Work commitments required me to spend a couple of days in Washington DC before heading down to Raleigh, North Carolina.

Despite having my wallet stolen on the first night of the trip, the week was a productive and enjoyable one. By Friday I was sorry to be leaving the US and hoped the journey home would be smooth. Yeah….

My flight from Raleigh to Newark (for a 7:30pm connection to Manchester) was due to leave at 5pm. After arriving at the airport for 3pm United Airlines informed me that I had been put on the 4pm flight instead. After a long wait on the tarmac the pilot announced that the plane was broken but that he would try turning it off and then on again. He must have previously worked in IT. It didn’t work. The passengers were told to ‘de-plane’.

Meanwhile the 5pm flight (that I did not ask to be moved from) was now ‘sold out’. An angry exchange ensued and miraculously a seat was found for me. However, my suitcase was still on the other plane. Just to make things more confusing, during the period of moving from the 4pm to the 5pm flight the broken 4pm flight had been fixed and had taken off. Was my suitcase on that flight, or had it been moved to the 5pm flight? No one could tell me.

The 5pm flight was then delayed until 6:00pm. This left just enough time to make the 7:30pm connection in Newark. Then at 6pm the plane sat on the runway for a further 1hr 20mins due to missing it’s takeoff slot. We eventually landed in Newark at 8:30pm, over 3 hours late. My 7:30pm connecting flight to Manchester had left at 8:25pm. To rub salt into the wounds, the 4pm flight that I was moved off landed at 7:45pm. At least my suitcase was (possibly) on the way to Manchester.

Customers with connections were told to go to United Airlines customer services at Newark to arrange alternative flights. The desk was staffed by two of the worst human beings imaginable in this scenario. A duet of agressively misanthropic, highly smug and painfully inefficient customer service staff. ‘Trains, Planes and Automobiles’ sprang to mind, as well as the inept receptionist on The Day Today’s ‘The Pool’ (see video below) and Little Britain’s ‘Computer says no’ character.

The United staff were unapologetic, unhelpful and rude. As our conversation progressed they became increasingly hostile, and even seemed to enjoy the experience. They did that repulsive thing of talking to me by loudly shouting to each other so I would overhear. With approximately 30 people waiting in line they suggested the possibility of closing the desk for a break. They also wondered how I fancied travelling home ‘via Pakistan’. It’s surprising they didn’t cough and blow it in my face.

The dream team delighted in announcing that I faced a 5 hour wait before flying home with Lufthansa via Frankfurt. It was apparently also hilarious to say there was a flight to London in 1 hour, but they wouldn’t book me on it. (They said wouldn’t, not couldn’t). The main reason seemed to be that the suffering of others was their sustenance. Being vaguely helpful or kind would have caused them to shrivel up and die.

When the location of my suitcase was enquired about they actually screamed with laughter and suggested loudly to each other that there was no way of knowing what flight it was on, but that maybe the baggage handlers would “have a bit of fun with his things”. Bizarrely the abuse was never said directly to me. Perhaps they were keen viewers of BBC Parliament TV’s house of commons debates?

Whilst trudging off to spend 5 hours killing time the man next in line came forward to the desk and opened with “why can’t you open two desks instead of both being on one. There’s a long line of people here.” Wow. Big mistake. They gave him one of the most hateful and disdainful looks imaginable before turning to say to each other “maybe this guy should have run faster to make his flight instead of moaning about how many desks are open”. The poor soul is probably still waiting for a connecting flight in Islamabad.

As soon as Lufthansa were responsible for my destiny things improved. They were helpful, courteous and efficient. The shiny new Airbus A340 left on time. On ascent, whilst sipping a complimentary wine, the Manhattan night skyline lifted my spirits.

The unplanned trip to Frankfurt had some benefits

The 4 hour wait in Frankfurt wasn’t ideal, but the rest of the trip was pleasantly uneventful. I arrived home almost exactly 24 hours after being dropped off at Raleigh airport.

Despite my suitcase spending an extra couple of days in New York to take in a show and ‘really do the tourist thing’ we were reunited the following day.

United Airlines have joined Ryan Air on the blacklist. And it seems they are on a lot of other people’s too. There are a number of anti-United websites such as www.untied.com chronicling the staggering and consistent ineptitude that passengers have endured.

As the game began we were divided into teams of 6, given a map with grid references and released at 5 minute intervals. All we knew initially was that there had been a zombie apocalypse, we must find the resistance and avoid the zombies. If caught by a zombie we would either be ‘infected’ (marked with a UV pen) or if we were lucky we’d stay virus free. When HQ was reached at the end of the game the resistance would check us for infection.

When we found our first ‘survivor’ she tearfully told us (with genuine acting ability) that there were not many survivors left and to get to a house on Woodhouse Lane. We set off towards the address and on the way found ourselves in an underground car park. In the distance we heard screaming. Suddenly 6 grown adults became very tense as we saw the unmistakable leg dragging gait of the undead. Dressed in surgical scrubs and covered in blood they came towards us. We sprinted off, thankfully making it to the main road. It gave us a huge adrenaline rush and prepared us for what was to come.

We arrived at the address on Woodhouse Lane to find an old man with a walking stick shouting next to a pool of blood, with chunks in it. He told us that his granddaughter had been infected and he had to keep her locked in the house. We turned around, and saw a girl in the house burst toward the window and vomit blood over the glass. It was so well executed that the ‘normal’ people at the bus stop looked pretty disturbed by proceedings. We were told to find an abandoned car on Calverley Street that was broadcasting a resistance radio message.

We got to the blood covered car to find a girl collapsed, surrounded by people. Confusion ensued. Everyone thought it was part of the game, but it turned out she had genuinely fainted. The medics arrived, so we got the next location and pressed on.

On route we crossed Millennium Square. Suddenly 3 zombies appeared and ran towards us, splitting the group. They were fast and I had to move flat out to get away. You haven’t ever sprinted until it’s from a screaming, blood thirsty zombie.

Next we entered a deserted shopping centre. The ground floor was crawling with zombies. We had been told to get to the first floor to find the resistance. It seemed impossible because every time we got near to the escalator they came for us. After 10 intense minutes of trying to get past we found the back steps. Upstairs we found a survivor clutching a severed leg, crying. She refused to believe we were not infected and would only help us if we brought her food. The food was back downstairs, near the zombies. We sprinted down the escalator, grabbed a handful of sweets as 3 zombies ran at us. We just made it back unscathed.

The survivor took the food and gave us details of the next location. A resistance cell in Kirkgate Market.

As we headed out 2 zombies pounced, forcing us to head out of the fire doors. Once outside it was apparent that we’d been ambushed. We were surrounded by 5 zombies. A long chase ensued but we all made it.

Our team headed to the market, but the non-stop sprinting had taken its toll. We were seriously shattered. As we walked into Leeds’ deserted and dark Victorian market things felt very eerie. A zombie immediately jumped out on us from the shadows and we pegged it away. But Helen took a huge tumble, falling at full sprint and injuring her hand. She was in serious pain. As we waited for the medics to arrive the zombie came over to us and said “Bloody hell I’m sorry love. I was just meant to make you run down there towards the butchers”. Helen was out of the game and had to go with Andy to A&E for an xray. It was gutting that she had to quit, but how many people can say that a zombie has apologised to them?

Our depleted team carried on. We were summoned into the butchers by a crazy axe wielding maniac. There were human body parts hanging on meathooks all around us. It was like being in the Texas Chainsaw Masacre. He told us about the resistance whilst chomping on chunks of raw meat. Once he’d given us the next location came the threat of decapitation and mutilation. He chased us out with a power drill. As we left the market more zombies appeared. People all around us were being infected. But some how we got away.

We headed for Holy Trinity Church and once inside found a priest chained to the wall. Although behaving oddly, he initially seemed OK. Then he called us in closer and suddenly leapt towards us, screaming with infected rage. He grabbed Becky and pinning her to the wall. She did well not to completely lose it. The priest had been infected, but was not yet fully turned. He eventually released Becky and we got him to tell us the next location: The Dark Arches.

At the Dark Arches we found another survivor who traded us information for cigarettes (good job one of our team was a smoker). He told us where HQ was, but also said it was surrounded by a terrifying ‘zombie horde’. Things were building to the climax.

We made our way to resistance HQ on Marshall Street. It was an abandoned warehouse, teeming with the undead. No matter what angle of approach we tried zombies cut us off. There were 40 or 50, on all sides of the building. It became chaotic, the team got separated and I saw Becky get captured and infected. I made a desperate run for it, side stepping 6 or 7 zombies. But I was eventually overwhelmed.

We stumbled into HQ, beyond exhausted. We were sent to decontamination. A team of survivors in radiation suits and gas masks ushered us through airport security style detectors. There were UV lights that showed up if we were infected or not. Becky set the alarm off and was taken away. I was deemed clean, congratulated and sent down to the warehouse party. I had got away with it! Becky emerged 15 minutes later made up as a zombie. As the party filled up it became clear who were survivors and who were infected.

What a night. It would have been so easy for the game to have been a bit rubbish, but I can’t speak highly enough of the quality of execution. The actors, plot, props and organisation were all amazing. We spent 2.8 hours lost in the story. Exhausted, exhilarated and terrified.

The game was sold out for all 3 nights in Leeds. It has already taken place in Bristol and is soon coming to London. I can’t recommend it highly enough. For £25 you get an epic workout (I’m struggling to walk today) and a superb evening’s entertainment.

For more information see www.2.8hourslater.com or check out the trailer for the event below.

The trouble with today’s revelation is that it completely goes against causality and Einstein’s special theory of relativity, which states that faster than light travel is simply not possible. A key part of Einstein’s 1905 theory is that as an object’s speed approaches the speed of light, its mass appears to increase. This makes it more and more difficult to accelerate. So in other words as an object approaches the speed of light it gets heavier and slows down. Only photons (i.e light) with 0 mass can achieve the 671 million miles per hour mark, and nothing can exceed it.

The scientists at CERN created some neutrinos in Geneva, then they fired the particles over to a detector in Italy where they were recorded. If you divide the distance between those two points by the time it takes for the neutrinos to get there, the result is the their speed. The results showed that the neutrinos got to their destination around 60 nanoseconds before a proton would have.

So how the hell have these guys broken what we thought were the laws of the universe? Well they probably haven’t. Carl Sagan said that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” It is much more likely that there has been a miscalculation in their measurements. When dealing with such tiny amounts of time as 60 nanoseconds it is very easy to get it wrong. Photons travel 30 centimeters in 1 nanosecond, so the distance between the points being measured has to be accurate within 3 meters. The scientists have said that they used GPS to measure the distances. But anyone who has used a satnav knows that you occassionally end up in a layby in Catterick by accident. No? Just me then.

What is more likely? That the laws of the universe are entirely different to how the world’s greatest ever genius’ have proved, or that a GPS was 3 metres off in an experiment. The scientists who conducted the tests are presenting the results tomorrow at CERN. We may find out more then.

Wouldn’t it be cool if it was true though? For any science fiction fan faster than light travel holds the key to visiting far off planets, travelling through time and being able to credibly say “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for”. But, until these new findings become clearer it probably still isn’t possible to make the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs.

It is 3 years since the retro infused Saturdays = Youth knocked my socks off. In fact it was so good it knocked off my shoes, socks, trousers, shirt and pants. I ended up slumped over a chair, naked in awe of its perfection. I made a mental note to avoid listening to M83′s next album for the first time in the office.

Gonzalez has been describing the new album as unique whilst being a hybrid of previous M83 material. It’s an accurate description. The understated digital shoegaze of Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, the epic synth-rock explosion of Before The Dawn Heals Us, the ambient whispers of Digital Shades Vol. 1 and the nostalgic retro-pop of Saturdays=Youth all coexist and fuse in this complex album.

Although it’s a double record, at 71 minutes long it doesn’t really need to be. It is perhaps just to make it seem ‘more epic’. It certainly doesn’t take anything away from the songs, and harking back to the glorious Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, it’s always nice to own a double album.

A number of M83′s new tracks have already been snapped up for use in other media. The astounding Art Of Flight snowboarding movie featuring outrageous skills and imposing mountain backdrops has featured 3 tracks from the new album. Other music featured on the soundtrack includes Sigur Rós, The Naked and Famous and a host of other producers of grandiose, atmospheric music.

There are perhaps some of M83′s best ever tracks on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. The opening ‘Intro’ is a masterpiece. Zola Jesus’ voice is entirely unique and it is a shame she didn’t feature anywhere else on the record. ‘Midnight City’ is another standout track and easy to instantly fall in love with. ‘Reunion’, ‘Claudia Lewis’, ‘Steve McQueen’, and ‘OK Pal’ are all exceptional tracks that ebb, flow, build and satisfy. The songs have evolved too, with the beautiful, delicate ‘Wait’ the first time Gonzalez has used an acoustic guitar.

Listening to these immense songs turned up to 11 feels like your brain is being injected with the nectar of the gods. But the strange thing about this record is that despite the tracks being individually wonderful, it feels slightly disconnected. Judged by the extraordinarily high standards set on Saturdays = Youth, this is not M83′s best album. It somehow lacks the cohesion that enabled its predecessor to be so emotionally compelling. If you were to listen to Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming on shuffle, it wouldn’t really make much difference.

This could be symptomatic of the general decline of the album. The music industry now more than ever is set up for tracks rather than albums. The inclusion of M83′s new songs on The Art of Flight movie and as single downloads from iTunes reflects that. In 2009 Thom Yorke claimed Radiohead were not making albums anymore which shocked a lot of their fans. They have apparently changed their minds though. Radiohead releaed The King Of Limbs earlier this year, to critical aclaim.

So despite getting through the first listen fully clothed, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is still another exquisite production from one of the most innovative, creative and unique musicians in the world. Hopefully it won’t be another 3 years until his next one.

Sounds good doesn’t it? I’ve no idea what any of it really means though. I am a complete novice with photography. So far I have mainly been using the ‘auto’ setting and pretending I know what I am doing.

According to camera people, despite having a body the size of a compact the GF2 has all the power of a good quality SLR. It has the ability to manually control shutter speed and ISO etc, but also has an ‘intelligent auto’ mode (thank god) where the camera automatically sets everything for you. This is great for a fraud novice like me.

Lumix cameras use micro four thirds (MFT) lenses. This means they share the same image sensor size and specification with the four thirds system designed for DSLRs. However, the MFT  doesn’t provide space for a mirror box and a pentaprism (obviously, I mean who doesn’t know about pentaprisms?). This allows a smaller design and hence smaller lenses. My GF2 came with a 42mm lens which is a good all rounder, but I have also ordered a (rather pricey) larger 200mm lens as well as a cheap wide angle lens from eBay.

It appears (at least to me) that I’ve managed to take some nice looking snaps despite having no photographic expertise or experience. That surely shows that the GF2 is a good camera?

My Flickr stream is featured below, or you can take a look at it here. Hopefully the quality of shots will improve over time.

Getting jiggy

Penguin

Chimp

Wolf

Vulture

Gorilla

Elephant mouth

Sleepy lion

Lion relaxing

Viper

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(221 Photos)

Mrs Boothroyd's Holiday Dancers

The 2011 Great Drag Race was held at Highbury Fields in North London. The whole day was great fun. The organisers went to a lot of effort providing a make up service for the entrants as well as lots of cool music, a bar, food and awards for the winners / top fundraisers / best outfits.

I ran in a team of 3 called ‘Mrs Boothroyd’s Holiday Dancers’ with my friends Ben (strangely attractive) and Duncan (evil eyes). We managed to raise over £800 which is a great achievement and says a lot for the generosity of all our family and friends. The event raised money for the charity Prostate Action and was managed by social enterprise The X Foundation.

Shattered after the race!

Saturday afternoon arrived and we were all ready to go on schedule when a huge thunderstorm moved in and threatened to ruin things. But thankfully it passed after a few minutes and we had some nice weather for the race. The run itself was actually a tough one. The wig, thick drag queen make up, wired bra full of socks and dress made it trickier than usual to get into a nice rhythm! The course was also quite demanding. Highbury Fields has a 1km circumference and so we ran 10 laps around it. I have only previously taken part in A to B runs and found doing laps quite mentally challenging due to the repetition. To make things even harder 50% of each lap was uphill which took its toll on the legs! Thankfully the sight of so many drag queens and lots of friends to cheer us on helped and I ran in a decent time of around 48 minutes. More impressive was the winning time of 37 minutes by someone called Andy and, even more so, one brave soul running a good time in a pair of women’s shoes! He was deservedly rewarded with a trophy for that.

Pinchy pinchy!

The post-race festivities were again disrupted by rain storms but it was still a really good atmosphere and we all enjoyed a few drinks and some live music. The entertainment culminated in what was perhaps one of the strangest periods of my life. Extremely fatigued and a little drunk stood in a field in the pouring rain surrounded by drag queens watching “LEKIDDO – Lord of The Lobsters!” perform. It is almost impossible to describe his act. The best genre would be crowd participation disco / lobster fusion. See him if you can. Although you may think you have had a potent hallucinogen added to your drink.

A big thank you to all who sponsored us, to the organisers, and of course to all the participants who raised so much money for such a great cause.

Nuclear disaster can conjure up uniquely horrifying images. From the cold war to Terminator 2 via the Chernobyl disaster, we all have a mental image of how the world could be destroyed or contaminated. But it is crucial to keep this week’s events in perspective and remember that our reliance on fossil fuels and the fight against global warming are still some of the biggest challenges we face. Abandoning a potential saviour from climate change based on a misguided fear of nuclear disaster could be a huge mistake.

The environmental movement itself was born partly as a result of concerns about nuclear energy and weapons proliferation. As a result virtually all environmentalists are ferverantly anti-nuclear. So as an environmentalist and strong opponent of nuclear weapons, defending the merits of nuclear energy is not something that came naturally to me. I dismissed nuclear power for a long time just like the Green Party, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace all currently do. It felt like the right thing to do. But having studied the science and the evidence I changed my mind.

The main benefit to nuclear power is how efficiently it can create energy. We currently produce around 27,000 million tons of carbon dioxide every year. That is enough (if it was solidified) to make a mountain 1 mile high and 12 miles in circumference. The same amount of energy generated by a nuclear reactor would produce 2 million times less waste and fit in a 16 metre cube.  Nuclear waste conjures up horrendous images, but modern storage equipment is a viable option. Isn’t relatively small amounts of safely stored nuclear waste preferable to pumping out 27,000 million tons of carbon per year? Moreover, investing in nuclear would mean further improvements in reducing the amount of waste generated and in its safe storage.

A common argument against this approach would point to the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. However, the explosion at Chernobyl happened inside the steel containment of the reactor. This could not happen in modern reactors and the explosions at Fukushima have been outside the reactor. This was the key design flaw of the old Soviet power stations. The water separated into oxygen and hydrogen within the reactor. The explosion at Chernobyl was like a dirty bomb, spreading radioactive material into the atmosphere. The Fukushima reactor has been designed precisely to avoid such an outcome, as are all modern reactors. This is what has been so frustrating about most of the mainstream coverage of the disaster. The media have been telling us that another Chernobyl could happen at any time. It couldn’t.

The Fukushima reactor, despite being more modern and safer than the old Soviet ones, is still relatively old. It was designed in the late 1960′s. The very latest reactors are even safer still. They have passive safety mechanisms which means it takes the constant efforts of engineers to keep the reactors boiling, rather than (as at Fukushima) constant efforts to keep them cool.

In 2001 the Paul Scherrer Institute compared the safety records of all large scale energy sources in the world and expressed the danger in the number of deaths (of workers and the public) per terrawatt (twy) of energy generated between 1970 and 1992:

• Coal 6,400 deaths per twy
• Hydro 4,000 deaths per twy
• Natural gas 1,200 deaths per twy
• Nuclear 31 deaths per twy

The statistics for deaths resulting from nuclear are likely to be even lower for countries such as the UK with no risk of natural disasters that could cause an incident. Germany’s exceptional nuclear safety record is proof of this.

If Japan had not undertaken its programme of nuclear energy production the country would look very different today. Japan’s nuclear energy has allowed it to be a manufacturing heavyweight, to have the world’s best high speed rail network, and to maintain an exceptionally high standard of living. All this despite its resource poverty. That remarkable economic success has improved (and saved) thousands of lives.

Nuclear fission is clearly far from perfect. But until science finds a way to harness nuclear fusion it is the best method we have for meeting the power demands of the 21st century whilst combating global warming. We can’t shy away from pushing the boundaries. It is how we developed the combustion engine,  took to the skies and eventually landed on the moon. Only considering the risks, not the rewards usually leads to the wrong decision.

At the event various BBC executives enthused about the unique collaboration between BBC Wales, BBC North, Marketing Leeds and Welcome to Yorkshire. It took some time for what it actually was to become apparent (and by the time we left it still wasn’t 100% clear).

It seems that the live TV event is being filmed at Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds in March and will use spectacular light projections, audience participation, dance and drama to show the story of the marriage of Victor Frankenstein and his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth (both characters from Mary Shelley’s classic book). The Phoenix Dance Theatre will be choreographing the dance moves of both the actors and audience on the night. The BBC were very excited about the fact that the dance moves will be available online for viewers to learn and recreate.

We were treated to a two minute trailer that was of a puzzlingly low quality and a performance by the Phoenix Dance Theatre. Apparently more details will be made available between now and the event in March.

Peter Salmon, the Director of BBC North said: “Frankenstein’s Wedding… Live in Leeds promises to be a unique event both for the live audience in Kirkstall Abbey and for viewers across the UK.

“Not only will the audience be able to get involved on the night itself, but in the weeks leading up to the event they will be encouraged to rediscover this classic novel.”

The event was full of suited TV execs mingling and looking rather pleased with themselves, whilst the rather more casually dressed bloggers looked slightly puzzled and out of place.

Overall it was interesting to see how these kind of press events worked and great to hear that the arts scene in Leeds is getting national recognition and airtime on TV. The BBC should be applauded for becoming less London-centric and making the effort to showcase Leeds. The execs who spoke seemed knowledgeable about the city and passionate about the benefits the event would bring. However, the information about the event itself did not set my pulse racing. This was partly due to the lack of a clear explanation of what exactly it was, and also because admittedly I am not the biggest fan of contemporary dance. But what do I know?

Jupiter and its 4 largest moons

On 20th September Jupiter was the closest it has been to Earth since 1951. For the next 3 months it is still very close and one of the brightest stars in the sky. At its closest it was a mere 368 million miles away – when it reached opposition (the term for when the sun, Earth, and a given planet are lined up in a row). Oppositions of the Earth and Jupiter occur approximately every 400 days. However, the orbits of the planets are elliptical, so the distances between oppositions vary. This means that the Earth and Jupiter won’t be this close again until 2022, so star gaze while you can!

Jupiter is currently visible all night long, rising in the east at sunset and setting in the west at sunrise. Amazingly, with my modest telescope last night I was able to clearly see Jupiter’s cloud bands going from the top left to the bottom right of the planet. Unfortunately the cloud bands are not visible on the above photo, but this is just down to the lack of a good enough camera.

Also visible were the largest 4 of Jupiter’s 63 moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. All four moons were first spotted by Galileo Galilei in 1610. The four moons are named after Zeus’s mythological lovers. It was Galileo’s observations of the moons orbiting Jupiter that dealt a major blow to the once common notion that Earth is the center of the Solar System.

Io is particularly interesting. Although in a distant and cold region of the Solar System, it is super heated. This is due to the gravitational tug of war that Jupiter and the other Jovian moons exert on it. The ‘Wonders of the Solar System‘ episode ‘Dead or Alive’ that focused on possible life in our Solar System featured Io. (The video is below).

It is astounding to be able to look at Io from my own garden knowing that the largest volcanic eruptions in the Solar System are taking place. Not to mention seeing actual clouds on a planet 400 million miles away!

The Bank of England yesterday announced that interest rates would remain at their record low level of 0.5% for the 20th month in a row. This decision has been welcomed by many economists, not to mention people with mortgages to pay.

Many homeowners have redundancy concerns as a result of Government cuts and the effects of the recession.  With interest rates being at such low levels, the mortgage squeeze is at least not as tight as it could be.

My own home was purchased in April 2006, while Britain was still booming, interest rates were at 4.5% and mortgage offers were abundant yet expensive. To buy a £120,000 house we only needed a 5% deposit, meaning we needed to borrow  £114,000. We secured the amount on a 3 year fixed rate of 5.8%. Getting a fixed rate meant taking a higher rate of interest, but it seemed like a smart choice due to concerns about rates climbing ever higher during the boom. This deal resulted in payments of £630 per month. By the time our 3 year fixed rate deal ended in mid-2009 (and we moved onto a tracker mortgage) the recession had kicked in, interest rates had plummeted and overnight our payments went down a whopping 35.7% to to £405 per month. They have remained at this level since.

Looking back over the last 30 years there are some chilling statistics. In November 1979  rates hit an almost unbelievable 17%. In 1991 mortgage repossessions hit a record of 75,000 because interest rates sharply rose to 15%. While it is highly unlikely we will see interest rates at such exorbitant levels there has been some predictions that they could rise considerably. One controversial economist has warned inflation is in danger of taking hold which would force series of rate rises, taking it to 8% by 2012. Considering the effect on prices the January rise in VAT to 20% will have, it is easy to be concerned about this.