A New Year's wish

It is incredible how inept government can be. Brexit has been trundling on for two years and we are still soldiering on. With no result any time soon. All talk and most of that is pure guesswork but no action.

Then some idiot decided to fly a few or just one, drone near to an airport. In this case the second biggest in the UK and we all dive for cover, shaking in our boots, looking fearfully up at the sky. Again the government has known about drones for a number of years, in fact flies these themselves via the armed forces. So there is no secret there of what these things can do. But here is the problem, MPs are supposed to discuss how and why we should curb their use. So, again an impasse, no-one agrees. Not even in the same party. The problem is that MPs do not seem to avail themselves of the details of any possible problem. At least not the intricate details. The problem though is not the machines but us! We seem to turn every machine around us into a weapon. Every game we play is about beating or killing something or someone else. Do we think we are peaceful, forget it, we are the nastiest thing on this globe. Even if we believe or have a faith, we need to ensure it is the uppermost faith and everyone else is not worth of living. Nice. It is not funny but then there are also those who think that to curb these impulses of the psyche we need to be ultra forgiving, everything is OK. Instead of tackling the injustices, the social inequalities, the impending food and water shortages, the plastic poisoning of the oceans and seas, the degradation of the environment we all depend on, we are overtly concerned with, yes, us again. Of course, it is important but we really need to remember we are only a small part of the globe. We need other living beings, we need microbes, we need birds, we need living space, we need trees, plants, flowers. Not just a few useful to us but everything. In all its colourful confusion. We need the bad, the good and the ugly! We can aid that life, we can adapt, we can perhaps even find the reason why we are here at all. Let’s hope we will see the proper way forward. To remember we are basically only a very small part of the greater whole. And that is a great wish for 2019!

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! En ook nog een gelukkig Nieuwjaar! Happy New Year!

Plaid newydd?

Felly, dw i’n byw yn y Rhondda, dw i’n pryderu am gwleidyddiaeth leol. Mae’n ffaith y Blaid Lafur wedi bod mewn grym am miloedd o mlynydd! Wel, bron. Fydd hi’n wedi newid y byd? Ac yn fuan? Siŵr i fod! Mae gwleidyddiaeth leol wedi dod yn ddifyr ac yn ddiflas iawn ar yr hun bryd. Ar hyn o bryd, dw i’n aelod plaid o Gymru, wrth gwrs enw nateriol, Plaid Cymru. Ro’n i falch yn weld lawer o bobl ifanc mewn grŵp lleol. Da iawn yn wir! Falle rŵan, allwn ni symud ymlaen a pharatoi ein llywodraeth ein hunain? Credaf hyn, oherwydd llywodraeth Westminster ydy’r broblem mawr presennol. Gwleidyddiaeth lleol nawr ydy’r rhyfedd. Pam? Wel, mae’r Plaid Cymru yn penderfynu pwy sy’n arwain y plaid am yr degawd nesa’. A dyn ni wedi dewis arweinydd newydd nawr - Adam Price. Mae hi’n ystyr ffordd ymlaen newydd.

Yn enwedig am yr annibyniaeth o’r wlad. Y broblem fawr ydy’r economeg! A threthi. Mae Gymru yn wlad bach. Wrth gwrs, welwn ni y ganlyniad yn y dyfodol yn fuan, ar ôl Brexit ond falle yn ystod 2021 (yr etholiad nesa?). Hwyl am y tro.

What will the future be like?

Something to think about this Christmas? I am wondering like many others – are there aliens around? And if there are why don’t we hear or notice anything? Well, if you look at the state of this world we live on you could consider that the reasons we don’t hear anything is that there are none. At least no advanced alien civilisations. Here on Earth we are literally at the borderline. The way we treat the planet, the overpopulation, overfishing, plastic pollution, and all of the rest - if that is the norm of how civilisations develop then we will never hear of aliens because they and us as well are back in the Stone Age. The funny thing is this, we are also capable of reversing the trend. The answer lies within each of us, it starts at a young age. No, don’t throw that crisp packet on the floor, don’t discard your coke bottle on the road. Take your uneaten school sandwich home. Properly pack your rubbish in the sacks or bins provided. Don’t put them out too early and so on. The answer at least partially is in our own behaviour. Right now humanity is literally killing its own home! We are simply following the dinosaurs if we are not careful.

It is not really all that strange, all species have the same problem. If they find a good, relatively safe niche within the biological sphere, plenty of food, not too cold or too hot, water then they will expand to fill that sphere. In such a way that there comes a time that there is no longer enough food or water or both to sustain further expansion. From then on the species becomes weaker and will face a collapse in numbers. In fact due to uncontrollable diseases the species could well disappear altogether. Or they will change, some of the stronger elements will survive and alter. Just like the dinosaurs, crocodiles and turtles and other smaller species are still around. Indeed whether we like it or not we will have to change our selfish lifestyles. That is if we want our grandchildren to have a decent life.

Fancy a smart meter?

Big advertisements shouting from the rooftops - I’m saving money and the planet at the same time - wonderful. I’m in. But wait what the ‘eck is it? Oh smart meters. Well, what’s it all about then? How do you actually save money and the planet with a smart meter? Eh, tell me and I’m still in.

A meter is a meter, yes? So, it measures my electricity usage. Brilliant so far, my present meter does just that. Do I want to know how much money I spend on electricity? Well, maybe. Our household is not particularly extravagant with the leccie. We use the normal amount of lighting, switch off where not needed, even with grandchildren romping all over the place from time to time. The usual Wi-Fi systems etc etc. We have lamps with LED bulbs where possible of 10amp and no more than 24amp.

The biggest is a fluorescent in the kitchen of 60amp. So, in real terms we are pretty low users anyway. So, let’s have a look at the claims – an average user with a smart meter saves enough energy to make 26,473 cups of tea a year, 71% of people with a smart meter would recommend one to others and if we all got a smart meter the CO2 savings would be equal to taking 600k cars off the road. Wow, some claims that. First of all these claims are just complete guesswork, in fact possibly untrue.

Friends, this is just a meter that just shows how much you are using with the price next to it. The only thing you can say about it is that you will get a headache looking at the pennies accruing. That may make you try to switch the heating off and sit in the cold. So in that way yes you are saving the planet but are dead. So sorry, I’m out!

Even more Brexit or No Brexit or perhaps Brexit...

I have and many others too, been critical of our politicians. And yes, what a shower they are as so remarkably shown on TV. I often looked wide-eyed at the performances of grandstanding and heard the most astounding rubbish! It is obvious or it should be, that our representatives have a complete misunderstanding about how the general population feels! But there is more than that – behind politicians, like rats hiding in the sewers, are the Civil Service. The little mandarins, permanent blockers we should call them. The glorious ESTABLISHMENT. What can anyone say? They have been revealed to be complete liars and ever since the 2016 referendum have been busily countermanding every step towards leaving the EU. It could be said that the anti-Brexit block is aided by the Establishment. I suppose it was always on the cards because being members of the EU would make their job so much easier. Loads of money for very little. They could sit in their plush offices, drinking coffee all day long, thinking about their next trip to a sunny beach all paid for by idiots like me. It is high time that we all wake up and call an end to this flagrant waste of money. This sort of establishment rule has to end now, it is no wonder that far-right and far-left parties are now popping up all over the place. For myself and I have always been centre-left I now feel very much more right! Even to the tune of independence for Wales. Just so as to get away from that country called London. Just wait and see, the next few years will see much more upheaval and all thanks to the blinkered, half-baked policies the establishment foisted upon us. Cymru am byth!

Yet more Brexit, will it ever end?

You could arguably say there is something wrong with the British political leadership. Not just the Conservative government but the whole lot in Parliament. First of all due to pressure of a sizeable faction of all parties, not forgetting the then UKIP party, we decided on a referendum. Great idea. It already showed the weakness of the Conservative government. The result was to be fair, a foregone conclusion albeit a close one. Leave the EU. Things should have been simple all ties cut immediately, no further money. Simple. Simple? Forget simple, in the UK today nothing is simple. Because as soon as the result of the referendum was published, the snide remarks, the constant sniping, the what if’s, the ‘we are out of our minds’ opinions surfaced and how! It shows without any doubt that our government, indeed all political parties did not have any idea at all as to what to do. They did not expect this result and still don’t. It shows there is a malaise at the very top of the governing class. A feeble, wet behind the ears sort of feeling. How did we ever win WW2? I have to say knowing a bit about history it was touch and go. Even before it started there were plenty who wanted to appease. In fact there is nothing nice about our parliamentary system. But funny though, it works in the main. I suppose that’s democracy but sometimes top ministers need a dictatorial mindset. A message that Ms May needs to learn quickly, if she can and that’s debatable too. 
And finally, democracy is the word used in this country constantly, is it true though, are we really a democracy? I think we are basically an autocracy. There is a ruling class with totally different ideas to the general population. Just think about and then you will see how Brexit has developed! 

The lack of courage, and the shallowness of present politics.

A lot of people just don’t realise that to stay in the EU is basically to continue financing a losing side. The problem is not the idea of integration of the various states but their inability to have a consensus. That is to say they cannot agree on the best way forward. As was so ably demonstrated by the German Chancellor in her call to immigrants to come. The other states on the way of the routes to Germany were aghast at the numbers. Now I fully understand why they would want to come, after all don’t we all want a better life but what is missing is a proper integration policy. And if there is one it is mostly full of holes and incompatibilities, basically just words and no action. This is what also worries UK citizens, the lack of integration and the unbridled influx, the lack of proper policies and if there is such a thing, the lack of willingness to carry them out. As so ably demonstrated with the Asian sex gangs in northern England when normally good people just ignored the problems for fear of being labelled racist.

It is a woeful situation that our elected politicians have brought to us. An abject failure of thinking out the possible repercussions of these ideas. The lack of courage, and the shallowness of present politics. You can note this failure of proper thinking. Take Owen Smith, the failed MP of Pontypridd. I haven’t seen or heard from him for nearly two years but he was interviewed recently and stated his belief we needed a second referendum. Not a single idea of what that actually means. Just aping what others in similar low positions within the MP hierarchy have said. Not a single idea that this would entail the death of proper democracy. In other words we keep voting until he gets his desired result. That’s Labour for you but this disease is located in all political parties. It might be best to reduce the number of MPs to 300 and weed out all these blabbermouths and incompetents. Anyway, the present impasse will not go away soon, unless Ms May picks up her courage and resigns. We must find a proper thinking politician, to lead and have a chance to put things right. It will need strength and brinkmanship, it can be done and should be done. If not, then a general election must be called. It would probably mean Labour in power, so that would not solve the impasse either. For me it is simple, as I have said before, out is simply out. Walk away, close the door and burn the chequebook. If necessary start negotiations with anyone wanting to retain their markets. After all the UK is one of the largest consumer markets. It will be difficult, it will be hard but if we want to be on our own, set our own laws, control our borders then there is no real alternative.

The idiocy of conflict

Proper thinking people with a brain know there is something strange going on in this country. Take the witch hunt of soldiers. It is an absolute idiocy that a British government who after all are the authority sending troops to wherever their foreign policy dictates it, are now literally allowing unscrupulous lawyers throwing allegations of torture and more . Even worse I suspect even the government is riddled with liberal idiots who have no idea what they are doing. If there should be legal repercussions then it should be the government, not the soldiers who have no choice but to go where they are told to go. This should end right now. And just for those liberal pretty boys who think they are in charge of the country, or their academic advisers with mickey-mouse degrees - I have been in the army and yes it is a heavy job, especially when your squad has to follow orders given by cigar chomping, whisky guzzling, overweight circus performers who have little idea what the squaddies have to face and are facing day by day. We should get rid of all these liberal ideas, humans are still not ready for any of this as the behaviour of the Russians show without doubt. It would be great if the world population got on with each other but the sad truth is, it is a dream and probably will be so for a very long time. Just go to the continent and ask anyone there what they think of the Britons, or rather the English. I suspect that WW2 will not be mentioned.

And talking of dreams, is it not about time we get to grips, real grips with the environment? Instead of hounding soldiers and wasting valuable time we should clean up the streets, the fields, the oceans and seas. Stop producing plastic in all its forms. These are the things that should concern us, so let’s get on with it.

Money, money. money, it's all so funny...

Anyone for a bit of borrowing? Borrowing cash that is. Well, with Christmas around the door a few grand would be welcome? Yes, but I just read in a daily newspaper that this, our beloved country is in deep, deep debt. In fact the total debt stands at £5.1 trillion! That is £2 trillion of the national debt (government) and the rest represents borrowing by households and companies. Not bad eh? And moreover this debt is allegedly going up to over £6 trillion (£6,000,000,000,000) by 2023. It is a rather interesting thought but who lent us that sort of money? Where does it all come from? The banks lend cash and with rich people/or organisations like pension funds buy silver/gold gilts (the government issued bonds) but that surely is still not enough to cover such a debt? So, it seems that a second grand economic finance collapse is just around the corner. A day of reckoning. That will bankrupt quite a number of people I suppose. The various governments, except the UK’s government, of the western countries seem oblivious to this. At least in the UK, government has reduced its debt a bit, and it is still falling but it also has created a lot of animosity. But how do people think you pay of debt? It is the same for governments, you have to make savings! It is never easy. But at the same time we should be careful not to cut essential services too much. It is a problem because those in power do not really want to make changes, especially not in their own pay-packets and extras. The bill is always paid by those who can least afford it! Control of money is an art that few people master, there are so many ways to obtain cash. Pensioners now are able to cash in some of their pension pot but quite a few lose it as fast as it comes in due to false investment promises, or people can cash in on property values. Well, fortunately in the Rhondda that is not a very big problem as property values are low, in fact really too low to make much of a difference in debt. There is little point to borrow money on the value of your house. Eventually it must be paid back one way or another. It would be much better to organise lives in such a way that debt is not the overriding factor in anyone’s life. Easier said than done? Well, what IS easy in life?

The Brexit Show - Who's the Dame?

What in all honesty is the matter with our politicians? Is the old adage – They haven’t a clue which way the wind is blowing – true in their case? Take the Brexit conundrum. As Mr McKinstry put it so brusquely in the Daily Express – A second EU vote (probably should have said, a second referendum) will not solve this Brexit turmoil. Absolutely, a second referendum would be as undemocratic as you will. You simply cannot keep voting until one or other party gets the result they want. A second referendum on an important issue such as this cannot solve the issue as there will follow a third because the losing party will or cannot accept the result. This I cannot believe, politicians thinking it is the right way to go! It puts a blanket of incompetence on all politicians. Mrs May seems to be hell-bent on steering through (and it’s pretty debatable) her plans engineered in Chequers because it allows the EU still too much power over UK issues. As I said before, out is out and please close the door. I just cannot get it through my head how well paid MPs of all sides are getting in such a mess. We seem to have a death wish in our beloved land. As Leo McKinstry stated, there is a spectacular failure of courage and imagination in Britain’s political class. They seem more concerned with issues of gender, political correctness and more, rather than important issues of state!

But in the end this question needs asking – who do politicians think they represent? Themselves or the electorate? Well, that power base of the ‘ruling orthodoxy’ needs dismantling straight away. Perhaps it all boils down to the softly softly PC approach of the PM. Get a grip PM, clothe yourself in a harness of British steel. And get on with it. The vote was cast, carry it out!

Ed 14/11/18 : Now that the so-called deal is materialising and viewing the furore it is creating, I think that this government is on its last legs. A dead man walking. The only problem is what will follow it when it falls? Labour is in no way competent at this time to form a proper and well-working government. That is if they ever were capable of doing so. If we think that their economic/financial ideas are the way to go, by all means vote accordingly but be prepared for a far greater b*lls-up!

Ed 8/4/19: Sorry friends, still no deaL WE ARE NOW HAVING EXTENSION AFTER EXTENSION. Yes, another word for delay. It might be prudent for the people to take control. MPs are no longer fit to run the country. I have changed my mind - have a second referendum and if that shows Stay then let's shut up and stay. If it says Go then also shut up and go. Close the door and have a general election.

Bwytwch trychfilod?

Roedd yn amser doniol yn ystod un o’r gwers Gymraeg. Roedden ni yn dafod y bosibilrwydd trychfilod fod bwyd y dyfodol. Achos erbyn hanner ganrif bydd rhwng 7-9 biliwn o bobl ar a ddaear! Siaradwch am 1 miliwn siaradwyr Cymraeg, bydd dipyn o her hefyd oherwydd falle fyddon ni dim ddigon o egni i ddysgu’r iaith! Oni bai byddon ni yn dechrau bwyta trychfilod (pryf).

Dyma cwmni yn y gorllewin paratoi bwyd fel hyn. Chwilod a sioncod y gwair, wedi frio yn siocled? Ond ie, rhaid i ni atal defnyddio llawer o dir am codi gwartheg! Bydd yn dorri nwy methan, defnyddio llai o dŵr a llai o dir fermio ac wella’r amgylchedd. Dylai fod polisi pob Plaid Wleidyddol, yn arbennig Plaid Cymru wrth gwrs. Fe welwn ni yn fuan, gobeithio.Dw i'n hoffi bwyta fel bobl Tseina ond dim cŵn, neu gathodd. 

NHS - National Money Pit

The NHS is very much in the news again at present. The government has indicated that a lot more money is coming, the question is will it? Personally I believe that no matter how much money is given it will never be enough. The NHS is a bottomless pit. Whilst drug companies charge exorbitant prices for their medicines and people generally go to a GP just to get a supply of paracetamol which they could easily buy at Tesco for less than 30p? Whilst the top management keep on the practice of empire building and give themselves salaries of incredible proportions the NHS will be as it is today. Also when we are the world’s health service the money that it costs runs into the millions annually. It ought to be clear that a hard but fair re-organisation is needed. Less admin, better deals with drug companies, a much harder approach to foreign use of the NHS. I am not advocating that we should not help those that come to the UK but prior to them coming we need to know their needs and insurance details. When I went to Holland I needed quite a bit of dental treatment. Before that even started I had to pay! So why would it be different in the UK? We cannot be the world’s health service, and not expect other countries to be either. The E111 card is a bit of a useless item because the dental surgery did not even recognise it? Had never even seen it and refused to accept it. It might be OK if you run under a bus or something like that and end up in hospital but see a GP, no sir! Please pay. Then try to get your cash back from the NHS. Anyway, as said the NHS is a bottomless pit, a great institution with wonderful doctors, surgeons and nurses but it needs a good looking at, a complete reorganisation, one which will make it fit for the 21^st century.

Fracking hell... again

Fracking is rearing it’s ugly head again. Slowly but surely it is getting approval in small areas but before long it will be everywhere. Much like the ugly wind turbines which were only going to be seen in a very small number of places. Now they are everywhere. I am very concerned that our brilliant but silly politicians do not really have a clue about the implications. By all accounts fracking is not going to be the bonanza they think it will be. They talk of vast reservoirs but it's all pie in the sky. No-one knows, not even the specialists! In a small country like ours it actually is only in very few places where it can be done. The upheaval is really not worth it. And besides do we want to ruin the Earth once and for all? I do think that there is no doubt any more, we are responsible for the hotting up of the planet. We just do no longer have any options except to cut carbon emissions. And cut heavily if we want our grandchildren to have a reasonable life. We simply have to start thinking about what we are doing otherwise Africa will become uninhabitable and there will be no ice on the Poles. The Pacific will have risen to such an extent that all low-lying islands have disappeared. All coral reefs have died all over the world. It will be interesting to see how countries like Holland, Belgium and Denmark are going to cope with 2 metres of extra water plus enormous spring tides. Let’s hope there will be no big storms at that time because 1952/3 will be nothing compared to what will happen then! Good luck to ‘m all.

Watch the news in the years to come, when the poisoning of our land is becoming properly visible, cancers in children, more asthma, more disabilities, so yes carry on fracking. Pity the old film crew are all dead. It could have been a real blockbuster. I can see Ms Windsor popping ‘her you know whats’ in front of the fracking tower! 

Ed: It makes our western ideas of reducing carbon emissions a joke. First and foremost the energy used to get at the 'gas', the trundling to a fore of massive lorries, the drilling machinery and allied equipment (think of the carbon emissions making all that equipment) and then the burning of the gas. So, where are the benefits? There are none. And don't think that it will reduce prices. The fracking process is done by individual companies who have to make a profit. They will sell the gas at the highest price they can get and if they cannot get it in the UK they will simply export it. All in all fracking does not seem such a good thing does it?

Debt mountain? Well, eh...

Funny is it not? I have mentioned this many times before. Our national debt mountain. By all accounts and this is from the IMF, it stands at over £2 trillion! Actually, it is NOT funny at all. It means if we say there are 65,000,000 of us in the country each and everyone of us, immigrants, babies and octogenarians all included, owe £30,770.00 (rounded up to nearest pound). That is an absolute disgrace, our various coloured governments have failed so miserably. The ultra left now in power of the Labour party wants to even up that amount. The article I read stated that the debt mountain was not helped by the recent financial crisis. No, really? Who gave the bankers free rein? I know one thing it wasn’t me! The GDP of the country (Gross domestic product) does not even equal this debt.

The politicians keep talking of reducing the deficit hoping of course we don’t understand and equal deficit with the word debt. In actual fact reducing the deficit does not lower the debt, it increases it. Deficit just means that the amount needed to run the country does not equal the amount coming in as taxation. No indeed, when we let companies get away with little tax. But I suppose if they are large employers taxes will be levied another way, income tax, NI contributions etc. The problem now to be faced is what to do if and when the next financial crisis hits us. Well, they can always sell Parliament and confiscate the wealth of the aristocracy (who have done little to earn it anyway). There are some ways to get it right but as we know thousands of ways to get it wrong. I just wonder why the French revolution started? Oh dear I’ll get my coat….

Hackers? Where the...

Reports of and on software breaches, like the recent Facebook one where some 30 to 50million users’ data was compromised are becoming a frequent occasion. One of the problems is the sheer volume of code. I have done my own website and a few others and I can assure you I have run into those problems when due to wanting to ‘move’ an object or image you inadvertently run into that the code you used clashes with something similar already there. Or you used a subroutine that also unknowingly interacts with something else. The thing is this, why do software developers not test out their code much more thoroughly? In the race for getting nice looking web-sites with plenty of user-interactive items we have just allowed ourselves to become vulnerable. There is no time for checking. There is no excuse for Facebook to blandly state that ‘It is a war'. Yes, but only because they have left themselves defenceless. The problem has arisen and up to 50 million are compromised and now the word is, we have patched the vulnerability. Great, but the vulnerability should not be there in the first place. It is the same with Microsoft, it is mostly not new software but added on bits all over the place. Some of these create what I call open ports, or easy ways to scan and glean data. It is however true to say that computers cannot be 100% safe. Simply because you need to get on-line, meaning you open the door and say ‘Cooeee, here I am, come and get me’. Having a defence therefore of good and sound software and not using the machine to visit nefarious places or answering emails from the Nigerian princes who are dying and wish to give you millions of their money before they go or even thinking you won the Canadian Lottery without having bought a ticket? A lot of damage can be avoided by better use of your systems. Remember the Russian or any other hackers, never sleep. Keep your doors closed and lock them because Putin might come a’nocking! Actually is already doing it!

Labour is dead...

Goodbye Labour…

The one and only workers party we had in the UK is now good and well dead and it buried itself last night on telly for all to see. It is quite funny, if not stupidly so, to see a political party being taken over by a minority! 

Motormouth Corbyn trying to sound like a world politician, but one who has no idea where Israel actually is situated. Chants of  (if you could hear them between the screams of exited ladies, yes Corbyn is a pin-up too) ‘from the river to the sea’ meaning no Israel existing of course.

Then we had the ‘nodding donkey’ Ms Butler who can be seen vigorously nodding at everything the Motormouth is saying at PM’s question time! Saying a few words and trying to be intelligible.  It really was a pathetic show that would have been quite in place at the Edinburgh festival. 400,000 green jobs, what in all honesty does that mean? That might mean you cannot fa*t in the London Tube anymore. Because if you did Corbyn’s Green Police would nab you and send you down to a year’s hard labour picking strawberries in Lincolnshire. Yes, in winter! Just such an ludicrous idea as all the others that came last night. I quake when hearing what they want to do, re-nationalise water, electric, gas and no doubt a host of others. Did you ever think we already had a sizable debt? Nearly 2 trillion quid? That’s nothing, if Labour gets its grubby little hands on the Treasury our debt will soar to incredible heights. I suppose the gullible public in the UK has not learned anything at all about why the East Bloc collapsed? The Reds have never gone away, they just took a well-earned rest I suppose and are now waking up. Labour is no-more, welcome the NEW COMMUNIST PARTY!

Treasure Hunters

Last night I was astounded by what has happened in World War II. The television program called Nazi Treasure Hunters on the More4 Channel showed some very unpalatable truths about human nature. First of all the terrible happenings in the Nazi camps, the collection of gold teeth and other jewellery. But also what happened to the gold. To me it showed the avaricious nature of humans. Even countries like Switzerland and Portugal being heavily engaged in clearing gold so that the Nazis could buy war materials. Nice country that, Switzerland, outward anti-Nazi, inward everyone in the Swiss banks were engaged in the Nazi gold exchange. Making huge profits taken from the vast suffering in the camps. So called white-washing dirty money. Even today as the program stated, Swiss banks still hold Nazi gold and art objects. Why don’t we as ‘civilised’ people instruct the Swiss to OPEN the vaults to a proper inspection. I think that country simply stinks. It may look nice, lovely mountains but it hides some very nasty history. Time to change it. Portugal too was implicated in this trade. Apparently carrying on for a number of decades after the war, selling gold on the streets in Lisbon. Sweden also profited. These were so-called neutral countries! How neutral is neutral nowadays. Human beings are a pretty nasty lot when it comes to gold. I wonder how many ‘upstanding’ citizens of the world hide behind a clean-shaven’ façade of respectability? Whilst behind that façade hide the darkest and dirtiest secrets of all time. Aiding in the murder of millions of people. Prolonging the agony through their avarice and greed. Nice work when you can get it. Switzerland is built on a mountain of gold with thousands upon thousands if not millions, of dead bodies below it. Have a nice holiday, people.

EU? What EU want?

I often wonder whether our leading politicians know exactly what they are doing. Take Brexit. The referendum was, in my opinion, a clear fact. We leave the EU. End of story. Ah, but now the cess-pit opened up. Leave yes, but let’s cherry-pick a bit. We want to keep trading for free. We want no further immigrants but we knew that was against one of the EU’s policies, part of the freedom of movement. It seems to me from Mrs May’s plan that we want the penny and the bun. Now if she thought that the EU leaders didn’t know that she was sadly mistaken. They know she is in a weak position, we can all see that here as well. A minority government. The EU leaders don’t have to play hardball even, although it seems to be doing just that; no, they only just have to refuse to even talk about Mrs May’s demands and/or suggestions. It is Non, nein, nee and please go back to the drawing board. Friends, there will be no trade agreement, it’s not really feasible, it never was. Leaving the EU, is just leaving and please close the door. We are just wasting a lot of time and in the meantime destroy a lot of people’s reputations. Let’s stop this charade right now. Tell the French to stick their cheese up where the sun don’t shine and tell the Germans – Auf wiedersehen. The EU is actually not in such a strong position anyway, why has no UK politician grasped that fact? And exploited it? Good call!

And now as the latest news has come around - Mrs May has obviously decided that she is not getting anywhere with being nice. Now we talk about respect, well, frankly it was never there on the EU side. Why? Because we are rocking the cruise ship. The cruise ship of plenty, free drinks, lavish expense accounts. A gravy train of massive proportions. It had to fail at some time and personally I think that time has come. We should go back to the original idea - a proper and well working trading block. Forget about political unity, in a Europe of 27 (and more) states all mostly speaking different languages and having different outlooks on life, it was always going to be an impossible task. Well, it has been tried a few times, mostly militarily, The Germans have never lost the idea of  Teutonic overlord-ship. The French have tried it but we all know what the French are like, when the going gets tough, they change government and capitulate. On its own perhaps not a bad idea. I am now waiting for the Andorran army to come storming out of its Pyrenees mountain stronghold to overrun Europe and establish the 1000-year empire. Or perhaps the Papal state has an idea of regaining its long-lost territories? May the good Lord help us all.

Building frenzy...

On a simple visit to Cardiff, my capital city of the country I live in, Wales (still part of the UK but if Westminster keeps on this ludicrous excuse of governing, it might not be for much longer), I was astounded at the pace of change! High rise monstrosities hiding under the name of office blocks. Office blocks we apparently need. Wholesale changing of the cityscape. Well, OK the city rules I suppose. Then I drove back home via the old A.4119 and marvelled at the destruction of the ubiquitous green fields for yet more housing. Not affordable homes mind; no, expensive 3,4 and 5 bed-room housing. Whole fields are going under, meaning Cardiff is growing at an alarming rate. This fact and having read an article stating our wildlife is under severe stress, and having listened to Chris Packham saying that some of the reasons are linked to the explosion in house building, paving over whole farms. Why all this? Well, you don’t have to guess much more. Immigration is the main culprit, but also because city dwellers are being pushed out by the aforementioned office building frenzy. They move to the suburbs, the suburbs move out to the newer homes . It is like a new westward wave of humans. OK, now I got that off my chest, what’s next? Concrete Britain? The only veggie growing done under glass? Me thinks that western humanity is losing sight of its raison d’etre! We cannot surely think that the way we live now is good? That nature will continue to support us? We are dependent on nature, to treat it as we do is surely the beginning of the steps towards oblivion? Nature got rid of the dinosaurs in less than ten years. Yes, because of a large meteor but not just that, the resultant weather change! And what do we see today? Are we in the western world going to be guilty of the next major extinction? Well, you decide.

Pigs do fly..

Recently discovered, pigs do fly after all.... in Russia. It was funny to listen to the explanations of two Russian agents as to why they went to Salisbury. World famous spire of the cathedral? Of course, in Russia they are three deep waiting for flights to Southampton Airport to get to Salisbury before the spire collapses. I just hope we can get hold of these two examples of a nation's disgrace to try them in court. It will be fun but also tragic.

Laws and more laws

I suppose I am a law-abiding person. Much like most other people. But sometimes I think the laws that are made are a bit, shall we say, nonsensical? Take this new one about cold-calling. You know the type, ‘Hey are you not claiming PPI, why not? You could be awaiting a trillion pounds!’ Yeah we’ve had them all. But this law will stop all those nuisance calls. Or won’t they? I do think not. Why? We are now getting calls from abroad, from those countries where this law does not apply. While it may stop calls from registered British companies, it won’t stop others. It also may companies get up and get out. We will see I think pretty soon as to how this is going to pan out.

Another proposal now is to make divorce easier, like it is not already easy enough. Well, why not just make a declaration, Love is gone, out of the window. Goodbye. Get the papers signed by the local undertaker and hey presto, where is my next partner? People tend to forget that a partnership and yes I personally believe that is a man and a woman but forgive me I am actually not living in today’s world, I am still in 1960; a partnership that basically is set up to benefit a family. Yes, children. Benefit also to a stable society. In my opinion in the UK we cannot call it having a stable society. It is a society that suffers constant upheavals, mostly half-cooked ideas from academics with mickey-mouse degrees. Or even aristocrats who would love to go back to 1066. Build a castle, and start marauding the locals for taxes. So, yes a partnership, it is not just about sex, biologically speaking sex is about just one thing, procreation. And to ensure procreation it is made a pleasant occupation. Understanding that fact will make a partnership much stronger. Ah well, where was Utopia again?

Dysgu Cymraeg (eto)

Newyddion doniol - Dw i wedi ymuno cwrs Gymraeg arall - Uwchradd 2. Wel, dim ond unwaith byddwch yn byw! Yn y cyfamser dw i'n defnyddio rhaglen wych ar y gyfrifiadur ac hefyd 'Google Cyfieithu' (Google Translate). Dyma rhaglen arall gan Prifysgol o Fangor - ApGeiriadur (am ffoniau symudol neu ffoniau clyfar). Cymorth mawr i dysgwyr yr iaith! Dw i wedi geisio ymuno grwpiau siaradwyr lleol ond anfoddus dim digon o bobl siarad Cymraeg nawr yn yr ardal TafElai. Gormod o Saesnegwyr o gwmpas. Dod o Fryste? Falle mae'r Cyngor Llundain yn dalu y Gynnulliad yma symud bobl i Dde Cymru?  Ysmygu ar wahan, wir neu angywir? Dywedwch wrthyf! Hwyl am y tro!

Fake, real, fake, real, no FAKE I said...

I am a great fan of a television programme called ‘Fake or Fortune’. Last night (12/8/18) it showed a painting owned by a lady bought for £165,000 that had been said to be a fake. This was decided by the usual ‘expert’. A lady who wrote a book, a catalogue of the painter’s works. The programme did some very thorough investigations, even going to Canada. They checked the paints used, the way it was painted, the actual board with writing on the back. Checked the writing style, dates that were still visible. They all matched the Canadian painting, a painting that was definitely not a fake. So, our painting here was similar in quality, materials, same writing, same markings. So, what sort of an expert has then found it was a fake? Well, apparently there were two brush strokes she did not like. Were not correct. Eh? What? I am not an expert but I believe in probabilities and that tells me that the probability of that painting declared to be fake, is over 98% not a fake. When the checking expert decided it was a fake she had no sight of the back of the painting, had not seen the writing, had not had it x-rayed, did not see the way it was painted on and over another image that also was of items the original artist painted, flowers called frisias. It all showed that so-called experts are not always correct, make silly mistakes and ignore all evidence. All to keep their ‘tough’ image on line.

Sorry to have to say this but I would no longer trust that ‘expert’. The lady has been seen to be wanting!

Losing sight of reality...

Friends, are we losing sight of reality? I was watching the BBC news on television this morning and although I am now of the opinion that the BBC is guilty of being, let’s say, one sided, the discussion about the news of what was in the papers was a bit on the weird side. The liberal agenda was there for all to see and hear, so let’s have a female James Bond. No, we must have a black Bond. No, Bond should be a robot. May I say if you have read the books it seems that James Bond was certainly not female, not had a skin tint and was not a squirrel either. I purchased a recent film on CD, Black Panther, and thought it was great. Good actors who fitted the story admirably well. Do we now have to complain that there were no white actors called Bond in there? Of course not. We are now pandering to the idiotic requests of all sorts of weirdos and we have lost sense of reality.

The Labour leader’s *** views on Israel are pretty well known, yet he felt it was a good photo opportunity to be seen laying a wreath at the Munich memorial for the Israeli athletes. On its own a very nice thing to do but…? Then we heard that Boris had not lost his support from the centre part of the Conservative party. But the great and gullible Mrs May has it in for him now. As it was mentioned a bit too quickly we seem to have a strange political set-up. We have a Prime Minister who feels anti-Brexit but champions Brexit and we have a leader of the opposition who inwardly feels we have to be out of Europe yet he champions or is made to feel that we have to be in the European Union. Boris made some remarks which to be truthful are felt by the great silent majority but is held to be seen as a racist and bumbling charlatan. When will we be courageous enough to say to these liberal idiots, please shut it? Or better have a look at the opposing views and opinions? Lastly, is it not time that the great silent majority says at least something? I am mostly of that ilk but now I no longer want to be silent.

I have already said my bit about Boris and my views in general about politicians are also well known.

Again I must state, not ALL politicians, that’s the trouble with using words, they do not always convey a correct meaning and can be open to interpretation.

The trouble is we are hearing and seeing far too much. Yes, it is terrible, floods in France, dust storms in Australia, hundreds killed in the earthquakes. The only thing it does is make us afraid to get out onto the streets. There is little I can do to stop floods in France. Or earthquakes. However, we must not stop those news items. Only I think not show them in such great, endless detail. I don’t want to be made to feel powerless, or inadequate, deficient or found wanting. That’s why we need knowledgeable, competent, truthful politicians, leaders. People we can trust to do the right things, who are not prolifigate (I made this word up from the adjective prolific, nice eh?) with OUR money, who spend what they have and can to the benefit of the population. Yes, I do live in hope.

***I think the bit about laying wreaths is probably not correct -  not at the graves of Israeli athletes but Palestinian terrorists. Wow, sorry Jeremy it gets worse and worse. Just go on a very long extended holiday, something like 20 years? What all this shows is something for ALL politicians to remember - Watch what you say and do and that whatever you said or have done 20 years ago might come back and bite you in the ar*e!

Self-righteous or what..

Yeah, here we go again, self-righteous Britain at its best. What is it about? Well, the  media attacks on our good ol' Eton chappie Boris. Actually I'm not sure if he went to Eton but there you go. So, what did he say other than his personal held opinions? In fact I believe that his opinion on the dress code of some women is pretty well held by a heck of a lot of others in this country. I hope you will notice how careful I try to write this?  The problem is that we in the UK still think we are better than everyone else. Most of Europe is outlawing the dress code, no veils thank you. Although even Boris said that there should be no ban. But there is a divide, and that divide is between most of the general public, and politicians/media. In one of the national newspapers it is said that it is mainly Brexiteers who want Boris out. Now, why should that be then? I am not a follower of Boris but I don't mind a politician who speaks some unpalatable things from time to time. Or points out some of the idiotic things that happen around Westminster. Let us not begin this process of weeding out people who have different opinions of our own. Or who say things we do not agree with. Britain  is NOT Germany of the 1930's! And should never be!
So calm down and once again smell the roses. Hwyl am y tro! 

Our footprint is too big...

I suppose you could say I have a bit of a jaundiced view of politics and in the general state of the country. I live in what I call a blessed environment, yes, it has problems but these would not take too long too sort out. It is not all the fault of politicians. It has to be understood that the general public (yes, that includes myself) has to bear a lot of the blame. Our young people have apparently no problem with rubbish. They don't see it, they just add to it. You can see a tidy car with four young adults, suddenly a load of paper wrapping, food containers and a bag all emblazoned with a big M (now where did that come from?) is thrown out of the moving car. Nice. Young girls enjoy some bags of chips, but do not like it all, watch the weight you know and onto the street it goes. Food for the plentiful rats I suppose. Well, OK so it is our own attitude to the environment that is at the root of the problem. It is not a new thing of course but throughout the existence of humanity on this planet it has been with us. But now because of our numbers we do really need to take more care. It cannot be right to hear that there is a hundreds of miles wide area in the Pacific that is just full of plastic waste. That fish, whales and all sorts of animals eat this stuff thinking it is food. Whose problem is that then? Well, it is all of us. There is a caveat here, what if the Atlantic would end up like that? It is not just whole plastic bags, but billions of tiny pieces.
Go to your seaside and see what's on the beach. That is nothing compared to what is already in the water! But it is not irreversible, we can all do good and start to recycle. Moreover we need to tell politicians to get their act together and impose proper guidelines to the manufacture of plastics. Manufacturers, the plastics industry need to be told what can and what cannot be produced, it needs to be 100% recyclable! So, let's start today! Sort your rubbish, if there is a recycling scheme, use it well. If you have a garden, invest in the purchase of a green composting bin. All my green waste goes into the bin and six or so weeks later out comes wonderful compost. It is true, our footprint on this world needs to be much smaller because if we do not change, nature will simply get rid of us. Just look at all those species that have outgrown the ability of nature to support it, GONE!  

The Saxons are coming - again...

There has and still is a lot of talk about people having lost trust in politicians. We hear reports about police having lost control over our streets. Drug pushers trading openly. Moped riders terrorising London’s streets. The reality is pretty stark. When I look at some of the local issues here in South Wales, the degradation of the environment, the rubbish strewn streets, the lack of infrastructure, it is easy to despair. Where are the politicians with ideas? Where are the police? All that seems happening is house building. Well yes but again it is done without any idea about services. Think of a thousand new houses in an area where there are already problems with getting doctor’s appointments and the one or two dentist’s surgeries are already overfull. Where there are schools who have to cope with children that cannot even speak English. Where children sit in classes of over thirty strong because the Victorian school buildings are not fit for purpose. House building in Wales suffers from one problem, it attracts those from England who sell their houses at top dollar and buying cheaper houses in Wales. The ‘profit’ could be as much as £50,000 pending where they come from. It all sounds too good to be true but is the reality. You could ask this question – Why build thousands of houses in Wales where there is very little demand for housing. In fact a couple of hundred cheaper houses in the areas of need would see most people happy. What we see though is massive private estates being built on green sites everywhere but mostly in the main road corridors of the M4 and A55. It has to be obvious that there is something else going on. Wales is being used as an overflow bin. Once again richer English flood in making money with Welsh young couples unable to afford a place to live. Due to the inability of our so-called betters(!) to come up with working policies we are ending up with what can only be called the Second Great Move Westward. The Saxons have never given up, have they? This will be the time that the Celts will finally go under. I know it has nationalistic overtones but if I as a single guy can see the way ‘things’ are going, why cannot politicians do the same? Or is it ‘After me the deluge? I do my five years and to hell with what comes after, that will be someone else’s problem’. Is that how deep we have sunk? It appears so.

Arafwch, os gwelwch yn dda

Un o’r fy nghasineb anwes ydy lefaru a chanu yn rhy gyflym. Yn enwedig ar Radio Cymru. Llawer o bobl lleisiau clicio gyda nhw! A mae gan ddysgwyr broblem gwrando a ddeall. Ga i ofyn – arafwch plís. Dw i’n mwynhau gwrando ar y radio oherwydd mae’n helpu’r dysgu yr iaith (os dw i’n deall beth sy’n dweud yn well!). Does dim broblem gyda fi os lefarydd yn siarad yn araf ond mae bobl gogledd, fe faswn i hoffi deall Gogs wrth gwrs hefyd, mae’n arbennig. Mae Cymru’r un!

Felly, yn y cyfamser dw i’n mynd am dro breuddwydio am Dynion o Harlech a Gofod – Ble mae’r diwedd!

Guilty or not guilty or just nice TV drama..

The Cliff case (a good beginning denoting the issue as far as the legal stuff is concerned) is quite exciting insofar the strange statements made by all and sundry. First of all I saw the BBC report made at the time, using a helicopter to show Cliff’s little pad. Was he even there? Well, the police did not seem to care much whether he was or not. The real implication about all of this, should people be named in investigations or not? Obviously the police has to investigate allegations of wrongdoing. I am certain the Crown Prosecution Service was informed and might have given an indication that sounds like an approval. But the next question is – why was the BBC involved at that time? You do not hire a helicopter in five minutes, so collusion with the police?

I think we need to be blunt here, people under investigation must not be named. Actually it serves no purpose to name persons as it only serves unwarranted intrusion and might even harm the court case to come, if any. In other countries, like Holland for instance, reports are made by just using initials. Such as In the court of London the accused HW (the correct name initials!) faced blah blah blah, he will appear at the Crown Court on blah, blah, blah. I don’t think this will harm the public rights to know what is going on but it will stop persons not found guilty to further harm.

In all of this we need a judicial system that will be above any signs of incompetence, we need a CPS that is without doubt more than excellent. And a police force that works for the benefit of the population. Frankly, that stands at 40%. of what it should be. Like in all cases, it is not just a question of money but of leadership. If donkeys are leading lions then who clears the dung?

Yeah, right!

Trump 1 - May 0

Politicians still don’t get it, do they? You might say – what? They keep on ignoring the people’s wishes. It amazes me we have not heard rumblings of discontent. Except from the the Sun newspaper obviously but two years ago we were asked – In or out of Europe? Result? Out! Ever since politicians of all colours have been trying hard to water everything down. We should ask what does Out actually mean? Partially in? Part of the EU, yes, no, maybe? And who in all honesty thinks that a soft Irish border is going to work? Cameron has left us with one of the most difficult problems to solve, if it can be solved at all. President Trump is right, yes he is also wrong on many issues but here he is absolutely correct. You do not make deals with two hands tied behind your back. Out is out and you have to deal accordingly. As it is the EU has made all the strategic decisions, the UK has and still is miles behind. Frankly Mrs May hasn’t got a clue as how to do this. Perhaps we should swallow our pride for once, kick her into touch and elect a stroppy Churchillian PM. Welcome Boris!

Coding for the Web

A friend asked me - ‘Hey, you do a bit of coding with HTML5 and CSS3, how do you get things onto the screen? Not just anywhere but nicely placed, side by side. Well, that’s the million dollar question, I had to learn, teach myself how things work and I am still learning! But as I said, start with the basics. The problem with computer coding, languages and so on is that they do and can change rapidly. HTML5 is using quite a number of new ‘tags’ as is CSS3. So-called div’s are now not as supremely important.

What I tend to do is draw up a grid of blocks. First the header, this can be a logo, a coloured navigation bar (although with HTML5 we now have the nav tag. Then I fill the blocks with a colour just to see where they fall onto the page and I can size them correctly, even with space between them. You start off with the usual opening tags using a editor like 'gedit' or Sublime Text:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

<title>page.html</title>

<style="text/css"></style>

</head>

Open the <body> tag to denote the beginning of the page you’ll see on the screen.

<body>

Now the header tags and code to position the images or text etc.

<header class="bar">

<img src="images/headerbar.png" alt="header" width="900">

<p class=rightpos2><span style="font-weight: bold;">Discover who we are...</span>&nbsp;&nbsp; <span style="font-weight: bold;">Where we come from...</span></p>

</header>

.

‘bar’ will be part of the CSS3 code. HTML code is used to put ‘stuff’ onto a screen, CSS is used to style it. So ‘bar’ is specifically positioning the header, followed by the styling.

.bar {

float: left;

margin-left: 25px;

}

This means it is positioned to the left and 25 pixels to the right.

The image is within a subdirectory called ‘images’ and positioned as ‘bar’ directed.

There will be some text – denoted by the <p> tag, positioned as directed by the CSS ‘rightpos2’ code. This styles the textual part and puts the words where they are wanted. That can be anywhere you want them, I tend to experiment a lot!

.rightpos2 {

position: absolute;

font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;

text-shadow: 2px 2px black;

font-size: 24px;

left: 580px;

top: 30px;

width: 300px;

height: 20px;

color: purple;

font-style: oblique;

}

This hopefully is self-explanatory. I will put some more on at a later date to show the positioning of the other blocks.

You will see the result on the ‘history’ page of my website – dutchenery.net’.

Social rumblings

One of the many problems that society has to cope with is that well-educated people tend to dish out the justice. But the question is – do these people actually understand the level at which the so-called poor have to live? A lot of people would say yes That the low educated poor themselves have not taken the opportunities available to them. No, they were never available. Lack of money, lack of parental support, and even no parental support because there wasn’t any. When you are born in a semi-derelict estate built by those ‘caring’ social experiments of the do-gooders, your chances are already halved. Coming into the schools where the teachers have only one goal and that is to get home as soon as possible, the choices are further diminished by another 50%. And moreover by the time they are of employable age they will be lucky to get a job of the ‘zero-hours’ variety. When you are called at 2 o'clock in the night to fill some shelves. You might think we are in the Victorian era, no this is 2018! There never seems to be a good middle way, it is always the worst end of either social spectrum. Total capitalism or total socialism. We pride ourselves we have freedom – do we really? We also live within quite a straight jacket, think about it. If we want society to change for the better, we first and foremost will have to set up a way to work with children, better schooling, better teaching and teachers. Furthermore we will have to consider how to deal with them when they are ready for work. It is no good educating, as it seems to be today, everybody to university standard and then no jobs available, except more shelf filling! It is also paramount to look at the population explosion here. This island nation now has 66million people, increasing by hundreds of thousands every year. And I am not really talking about immigration although it is one of the underlying causes. We live longer but not necessarily better or healthier. It needs sorting – what do we and how do we want to live in the 21^st and 22^nd centuries? For we are responsible for the upbringing of those who will live then.

World Cup - a pantomime?

Wow, the World Cup, brilliant and idiotic all at the same time. I love football and having Dutch genes (can’t help it you know!) was very sorry to see Holland go out. But hey, England Wales’ neighbour managed to go and that’ll do nicely! Except the team seems to attract other nation’s teams who seem to be playing another game. Something like volleyball or a game with no ball in it at all. Like perhaps wrestling? I cannot believe this is accidental, this surely is and was premeditated by the players and staff. Tunisia, Colombia just to name a few. Mostly South American nations. But it has percolated to other second and third rate football nations. Fall about, obviously clutch face, just wondering when the blood sacks are going to be brought in for a better effect? A good question, did these South American players ever do a course in pantomime but have forgotten to dress up?

It is ludicrous that referees actually allow these histrionics! I think a stand has to be made, even if teams end up with six players and no goalie, well that’s their problem. But I do think we need to tackle this behaviour for the sake of fair play and an improved sport to watch!

Cars, cars, going, going, gone?

It is quite interesting to watch the various discussions on political programmes like ‘Daily Politics’. Mostly the questions are a bit arcane so to say, but today was an exception. Justine Greening in the hot-seat being hauled over the barricades. One of the issues was the declining investment to the car industry. By up to half? In other words halved. Well, it beggars belief that politicians do not seem to grasp one of the problems with cars – exhaust fumes and plastic! Does anyone ever discuss the amount of material going into the production of cars? We constantly hear about overcrowding, traffic chaos, poisoning of the city air up and down the country. These things are all related. I think it might be a blunt statement - if we are serious about cleaning up our air, less dependence on plastics and be more responsible how we husband the earth’s resources then car production should not only be halved but changed to benefit public transport. Not just a few more trains and buses but a bold approach to maglev trains. These could easily be built on overhead railways as per the Chinese model. We simply cannot and must not rely on personal cars, it is not sustainable. And frankly with soon to be 8 billion people crowding this planet, there are more important things to consider, health and living space.

New Data protection

With all the new regulations still coming from Europe I have changed my blog and deleted the Contact page. Simply because I just can't be bothered about possible questions, court appearances,  arguments etc etc. One good thing came about almost straight away, spam email virtually disappeared. Good. So now you will find some pics, articles or art made personally. The front page has a new composition with some interesting fish. I am also trying out animation. I have a couple of dragons flying but I need to delete the background for superimposition. Should be ready soon.  So now I managed to get a funny mouse onto the Welsh page (Tudalen Cymraeg) and on the 'More..' page a few kissing fish. Well, why not. There is some fun in getting free animations but a lot of work trying to get them onto a web page in the correct position. My next project will be to get the website responsive. At the moment I have 'anchored' the pages, meaning they don't move when the viewing page is reduced. Check it out - https://www.blog.dutchenery.net

But now as July starts blog.dutchenery.net will go. All new pages are only on dutchenery.net.
The main menu is responsive, other pages will follow in due course. This will all be available 1 July 2018. 

Is there such a thing as mind-control?

One of my favourite author’s Scott Mariani. Writing explosive stories with the great character he created, Benedict Hope. The latest gung-ho story called The Moscow Cipher actually highlights one of the things that has bothered a lot of people. That of mind-control. I’ve wondered about that as well since even in this country that is a process carried out. It is not a bloody affair as depicted in the book but nevertheless computers, the power of the chip has made it so much easier to influence the minds of the general public. Fake news, little bits of untruths here and there. No hesitation in deluding the general public. Just read, listen and make your mind up. All done in the name of “the truth would harm us all”. But will it? . We have smart phones. With chips that know where we are, what we do and what we say. And yes, it is logged somewhere. We have been rail-roaded into using Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp. Google knows more about you than the taxman or even your partner and that is saying something! Our bank and credit cards will tell the powers that be, our exact life-style, what we buy, what we eat.. The question really is – why? Well, it has always been that way. It is power and power means money and influence. It means control. Control of the masses. But and this is the funny thing, although those who use this type of mind-control it can also be used against. There is just one question nagging my mind, if there was no control at all would we, the masses, benefit? Perhaps I should not ask that question because I think I already know the answer.

What is GDPR again?

The General Data Protection Regulation – or GDPR for short, what does it mean for the normal guys and gals on the streets? Like myself for instance? First of all when you have waded through the thousands of messages asking you, nay plead with you to reply to agree to continue receiving messages which you might or not, have replied to; you will have found nothing has changed. You will still receive all these useless emails, especially on Gmail and including scams. One of the problems is that ordinary citizens, yes me included tend to put too much personal data on the web. Whilst I do not subscribe to Twitter or Facebook at all (yes, I am an anachronism) there are literally millions who will tell you all accompanied by loads of photos. So, what about protection then? Scammers and criminals will just laugh at the GDPR regulations. Governments can regulate whatever they want but in the end it will all depend on public acceptance and compliance. The best way to protect your data is NOT to give it in the first place. Or decide what can be seen and read and what not, what you can and will allow others to use (like email addresses). Furthermore do find ways to find out how much data is held about yourselves. Google will allow most of it to be deleted but you will have to search a bit about where it all is. If you are worried about Tesco or any other supergiant market holding all this stuff about what you like to eat, well bully for them I recently started to like potatoes again. Frankly it is of small consequence if they know I like black pudding, at least it might mean I will be able to get it locally! The main problem as always is - advertising. Businesses have found the Internet to be an exceptional way to advertise their wares and services. Whatever you have bought from Amazon will be recorded and you will receive adverts accordingly. Personally I do not mind too much because it keeps the wheels turning. But at the same time one would hope companies will treat your data with respect. 
The excerpt from Wikipedia about business probably says it all -  Business processes that handle personal data must be built with data protection by design and by default, meaning that personal data must be stored using pseudonymization or full anonymization, and use the highest-possible privacy settings by default, so that the data is not available publicly without explicit consent, and cannot be used to identify a subject without additional information stored separately. 
Let's hope it will work!

Fy ngŵr a'r brân

Shwmai, ychydig yn ôl fy ngŵr yn darganfod brân ifanc iawn ar ochr y ffordd. Anfoddus oedd e wedi cwympo allan y nyth adar. Wel, mae e'n tyfu iawn ar cig nawr, sgrapiau ac yn y blaen. Mae e’n barod hedfan ma’s yn fuan. Yn wir, dyma’r ffordd yr wlad. Mae fy ŵr (wyth oed) yn ymwybodol am natur, diolch hefyd i’r athrawon yr ysgol yng Nghymru. Tybed pryd y brân yn barod hedfan os fydd e’n dychwelyd i dweud helo!

Ar hyn o bryd dw i wedi ceisio I dysgu yr iaith iddyn nhw. Na, dim y brân, y fachgen wrth gwrs. Mae’n anodd dysgu’r iaith yn Ne Cymru, felly dw i’n ceisio defnyddio brawddegau a geiriau o fywyd ddyddiol. Dim yn ddrwg (neu dim yn wael?).

Hwyl am y tro.

Who hates the English? What! Everyone?

One of the three newspapers I tend to read, the Sun not because of the sometimes interesting failures of celebrities but because of the few good columnists. Jeremy Clarkson, Trevor Kavanagh and the irascible ‘say it as it is’ Rod Liddle. Or even the Guardians’ political commentators who are so blatantly pro-Europe. Jeremy you might not like, his style is what I would call ‘funny acidic’ but nevertheless there are great insights. This Saturday’s Sun newspaper has him stating what I have suspected for a while – The world seems to hate Britain… but not as much as Labour does’. A very interesting statement. Poor Labour one has to feel sorry for ‘m. I don’t because some of that is very true. Labour hates the way politics are practised today. There is no if’s and but’s. It is the party line or rather the party leader’s views and to ‘eck with everything else. The party faithful always remind me of those starry eyed pubers looking at their wall photos of rock-gods. So, the question needing to ask is Why does everyone except the Dutch hate Britain? As the good Jeremy pointed out although not actually said it, just look at history. Apparently, although I haven’t heard or seen it, a BBC World Service survey found that almost EVERY country on Earth has a strong anti-British sentiment. Nice work BBC. It might have its roots in the now past British Empire when we just rampaged across the world, beating the French, the Spanish, stamped all over the Indians both in America and Asia, had a few fights with the Dutch, one win, one loss and one draw. That was about who could have the most salted herrings from the North Sea but seriously you can see where this sentiment has come from. Notwithstanding that empire bit, our starting the Industrial Revolution might have something to do with it as well. As one line in the article so blandly stated – a book was published in the US named interestingly ‘The Evil Empire: 101 Ways That England Ruined the World’. I suppose the author meant the steam engine burning billions of tons of coal ruining our atmosphere. Just wondering why he forgot to mention Mr Ford who made Detroit a cancer ridden, zombie town. Where? Yes, America, the US. So, in the end it is just the human failing, failing to get to grips with that most interesting and true statement ever made: Love thy neighbour as thyself. Just so you know, I am very glad I am Welsh. Diolch ac hwyl am y tro!

Artificial Intelligence or what....

Sitting at the computer tonight writing these probably most interesting words to some intelligent people. No, not the steroid addled ones, they are already a lost cause. But to you. I saw a most interesting but in a way boring film. Called – Singularity. A story about how mankind developed a super computer. But not just a computer but one that could make decisions. And guess what, although it was told to ‘solve’ all mankind ills, it quickly came to the conclusion that it was mankind itself that was the problem. An infection on this planet that had to be eradicated to save the planet. Yep, a most interesting train of thought since what are we doing? Yes, we are developing A.I (Artificial Intelligence). The question needing asking is – Do we actually know what we are doing?

If you say of course we do, then explain to me if AI takes hold would it mean a type of independence for machines. There would be no halt to developing their own ways and means. Could we possibly stop that? I do believe that we are actually manufacturing our own downfall. However, looking at the world today perhaps like in the film we deserve no better. Perhaps some advanced humans might in the end find a way to get to another world and leave this one to the machines. The question then is what would be the point of machines at all? In the realm of ideas such as this one could easily come to the conclusion that if AI is actually possible and can be ‘free’ why haven’t we seen extraterrestrial robots? Robotic lifespan would be counted in the thousands of years. Trips to other stellar systems would be a snip. I cannot help but think that life, even electronic life means much more than just electricity coursing along minute cables. Or bio-electricity making neurons jump about. Is life not about the gaining of knowledge? As has been said by many learned people before – life is about finding out why! Why there is life at all and for what purpose. Life in its most basic way is about food, and survival. But that cannot be all. If there is a God (and I believe there is) Earth or even the Universe is not just a garden for God to see all the interactions, the blood-letting, the killings but also the kindness, compassion and love. Can machines ever do that? Isaac Asimov said in a lot of his books about the robotic revolution – there needed to be robotic laws. There were if I remember well enough, three laws – First, a robot may not injure a human being or allow through interaction allow a human being to come to harm. Secondly, a robot must obey the orders given by a human being except when such orders would conflict with the First Law.

Thirdly a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Indeed good principles. But would the Russians keep to that? Or for that matter anyone trust the Americans today? Over to you and out. I am leaving for Mars tomorrow if allowed by my computer.

NB I do not hold or/and record any data from anyone.If you respond , great but I do not log any details. Only Blogger will hold data (such as email addresses and or names) and they will have to follow the European directives coming into force. 

Wedding? What wedding...

Ah yes, the Prince and someone. Listening to the media, newspapers and TV a lot is made of the term - mixed race. What does that really mean? I am waiting for some reporter to ask - Is she human? For a country that tells everyone who listens how we have an integrated society we do make a lot of idiotic statements. Mixed race being one of them. Obviously we are not as integrated as we think! Well, I am proud to state I am of mixed race as well. I am of the Dutch race. But now the Welsh race and by conquest the British race. How more mixed can you be? Yes folks I am very mixed up!

Fibreglass a roof or think about politics

Now that the good and dry weather has arrived this Bank Holiday I might as well re-fibreglass my shed roof. Yes, friends I have a man-cave. Problem is you cannot move in this cave because I need to chuck out about half its contents! I ordered some flexible fibreglass from Northern-Ireland and resin and am still studying the directions! What is the air temperature, mix it in this percentage, too hot outside and it will set in seconds, too cold and it will not set at all. Ahhhh! Well, I must rub the area down and get on with it despite my wife’s misgivings. It beats having to scan newspapers and computers to find out the latest mistakes of our politicians. I suppose they are human but I am not sure any more. Perhaps the aliens landed yonks ago and we never knew (until now). It is worrying that as soon as one becomes a councillor all the promises made on the doorstep have faded away like morning mist under a hot sun. I have always been of the opinion that a local councillor is elected on local issues but apparently that is not true. They all follow party politics. The problem is that party politics rarely coincide with local issues. It is a fair point to ask, take development. If the developer(s) submit plans what are the criteria to look for? Surely local amenities, parking problems, traffic congestion, sewerage, possible problems with land contamination. But it seems that the only real issue looked at is the possible cash flow income to the council from business rates or council tax on individual houses. It apparently is accepted that parking, traffic etc is not a problem, inhabitants will adapt. Interesting, and these decisions then rest upon councillors that mostly haven’t got a clue about development. You might even say they are not fit for purpose. But I won’t go that far as I have to believe that in the main they are well-meaning. But all the same I hope that they would listen a bit more to those who elected them. As not all plans are really in the interest of the general public.