Halfords: liars

A few days ago, I wrote about how friendly and helpful Halfords were when I took my bike in for the brake and gear cables to be changed. I didn't mind having to wait ten days because they were busy. I was pleased when the guy said he'd be able to do it 'today or tomorrow at the latest'.

I was less pleased but still fine when I called four days later to be told that the bike was 'half done' and it would be ready the next day.

I was downright annoyed when I called in today, assuming I could collect it, only to find that, far from being 'half done', it was completely untouched. A simple phone call to apologise for the delay would have kept me happy. Being blatantly lied to, on the other hand, just makes me angry.

So angry that I'm going to spend the day buying books. Oh, and looking at a flat.

This is really starting to grind my gears

Courtesy of the Guardian's Diary.

US Investor's Business Daily:

"The controlling of medical costs in countries such as Britain through rationing, and the health consequences thereof, are legendary. The stories of people dying on a waiting list or being denied altogether read like a horror script … People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless."

Stephen Hawking after treatment at Addenbrooke's NHS hospital:

"I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS… I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."

Motor Neurone Disease life expectancy: 2-5 years after diagnosis.

Stephen Hawking's diagnosis: 1963 (aged 21). Age now: 67.

So, Investor's Business Daily, you're a lying sack of shit.

Immigration + Daily Mail = pure lying poison

As if anyone needs more evidence of this paper's corrosive influence on journalism, Mailwatch fillets the Mail's disgraceful dependence on nasty little pressure groups and their press releases which it then distorts even further to scare selfish racists (i.e. their core readers).