Those in the technology and marketing departments have one thing in common, they love initials.  For the technology guys and gals, the people that actually invent all the gadgets we love to play with, initials are an easier way to describe something. They have a certain logic. Firstly, you just jumble together a load of adjectives, describing what your invention does, then just use the initials: simple.

So HSPA, is High Speed Packet Access. Brilliant! And its great for the marketing guys and gals as well, because it saves time having to think of some brilliant name. So, okay, it’s an application name, so is generic across quite a few products, but lets say you had to think of a cool name everytime you invented something. The problem is, most of the cool names have gone, or have been patented, so it’s a nightmare if you don’t use the initials.

A test. What does DVD stand for? Answer in a moment and just to task your brain that bit further, what does the HSDPA and HSBC stand for in the title of this article?

Right, DVD. This is a popular one in pub quizzes, but there are two correct answers: Digital Versatile Disc, or Digital Video Disc. It’s a long story, but actually the name apparently originally stood for digital video disk, although it seems no-one really tied down what DVD stood for. It sort of evolved.

So, if you invent a new product, don’t get wound up with a name; think what it took the guys to come up with Blu-ray, the next generation DVD (maybe they thought DVD-2 was a bit uninspired). So, maybe, if you invent a software that tells a machine to wind back a cable automatically, you could call it: Cable Rewind Automatic Programme, or CRAP. Okay, perhaps not! Right, HSDPA. Funnily enough, it’s the same as HSPA, but the D stands for Download, clever, huh? By the way, both HSPA and HSDPA enhance the speed of third generation (3G) network mobile phones.

And HSBC, why that’s the high street bank of course.

You sort out all your rubbish, separate plastic bottles from tin cans, wood from metal, throw it into the right skips, then the council throws it back altogether and it goes into the landfill.

For many, this is the reality of credit crunch Britain and its recycling policy. The U.K. has been slow to adopt the idea of recycling and unlike many of its mainland European counterparts, it has been dragged screaming into the new age of sustainability.

But the harsh truth is that when the world economies were booming, scrap had a very real value. With China gobbling up raw materials like they were going out of fashion, we were playing the recycle game with great gusto. There were many companies out there looking to buy-up waste plastic, metal, paper and textiles. There was enough money in the system to ensure that all this rubbish could be turned back into something useful and profitable.

Now, many of these same companies are struggling to survive and if these recyclable materials are not being sent to the landfill, then they are being stored in warehouses and on acres of hard-standing, unwanted and unloved.

And here’s the rub. The U.K. didn’t take to recycling very well. Sorting out our dirty rubbish, placing it in different wheelie bins, remembering when those bins are collected and being told off when you got it wrong, was very un-British. We Island race people don’t like being told by council officials what to do with our waste. And when the landfills reach overflowing point, we look the other way, determined that someone else will sort out the problem.

And now that council’s are struggling to cope with what to do with the recycled materials, you can almost hear the muttered told-you-so’s. It was always going to end in tears. But we have to resist. Recycling is vitally important to the welfare of the world and if we lose the ground we have fought hard to win, then the problem will only get worse. We have to recycle, full stop.

We must not let the credit crunch become the excuse to ruin what has taken years to achieve.

Using a mobile phone in a car, even with hands-free equipment, might be deemed dangerous by some. But let’s be honest for a moment; why is it anymore dangerous than say talking to your passengers, listening to the radio, or picking your nose?

Arguably, the health and safety brigade were right to ban using handsets without hands free facilities. Driving whilst trying to dial a tricky number, or text a friend, is not a good idea. So, hands-free devices are all the rage now.

But, now campaigners, are starting to talk about a total ban of the mobile phone in the car. Amongst others, The National Safety Council in the U.S. and ROSPA in the U.K., are talking about a total ban with some enthusiasm. Why, because concentrating on a call means you are not concentrating on the road.

Fair point and difficult to really argue against. Who has not been on a tricky call with the office, or with a loved one, and can’t remember the last few miles that were driven? But maybe, just maybe, the human brain can cope with a degree of multi-tasking without blowing a fuse? What jobs do we do which requires total tunnel vision; very few?

They say that good combat fighter pilots are chosen because they have a brain which can process four jobs at once: they fly the jet, handle the weapon systems whilst taking into account the tactical situation, talk to ground control and order a pizza with anchovies for their return to the airfield. And it’s likely the average experienced car driver is doing just the same sort of thing. Their brains can handle more than just the act of driving. But, even if statistics prove that you are slightly more likely to have a crash whilst talking on a phone even when using hands-free equipment, you would have to have statistics to show say how many crashes were caused because the drivers attention was maybe on a hard-going radio play. Or they were listening to a emotional piece of music on the car stereo which distracted them. Of their passenger was arguing with them. And which parents haven’t been driven to distraction whilst their kids shout and scream in the back of the car.

In short, a car driver is never going to drive in a vacuum. Despite what campaigners might want, total concentration is maybe something only totally achieved whilst on your driving test. So, okay, the protest groups might well have the best intentions, but are they being truly realistic with this current campaign?

Learn more about Mobile phones and Driving