Hysterical, if it wasn't so sinister

You'd think that the government, and particularly the Home Office, would be steering clear of unpopular policies at the moment. After suffering the worst election showing in 40 years, consistently polling 15 points behind the Conservatives in the opinion polls, fighting off public revolt over the 10p tax debacle, and teetering on the edge of a recession and housing price crash, conventional wisdom would surely dictate, that now is now not the optimum time to kick the electorate in the love-spuds. So what am I talking about? I'll tell you...

They're considering plans to create a database of every phone call and email send in UK. Yes ladies and gentlemen, the same government that lost the bank details of every family in the country last year, the same government that is desperately trying to rescue the id card database from the gutter because they can't make it work, is attempting to construct yet another database to bug each and every phone in the country, and record all our email conversations. It would be hysterical if it wasn't so sinister.

According to the Times, over three billion British emails are sent each day, and 57 billion text messages were sent last year. Now that's a lot of data to manage. Proposals being considered would require service providers to surrender the data to the Home Office, where it would be retained for at least 12 months. It's really not been made clear whether contents of emails, text messages, or phone calls would be recorded, or merely the details of the sender and receiver.

I'm actually not particularly worried about this because I am quite sure that it will be thrown out, and even if it gets approved, I seriously doubt that it can be made to work. The fact that their are people who think it's a good idea, I find astounding however.

***

Parliament has voted to retain the ruling that abortions can be carried out up to 24 weeks. There were moves to reduce that figure. I'm in favour of retaining the 24 week cut off because I think the decision has to be made by teh people affected, not by politicians. Oddly this puts me on the same side as Gordon Brown, and against David Cameron. I don't particularly like Cameron, but he is the only alternative to the Labour government, so he gets my vote.

MPs also voted to change the legal requirements for people seeking fertility treatment. I didn't realise it, but apparently women seeking fertility treatment were required to produce evidence of a father. That would of course make it rather difficult for lesbian couples or single potential mothers to obtain the treatment. That's now changing it seems. The father requirement is to be removed. I feel a bit sad about that. I think fathers are probably important for children.

I sort of have problems with fertility treatment in general. I can't imagine why anyone would put themselves through the indignity of IVF when they could adopt a child. I think I could love an adopted son or daughter as easily as a genetic son or daughter. And fertility treatment appears to me to be something of a timebomb. If infertile couples are helped to conceive, isn't there a good chance that (ironically) the offspring will inherit that infertility problem? Isn't there a chance that we are creating an infertile generation?

***

I finally got a builder to come round yesteday to talk about converting the attic into room. He said it's possible, but we need to get some drawings done for planning permission. We need to put a window in the ceiling you see. It's quite exciting. He's going to tile the kitchen too, and cap the chimney. If that works out, we'll get him to do the attic room and decorate downstairs. There is an issue with where to put the stairs to the attic if we have it done. I'm leaning towards getting a spiral staircase. We're intending to chose some tiles at the weekend if we can make time. How much do tiles cost? I think we need about 250.