Bright light at the end of the Talk Talk tunnel

I managed to re-sign up with Be internet last night. I was worried that my connection would take 10 working days, as I was originally told. This would seriously impact trying to arrange things for our trip which is in about... 11 working days.

Thankfully I received a text and email today informing me that connection would be on the 6th of May which isn't even 10 calendar days. Oh joy.

On top of that, they're giving me three months free and refunding me the £40 cancellation charge. So I get to be rid of Talk Talk and their horrible service and get 3 months free internet for my troubles. Something's finally worked out for me.

Talk Talk phone problems

My month long fight with Talk Talk is ALMOST over. My new account with BT was supposed to take effect yesterday, however there was a snag.

Checking the phone even this morning, there's no dial tone. The BT website assures me the account and line are set up. Having called 151, I've NOW been assured there's probably a fault on the line. I can't help thinking this is the telecom version of the flaming bag of dog poo left on my door step by Talk Talk.

I now have to plug in a corded handset into the sockets at home to test whether they work. I don't have a corded handset. So it's off to Tesco at lunch to find the cheapest corded handset known to man.

When that's sorted, they're sending an engineer around, so I get to take a day off work for that. Oh JOY!

All this and we're now internet-less at home, which doesn't sit right with me for a number of reasons.

Will this fight with Talk Talk - arguably the worst telecoms provider ever - ever end? And how much is it going to continue to cost me?

Shocking budget and a decade of pain

It's been in the news for the last few months that Labour's uselessness during the good times has meant the piggy bank is empty now the bad times have hit, but today the BBC are reporting that we're in for almost a decade of fiscal pain, and that "it would be 2032 before government debt returned to the level of 40% of GDP that had been Mr Brown's target."

Thank you Labour.

Yesterday's budget was a travesty for anyone trying to eek out a living in this country with beer going up, petrol going up and even personal income tax going up, with a new 50% tax bracket. Of course, the rich are rich for a reason and this new 50% bracket is likely to cause more problems than it'll solve. As the Beeb points out (rather obviously):

"...if some rich people chose to leave the country and spend less in the UK, that would also lower tax receipts in other areas, such as VAT receipts, perhaps by as much as £1.5bn."

Makes me wonder who let these goons in charge of the empty piggy bank in the first place. I think news like what we received today is proof enough that the UK is now not the place it once was. With the country in such disarray financially, there's going to be all sorts of cuts to public spending as well, to make up for the horrific mess we're in.

Time to dust off my passport and get the hell out of dodge while my pounds are still worth something.