims to be a fair judge of situations you sure ruled out an entire point of view quickly before judging me.

I am not being evicted, as I have not been informed of any court dates and haven’t received any mail, the only mail that is coming to me is bank statements. The rest is sitting in a box somewhere. Even if I was being evicted, I would take along the bills and bank statements that prove that I have paid more than anyone else put together. From my regular conversations with John, it is clear that you are replacing me on the tenancy agreement, nothing more. For two years John didn’t care that all the money due to him came through me, so just because my share is now going via yourself and Chris, doesn’t mean that I am not paying my share towards the property and then some. I had to cover Chris’s rent being late for nearly 18 months. Whether it was a week, a fortnight, or sometimes a month. No one ever covered me. I was late for 6 weeks and now you act like you’re superior to me.

My share of the deposit is £600. As you are taking my place on the tenancy agreement, then you will owe me £400. It was £900 in total, a 3rd of which Chris paid. As the rent is up-to-date, John is still holding the full deposit. If you want to split the deposit 50/50 with Chris then you would only owe me £250 and Chris owes the other £150. If there are any problems with that talk to John. If John wants to pay me directly then I’ll send you your £200.

You attacked me left right and centre for a full month, with abusive texts, VMs and FB msgs, only to end up in the exact same position you were in before. You weren’t evicted, the bills were paid, and I was the one who had to work extra hard to keep things going whilst being abused by yourself and Chris. I am only in this position because Chris lied to John about my situation and where the money was coming from. After the both of you started paying your rent to John, Chris didn’t inform John that I was still paying at least an equal monetary value in bills. John initially issued paperwork because Chris told him that I had left the flat, was never coming back, and wasn’t paying a penny. I only hope that you weren’t a part of that. You used to be a reasonable person, but now you are jumping to conclusions.

I am working and living in London, and paying over an equal share for a flat in Bournemouth. Delays happened between the end of Oct and the middle of Dec, partly due to my situation and partly due to Chris being 1 month late in paying me without telling me and causing hundreds of pound in penalties because I was too busy to notice that everything was bouncing every 5 days. Chris accepted no liability for that situation and I’m sure he’s convinced you of a different chain of events. I only hope you don’t get screwed by him the same way.

All the time you were both frantically calling me, things were being sorted on the timescale agreed with John. I promised you that your home would be safe, and it was, I promised you that Chris was lying about the facts, and it appears he was. The situation was resolved with everything being up-to-date, and the only reason I am compelled to move out is because of the lies Chris told to John. You can imagine how angry I am with him. I am also confused as to why you ignored me for a further 2 months, and why you have an attitude towards me. I came up good on my promises, proving that there was no need to worry. I am the only one who has ended up losing a home, not you, so I’d appreciate it if you stepped down from your high horse.

All the time you were both frantically calling me, things were being sorted on the timescale agreed with John.

Btw, that bucket of sick in Chris’s room that’s been there since October should really be moved if it hasn’t already. 3 months of sick fermenting isn’t good for anyone’s health and it’s permeated through to the lounge and kitchen.

Mark 13 February at 18:15

In case you don’t get it, A new lease is being signed with me and Chris so what ever agreements and deposites you have with John are not my problem, I am sure John will be interested in this message and when i meet him i will show him your messages to me.

I owe you nothing I am a logger in this flat and paid you £200 deposite don’t worry the next time the baliffs come here I will let them in and show them your room, don’t try to have a go at me i have done nothing wrong and paid my rent on time every month since living here, not nice having a rant at me Mate not nice at all, all i have done is try to contact you to let you know and this is the thanks, ok thanks for your kind words you really are a grown up person,

look forward to a knock at the door

Mark 13 February at 18:45

if John owes you a deposite I suggest you speak to Mr J Friel about it instead of harrasing me for you deposite. I really think you don’t get how these things work, The lease you and chris have is ending and a new lease is going to be signed i am not taking your place it does not work like that. I thought you had an understand of leases and things clearly you don’t .

I will make it clear to John Friel you have been asking me for your deposit back and explain to him I told you , you need to speak to him.

Try not to get so attacking Richard it really does not suit you because when you rant you don’t make sense and get muddled about the situation.

I am really upset the way you are talking to me by Facebook message and feel that you must be very stressed,. Just remember I am just logging here and i have paid the rent every month to either you or john and when chris has had letters from Mr J Friel or voice messages I have hurd I have tried to contact you but you never called me back not even from a phone box, now you are being evicted by the landlord Mr J Friel because he is unhappy with the way payments have been made.

I can see you are angree and lashing out at anyone but remember this I have done nothing wrong.

I will explain to Chris and john friel that you have recieved an over payment back from Mr J Friel and that you have messaged me asking for you deposite thats all i can do.

Please stop sending abusive messages blaming everyone but yourself as its not appreciated ok.

Now I suggest you sort your self out as there is a court summons for you here for non payment of council tax so i suggest you contact the council to address it and also the baliffs, the reason Chris did not tell you who they were from is because he did not speak to them they were shouting through the letter box but chris did not speak to them,

The baliffs – you must have some idea who they are from or do you have that many people you owe money to you can’t be sure.

Now please take care and try not to get so worked up or you will blow a gasket.

Rich 13 February at 19:03

I love the way you try to sound intelligent.   From the email I received from John it states  “as I understand it, Mr Wightwick will be taking your place on the tenancy and you will be removed from the current agreement”.

The only reason I brought up the deposit was because you think I owe you money.  You gave up that right when you lied to John about who was paying the rent,  I was simply letting you know that your deposit is now in the hands of John Friel.  Consider it transferred to your new landlord, and for all I care John can keep the extra £400, and share it out to yourself and Chris when you leave.

As for the council tax, I took my name of the account in December when I transferred to the London borough.  As for the arrears, that accrued during the period Oct – Dec, I have made arrangements.  Are you saying you opened my mail to find out there was a court summons?  Please say you did.

I don’t know why you think I’m ranting, everything I’ve said make sense, maybe you’ve had a drink or two tonight?  Just like when you had your barny with Chris about the kitchen that also didn’t make sense to you?

I thought I’d throw in a few personal insults, as you seemed to enjoy doing the same in your last message to me before you blocked me.  Childish much?

I have no idea who the bailiffs are from as everything I pay is up-to-date, apart from 3 items which are under arrangement and the mail is being sent to my London address, but all of these are personal and unrelated to the flat.  So no….I don’t owe so many people money, but well done trying to act big and clever.

I love the way you take a discussion about facts and turn it into a bitching match, then accuse me of doing the same, and you can explain what you want to whom you want, it won’t make the slightest bit of difference, and I hope that karma will give you the kick up the arse you so richly deserve.

So go on, explain to me….other than being so broke that I couldn’t ring to console you and assure you that things would be okay EVERY five minutes in November and December, TELL me what it is I did to cause you to behave in such a disgusting manner towards me?  Remember, I couldn’t talk to you because I had no phone and no internet for 8 weeks and barely the money to eat let alone use a phone box,  you have ignored me for 9 weeks for what reason?  Tell me your excuse for being such a pompous arse?

Rich

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I'm a celebrity…tell me my boyfriend is a twat on live TV.

Posted by richstakounis on 25th November 2009


Colin and Justin praying to the God of Soft Furnishings

So, Colin is out of the jungle. I think I’m as shocked as most. I mean I guess it’s not that surprising that Colin or Justin were near the first to be out as they aren’t that well known to Joe Public. I fell in love with them during their Million Pound Property Experiment several years back, but if you didn’t see that, then you wouldn’t have had many opportunities to to catch them on TV since unless you live in Canada or Scotland. The big (read: HUGE) surprise is that Justin received more votes than Colin to remain.

Colin was always the cutesy one, the compassionate one, the emotional one. You can’t help but have a soft spot for him, but by contrast, I always found that Justin grated on me. I found him that little bit too loud, a smidgen over-opinionated, a tad obnoxious, and I didn’t like the way he treated Colin on their TV shows. However, these two have been together for many years, lived together for 20 years; they are very much in love, suit each-other immensely, and I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that their relationship is confusing, or wrong. So enter Joe Swash, he’ll suggest it live on ITV2, he will also suggest that there is no reason that anyone should like Justin, and no reason why Colin would be dating him. SHAME ON YOU JOE! You may have formed the same opinion as me over Justin’s TV persona, but what on Earth qualifies you to know who the REAL Colin and Justin are? How do you know what life they’ve shared together, or how much they are in love? FOR SHAME!!! Next time, be careful about what you say on TV as an impartial commentator.

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Peanut butter…

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JedWard of the Jungle???

Edward and John (Edwohn)

My only comment is YAAAAAAAAY! I hope they sign! I hope they sign!! I’m going to miss them on Saturday nights. They were always the act I looked forward to seeing the most. Don’t get me wrong, they can’t sing for toffee, and I certainly won’t buy any albums, but boy are they fun to watch on TV! :)

To read the original story, click here

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AMA-BOWB-AMA-TIDDL-AMA-WOW-AMA!

Adam Lambert and mysterious stranger. Seriously, does this guy know how to kiss without mashing your face in?

Adam Lambert of American Idol fame has got into a spot a bother over a gay ‘kiss’ live on TV during a performance of his new single ‘For Your Entertainment’. First of all, it wasn’t a kiss; it was a mauling. A kiss that aggressive is usually only performed at 4am after a heavy night of drink and debauchery. Secondly, it only recieved 1500 complaints to the relevant authority, which considering the size of the audience, shows that there may be some hope for the American race yet. Thirdly, I thought it was pretty gross, and laughed for at least 15 seconds before trying to pick which of the dancers I would have prefered to snog if I absolutely HAD to live on TV (as the thing he picked wasn’t pretty), which brings me to point Four: If any Americans did have an issue with explaining to their young children why two blokes were kissing on TV, they could have easily just told them that Adam was kissing a pretty young girl wearing WAY too much make-up, and one of those ‘progressive’ European hairstyles.

The ‘uproar’ has proved to be relatively tame, and Adam has now gained a new ‘fan’ in Me; NOT for performing the grossest kiss in live television history, but for remarking the following: that if people had been upset by his performance, then that it is a “form of discrimination and it’s too bad”, adding “I had fun, my dancers had fun, the audience that was in the Nokia [Theatre] had fun. Anybody else who was watching it and enjoying it, thank you for being entertained”.

I take my hat off to you Adam Lambert. In recent times you would have heard a Celebrity apologising even when they did nothing wrongin order to please their more moderate public, in an attempt to increase their ‘brand’ appeal, and whilst it is sometimes necessary to apologise for ‘offending’ people, but not apologise for the ‘offensive act’ itself, in this case, the kiss would only have been offensive to prudes and bigots, and a heterosexual kiss shown at the same time, in the same scenario would most certainly not have offended America’s heartland, and therefore Adam is 100% justified in his response, and it is refreshing to see a celebrity, especially one at the start of his career with so much to lose, being so firm and backing his convictions with very public words.

Hear, hear!

To read the original story, click here

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Michael Sheen

I’ve just realised I really like him, as an actor and TV personality. Shame he’s Welsh. Ho Hum.

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Posted in Columntary, Discussion, I Saw This, Social Commentary | 2 Comments »

In response to Jan Moir's 'not an apology'

Posted by richstakounis on 24th October 2009

In response to Jan Moir’s ‘not an apology’ in The Mail Online article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1222246/The-truth-views-tragic-death-Stephen-Gately.html :

Jan,

1) Everyone who found out about your disgusting article through Twitter or Facebook was able to click a link directly to it. Of course we read it. The bounds of your ignorance is truly staggering.

2) If there is a ‘majority’ of support for your views, why are they so afraid to speak in public about it?

3) The ruling on Stephen Gately’s death WAS ‘natural causes’. This was revealed BEFORE your article. You disagreed outright with the corroner’s verdict with no basis to do so. You didn’t say that you thought the circumstances AROUND his death were unnatural, you said his death WAS unnatural. You’re a journalist Jan, it is your job to be able to express what you mean, if you got it THAT wrong then I submit that you are a bad journalist and shouldn’t be employed by one of the countries most popular tabloids.

4) You have just admitted that you based your article on ‘hear-say’ from other newspapers. Learn to find reputable sources. Do not copy other people’s work; you cannot verify it’s accuracy or validity. Yet another reason you should not have your job as of tomorrow morning.

5) The most ‘orchestrated’ that the ‘campaign’ to complain got, was people linking to your article via blogs, tweets and social networking statuses, and adding their personal opinion of that article. You have an embarrassing mis-comprehension of social media. In your article about Sarah Brown tweeting, you stated that ‘nothing good ever came from Tweeting’. Oh how wrong you are.

Jan, you are sitting in a little bubble with your fingers in your ears singing ‘LaLaLa La La’, imagining that 99% of the population are wrong, and that you are right. What YOU need to do now if offer an unreserved apology. State that although it is obvious you have caused great offense, you are unable to understand why, and as such will have to look deep within to find out, and as you have no idea how you could have hurt so many people, so badly, it is only fair that you step down from your position immediately to avoid this happening again. Then once you have discovered how you could have got it so very wrong, and can be sure that it won’t happen again, THEN you will return to work.

Deal?

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