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.