BBC do it again!

Seems the BBC are setting out to anger people yet again by trailing a new video format that is not fully supported across many browsers including Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which is an integral part of Microsoft Windows operating system. 

It was while reading a rather interesting news article on cave paintings and after reading about 60% I came to the video that I wanted to watch and suddenly saw the message above. Below this was the following text:

This interactive video is optimised for use in Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers on PC and Mac, as well as Chrome and Safari on iPads. It will not display in Internet Explorer browsers, on iOS or Android mobile devices, or Android tablets. 

Once again the BBC have decided to disadvantage licence fee payers that don't happen to have the correct technology that is favoured by  BBC. This time it includes the 70 percent of mobile phones, 30 percent of people that use Microsoft's Internet Explorer and the countless people that don't own iPads. Once again it is clear that the BBC has shown it favouritism for Apple platforms compared to other platforms.

It is quiet disgusting that they treat us, the people that pay the licences fee and don't have Apple products in such a disgusting way. We pay our licence fees to and we shouldn't be disadvantaged in this unfair way over and over again. When will the BBC launch an Android App before it launches a Apple App or is someone such a rotten apple that just don't care about the rest of use that don't have Apple products.

Personally I going to be complaining to the BBC at yet another move by the BBC to limit the services they provide. If they wanted to try something new they didn't have to prototype it on just one set of devices, they should have rolled it out for all of them. We all pay the license fee equally!

Rutland County Council set Reject Aldi Store

I was shocked to find out that from another local blogger, Martin Brookes, that Rutland County Council Planning Officer, is recommending refusal of a new Aldi store in Oakham, especially since over the years the local residents of Oakham have been wanting a rival to Tesco's and the CoOp.

This is an ideal opportunity to provide Oakham a low cost supermarket with good access by car and by foot the new housing that has been forced on the people of Oakham and it is going to be wasted if the Council vote against the plan next week. It seems well supported by local residents and it would be a good opportunity to provide much need unskilled work into the town as well as support the local economy and stop people travelling miles to another Aldi Store.

The site chosen for the new store if off the Oakham Bypass near the site of the new petrol station and the planned hotel. This rather destroys the idea that planning permission has been refused recommendation by the Rutland County Council Planning Officer on grounds that the site was designated as employment land when exceptions already seem to have been made. What is more laughable is that apparently the bribe wasn't forth coming from Aldi. as part of the refusal states:

"The proposal would have an impact upon linked trips to Oakham Town Centre, and as such would be required to make contributions towards a County Council led planned programme of investment in the town centre to mitigate the agreed impact of the development on the town centre."

In addition to this many of the people that I see go to the Tescos or the CoOp drive there, do their shopping and then drive home. Most never ever think of going into Oakham. The same thing will happen if the purposed Sainsburys store is developed on the wasteland that was once Rutland College.

Interestingly since the land that the supermarket proposal is planned to built on was allocated employment land a lot has changed. The prison at Ashwell has closed and brought by the council and allocated to employment. This site has to be of equal size if not bigger than the planned supermarket and it would be easy for the Council to offset one against the other. This would negate the effect of reallocating the land.

I think a lot of people are going to  be upset if this plan doesn't get planning approvals when it goes before Rutland County Council on Tuesday evening next week. People want this store in Okaham and they want the benefit of cheaper good quality food at a price they can afford, rather than being ripped off by the major supermarkets. Personally I don't think there store look too bad and given that the land is just a load of mud it got to be a better use than it has now and it provides jobs for the town.

Currently people are losing patience with the Conservative led Rutland County Council who never seem to listen to the views of the people they represent. They just seem to feel they can do what they like and they will still get elected come the local elections in 2015. From what I read and hear locally they are doing this at their peril as nobody seems like them and feel they are letting the people of Rutland down. Personally I think they are right to think that way.

New Computer Games Shop

A new computer games shop is set to open in Oakham at the corner of Dean Street and the High Street. It will be the first time that people of Oakham have had somewhere they can buy computer games since the closing of Blockbusters back in mid 2011.

The owner of the shop is currently a regular on a Saturday at the Market in Melton and prior to that he shared a shop with a children clothes supplier in small shopping precinct off of Sherrard Street that connects to Windsor Street. Although the shop had many regular customers it was off the beaten track and didn't get many passing customers given its out of the way position.

The owner has a good reputation for selling and buying games at a good prices and he is very linkable. You always got a warm welcome if you visited the store in Melton or the market stall and I'm sure the same will be true in Oakham. On the whole the shop has always had a good stock of second hand games for a whole range of consoles and even sells DVDs.

Hopefully as the shop develops the owner will start branching into second hand consoles as well as games and maybe he will start selling accessories as well. I wish him well because he deserves some success and he tried so hard in Melton with stiff competition for an already established computer games shop, Voodoo games, and the over priced CEX.

Personally I recommend the shop for my own experiences of buying games from the store in Melton. It always been a pleasant experiance and I always thought I paid a fair price for a game.  

Politics is a dirty word in Rutland

Any one would think that Politics is a dirty word in Rutland given the coverage of the by-elections for Rutland County Council on the 16th October 2014 in the local press. Having looked in the paper this weekend there was a distinct lack of coverage. Two seats up being contested in the country in Whissendine and Oakham South West and it is a chance to vote some new blood and new ideas into the council, at sure needs a shack up. 

So people have some idea of the choice they have at the by-election here are a list of the people that are trying to get peoples votes:

• Standing in Oakham South West:
• Richard Clifton (Conservative) 
• Ben Callaghan (Independent)
• Richard Lawrence Swift (Liberal Democrat)

• Standing in Whissendine:
• Sam Asplin (Liberal Democrat)
• Jonny Baker (Conservative)

It is good to see all the seats being contested as in the past some of the seats even in the normal election have been left uncontested allowing some mediocre candidates to be elected unopposed to the County Council.

What is they stand for is anyone guess given the lack of coverage in the Rutland Times so far. It almost like political debate is dead in Rutland, or is it the paper thinks that everyone will vote Conservative for more of the same poor governance that has seen Rutland County Council attempt to take its own members to court because they wanted to see transparency in local politics. 

There needs to be more discussion in Rutland of the direction when want to take the county in rather than the apathy which exists at the moment. 

It is generally like there no appetite to change the broken vision of Rutland that sees more and more housing developments that result in more homes than we need, where our countryside is being destroyed, the green belt land is being covered in concrete, public transport failing the needs of the people, services being cut and where the governance is far from transparent and open. There needs to be a debate, like the one in Scotland that engages people, about the issues that face us, but why while we just accept the governance of people that are into to politics for their own ends then we will have meore of the same.

I hope that the Conservatives lose both seats at the coming by-elections as it would just mean more of the same for the county, people that don't care who are letting it slowly seeing it destroyed inch by inch. We need people who care about Rutland and about its people and not about themselves. The future of Rutland is more than important than boasting the egos of local politicians who will leave the county in a mess.  

Harrington School gets the go ahead

Plans for a new free school in Rutland for post 16 education get the go ahead by the Department of Education. The bid to create Harington School was put together by Catmose College, Uppingham Community College and Oakham School. It is hoped that the school will be opening for it first intake in September 2015.

Over the years many of the top achieving students have decided to leave education in Rutland and seek courses in other counties because of the poor resources for 16 plus education around Oakham and Uppingham. Currently there is just one college based on the outskirts of the former hamlet of Barleythorpe which is now a district of of Oakham, Rutland County College. This college isn't conveniently placed for public transport, since it move from central Oakham, and it has a bad reputation among the students it sets out to attract for social problems, despite it being academically excellent according to OFSTED. Clearly these social problems that are going around could just be rumour rather based in hard facts, but they have damaged the colleges reputation with many. 

The organisations behind Harington School believe that there is a need in Rutland for a new post-16 provision with a clear academic focus. The goal is to create a school provides an academic curriculum that meets that which the leading universities require for entry, together with  enrichment activities that are particularly attractive to universities and employers. There aim being  to get students throughout their A Levels to provide them with the best chance of being accepted by the most prestigious universities in the country, including Oxford, Cambridge, and those within the Russell Group.

Personally I know that until recently students at Catmose College are looking outside Rutland at post 16 education options. These include scholarships to Oakham School, King Edward VII School in Melton Mowbray, Stamford College and even as far afield such as Kings School Grantham and the Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School. Hopefully with the opening of  Harington School these students now have an alternative which won't require them to be travelling hours and hours to get to a place of education each day.

The granting of the go ahead will be a real kick in the teeth to Rutland County Council who recently took over the running of Rutland College. Both Catmose College and Uppingham Community College were once local authority controlled and became academies as soon as they possibly could as have a number of other schools in the county. The current list  to July 2013 includes:

• Uppingham Community College
• Catmose College
• Casterton Business & Enterprise College
• Brooke Hill Academy
• Catmose Primary School
• Leighfield Primary School
• English Martyrs RC Primary School
• Langham  Primary School

Privately having talked to one of the Governor of  at the time of the Catmose College move to becoing an Academy the main reasoning was to do with funding and feeling they didn't get a fair deal by the Rutland County Council who were creaming off money from the education budget for administration and not passing enough money back to the schools.

Where this leaves Rutland County College is going to be an interesting question as Harington School will cream off the best students and many more besides from the two schools involved in the project. This will impact on there A-level programmes which until now according to their website have been excellent in terms of pass rate at least. It could force the existing college to introduce more vocational qualifications which might also be a good thing county that lacks this sort of provision.