Rabbit Thought of the Day

Heathrow Airport could get a third runway, a minister has indicated. The government is due to make a decision on the future development of the UK's largest airport by the end of the year.

Business secretary John Hutton said at the Farnborough airshow that the government might take "difficult decisions on airport expansion". Green groups have been opposed to plans to expand the west London airport, including a proposed third runway.

Speaking at the opening of the airshow Mr Hutton said: "British businesses, and ultimately the British people, would not forgive us if we shirked our responsibility to do what's right because we wanted an easy ride from green lobby groups.

There hope for us all:

"He suggested that Ollie could blog so we put it to her and explained what a blog was and then I undertook to do all the sort of leg work," Mr Rubbo was quoted as saying by Australia's ABC News. "It was great fun and it was great too to probe her memory more deeply and you get ever more stories about her past, many of which of course were set in Broken Hill," he said.

Have returned from the clinic, my lung function is great and the nurse was well pleased. But and it’s a big but (or butt) she was not too happy with my weight and I have to lose a few stone, which I already was aware off. My weight has crept up to unacceptable levels and I am officially obese or in terms I like to use a fat git (16 and half stone), I have never been so heavy.

Not enough exercise and far too many sweet things have done for, plus I eat too much bread, so I have been given a diet sheet and have to see the nurse every week to be weighed (oh joy). It’s probably just what is needed otherwise I wouldn’t stick to a diet, well not for long anyway.

I nearly forgot the bloody cable guy is coming this after (not Jim Carey), our cable box decoder as been playing up and Virgin Media are sending someone to fix (well take a look at anyway) between 12 and 4, that means he will arrive at 5 minutes to 4 no doubt. Nearly forgot they bugger, may not get my ice-cream until later.

It's time for me to go out to the asthma clinic it shouldn’t be too bad I have been feeling pretty good in the last couple on months, I did have a problem in late April early may but nothing since then. So I am quite happy, afterwards Rosemary and I are off out for a ‘Rossi’s 99’ well did miss out last week. The weather looks warm and sunny and I am quite looking forward to it.

The extension of maternity leave may be sabotaging women's careers, the head of the new equality watchdog has warned. Nicola Brewer, chief executive of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, said employers were thinking twice about offering them jobs or promotion. This, she said in an interview with The Times, was because women were now entitled to a year off for each child. She said current laws had unintentionally made "women a less attractive prospect to employers".  Ms Brewer said her concerns were reinforced when businessman Sir Alan Sugar said many employers discarded CVs of women of child-bearing age. She said: "There has been a sea change on maternity leave and flexible work and we welcome that. But the effect has been to reinforce some traditional patterns.

"The Work and Families Act has not freed parents and given them real choice. It is based on assumptions, and some of the terms reinforce the traditional pattern of women as the carers of children.

"We have come a long way but after winning all these gains it is worth asking - are we still on the right track? "The thing I worry about is that the current legislation and regulations have had the unintended consequence of making women a less attractive prospect to employers."

While it is wrong for employers to discriminate against pregnant women and it should be stamped out. You have to have some empathy with the employers specially those of small companies. However it can also be difficult for those of larger companies and I will give one instance that is actually happening at present within my own company.

One of the HR girls (the boss in fact) went on maternity leave in December last year, her baby was born in January and she returned to work 2 weeks ago. Great she actually only took a little over six months and not the 12 months she was entitled too. Why didn’t she take the full 12 months you make ask? Well the answer to that is that she is once again pregnant, and before she is entitled to maternity leave she must be at work for six prior to her being allowed maternity leave. So in six months time she will be on maternity leave once again, this time it maybe so will take the full 12 months and who can blame her, I probably would if I was in her position.

It’s not often I get the chance to spy out of my living room at this time of day during the week, I sometimes forget how busy the road can become at this time and parents park their cars in our road than walk them the last 50m to the school gates. The only problem with that, is that parking can be at premium around here. Another 30m on from the school is large office block and they tend to nick all the parking places in the road.

It’s always annoyed me that the workers from this office park in our road and I have had many an argument with a number of them who feel that they are allowed to park in my drive or across the entrance because I am at work and don’t need the space. Once I even blocked one in all weekend. I arrived home early one Friday at around 11:00 and there was a Ford Escort parked on drive, so I parked behind it and blocked them in. When the owner came to move the car at 16:00 I refused to move the car stating that I had a few drinks and it would be illegal for me to drive. She went away in a huff but never came back until Monday; tell you something though she never parked in our road again.

It’s good to be nosey, well not exactly nosey, but I do like to sit in the window and watch the world go by, and it such a nice day too.

Am not at work today, because I have a check up at the asthma clinic later this morning it would have pointless going in because I would have to leave at 10:00 to ensure I made it to the clinic on time.

I will do some work from home just email and stuff, make a few calls that sort of thing and then back in the office tomorrow.