I knew that things couldn’t be as easy as it seemed; my move across the Atlantic Ocean may be delayed now after today’s events. I went to the post office with passport application and cash in hand only to be told my application form and photo’s don’t conform to the required standards. Two of the issues were with the counter-signatory, first thing was that my counter-signer didn’t fill in his phone number, apparently they need that for spot checks; so it seems you cant choose not to have a phone these days. Now I see one big problem with that; my counter-signer worked on cross channel ferries and spends much of his time at sea or in Spain, so won’t be home a lot of the time. Second thing is that he wrote his name on the back of the photo instead of signing it. And the final thing is the most stupid thing of all; apparently my glasses obscure my eyes because the frames don’t sit above my eyebrows, I don’t see it myself; I can clearly see my eyes in the photos. So I need to spend another £4 getting more photos taken with my glasses off. I don’t blame my counter-signatory for not wanting to put his phone number down on the form with the government screw-ups losing people’s information and it’s even come out that the child benefit records loss wasn’t an isolated incident. And giving the governments problems with illegal funding; why should we trust the government with our personal information at all? It just shows that politicians are more bent than a boomerang, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!
In sport; more specifically the verdict is in from the World Motorsport Council about Renault’s spying on McLaren. And that verdict is that Renault have been found guilty of breaching Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, but got away without punishment. Now it baffles me how McLaren were punished heavily yet Renault got away with it. Of course originally McLaren weren’t punished either; but more evidence arose (basically Alonso trying to blackmail Ron Dennis) and were punished despite no evidence that the information had been used in McLaren’s cars. Renault must have had the intention to discuss the technical information, if not why would they even be in possession of the information? Unless there is categorical proof that the information was used in the development of either car neither team should be punished. Or both teams should have been punished for even having technical dossiers from rival teams. The rules in Formula One are far too ambiguous for their own good; there should be no room for interpretation; one rule for all; that’s the only far way, either you’re in the right or in the wrong, SIMPLE!