Doctor Who Christmas Special

The episode of “The Next Doctor” is expected to be broadcast by BBC One in the UK on Christmas Day.

This year’s Children in Need Telethon is to feature an exclusive preview of the forthcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special.

The clip, from the Christmas Special entitled The Next Doctor, will show the first two minutes of a brand new episode for the Time Lord, played by David Tennant.

This never seen before footage, is a worldwide exclusive, and will keep fans all over the globe wondering what’s in store for the Doctor’s next adventure.

Starring David Tennant and David Morrissey, the clip from The Next Doctor will be broadcast as part of the BBC Children in Need show on 14 November, BBC One from 7pm.

The Next Doctor Episode

Next Gen – Our Future

Every generation has heard it – “this new generation will be the end of society – they have no values and will never be outstanding citizens”.

When my generation was growing up (I was between the start of Rock and Roll and the British Invasion – I missed Flower Power by that much) our parents were saying that we showed no respect for our elders and the music would rot our brains.  My Generation (the bleeding edge of the Boomers) managed to survive the Cold War, Vietnam and Elvis Presley and turn into good citizens who achieved a much higher standard of living than our parents were able to provide.  They had us children when the country was rebuilding from the Second World War.  They created the world that we were able to build upon and make fantastic exponential advances in knowledge and information.  They reached the moon.  They enabled us to achieve.

We wanted our children to benefit from what the world had to offer in ways that our parents could only dream of providing us.  We gave our children everything except for real challenges.  They never faced a war like the Second World War or the Korean Conflict.  They saw us dealing with Vietnam with its political rules that cost the lives of over 50,000 our my generation for no real good reason.  Our children have seen war but it has been like a video game – quick and remote with fewer casualties on “our” side.  Today war is surreal like seeing the start of the Iraqi wars while watching CNN.  Our children have not seen really tough economic times.  They were given almost everything they desired without concern for need or utility.  Most of my generation had to work hard to get an advanced education.  Now it seems like it is an expectation.

Our children’s children want for nothing.  They have no responsibilities, everything is done for them.  They are led to believe that they deserve everything without concern of how they would obtain it.  These children are rewarded because they are here not for anything they have worked for nor have they saved  for anything.  They just demand (it is demand not asked for nor is there an offer to exchange work for it).

On the news today there was a report about high school graduates who don’t give a shit.  Employers were saying that about 1 in 3 graduates showed any enthusiasm for their job or demonstrated an acceptable work ethic.  They just don’t care if they keep their job since mommy and daddy will take care of them like they always have.  The upcoming generation is rewriting the English language through their using text messages and the abbreviations for these terms.  Their primary communications are done remotely and not really face to face.  They are losing the ability to read the physical expressions that we all make when we are dealing with someone else.  Are they being lied to?  Is it a joke or is it for real?  They are losing the ability to communicate mano-a-mano even though they will argue that they communicate more than we do.  Texting and Twittering are short bursts of data (hard to call it information since it is rarely in context).

So what’s the issue with this?  If the bulk of this upcoming generation fits this description then we are truly in trouble as a country.  Think about it?  They just don’t care so who’s is going to care and do what needs to be done to keep society together and functioning.  They will have to learn how to get things done when life is collapsing around them or they will not survive.  There are others in this world that would gladly get it done for a price but then again after they’ve spend their inheritances from my generation, how will the manage to pay to be taken care of.  Technology won’t be the answer because you need to care enough to learn and innovate and they may just be too busy playing video games or texting their friends to care.

But will they listen?

Post election time.  Big news, (yawn), Liberals down 20+seats, Conservatives up 17 seats, NDP up 8, no green MP’s.  Only 59% got out to vote. Are majority governments only a dream?  So what has changed? A lot if you really think about it.

Each of the parties should read the messages they’ve been sent.  There are some major changes required by all of the parties:

All parties must get their ducks in a row to have a chance at a majority

1.  The Conservatives:  Stephen Harper has had 3 kicks at the can and the Canadian People refuse to give him a majority.  He was considered the best of a mediocre lot.  Rather than be a far right party, they need to continue to move more to the centre and they need to groom and promote more leadership from within the party.  It can’t remain the Stephen Harper show.  A strong Quebec Lieutenant might have been able to answer the musings of the Block.  They need to showcase a capable front bench to provide comfort to Canadians.  An alternative to Harper might be able to get that majority if they can get their policies and directions closer to what the majority of people want.

2. The Liberals:  The Liberals are out of touch with the people.  They still believe they are the divine right to govern party.  They promoted a policy called “the Green Shift” which was complex and not understood by anyone.  A green tax might work in stable economic times but in the current world financial crisis, the last thing we need is a tax redistribution plan.  The Liberals have moved too far to the left.  They haven’t heard the messages from the people given over the past 3 elections.  They haven’t cleaned up their act-they papered it over but forgot to use glue.  They have a number of people who want to be the leader of the party but they have a lot of negative baggage.  They attack other leaders histories while hiding their own.  There are some quality people not currently members of parliament who offer the best chance of reshaping, rebuilding and redirecting the party towards the centre.  They need new leadership, they need significant change, they need to modernize their thinking to get back in touch with Canadians.

3.  The Bloc:  The Conservatives gave life back to the Bloc because of Stephan Harper, his mis-steps and failure to respond to their statements in a timely fashion.

4.  The NDP:  This party will forever be a 3rd or 4th place party in Canada.  It’s policies don’t make much sense in the real world.  Jack Layton talks big talk for the 4th party in parliament.  They take credit for anything they are involved with rather than saying they supported something.  That demonstrates insecurity and a need to be loved.  The people of Ontario have the Rae government to remember what an NDP government could do to the province and current policies are the same as then.  They will always be also rans.

5.  The Greens:  They have to become a bit more pragmatic.  Their leader should run in a riding where she has a chance to win a seat.  Her decision to run against Peter McKay was a vanity move.  If she really wants to be taken seriously she has to be in parliament.  Their policies are quite left wing and therefore extreme.  If they could mix environmental action with centralist policies for other areas they might be a serious contender but as it stands they will be fighting to exist for a long time when they should be fighting for the environment.

You Need to Vote

This is a very troubling time in history and no one has ever experienced anything like it.  We as citizens have our opportunity to either give a vote of confidence to the ruling government or to seek change.  We have this right.  We must exercise this right to keep it.

People that say they don’t know or don’t care about what is going on in their country get the government they deserve.  We are so fortunate to be able to voice our support or disatisfaction with our government without worrying about our safety or our families safety.

it’s scary that more youth will vote for Canadian or American Idol than would vote in a federal election.

Good luck and may we get the best government to see us through these tough times.

The F.U.D. Factor

I am confused about the statements and musings of Stéphane Dion and Jack Layton.  They’ve been saying the sky is falling and panicking about the financial crisis and the coming recession in Canada.  Both are spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt without being fully truthful in their statements.  Unfortunately, it seems to be working in this election.

Now we have reports from outside Canada that say we have the most sound banking system in the world.  We’re number 1 – the U.S. if 40th and Great Britain is 44th.  Another report says that Canada is not likely to have recession yet these two “leaders” are running around saying “we’ve got to plan, we’ve got to plan” for the coming recession.  Maybe they know something that we don’t.  Just maybe they know their policies will create a recession.

Now, I’m not all that thrilled with Stephen Harper either but he is not to blame for the current world crisis like the other leaders would like you to believe.  None of the above is not a viable option so we go with the least likely to screw up badly.

On one hand, Stéphane Dion says that the government should not interfere with the banks and on the other hand he would go after the banks to ensure they pass on the full interest rate reduction.  I’ve not heard Jack’s response yet but I can only imagine.

I can only hope that the universe will unfold as it should.

They just don’t get it-so we’ll pay in the end

I am getting tired of all the parties just dumping on their opponents and not explaining to  me what they are going to do if they win the election.  Maybe if the negative statements were based upon truth and the spirit of the truth rather than the hint of something like the truth.  I have major concerns for every one of the announced platforms and yet I do not hear any details or potential implications should they be implemented.

As I understand it:

Conservatives:  Maintain current policies and provide targeted stimulation.  They have done things over their time as the government yet they can’t explain what their actions have done to mitigate the economic crisis in Canada.  They should explain what tools they have to address the problems with the economies of the world and what they can do if something happens.  If they lose this election – they did it to themselves.

Liberals:  Implement the Green Shift (Carbon Tax) – they say they are going to tax the polluters, they say they are going to give me a large tax refund.  Now I’ve gone to their website to see what my refund would be and it is about half of what they are claiming.  Their claim that the companies that pollute will pay leaves me with the question of passing on of operating costs.  It is going to affect the cost of everything that is taxed but they don’t admit to that truth. I think it will increase inflation.  Didn’t the Liberals say that the prices would go down with the GST which wasn’t even close to the truth – companies grabbed the extra money with the removal of the Manufacturers tax?

NDP:  Jack would pull us out of Afghanistan immediately which would create a strategic problem for our NATO allies who are still there.   They would cancel the corporate tax cut which companies have already been factored in to their plans, these are the same companies that we need to get us out of any recession.  The NDP believes that corporations are the enemy and that the average working family are the only ones that matter.  It’s a symbiotic relationship and you can’t have one without the other and the NDP would destroy our basic economy just like they did when they were in charge in Ontario.  I think it will destroy the industrial foundation of this country.  Most of their hot button issues are minor like ATM fees or caps on credit card interest rates (credit would likely dry up).

Greens:  It was difficult to get much information about their platform and policies beyond the huge carbon tax that they are proposing.  The way it appears is that the Greens would destroy the economy to reduce our carbon footprint.  If you remove the tarsands from the equation I think that we could shut everything else down and our impact would be negligible in the world totals. I think they should just tax everything and plant more trees.

None of the Parties get it.  They would all rather crap on their opponents than tell us the truth about their policies.  Whoever wins this election will have a very difficult problem to deal with and I have no faith in any of the policy options being present – mainly because we can’t get an honest assessment of the impact of their proposed policies.  Truth is the first victim and we the people are the second victims.