I started this blog post sitting in Euston, writing it on my phone. The makes me two things.

A) A new age, trendy blogger and hip with the times and

B) A dickhead.

All the technology aside, I have found that since moving up north, my perspective on all these cool things has changed a little. It might well be unrelated to the distance, it might be just the fact that I’m getting old, but the things that once impressed and fascinated me have lost their shine. Take swanky London clubs for example.

On a recent visit to London, I was lucky enough to meet up with some people in the Mayfair bar. A nice enough place but you quickly get a feel for the place when you realise they don’t serve beer. A bar that doesn’t serve beer hey? That’s a bit like a prostitute that doesn’t have sex. All the things are still in the right places, but there’s kind of just no point to it. Anyhow, by the time I’d enjoyed a £10 “cocktail” or two, we moved on to (what is now known as) the worst club in London. Although we had called ahead and been told that they “didn’t have a guest list” (it was a Thursday night), we were stopped on the door to see if we had a reservation. (Kindly!) the door snob said she would “go and see if they could fit us in”. Three minutes later she returned and was generous enough to let our small (but perfectly formed) party in, to pay £15/person (which they were rather unhappy about giving any change from a £20) and we ventured into the almost completely empty room. I was then lucky enough to be able to pay £8.50 for a bottle of Tiger beer (yes, that’s not a typo) before being asked to move over because someone more important than us would like to use the table our drinks were on. The night had a wonderful conclusion when the birthday girl was invited to “get some air” (please be assured she was by no means “too drunk”, more than could be said for any of the other visitors!) with the promise that because she had her hand adorned with their stamp that coming back in wouldn’t be a problem. Of course they didn’t let her back in and we all made our way home, many hundreds of pounds worse off. The parting comment from the door snob? “So what exactly do you do for a job?” to the birthday girl. Well my dear, something a fair bit more worthwhile than robbing my customers. Besides, is it relevant? It would appear in London that yes, it is.

The whole episode was rather sad really and it reminded me of just how far into the pit some areas of our humanity have gone. The antidote? The next day we got up and spent a lovely day in the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. Attractions you don’t have to pay for and spend your hard earned cash funding some Londonite’s car fund. My big lesson here? Paying more certainly doesn’t buy you better service.

All that aside, this post (from an Adobeite) points out exactly why. (hint… it’s in the iPhone ADG and looks like this:)

3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

I can’t really add much more to the situation, except to wait, until I know all the facts (or as many as we’ll ever know) before either throwing up, or leaving the country. I find it utterly despicable that these wasters have the gall to demand millions of pounds in “bonus” (try and remind yourself what a bonus is) and are prepared to walk out if they don’t get it. These are the same people who would not have had a company / job if Mr Tax payer hadn’t stepped in with a 70% stake yet they will turn their backs and demand a bonus! Remember here that there are millions of people out of a job now, and thousands of companies down the pan because of bad banking. Great job guys.

This could be a big test of the labor government. So much politician bluff has been spewed about cracking down on “Bankers Bonuses” but now it’s reckoning day. UKFI has the veto but will they use it? Will they be able to display any sense of control? Time will tell.

(p.s. apologies to the one RBS investment banker I know. You know it’s not just you I’m picking on!)