Bad day Darling?.......

.... or just another fuck up by this incompetent Government.

You have to ask, what the hell will be next?

Data CD's (twice, or maybe 3 times), illegal party donations which senior party officials appear to have attempted (badly) to cover up with lie after lie.

Maybe the "Smile coach" for Brown will finally be uncovered!? I really cannot comprehend how any of his advisors, family or friends haven't had the nerve to say "stop smiling like that - it's sooooo easy to see through & so insincere - please stop, it's losing the party votes!"

Sadly the Conservatives and Liberals are equally crap with a probably equal amount of skeletons in cupboards.

Mobile device\SmartPhone call it what you like....

... at the I think we are spoilt for choice for Smartphones & media devices that allow all sorts of things that a few years ago we would have thought impossible, thus making a descision as to which one to choose is proving extremely difficult...

First up is the RIM Blackberry Curve 8310. I've got one of these through my UK contract with Vodafone. First impressions weren't that good, but I am growing to like it now. With a bright 320x240 screen, quad band phone, Bluetooth 2, GPS, browser, push based e-mail, 2 megapixel camera, media player and a whole host of other things I haven't played with yet, it's not short on features - maybe too many? Fairly intuitive to pick up how to do things email & alerts are coming through thick & fast & fairly convenient to deal with on the move. I can't help feeling though at something else might be better.........

Second in line is the Nokia E61 Smartphone. I've been a Nokia mobile user for 12+ years, I've stuck with them, even when I got some freebie Motorola piece of crap. Haven't seen this in the flesh yet, but I can't imagine that Nokia would get this new bit of kit wrong.

I'm off to read a few reviews, more later......







Third is the Apple iPhone. I've seen one & liked it a lot, I'm a big fan of Apple iPods & this follows as a great looking & performing device. It appears to have everything you could ever need 320 x 480 screen, 2.0 megapixel camera, iPlayer, quad band phone, Bluetooth 2 & Wi-Fi to name but a few features. It's very cool to operate with the screen scrolling & auto rotate images etc.. It's just all the crap that comes with it contract wise in the UK, if you want one now, you have to sign up to O2. You can buy an unlocked one from the US, but not all the features work. So Apple, why not just sell unlocked handsets to whoever wants to buy one for £300? You would sell a whole lot more than you are now.

And lastly the DataWind PocketSurfer 2, not so much of a phone, more of a browser. No camera, no phone, just real 640 wide (free?) browsing. It comes with 20 hours browsing per month for the first year included in the purchase cost. "Unlimited" browsing can be gained for an extra £5.99 per month. Second year costs are £39.99 for the year. I like the idea of this for using when I'm on the train or travelling, as I have web based email client I could stay in touch quite easily, apparently the device uses some smart software to proxy & cache all your pages, making it super quick. All yours for £179.99 from eXpansys.com

In my humble opinion.....

.... the best wine merchants in the UK are Berry Brothers & Rudd. With a flagship store at 3 St James's Street which appears to have "changed little since 1698" !? But now & very conveniently near for me a new Factory Outlet opened up at their warehouse in Basingstoke - offering at least 25% discount, but if you look around (and ask), probably even better deals than that are to be had.

Courteous, knowledgeable & friendly staff are always in attendance, with a great willingness to share their knowledge & even crack open a bottle for a small ad hoc tasting if required.

Latest gems found have been... Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc, cheaper & better than Cloudy Bay in my opinion. A fantastic Rioja - Vina Arana Reserva La Rioja Alta both recommended by the staff at the Basingstoke shop - I have been back & bought more since the couple of bottles I picked up at the time.

Also worth a try are the Berrys' Own Selection range for good every day drinking wines, I have yet to try their New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or La Rioja Alta, but I'm sure they will be great alternatives to the favourites listed above.

If you know what you want, you can even buy online, then pick up a few days later.