I went through the barriers at Oxford Circus with Grandad's freedom pass (which I used by mistake thinking it was my own ticket - we'd gone out to lunch for my 18th and he gave me his stuff to look after) and got stopped rather aggressively by a Revenue Inspector. I got the impression that he was the police 'cos he read me my rights. I was sh .... ing myself cos I'm not from London but had heard stories of brutality from the police. This guy was definitely trying to provoke a physical response from me but I kept my cool 'cos I was in a suit. He questioned me about the freedom ticket and I explained what had happened. He was having none of it. He was so close to my face that he was spraying spit too. I just immediately volunteered to go and get a ticket which I did and after extensive questioning and detaining me, continued my journey. Next thing I know, I've been charged under s.17(1) TFL Bye law (is this a strict liability offence?) for apparently entering a "compulsory ticket area" without a ticket (I'm not a Londoner and so was pretty shocked by Revenue Inspector's behaviour). He is relying on his statement. I am pleading not guilty because having traced my steps back to Oxford Circus I can't see that it is a compulsory ticket area. My mother is livid and wants to countersue for the guy's behaviour. What I want to ask is (a) because I bought a ticket before getting on a train does that get me off the hook (b) the RI's statement is a lie - it's as if I've been framed because of the way he's worded it. Is the RI's statement still valid if I haven't signed it? Can I sue him back? Is there any good case law I can use in my defence, please. Thank you.

Lenovo says it is changing its ways: The events of last week reinforce the principle that customer experience, security and privacy must be our top priorities. With this in mind, we will significantly reduce preloaded applications. Our goal is clear: To become the leader in providing cleaner, safer PCs. We are starting immediately, and by the time we launch our Windows 10 products, our standard image will only include the operating system and related software, software required to make hardware work well (for example, when we include unique hardware in our devices, like a 3D camera), security software and Lenovo applications. This should eliminate what our industry calls “adware” and “bloatware.” For some countries, certain applications customarily expected by users will also be included. Lenovo will post information about ALL software we preload on our PCs that clearly explains what each application does. And we will continuously solicit feedback from our user community and industry experts to ensure we have the right applications and best user experience. We view these actions as a starting point. We believe that these steps will make our technology better, safer and more secure. That's quite a turnaround, especially when you compare it to their original head-in-the-sand position of thinking people were just grumbling about the irritating adverts that Superfish-afflicted Lenovo computers were displaying, rather than the serious security and privacy issues the software introduced. If they're true to their word, and chuck out the adware and bloatware, and don't try to sneak it in under the umbrella of "certain applications customarily expected by users" then they are doing all of us a favour. In fact, I'd like to see other PC manufacturers take the same approach. Stop putting crapware on the PCs you're trying to sell. Let users make their own choices about what software they want to install, rather than you forcing software on them that takes up unnecessary disk space, hogs memory and invariably is only there to bring incremental revenue to the vendor. Lenovo, you better be telling us the truth. We'll be watching you.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has refused to renew the consumer credit licences of three debt businesses, including Roxburghe. Debt purchaser HFO Capital and two associated debt collection agencies, HFO Services Limited and Roxburghe (UK) Limited, have been declared “unfit” by the OFT and will not have their licences renewed. Solicitor Alasdair Turnbull, who acted for the group of firms, has also been excluded from the group consumer credit licence held by the Law Society for England and Wales. http://www.credittoday.co.uk/article/16628/online-news/three-debt-firms-deemed-unfit-lose-credit-licences

Oredered phone/internet from talktalk, recieved my router through the post and told that they would turn up today between 8am and 1300. Engineer phoned 2 days ago to confirm he was comming(which I thought was very good). Guess what? Not turned up, not even a phone call !! Called talktalk, they said that because they contract out to BT they can do nothing about it and I will have to wait until friday to book a new appointment. Took a day off work today. Soooo bloody angry!!