Why I'm voting for Julian Huppert

In the general election on 7 May, I am voting to re-elect Julian Huppert as Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge.

Sign in my front garden.

I am not a member of the Liberal Democrats. I have voted for other parties in the past, and this is the first time I've so much as put a political party's poster in my window. I take a close interest in politics, but I've often been a "plague-on-all-their-houses" person, voting for the Greens or other no-hope parties. This time is different.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-04-17: Belle and Dexter

Spring is here, and it's a good day to check out the garden.

Birth and taxes

Last week I received a tax demand from HM Revenue and Customs. I could get angry, but I won't.

In HMRC's estimation I underpaid tax in a previous year. Now they want me to pay up, plus a 5% interest fee. I blame my previous employers, who were meant to be paying tax on my behalf and seem to have got their sums wrong.

As far as I can tell HMRC's figures are correct, so there's not much point in appealing, and I intend to pay them. I won't go into details, but let's just say it's a substantial amount. It won't cause me any immediate hardship, but it's a significant hit to my savings.

Image source: Daily Telegraph

My baby son was born on 24 December last year. This has brought many new expenses, with a lot more to come. Childcare alone will cost a small fortune. In the long run, I want to help pay for his first steps as an adult: Driving lessons, housing, most likely a university degree. The money I'm paying in backdated taxes would be very, very useful for all these costs, or to have on hand for unforeseen emergencies.

All the same, I'm not angry.

Cute Cat Friday 2015-04-10: Dexter

The cushions are mine, all mine.

Make Her Deny It: The French Ambassador Memo

The Daily Telegraph has published a leaked civil service memo; it recounts a conversation between SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon and the French ambassador to the UK, in which which Sturgeon allegedly said she would prefer David Cameron to Ed Miliband as Prime Minister. When you sum it up like this, it sounds like something from primary school: Simon says that Sylvie says Nicola fancies David and thinks Ed is a dweeb, but Nicola says that's rubbish.

Nicola Sturgeon at an anti-Trident rally in Glasgow. Source: Guardian

It also reminds me of an apocryphal story about US President Lyndon B Johnson.

Cute Cat Thursday 2015-04-02: Belle

Beautiful cat at sunset. (In honour of the long weekend, she is here a day early.)

Clean Reader: Because it's obscene

Clean Reader is software which does a search-and-replace on supposedly naughty words in e-books. Upon release, it encountered a well-deserved combination of fury, derision and hilarity; and now it is being withdrawn. I find myself with moderate dislike for Clean Reader, and absolute horror at its creators.

The town of Springfield had something much worse than Clean Reader.
Source: This is 912

(Unlike Dirty Reader, this is not an April Fool post; Clean Reader is very real.)