Raggedtiger's Blog

My daughter, who moved in with us has her 17^th birthday today. It is the first time in many years that I have been able to celebrate her birthday with her, so it will be a slightly more special birthday.

 

However since she has been with us, which is now 6 weeks, her mother has not once called or even sent a texted message to see how she is. HOW SAD IS THAT!

 

Her mother did call me last week, but only to slag me off for not paying child support money for November. I should stress at this point, that I pay child support regularly without fail every month on the same day. The only reason she never got the money in November was an act of anger and annoyance on my part for the way she had treated my daughter.

 

She will get her money, as I will pay it today, but I rather enjoyed not paying it and being awkward for once, though it did show to me how much she depends on it, even though she works, her partner works, she claims for social security even though she shouldn’t because she has not declared that her partner has moved in, plus working family tax credit (in some way, it would not surprise me if she has more money that me!!!!).

 

However, the Child Support Agency has re-assessed my support money and I will be paying less each month (as my son still lives with her)….not much less, I might add, so she will get a disappointing shock in December.

 

And, if anybody reads this and thinks that I am not being responsible since I missed a payment, then here are a few facts that you may not know:

 

I have paid the correct amount, every month, religiously for years.

My wifes ex-husband, pays at the moment £10 a month, and has arrears of £4000.

I pay £350.01 a month with no arrears.

And with all that money I have paid over the months and years, I hear stories from my daughter of how there was very little food in the house, they had not many clothes, and what they did have was the cheapest of the cheap, while their mother goes out buying herself nice new clothes and hitting the town at night.

At this point, I feel very angry that the money was not all benefiting my children, and even though I complained bitterly, the CSA would always say they have nothing to do with how she spends the money.

Which is why I feel like campaigning and complaining to my Member of Parliament about it and suggesting that at least a certain amount of it, when given to the resident parent, is given in vouchers or tokens to be spent only on childs clothing or something like that.

 

Nice idea I guess, but it will never happen.

•1922: The British Broadcasting Company, forerunner of the BBC, begins daily broadcasts from the Strand, London. •1940: German bombers raid Coventry, destroying much of the city including the Gothic cathedral. •1991: The US accuses two Libyan intelligence officers of planting the Lockerbie bomb that killed 270 people.

Living in the United Kingdom, we have unfortunately been subject to continual coverage of the US presidential election.

Why do I say unfortunately?

I guess it is because I have no interest who ends up being president, and when some media channels seem to go overboard with the coverage, the analysis and the relentless poll ratings.

However, it did make me think of a few views that had also been spoken about in the news.

 

Warning-the views (and words) here are my personal views and are not meant to offend anyone, but no doubt they will.

 

1.     He is the first black president, but it may well be a fault with the contrast on my television, but he does not look black and he does not have the typical features of a black man. He looks half white, half black….ish.

But regardless of my opinion of his actual skin colour, he is still regarded as black, which makes me think that the media attention to his colour has fuelled the debate of racism. FOR EXAMPLE - I have seen interviews with black people (and white), and some of them seen to see him as some kind of saviour or messiah who will fight for the cause of the apparent down trodden black communities in America.

Ideals and comments like that, to me at least, would not make me surprised to see comments that there is racism against whites, or incite more anti-black  views amongst any white Americans sitting on the fence.

Just as a side note to this, I think in America, more than any other 1^st world country, is there such an issue between blacks and whites that there are such deep rooted divisions that almost seem impossible to over come. It is like the THEM & US syndrome.

Yes, in the UK we do have race issues, but not anywhere near on the scale that America seems to have it, and we don’t seem to suffer the ‘them and us’ issue really .

 

 

2.     Mr Obama has used some really powerful speeches to great effect in order to rally support for his campaign. He has been seen as someone who has inspired hope and self belief in a lot of Americans, something similar to what JFK had apparently done in his presidential campaign. But if I were an American, I would be very weary of being caught up in the euphoria of hope and high expectations.

From what I have heard from Obama, he has stated that it may even take 2 terms of office to bring back the economy (of America) to a more satisfactory level. But with all of his fine speeches of hope and belief, I do wonder if he may have installed some false hope (as most/all politicians do) into some of his supporters in believing that the current credit crunch can be resolved quickly. I cannot see what he can do that probably hasn’t really been tried before. Maybe there is and I am being a little cynical, but hey…I am talking politics here!!!!!!!!!!!

1002: Ethelred the Unready orders the St Brice's Day Massacre - the murder of all Danes in England.

1941: Aircraft carrier HMS 'Ark Royal' is torpedoed en route to Malta by a German U-boat, sinking the next day.

1942: US 'liberty ship' production reaches its peak with a single 10,500 ton ship built in less than five days.

Yet again, I have disappeared for a while, and yet again I have returned. I have been really quite busy with so little time to do anything. But I am determined to do more posting on here. One reason why I have been busy is because a month ago my daughter (who is 16) moved in with me after yet another bust up at home. I had to fly here secretly to me, otherwise her mother would have stopped her, even though she has the right to leave home without any consent. So she has been living with us for a month. In that month I have learnt to my disgust and anger the way she was treated at her mothers home. To put it briefly, she has been physically and mentally abused. She is waiting to see a councillor so she can deal and sort out the shit that is in her head. She is also waiting to see the specialist at the hospital as she has suffered from a fallen arch in one of her feet for a few years. Her mother never did anything about it. It has not been easy her moving in, as my wife’s daughter, although at times very sympathetic and caring, is also one for winding everyone up till they snap. Anyway….more will come soon