"Home, from Home."

While reading today's Daily Mail, I read this interesting story of David and Jean Davidson, who for the last 22 years have lived at a Travelodge !



The couple who stopped off at a Travelodge - and stayed 22 years By PAUL SIMS - Last updated at 13:13pm on 11th
September 2007 .

David and Jean Davidson in their "Home from Home."

For most of us who visit a Travelodge, it is a fleeting pleasure. Park the car, go to bed and get away as early as possible in the morning. But for David and Jean Davidson, it is home.
They arrived in 1985, and enjoyed it so much that they never left.

Read more of this interesting story at Daily Mail website:-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=480999&in_page_id=1770

Joel Osteen "Today's Word, Step Out of the Boat"

Step Out of the Boat

Today's Scripture

“And Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ He said, ‘Come!’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus” (Matthew 14:28-29 AMP).

Today's Word from Joel and Victoria

Why do you suppose Peter wanted to get out of the boat? Why did he all of the sudden think he could walk on water? Well, you might say, “Joel, it’s because he saw Jesus open the blind eyes and cleanse the lepers.” Yes, that’s true. But the other disciples in the boat saw the same things. Why didn’t they want to get out? I believe it was because Peter understood that it was his time. He stirred his faith up. He believed at that moment that he could do what God placed in his heart. Jesus said, “Peter, do you want to get out of that boat?” He said, “Yes, I do.” Jesus replied, “Well, come on out.” Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “Peter, stay in that boat. Don’t you know I’m the Son of God?” No. He said, “Peter, I like your attitude of faith. I like the fact that you believe you can do great things.” I encourage you today to have that same kind of boldness. Start believing that your time is here! All the dreams that you’ve buried, those desires that you thought would never work out, it’s time to start believing again. It’s your time, and it’s time to step out of the boat!

A Prayer for Today

Dear Father, today I choose to believe Your Word. I believe You are faithful to complete the good work You’ve started in my life. I choose to hear Your voice and step out of the boat. Thank You for bringing to pass the dreams in my heart. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Joel Osteen Ministries, 3700 Southwest Freeway, Houston TX 77027.

Copyright © 2007 by Joel Osteen Ministries

UK 'facing casual labour upsurge'

Prime Minister Gordon Brown must act before employers turn most workers into "casual labour", the leaders of the UK's biggest union have warned.

Unite general secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley said increased use of temporary employment agencies were pushing down wages and eroding rights. Mr Simpson called the situation "one of the biggest scandals you can imagine". Unite will argue for tougher laws to protect agency workers at the TUC conference, which starts on Monday.

According to TUC research, temporary staff are on different rates of pay to those with permanent jobs in half of all workplaces. It also says that, in 25% of workplaces, temporary workers are not entitled to contractual sick pay and, in 14%, do not receive any holiday pay.

Read More:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6979020.stm from the BBC News Website

Comment:

It's time that Agency workers were treated fairly and with respect, instead of being treated as " a cheap and second class employees." I agree wholeheartedly with Unite's stand and campaign, and speaking from personal experience. I know the frustration and disappointment of this type of employment can bring, and I decided that some time ago, that I would no longer be treated this way, and am now studying for an HND Computing (Information Systems) course

Venturing into unreported China

China has pledged more freedoms for reporters ahead of next year's Olympics, but when the BBC's Dan Griffiths travelled to the countryside to investigate reports of unrest he was detained and questioned.

China wants to keep reports of rural unrest under wraps

The village of Shengyou is a three hour drive south of Beijing, deep in the countryside surrounded by fields of maize.

A traditional landscape found across this vast nation - but everything is not as it seems.
My taxi driver tells me that the police have set up checkpoints round the village. He refuses to go any further - so I go the rest of the way on foot. I walk down a narrow lane with broad poplar trees on either side. A small tractor chugs by, the driver stares at me - foreigners are rarely seen around here.

Round a bend in the road, I see two white vans. Several policemen are standing beside them. They look as out of place in rural China as I do. The questions come thick and fast. What am I doing? Where have I come from? Who is my contact in the village?

Over the course of the next few hours they will ask me this last question again and again. From nowhere a black car pulls up and I am ushered inside.

Read More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6983247.stm from the BBC News Website.

Comment:

Although China is an economic powerhouse of the World Economy, it's still not a democracy, and although in theory a Communist Country, there is a great deal of underhand and dishonest dealings both in Public and Private life, and as we see in this story from the BBC News Website, a great deal of unrest is occuring in China, due to amongest other things greed.

According to the World Governance Indicators report, Chinese citizens have very little freedom, out of a scale of 100%, they have a freedom indicator of 4.8%, compared to other countries freedom indicators for example Cuba at 7.2%, Russia at 24%, Canada at 94.2% and Denmark at 100%.