Madness

Declaration of Interest: I separated from my wife a couple of years ago, so it could be argued that I have an axe to grind. That said, we sorted out the asset split ourselves on the grounds that we really didn't want solicitors stirring things up, which in any case would have left both of us receiving less.

Right then, to business:

There were a couple of judgments in the House of Lords yesterday regarding divorce. In one, a former career woman who gave up work to bring the couple's children up had her settlement upheld. Fine - I suppose that the couple have differing opinions of how much she should have been awarded, but it seems to me that the basic principle on this one's pretty fair.

The other decision's the one I find just a little bit bonkers. After a marriage lasting two years and nine months, another high-flying couple split up. The wife in this one was awarded £5 million, which was upheld by their Lordships in yesterday's judgement.

Lets examine this one a bit more: There were no children from this union. The wife gave up work on marriage - she'd previously been earning about £85000 per annum, so I find it unlikely that she was anywhere near destitute. My rough calculations suggest that she's gained about £5000 per day for her brief union - surely that's rather disproportionate?

Barking by Name, Barking by Nature

So, as the local election results have come in, we've seen that Labour have received a well-deserved kicking - maybe it'll act as a wake-up call, though personally I think they're too far gone for it to make much difference.

The bad news is the rise of the horrific BNP - just exactly not what we need at this time. The people of Barking, who have elected 11 members of this warmed-over National Front brigade of bigots to their council, need to have a good hard think about what they've just done.

Some Choice

We've local elections tomorrow and, as ever, I do think I ought to make the effort and vote. The trouble is that none of the local candidates have made any serious effort to attract my vote and I'm not at all sure who to give it to...

I suppose that my best bet is just to vote against the current lot in an effort, albeit a probably futile one, to stop them getting complacent. At least if I do vote, I've earned the right to moan about whoever does get in!