Beep... Beep... Beep...

The old womans mobility buggy goes into reverse gear for the seventh time as she fails utterly to negotiate the wide open space of the library lounge. Now she's stuck between shelving units with ten feet to spare.

That kind of sets the tone for the day. Oh hang on again, she's reversing again....

Okay, she's moved a few feet. That'll keep her happy for a a few minutes until she works out where she is. But as I was saying, today is proving to very annoying. One of the other computers has the volume turned right up, and every so often the Microsoft Windows Theme Tune manages to be soothing and irritating at the same time.

The asian couple in the next cubicle are busy planning their lives, two ladies are jabbering away about how to to use a computer in another, and guess what? Mr Fidget has turned up. My day is complete.

It all began early last night with the wind howling outside. Sleep? Not possible. it wasn't helped when I was roused from my semi-comatosed state by some idiot knocking on a window outside. Don't know whose exactly, and I don't care. Go away.

Bad News For The Lazy

The big news item last night wasn't the diplomatic mission to persuade the Chinese to be nice and democratic, nor the explosions in Pakistan, nor the hatred directed toward BP's former boss. It was the new rules for benefit payments. Apparently a politican has decided that if a claimant refuses work he can have his payments stopped for up to three years. Three strikes and you're penniless.

Although the severity of these penalties is designed to dissuade the workshy from making lame excuses to stay idle, I have to say that the Department of Work and Pensions have already had similar powers for some time. Back in 2003 I signed a jobsearching agreement that stated a refusal to accept an offer of employment was liable to cause problems.

My gripe isn't that there are severe penalties, but rather there's a growing assumption that the unemployed are idle by choice. So where are all these new jobs and community projects going to come from? It isn't often I agree with the Labour Party, and I know it's all political sabre rattling, yet I can't help feeling the real savings are going to be made by creating scapegoats.