However, I think that we must not forget that this election is also about which party and which leader we trust to guide the country through a crisis or difficult times. Out of the three main political parties I think that David Cameron or Nick Clegg is the man I would trust most.

All I know is that Labour has not done a good job but the question is will the other parties be able to do any better ? Burdoned with massive debts the next few years are going to be difficult for us all and whichever party gains power they will have to make unpopular decisions. politicians also need to show us all that they are in it because they want to do the best for the UK rather than in it for themselves.

Many major issues need tackling by the next government.

1. There are too many people in this country so there needs to be limits because the infrastructure is not sufficient.

2. End the benefits culture and get people back to work.

3. Treat criminals as criminals and don’t put them up in hotels that are called jails where they have an easy life. A jail sentence in jail should be harsh to prevent the chances of re-offending.

4. Clamp down hard on anti-social behaviour and parents who do not control their children.

5. Spend only what we can afford as a country.

6. Force banks to lend money to businesses that are wanting to create jobs.

7. Encourage a culture that hard work will lead to success.

8. Cut taxes on everything. If we have money we will spend it and this will create jobs.

9. Spend more money on roads and trains to get the country moving more efficiently so that we spend longer at work rather than travelling.

10. Encourage enterprise so that the UK becomes bigger and better as a producer of quality goods and services.

This election looks like it’s going to be a dirty fight as Labour seem to want to doing anything to hang onto power. All the parties will eventually promise things that they know they can’t deliver but one thing is for sure…I can’t wait until 7 May when it will be all over !

Recently, however, voices in the scientific world have been warning that it might not actually be wise to search for life on other planets. They argue that as the Universe is about 14 billion years old and the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old then if there were life on other planets they are likely to be far more advanced than we are. If that was the case and they happened to find us because of signals we have sent out then it is possible they may not be as friendly as we had hoped. Therefore, some scientists say that we should keep quiet just in case !

They raise an interesting point but I have to say that I would have thought that Earth would have received some sort of electronic signals by now if there was advanced life somewhere out there. So far, there has not been any sort of signs that life may exist elsewhere.

I happen to think, though, that us humans are unique and that life on Earth was caused by a unique accident so rare that it was a one off. In other words, I think that we are alone and it is us that will one day inhabit other worlds when our own has run out of resources.

I have to say that I have, of course, no evidence whatsoever to back up my opinions, apart from the fact that I haven’t seen any sign of any alien spaceships myself yet !

What amazed me though was the fact that hardly any shops on my local high street had cleared the snow and ice from in front of their shops. The more I think about it the more I think that there should be a law to force shop owners to clear snow from the area in front of their shop. There was a mixture of snow, ice and slush which makes shopping a miserable experience and potentially dangerous too. But from the point of view of the shop owners I would have thought that they would want as many shoppers are possible visiting their shops to spend their hard earned cash there, especially in these harsh economic times when people have reduced their spending.

It does not take much effort to clear snow. In my opinion, it is good customer service to make the shopping experience as stress free as possible and if I saw cleared snow from in front of a shop I would think to myself that this shop cares about its customers. Doing something to make your business stand out from the competition is very important and it seems to me that this simple job is being overlooked.

I hear though that snow clearing from shopping areas is not as easy as it seems !  Clearing snow away but leaving the area more dangerous than it was before could land you in legal trouble. Apparantly, legal experts have said that if clearing snow caused injury to someone they could sue under “tort of nuisance”.  If you make sure the area is gritted or salted after you have cleared it you should be in the clear.  It is easier to walk in uncleared snow than on a slippery iced over cleared patch of snow so if you are clearing snow make sure you do good job of it.

Making Money from the Snow !

I was very impressed yesterday morning when a note popped through my letterbox offering a snow clearing service. Paths cleared for £4 and drives for £6 which included gritting as well ! Now that is what I call enterprising…Well done for the fast thinking !

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Avatar is an amazing film but this is mainly because it is filmed in 3D and this brings to life the whole film. I think I sat through the whole film with my mouth open and totally immersed in another world. This film is all about escapism to another world at its very best. There are many times in the movie that you feel that you are there amongst the actors in the same room.

Whilst the story line is excellent and probably tells a moral story as well the main winner is the 3D technology which surely will herald the start of 3D in most films. Avatar is the perfect movie for 3D as it is filmed in CGI on a fictitious planet called Pandora. The main character is given a new body, an avatar, in which to live his life in the midst of the planets population. These creatures are amazing and they live in a huge jungle full of amazing creatures and floating mountains.

You must go and see this movie !

I know quite a few people who work for the NHS and whilst it undoubtably has its problems, in my opinion, the NHS does a brilliant job. It employs 1.8 million people and eats up billions of pounds but it is there when you need it for most things anyway.

Of course, the NHS is not perfect, far from it. There are too many managers and not enough front line staff and treatment targets don’t tell the full story. There is also a problem with the cost of drugs for specialist treatments meaning that there is a post code lottery for some treatments.

Personally I would like to see a hybrid system whereby private healthcare is mixed with the NHS and it’s possible to opt out, but overall I think the criticism coming from the USA is unjustified.

It all started on a Thursday morning and I was driving down the M1 motorway. I had stopped at Wooley Edge Services near Wakefield when suddenly I was hit with really bad pains around my kidneys and stomach. After 10 minutes the pain had got even worse so after taking advice from my wife, who is is in the medical profession, I agreed that she would call an ambulance. I did attempt to put on the brave manly face but deep down I knew that I couldn’t drive and I needed help. If you ever have the misfortune to have kidney stones then you will probably need medical attention quickly and you will need pain relief urgently.

Anyway, the first response paramedic arrived and hooked me up to lots of equipment and carried out some basic tests. At this point the pain was so bad that I was throwing up in the car park but I was oblivious to anything going on around me !

Five minutes later an ambulance arrived and I didn’t take much persuasion to get into the ambulance. On the way to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield I was given gas and air as pain relief but it barely took the edge off the pain. I arrived in the A & E department and there was no hanging around I was given some pain relief and after about 30 minutes I was pain free and felt ok. The doctor said I needed an x-ray so off I went for that. Later on I was told I needed an IVU (Intravenus Urogram). This I was told is where  a dye is injected into you and then x-rays are taken at various times throughout the process and it is possible to see any blockages with might be caused by a stone. This took about an hour but when the results were checked there was no sign of any problems.

Later that day I was discharged but after two more bouts of pain I admitted myself to the A & E department of Leeds General Infirmary and again I was given pain relief. LGI is a teaching hospital and I can tell you that it pays to live near to a good hospital because LGI has a CT Scanner and I was put on the list for a CT Scan. This is a futuristic looking machine that only takes about 2 minutes to scan the affected area. The results of the CT Scan showed that I had a 3mm kidney stone, so I can say that the CT Scan is far more powerful and accurate than an IVU x-ray !

I was then taken to the specialist urology department of St Jame’s Hospital in Leeds and stayed there overnight. After more pain and pain relief I managed to get rid of the stone naturally which is great because I did not fancy any surgery !

All in all it was a painful experience but I have to say that all the staff I encountered from paramedics, A & E staff, doctors, nurses and even the tea ladies were great. I can’t fault them at all. They were thoughtful, caring and they made me feel special. So, well done and thanks to the NHS.

In the UK we do have an excellent health service …. I can vouch for that as I saw 3 different hospitals in 4 days !

This year the voting rules had changed and the UK entry by Jade Ewan had been touted around Europe over the last few months, however, despite the song writing skills of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber the UK entry only managed 5th place, which for a mediocre song was a vast improvement on previous years. It looks like the rest of Europe took pity on us !

This years Eurovision winner was the Norwegian entry which wasn’t a bad song and was quite catchy but one that once you had heard it a few times will prove to be very irritating.

This years contest, however, was good from the point of view that it was a more serious contest with some reasonably good songs and not so many ridiculous costumes, although there were still some acts who had acrobats when they should have had backing singers ! They should should remember that Eurovision is a song contest not a travelling circus !

Iceland managed to afford the airfare for their entry and actually I quite liked it. They finished second.

I must admit that I did miss some of Eurovision as I ended up flicking over to ITV to watch some of Britain’s Got Talent which provided much better entertainment. Still, I suppose I will be watching again next year.

What is becoming clear is that there are two types of MP’s in this saga. Firstly, there are those MP’s who submitted expense claims for items they had purchased for their so called second homes. Many of these MP’s had sought guidance on whether they could claim and many claims were passed by the people charged with administering the scheme. Secondly, there are those MP’s who seem to have been deceitful. For example, several MP’s have claimed for alleged mortgage payments made on houses that had actually no mortgage.

Whilst the first scenario is milking the system the second scenario is the most serious and is probably fraud. It’s the MP’s that have perpetuated fraud that I think should feel the force of the law against them.

There is no doubt that our political system has been badly damaged. It’s not going to be easy for MP’s to regain trust from us, but a start would be for all those found to have committed a fraud to either resign or be sacked as MP’s and secondly for the whole expenses system to be re-written and administered properly.

What we also need to know are the details of all the MP’s who have played within the spirit of the rules. It’s easy to think that our whole political system is corrupt but so far we have only been told about those MP’s that have made outrageous claims and it may well be that the vast majority have not played the system.