A frugal life is an easy life!

On Saturday night I was halfway through posting about some of the things Sting is talking about. I didn't post it mainly because I couldn't really explain myself properly, plus I didn't want to be guilty of exactly what other websites online are doing.
Is the Y factor damaging our music industry?
I think it is and I agree with much of what Sting is saying about the Y factor, mainly because of the huge sums of money involved on the Y factor:

• Money is raised from telephone voting public - the Y factor will not release the results of these votes, how do we know they are accurate and fair? How much money are they making from this? Not much is known or revealed by the people behind the Y factor!
• It is all very well stating that the winner gets "a one million pound record deal" - but how much license do they have to work in the industry without any Y factor staff involvement? What about the millions that are made by the record company and the company behind Y factor, and of course off the back of young people?
• It is clear that Y factor is no more interested in "talent" than it is making money - the "judges" didn't judge at all, they left it up to the "public voting figures" for the bottom two contestants, which did not have anything to do with talent, the contestant with the most votes stayed, regardless of their comparative "talent"

Music is a fantastic medium, as old as time itself, each piece of music differs to each different listener. The self proclaimed judges have no formal qualifications to state what is and what is not "talent" as there is not now, nor will there ever be, any way to judge this, it is all opinions and nothing more.

Normally I would say that this is completely fair and proper, but when there are millions of pounds to be made from shows, votes, advertising, sales, etc, then ethics must play a part.
Are children under 16 of sound enough judgement to be spending their money texting and ringing in, to vote for one of the contestants?
To them it is just a text, dress it up as they like, but a text costs money, it is no different from them handing over 30p (for example) in the street. These children then pester their mums and dads for tickets to go to see the contestants in shows, they buy record releases, etc.
We as adults, can clearly spot money making schemes, but how is a child to judge this?

The most telling thing about the Y factor for me is the performances themselves.
Singing live on stage into a microphone is not as difficult as you would think!
The microphone is tuned into the singer's voice, it is perfectly possible for people with experience in the industry to tune a microphone into anyone's voice to help them with sharpness, key, etc.
With this in mind and the vast amounts of money spent on "professional" sound engineers, how is it that one or two contestants sound out of tune when it comes to their singing on stage?
We all know they rehearse, so why is the tuning of contestants such an issue?
I know why I believe this is the case!

I am questioning the ethics, of not just the Y factor, but on strictly come dancing, big brother, I'm a celebrity, something about maria, etc, all shows where the public vote and the results are kept from public scrutiny, until months down the line and in some cases, permanently!
I have used the term "Y factor" as I do not want to add to the online discussions regarding the show's correct title, which in turn will generate more links to its title, which in turn generates more revenue for the show and independant websites which spring up, proclaiming to be experts on the show and it's latest contestants.

Just had an email from the penalty charges team over at penaltycharges.co.uk informing me that a ruling could be due to be announced on the case of the OFT versus the banks, as regards the OFT having the power to take action against bank charges.

Thursday 19 November 2009 looks like being the day for all the thousands of people waiting to claim, to finally get the green light to proceed.

This ruling has been two years in coming and is long overdue, in the meantime the banks have been changing their terms and conditions to keep their profits high.
Here's hoping it is a good result for the people!

Our new daughter (as opposed to our old one?) is now 8 weeks old... how difficult is it, just to get a picture where she is actually smiling!

Heart warmer it is

Food from animals injected with growth hormones to improve production of milk and fatten meat, etc. are banned from being used in Europe, as regards the food chain.
On health grounds - food products made from animals who have been injected with growth hormones, have (in limited studies) been shown to increase (of up to 70%) the risks of developing serious diseases.

Could someone please explain to me then, why it is that the European Union permit the importing and selling of to the public of Europe, of food products from around the world, which is made from, or produced by, animals which have been injected with growth hormones?

Why ban the food stuff in the first place and then permit it to be imported from outside the EU and used in products that are on our supermarket shelves? What is the point?

 

Thanks to Jo (Curlylox over at chatgames) I put in a claim for some Payment protection insurance on an old loan.
Within 10 days, the Alliance and Leicester have written back, knocking the entire amount off the balance plus 8% interest on all premiums paid to the company.

I had asked for the payment protection insurance to be added, so didn't think it would be refunded, but Jo had another line of attack.

• Was it applied as a lump sum to the loan? - This means that interest is being applied to it at a higher rate! - I wasn't told this
• Are there any fees to pay if you want to end the policy before your loan is paid off? (Especially when it is a seperate installment policy, ie, not added as a lump sum to the loan!) - I wasn't advised there were any fees, I was told I could write to them giving them 30 days notice and my cover would cease - no mention of any "termination fee"
• I stated I felt pressured by the advisor into taking out the policy - they have to prove that I wasn't
• Self employed, retired or already have an illness? - then put this in your claim, chances are that there was no way the policy would ever cover you!
• When selling the policy to myself, it was never stated that other companies also sell payment protection insurance, that I could take out seperately to cover me on the loan.

I am going after some other companies to claim back my payment protection insurance now.
If the companies do not respond within 8 weeks, or they refuse my claim for a full refund, then a letter goes to the financial ombudsman, I'll let them decide.

It is a poor state of affairs when it has come to this though, the onus should be on the companies to sell this insurance in a correct manner, or if they fail to do so, the refund process should be automatic from the companies, instead, the customer has to write letters and issue complaints to get back what they have been mis-sold.