Conventions

WARNING: This is a politically inspired rambling post.

Conventions
No, not the Star Trek kind, the party political kind. We’re on the third one, of three. We are finally hearing some policies from the Conservatives this time round too, though it has taken the threat of an impending election to kick them into gear.

They had Schwarzennegger on a big screen (he couldn’t make it) and it looks like they’re going for the green credentials too, though I am not convinced about using the green taxes to pay for reducing other taxes. Okay, stamp duty is way too high – it should have increased in line with the increase in house prices – bad chancellor Brown.
While I don’t relish the idea of paying more for my holidays than I presently do, I can see that something needs to be done about the amount of flying we do generally. I don’t know whether business miles are a big contributor to the number of flights there are. I suspect so, and with the benefits of teleconferencing and videoconferencing, I don’t know why anyone (like some of the Head-Ofs in my organisation) would insist on flying here there and everywhere. Yes, face-to-face can be better in some situations. Telling someone in a teleconference that they’re redundant, for example, would be a little harsh. But surely they have people high enough up in the abroad-places to tell people good/bad news? So, I’d tax the business flyer before I’d tax the holiday flyer. I would probably still tax the holiday flyer. Perhaps the charge should be per aeroplane rather than per passenger (making it less expensive if the plane is full – more people per plane = less planes)

David Cameron did say this morning that he would like to adjust the benefit system so that couples aren’t better off if they split up. (I believe that this means couples-with-children) This makes sense to me, they claim to be family friendly, so they need some policies to show it.

I find it all incredibly confusing and in some cases dull. The Lib Dem conference completely bypassed me – though I recall that they were all telling Menzies that he is too old [not in so many words…]
Labour last week didn’t say much – or if they did I missed it.
I hope that before the election we get another version of the “who should I vote for” tool, for a laugh if nothing else.

And now, for the knitting content So, as you saw on yesterday’s post, my big parcel of yarn arrived, thanks much to Cucumberpatch who I will almost certainly order from again. Very good packaging and quick delivery (Royal Mail notwithstanding, and actually they were pretty good) The purple balls of yarn in the middle row on the left are Rowan Plaid yarn in Sea Thistle. I’m using these to make “A Tad Plaid”. I can’t say any more about it, due to the item in question being a Christmas gift. It’s a lovely yarn though, I’m really impressed with the texture and the colour. I don’t know whether there will be enough left over to make a hat of some sort too, but that would be nice if there is.

The many many balls of Jaeger are also for Christmas gift knitting, as is the Rowan All Seasons Cotton. They’re on sale at Cucumberpatch you see, so I’ve got lots of yarn for much less than normal – couldn’t resist. I’ve got my fingers crossed for some leftovers though, but I'm willing to bet that the leftovers will be too sparse. I love the colours though, and I think I have made the right choices for the gifts. I certainly hope so.

Once I'm done with the gifts, I want to make a tank-top I’ve seen. It’s a V-Neck and is very pretty. I might put the yarn that I want for it on my Christmas wish-list, but it depends on how long it takes me to make all of the Christmas things.