Well, how eventful the last few days have been. On the personal front I have dispatched my first 'trade' to its lucky buyer.

Then, there have been a number of interesting stories in the UK's media. First the welfare minister Iain Duncan Smith's claim that he is able to live (more like survive) on £53 per week. In response, 260000 members of the British public have signed an e- petition to make him prove that he can. Personally I think that he could manage (he is a former officer in the Scots Guards after all) but I'm not sure that he'll bother, especially in this weather, it will cost him that much in heating alone and if his energy supplier is SSE (fined £10.5 million today) it may cost considerably more!

The second news story that caught my eye is the Mick Philpott case. This man set fire to his own house, the consequential blaze killed six of his own children, a terrible, terrible story. Yet the Daily Mail's front page cites his fecklessness as evidence of a welfare dependent society- I'm not sure. He appeared on the Jeremy Kyle Show and on another with Ann Widdecombe, and post trial it was revealed that he had a previous history of serious violence. Surely he was a patriarchal, sexist, violent, media hungry mad man (that happened to be sponging off welfare)? 

Finally on a slightly lighter note the new manager of football club Sunderland United, Paolo di Canio, protests that he does not support the 'ideology of fascism'- despite giving the 'Roman salute' on more than one occasion and having 'Dux', a reference to Benito Mussolini, tattooed on his right bicep. More importantly, is it me or does he look very similar to Channel 4's Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud?

Back to the important stuff.......more on my next 'trade' tomorrow. X