Roger Davies

Latest Articles from Roger Davies:
NEW : Monkey Island Section

Why Americans Should Stop Blaming Britain for the BP Oil Spill

The UK Digital Economy Bill and How The Government Will Fail

Tescos Alcohol Policy & Stephen Byers Secret Lobbying Deal

British Taxpayer to Foot £20m Bill for Pope Visit to the UK

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Welcome to the new, improved Roger Davies .com!

11th October 2009

See Roger Davies’ brand new Monkey Island section where you will find complete Monkey Island walkthrough solutions for each Monkey Island game, from the original Secret of Monkey Island, to Monkey Island 2 : LeChuck’s Revenge right up to (and including!) the brand new Tales of Monkey Island series. Roger Davies .com will feature the walkthrough solutions on the web before most other sources, so if you find yourself stuck … you know where to come! So far you will find the Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Walkthrough, Seige of Spinner Cay Walkthrough, Lair of the Leviathan Walkthrough and we will be bringing you the solutions for the long awaited final two episodes of Tales of Monkey Island along with the Curse of Monkey Island and Escape from Monkey Island solutions, So stay tuned!

11th August 2009

Yes, it’s true! … I finally found time to re-arrange and redesign Roger Davies .com exactly the way I like (actually a mix of several other ideas) which included giving complete control over to Wordpress as a content management system – something it does particularly well in this latest release!

Content management is a bit of a misnomer – in that it is probably better thought of as a loss of control over content, but a handful of plugins and a little editing of the Wordpress code and I’m very pleased with the result.

Wordpress has taught me so much this last year. It was after making some modifications to help Wordpress fight spam that I realised the significance of WordPress’ taxonomy structure and how it indexes these words for search. This provided the foundation of a search tool I began work on at roger-it.co.uk. This public version, currently hosted on my shared 1&1 hosting account is now painfully outdated, but a useful demo until I finally roll out the newest version, which will need to remain on my own computers.

11th January 2009

More about Roger Davies

For a general overview, see the Roger Davies profile page. The main categories – home winemaking, web tools and development and music production sections are similar to how they always were (but organised a little more neatly).

The blog entries are now available throughout the site, but the latest entries can be found here. The sections are still divided up the same way as they always have been – from politics, social observations to retro game reviews and strange ideas. There is the forum at Roger Davies .com which has discussions on home winemaking, Anime and Japan an image area and discussions on music production. Be sure to check out Roger Davies’ music section which includes various mixes and ideas, a which is really just a testing area for random Internet ideas and a forum for you to post any thoughts of your own!

Definition, Origins of ‘Roger’ in ‘Roger Davies’

Roger is derived from the ancient Germanic name ‘Hrothgar’ (Hroðgar, Roger) meaning “famous with the spear” (hroth/hroud meaning ‘fame, glory’, and ger meaning ’spear’). There was a legendary Dannish king named Hrothgar in the 6th century, who features in the ancient novel Beowulf. Beowulf is a British novel, set in Scandinavia in which Hrothgar hires Boewulf to slay Grendel – the main protagonist. Another Hrothgar also appears in the Anglo Saxon tale Widsith, but I am not sure if this refers to the same one.

Roger is usually spelt without a ‘d’ unless it forms part of a surname in which case it can be spent with a ‘Rodger’. In American-English, Roger can be spelt ‘Rodger’

Definition, Origins of ‘Davies’ in ‘Roger Davies’

Davies is has English and Welsh roots. ‘Davies’ is the welsh spelling, and ‘Davis’ is the English way. Davies means ‘Son of David (beloved)’. Variations : DAVIES (Welsh), DAVID, DAVIDSON, DAVISON

Roger Davies is also a fictional character character in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, who first appeared in the Prisoner of Azkaban, as a Ravenclaw student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Noted as being handsome (yey! Well, definitely disambiguated from the Roger Davies writing this site, then!) If you are reading Joanne, thank you lol. For what it’s worth, I did have Harry-Potteresque cheap NHS glasses which were horrendous!

Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Disaster

On the 20th of April 2010, a BP oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and injuring 17 more. Over the next few months it would spill millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and become both a terrible tragedy and an ecological disaster. Obama and his administration quite rightly stepped up their rhetoric, holding those who are responsible to account.

But why did he use the phrase “British Petroleum”? BP has not called itself this for over a decade. Through the many Freudian slips from American politicians and the media, it has become clear that anti-British sentiments lurk under the surface for some people. But just how much responsibility really belongs to Britain?

BP is a UK registered company that is jointly owned by 39% American and 44% British shareholders, employing 10,000 British workers and 22,800 American workers. Indeed, this year BP paid ￡4.7m tax to the U.S and ￡1.5m to the UK. Suddenly, British Petroleum doesn’t look so British anymore, does it? In fact, it was only in March 2008 during the U.S. led invasion of Iraq that George Bush pushed through the Iraq oil law, taking oil development out of the public sector and into the hands of companies like BP, Shell and Exxon. Is the Gulf of Mexico oil spill really just a British mistake?

The BP oil spill is no more British than the German Measles are German. We cannot blame the American media or politicians for trying to portion out the blame elsewhere. Any psychologist will tell you that assigning negative behaviour to out-groups is a quintessentially human survival mechanism designed to preserve the group’s self-image. It is not helpful to think of this tragedy as a British or American disaster, and the only thing ‘real’ in all of this is the lives, livelihoods and wildlife that will be destroyed by the consequences

Friends, Bloggers, Tweeple… Lend me your eyes!

This week the Internet community was outraged by a UK government attempt to sneak new Internet legislation through parliament. The two hour debate made a mockery of our political process, akin to a computer hacker exploiting a security flaw in a computer system.

The new Digital Economy Bill – thinly disguised as a tool to fight copyright theft – will actually give the government total control over all .UK domain registrations. They will have the power to switch your Internet off, and to arbitrarily block access to sites they deem unsuitable for you.

Freedom of speech and expression are the most precious of commodities, sacrificing even one inch of this freedom requires some serious justification. How can a meaningful debate like this be rushed? Elizabeth Sparrow, president of the British Computing Society called on the government to give the bill more time, saying:

“This bill could have huge consequences for online activity that are currently poorly understood. The Institute is highlighting the importance of the Internet to citizenship and the opportunities for everyone to participate. Those opportunities could be curtailed and even diminished if some of the proposals being discussed make it into law.”

Even Google weighed in on the argument:

“We absolutely believe in the importance of copyright, but blocking through injunction creates a high risk that legal content gets mistakenly blocked, or that people abuse the system.”

Tim Berners-Lee, credited inventor of the Internet has indicated his position against this bill in a recent document published by W3C. Even Nominet CEO, Lesley Cowley voiced opposition to the bill recently.

The Impact of the Digital Economy Bill

So just what kind of impact is this bill likely to have? Firstly, techies always have the option of using proxies to access sites the UK government thinks it has blocked. This has worked for Chinese and Iranian citizens and many others in the past. Google – along with other companies – now offers an independent DNS service which is not within the UK government’s control. Webmasters could register .com domains instead of .uk ones, thereby avoiding all levels of this new found, self-appointed control. For every limitation placed on the Web, there will be two and a half ways around it. In fact, the government itself knows little of the Internet, and would be reduced to asking technicians to comply with the new law. Internet provider TalkTalk has already declared it will not comply with this new legislation. If each individual involved in I.T. adopted a similar line, the government themselves would be powerless to bring about the realisation of this new bill. They might just succeed in further irritating and alienating an already disenfranchised public.

But above all, the Internet is an independent community, with a unique language, etiquette and style of humour. It is fair to say that it has its own culture. The parliamentary expenses scandal has shown us just how unfit our politicians are to police themselves. From where I’m sat, the government have no more right or ability to police this global community, than it did the early colonies of America, once it became clear they would flourish. They have missed their opportunity, leaving the evolution of the Internet to develop organically through Universities, private enterprise and the ideas of some incredibly bright individuals. Only now that the Internet plays a major role in our lives and the elections themselves does the government suddenly decide it wants to reassert its power. The very idea that any single person – or group of people – could be ‘in charge’ of free ideas and the creative thought channelled through this wonderful medium is not only flawed, it is laughable.

MP Stephen Byers : suspended and referred to parliamentary commissioner for standards over secret dealings with Tescos and other lobbyists

Tescos Refuse Alcohol To Parents and Others

On St Patrick’s Day 2010, a Tescos Express store in Manchester refused to sell beer to a 24 year old friend of mine, even after she had produced ID. She had spotted a promotion – three 4-packs of beer for £10 – and I made the fatal mistake of helping her carry two of these to the checkout. At 29 years old, I was asked for ID by 19 year old checkout assistant RJ. As I did not have any ID with me at the time, Tescos refused to sell the beer to my friend J. We were so upset we stood and argued with the acting manager, AM until long after the store had closed.

At the time I was quite upset, as I had no intention of drinking the alcohol myself,  but after searching the Internet for: “Tescos alcohol policy” I was astonished to see just how far the supermarket giant had taken the issue.  Both the Telegraph and the Daily Mail ran the headlines: “Tescos refuse alcohol to parents” and were filled with hundreds of similar anecdotes from disgruntled customers.  This claim was verified by a friend M, who was refused both alcohol and scissors after bringing her daughter to her local Tescos.  What made this outcome even more puzzling, was that she was not asked for any ID when repeating this experiment at the self service checkout of another store.   In fact, an entire Facebook community has grown up around Tescos alcohol policy.

Tescos Alcohol Policy & Steven Byers Lobbying Connection

Last Wednesday, the government proposed an increase in alcohol tax, a move which almost all supermarkets openly opposed – saying such moves would restrict their ability to deliver good value to their customers.

Tescos was the only supermarket to welcome the move, and last week a spokesperson told a Channel 4 News reporter that the supermarket chain had already been in discussions with the government over this issue “for the past two years”. In February 2008, Tescos openly announced they would “work with the government” to ‘play an active role’ to limit the sale of cheap alcohol. Interestingly, the government has also employed Tescos help to force some the legislation through! Mysteriously, Tescos recent won the right to sell alcohol at their St. Marys store at Cardiff County Council. So just how did this cosy relationship develop? At what point did Tescos start to become an unelected branch of our government?

Tonight, rogerdavies.com can reveal that Tescos have been in secret discussions with Steven Byers – an MP who was this week suspended over allegation he was taking ‘cash for favours’ along with Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt after the trio were filmed by an undercover sting operation for Channel 4 : Dispatches, disguised as a US lobbying firm.  In the footage, the MPs boast about how they would be able to exert influence in Parliament if the price was right. The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when it transpired – not surprisingly – that Tescos corporate affairs director, Lucy Neville-Rolfe had approached Stephen Byers. You know what they say, where there’s smoke there’s usually fire.

Something which only caught my attention as a minor Paddy’s Day mishap, lead me to this startling discovery which will affect the public scrutiny on the relationship between government and private commerce. When U.S. president Barack Obama took office, he started to tackle this exact issue. Perhaps it is time for the UK to follow suit?

Petition Against Tescos Alcohol Policy Today!

We the undersigned, order Tesco to change it's ridiculous alcohol policy with immediate effect. No supermarket has any kind of right to decide how you behave once you have made your purchase and exited the store.

Mothers and Fathers should NOT be refused alcohol simply because they have small children with them. Equally, no checkout assistant should be encouraged to play 'detective' in making judgements and assumptions about the familiarity and intentions of the groups of people they serve. Tesco is a supermarket, not a governing body or some kind of thought police investigators.

As a market leader, Tesco has a duty to the British public to act ethically and fairly and in the light questionable meetings between Stephen Byers and Tescos corporate affairs director Lucy Neville-Rolfe, we wish to express our concern that Tescos is not an executive branch of the UK government, and that Tesco needs to alter it's policy IMMEDIATELY to reflect this.

Name:

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Alasdair King,

xxxxxxxx,
I really hope that this new coalition government can clean up all of this corporate lobbying mess. It would be too easy for them to fall into the same pit of shame. Tesco should be dragged before the monopolies and mergers commission immediately. Minimum pricing on alcohol is just not going to work!

xxxxxxxx,
I'm 27 and the exact same thing happened to me when I was trying to buy myself a couple of pints, I had my id with me which I was happy to show them, however my sister (22) was with me. I too got really upset, but after 10 minutes arguing I went to Sainsbury's.

xxxxxxxx,
my daughter was refused a bottle of wine at the tesco stare in Heswall, she is 24 and had id with her, her boyfriend is 20, yrs old, 6'5" tall, balding with a beard!!!!! he didnt have id so they refused to sell it to her incase it was for him!!!! I ended up going to get it myself and the person turned out to be a 4' high trumped up manager who looked about 13 years old, who failed to justify her position by creating a new national law which made her descision valid. Tesco, get real and use common sense!!!!!

xxxxxxxx,
I was refused a bottle of wine last night because I was with my 16yr old sister. I am 30 and my brother who was also with us is 27 and we both had ID. How dare Tesco judge me to assume I am supplying an under-age with alcohol.

xxxxxxxx,
As a 48 year old man with grey hair I don't need an ID card to buy alcohol. But I was refused alcohol because I was with my 17 year old son and 2 of his friends.....The old hag of a cashier with called over a 12 year old looking manager who also refused me, saying that if I want to buy alcohol not to go to the checkout with my son in future......!!!!!!!!....????? It’s another sign of a company having to much power ..... what next ....Tesco police .... Tesco courts .... or will it be ... Tesco firing squad, just look at the way they treat there suppliers !

Chris,

Michael Wharton,
Tesco suck teh balls!

Roger Davies,

Tescos Alcohol Policy Facebook Groups!

• Everyone who is against Tesco’s ID policy
• Tescos Alcohol Rules are Crap
• Tesco’s are ridiculous asking a group for ID when only one person is buying.
• Tesco’s Pathetic Alcohol Policy
• Tescos – Leave your kids home alone if you want to buy alcohol
• Boycott Tesco
• What Kind Of Alcohol Policy Is This Tesco!!

In September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to visit Britain. He is coming here to tell us that our UK equality laws are wrong and that homosexuals, transsexuals and women have no rights. He will attack the democratically decided laws of our country and undermine the hard-won civil liberties of our nation. But wait – for some reason – our own government is planning to spend up to £20m of your money to do it! Why?

Let me remind the reader that The Pontiff is neither a UK citizen nor resident,  and this gives him about as much right to change UK law as Mickey Mouse.  Under his watch – and those of his predecessors – sexual abuse in Catholic schools and institutions was tolerated and widespread. The question has to be asked :  is it really in the public interest to ask every man, woman and child of Britain to pay £20m for a Papal visit, when only 9 percent of Britons are Catholic? (Source: BSA Survey 2007).

Would our government be so generous to throw this much money at an Islamic leader coming here to preach equally intolerant messages?  No, of course not!  Such double standards will impair our ability to defend human rights overseas and at home.  If we provide equal rights to everyone, but grant immunity in special cases like these, where will it end?  How can we refuse when other religions start demanding exception from arbitrary sections of British law they happen to disagree with?  We are not a theocracy, and can afford nobody to be above the law.  You may even find the army or perhaps the navy saying they too should be exempt from equalities laws under the banner of national security.  Perhaps schools, scout leaders and other public institutions would follow – after all, your children’s safety is important to protect too, right?

No dear friends, we cannot cave in to such fascism, even when it wears a friendly and familiar face.  If we surrender one inch of our equality laws, we will have betrayed the single most important value of our society.  This week, the National Secular Society launched an online petition to the Prime Minister to allow the pope to pay for his own visit.  Within hours, thousands of signatures had been collected, and just before midday Friday the website went offline due to the flood of traffic it received.  At the time of writing, more than 16,500 signatures have been collected.  Allow me to use this opportunity to read a section from one of my favourite poems, written by Pastor Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Equality is an all-encompassing idea. We cannot pick and choose which parts we agree with and which parts we do not simply to satisfy a few.  The moment we do, we may as well rip out the rest of our secular freedoms and put our monarchy back in full charge of all UK affairs.  Religious freedom exist under secular law, but freedom of belief cannot be achieved under theocratic rule – we cannot  afford to tolerate intolerance.

We must extend freedom, where such freedom does not curtail the freedom of others.  In cases where these freedoms are mutually exclusive, the freedom of the many must outweigh the freedom of the few. This is the very nature of democracy and the reason the Pope should pay for his own visit.