Blue Chi’s

I was completely obsessed with the second album of Darren Hayes titled ‘The Tension and the Spark’ when I heard it first; it is lyrically miraculous, musically mind blowing, I can’t recall the last time I heard something so sincere, so personal and just extremely emotional to every single bit. Listening to this album is a journey of different episodes, worlds, and stories connecting together along with the beeps, bleeps, sonic booms, air waves, and just every single digital wonder to bring you nothing but an ‘epic experience’. I can’t pin-point to a single song that I like so much, because I basically just love every single beat and every single line sang on the album.

I recently bought my copy of the album though I had the whole thing downloaded months before.

Album Title: The Tension and the Spark
Release Date: September 2004
Track listing:
1. Darkness
2. I Like the Way
3. Light
4. Pop! ular
5. Dublin Sky
6. Hero
7. Unlovable
8. Void
9. I Forgive You
10. Feel
11. Love and Attraction
12. Sense of Humor
13. Ego

The consumer credit market is currently being regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. This Act has been considered as one of the most developed pieces of legislation at its time, but now after 30 years of its passing, it is now seen as one of the most primitive acts that are still in effect. At the time the Act was originally passed there was a very limited number of forms of credit and there was only one credit card service available, the market has grown so much and the Act is very outdated. The government is now is in the process of reviewing the Consumer Credit Bill which will most probably become law by the end of this year. The new bill will grant the OFT new powers to make it make the regulation of the consumer credit market much more effective.

Licensing: Most significant changes will be made in this section. Licensing is required for anyone that wants to be involved with consumer credit. The whole system will be changed (indefinite licenses, fitness test will include work plan, risk based monitoring, and new sanctions: orders, penalties, and search powers.

Formalities: The new Bill will balance the system so that it is not too unfair for lenders. Minor mistakes will no longer automatically render the contract unenforceable. Example of unfair case: Wilson v First County Trust.

Important article on this topic: Lomnicka ‘The reform of consumer credit law in UK’ (2004) JBL 129.

I am actually surprised of way she titled this album “Rebirth”. Almost everything in this album sounds like a cliche. The first single “Get Right” is a song that Usher rejected and J Lo picked up, “Ryde or Die” is a demo that Brandy sang two years ago, “I Got You” sounds so much like Christina Millian’s “Get Loose”, while the Timbaland song “He’ll Be Back” is the good old Timbo oriental sampling. These songs that I am bitching about are actually my favourite songs off this album, and that is probably because they are recycled, but yet again, I don’t find any of them truelly memberable. I don’t think that I am going to buy another J Lo album before listening to it next time. I was expecting more, way more than what this album offerered. My favourite track of the album is probably “Step Into My World” and that is because it is a Darkchild production and not really because of J Lo’s singing music. I loved Brandy’s version of “Ryde or Die” (Brandy’s version is titled “I’ll Do Anything 4 u” and “If I”) way more than J Lo’s, I cannot believe that credited Brandy only by putting her name as “B Norwood” and did not put her as featured for she sings the chorus of the song, and what really pisses me off even more, is that J Lo is just trying so hard to sing the song the same way Brandy sang it, I mean, there is this element that singer actually adds to the song, the way you stress on certain words and repeat certain sections.. Jennifer Lopez, you suck.

Anyway, I am still actually listening to this album even right now as I write this, so it is not really THAT bad.

1. Get Right
2. Step Into My World
3. Hold You Down
4. Whatever You Wanna Do
5. Cherry Pie
6. I Got You
7. Still Around
8. Ride or Die
9. I Love
10. He’ll Be Back
11. (Can’t Believe) This Is Me
12. Bonus Track: Get Right featuring Fabolous

These are regulated by the Office of Fair Trading in the UK. The law has recently changed by the passing of the Enterprise Act 2002 and this means that almost none of the books will have anything helpful regarding this topic.

The OFT has various functions and duties by means of the Fair Trading Act 1973 which manly involve the reviewing the market for unfair practices, educating consumers, initiating investigations that can lead toe the banning of unfair consumer trade practices, and the power to act against persistant offenders, and the encouragement of self-regulation and codes of practice (there are other functions for the OFT, but these are the ones that involve UTPs.

Regarding the promotion of trade codes of practice, the the EA 2002 introduced a new scheme for the ‘approval of codes’, it features a two stage process that three industries managed to statisfy to date.

The powers of the OFT were recently enhanced by the Enterprise Act 2002, and it, along with other enforcing bodies, has the power to make Stop Now Orders which are court orders similar to injunctions telling businesses practicing UTPs harming an interest of a consumer group to stop that certain UTP. A failure to comply with the SNO would constitute a contempt of court that could incur and unlimited fine and/or imprisonment.

Previous to this the DG of the OFT had the power to make written assurances, that a breach of could lead to the DG to request a court order or a binding assurance, that a breach of could lead to a contempt of court.

The new act also introduced the Super Complaint feature, which is basically a fast-track compaint made to the OFT or any other enforcing body by a consumer group regarding a market failure or some feature that appears to be significantly harming the intersets of consumers.

The OFT also has been given the power to take action against businesses within the EEC that infringe certain European based consumer protection legistaltion. Upon a breach the OFT can approach a community enforcer in that member state or even initiate an action against the infringer in that member state.

The Draft Directive on Unfair B2C practices will also harmonise the UTP regulations across Europe and introduces new definitions and concepts to UTPs.

Most of the info regarding this topic are to be found on the OFT website, it is required to know about the approved codes of practice and other recent super complaints to be able to successfuly answer an exam question regarding this topic. General info regarding the advantages and disadvantages of codes of practice is also relevant.