Another Public Enquiry, everyone? Why not, it's fun.... (for some).

There is something strange that happens in Britain, it is called a Public Enquiry. Not sure if it happens in other countries. These enquiries tend to happen after bad things, like a very nasty killing. Something that recently happened when a rogue policeman killed a girl walking by. Or we have an enquiry into actions or non-actions by police or claiming of expenses by MPs. Things like that tend to attract a Public Enquiry. There will be a Chairperson, a number of officials appointed and there will be tons of paperwork. People will be interviewed and after a zillion years a report will be published. Everybody that took part has already gone to heaven and no-one alive will quite recall what the enquiry was all about. The report will have just two lines. ‘It was a terrible thing and must never be allowed to happen again’. Plus ‘LESSONS WILL BE LEARNED’ or ‘HAVE BEEN LEARNED’. The same every time.

Great words, everybody please applaud! The truth of the matter is these public enquiries are totally useless because they are a waste of money. The fees paid are ridiculous and furthermore lessons are obviously NOT learned as these things keep happening. These enquiries are just something to keep us mud-walkers quiet. Believing the authorities have our well-being close to their hearts. Let me be scrupulously honest, I have never believed the authorities have our best at heart, far from it. We are just no more than cash-cows. Having said that, it is the way it is and always has been. Have no illusions about it. These days are no different than Victorian times or the Middle Ages. We are still ruled by an elite although not so much in the aristocratic way. Some of us might be better off but in this country we still have over a million unemployed, in fact some 20% of the population is economically inactive. The lives of a lot of people are not so rosy. They may not particularly starve as in previous eras but it is far from comfortable. Indeed, time to ditch the Public Enquiry because it is no more than a junket for the well-to-do and doesn’t solve the problem.

Where's the back-up plan? Ehhh....

Let me ask this friends because you might also begin to wonder – Is Westminster the new Comedy Central? Westminster meaning the scaffold tower and building next to it, The House of Commons. The jokers inside bellowing at each other gives that place the right moniker – the Abattoir. Any policy that is pushed through nowadays will suffer six U-Turns before it is dished. I quite like it because for the entertainment value. Let’s be fair the BBC’s programming is so bad nowadays with interviewers who are sent abroad and then start talking and asking questions unrelated to the work at hand. The poor Ms Kuenssberg who normally seems on the ball sort of missed a penalty in New York. Well, I suppose we all have off days. But altogether it shows a big problem, the government is floundering. It is quite clear that planning is an art long lost in the hallowed circles of the green leather seats. Surely this lack of drivers is not something that just cropped up? That has been a problem for years! If you go as we did, for getting out of an organisation, yes like Brexit; would it not be better then to have a plan for the possible problems? I know stop-gap government seems easy. Just go from calamity to calamity with a steely fist. Show that you have a grip on the problems. But it seems to be forgotten that with proper planning you would not even have to show a fist. The problem is as it has been for a long time now – politics in this country is a job, not a calling. We are governed by an elite, by people who think it is their right to govern because they went to the correct school and wear a special tie. Once we threw out most of the aristocrats but we simply changed one set of nit-wits for another. If you think we have a plan to combat global warming, forget it. There is no plan and furthermore no intention of having one. What will happen is that the government will support electric cars because that is the easiest option at present. Jobs are saved because cars are manufactured here. But no one thinks or even worries about the needed infrastructure. That is someone else’s problem. There seems to be a thought also that wind turbines are the answer, but is it? Really? Start thinking – if all cars are electric, lorries, buses, everything – will turbines be sufficient? Plenty of wind here I hear you say? Look at the data, because there is plenty of wind but only at times. At other times it is not. So, what’s the back-up plan? Ehhh, what back-up plan?

And a bit more queing!

The bit of understanding I had about the collective mindset of the human being has again either disappeared or severely dented. If the various governments of the world do not take heed of how easy it is to panic every Tom, D*ck and Harry, just look at the pandemonium about the so-called shortage of petrol. Forgive me for saying this but is it not our own fault? There was no shortage at all bar a few hiccups of supplies. We get then these BBC nitwits starting to report, and not just the BBC, all stations are at fault. Talking about shortages of petrol, diesel all thanks to no deliveries due to no drivers. Result? Our wonderful British population goes en-masse to the pumps, literally bleeding them dry within a few hours. My local filling station had a delivery yesterday morning and you know what, motorists would NOT let the poor guy out of the forecourt! They completely jammed the road from both directions! It took two hours for the driver to get out and you know what he said? ‘There is no way I come back here!’ So, Boris better take this lesson seriously because if the chickens are NOT coming home this Christmas he will be ‘clucking up’ his cards fast. Bye bye Boris, let that virago get her wish ‘Hurrah, Scotland the Brave and independent’, Wales to follow, three republics on the same island and possibly pending the outcome of Andrew’s problems, a fourth republic to follow. It is time for those fat bottomed, fat-livered, brain-dead, half-wits in London, Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh to have a hard look at all of this and for once put the brain in gear, start the process of how this all has occurred and why, then take the CORRECT measures. No U-Turns, no gerrymandering, no prevarications. Remember we also have a world-wide situation, one of which most politicians haven’t an idea about. But they should remember that most happenings today are inter-related. All seem to point to the changing weather patterns, most likely due to human activity. So there you have it politicos, get going!

Anyone for a spot of queing?

Hang on a minute before I write more I must get some diesel for my car. The station is not far away and the cars are queing up already. Do I hear you ask, why? Oh reader it is simple really. Two things, firstly woeful planning by the government, that could be national or the Welsh Assembly and secondly as soon as people hear of shortages they immediately rush to whatever is short and make it even less. So, the media, newspapers and particularly the BBC are good at stoking this frenzy by their continual silly reports about drivers not being there or sheltering at home because they had some stupid message that they were in contact with someone who was positive for Covid. I think there is need for anyone who is in government or who wants to stand for election to have a course in ‘The Repercussions of Decisionmaking’. That is to say ensuring you will be aware of making a decision what the possible ramifications will be, then act accordingly. What we see today is just the opposite, they make a flurry of decisions which in most circumstances are turned around, the so-called U-Turn syndrome. That shows without any doubt that no-one in government has any clue what the REAL problems are. 

We have what is known as ‘Stopgap government’. You stop a gap and one hundred others open up as a result. It is a typical British disease. But it is now exported across the world. Biden, when he is awake, can make some blunders as we have already seen. Only the Russians are good at planning, look how NATO is floundering. The Chinese are too busy making islands in the Pacific as we will be building nuclear subs for the Aussies. That’s why the Chinese are building these islands so any sub, nuclear or not, will bank itself. Nice bulwarks, forward planning at its best. Anyway, you can see where all this is going. The British government will now allow immigrants to cross the Channel in a dinghy as long as they have a HGV licence and are either a doctor or a nurse. No need to have been jabbed against Covid. We will put them up for ten days in a top hotel with free gourmet food and accommodation. Yes, this is Britain in 2021. As woke as you can be!

Edit - Can anyone tell the BBC to tone it down with the warnings about the end of the world? Their report this morning sparked off the worst traffic jam I have seen in our area. The Rhondda came to a virtual standstill! It wasn't helped by the Tesco station running out. Our governments ought to have a hard look at itself, how they govern. Blimey, the African chimps do a better job.

Good news? Sure it's around, just look....

After all is there actually ever any good news? With politics, the state of ythe economy, the state of the planet, the never ending troubles between nations, just to sum up a few. But it is easy to highlight the bad, you have to look very hard for the nice and good. This morning I got up and the sun was shining just getting above the eastern horizon and also a huge moon low in the western sky. I was thinking blimey, what’s wrong with that? You do not see that often in our situation. Wales can be clouded over, grey and damp for days on end. That is why it is so green. So, I will spend some time to tend to the garden, I noticed the grapevine in the greenhouse has mildew! Never had that before. According to pundits jojoba oil will kill it, so I might try that rather than a mixture of washing-up liquid. Anyway, back to the good news, it seems that more and more of us are beginning to look at our personal lifestyles. That certainly is good news. A life of western excess will do no good to anyone. The political front also looks rosier today, perhaps showing our politicians beginning to understand the world needs a new way of governing more equal for all. 

Besides all of that my cactus plant, known as the money plant (officially known as Crassula ovata) is growing again. I left it out but that did not go down well. It apparently is semi-tropical. But I believe, silly me, that as long as I have it I will not run out of money. Yep, you heard it here, I might need psychiatric help but it has served me well over the years. Moreover, this morning’s crossword, I like the ones that have two sets of clues, one straight forward, the other a cryptic one; I solved it without looking at a crossword solver! Yeah, yeah, yeah, dance with me around the kitchen table and don’t kick the cat! Now I will try the Suguru number placing riddle. So, the world is not so bad and like the plant Crassula can recover but only if you look after it and say sorry!

Planet in trouble? No, we are...

More and more reports are seen that show without any doubt that the planet is in trouble. Well, actually it is not the planet but what lives on it, and that includes us humans. Global warming is no longer in doubt, it is happening. Whether we will cope with it is another matter. Actually, I think from the reports that we have already overstepped the mark where going back was possible. The problem of CO2 is only part of the total. If you already have an enormous amount of it, even volcanic emissions will just increase the total and these will continue whether we like it or not. The warming of the seas and soil will only help to further emissions of methane, a gas worse than CO2. Human activity itself, for instance the increased deforestation of tropical forest has also increased the loss of soils which in turn contains nutrients for bacteria and algae providing poisonous blooms in the oceans. It is no wonder fish stocks already under threat of overfishing have further declined. The ‘holiday’ mentality of western populations has not helped either. Flying a single plane puts tons of CO2 in the air. You only have to look at ‘flightradar24.com’ to see how many are in the air 24/7!

So, you will see that this planet is in trouble, for who will make the decisions? And moreover, what would these entail? All I am prepared to say is – it will not be easy. It might entail WW2 rationing, curtailing flights, abandoning the internal combustion engine. I just don’t envy those we have elected. Besides all of that their acumen in solving problems is pretty bad. 

In truth it is not, will not be easy. I have neighbours who don’t give a damn about anything. Lighting fires at night because they feel like boyscouts and are on a jamboree. Just look at the waste bins, overflowing. People with gardens ought to put all their food waste out and make compost out of it. I have had a compost bin for years, I have not thrown out any vegetable matter at all. My earthworms are the fattest in the world I think. So, I am certain that they will be the only survivors in the calamity to come before too long. But don’t tell ‘m they may end up as human food. Cheers!

Hurrah, things are changing...or are they?

Looking at the latest political machinations, eg the reshuffle, we might think that things are changing for the good? Nadine is going to take the woke society to task? I like the sound of that. Then also we have Priti’s insistence on taking on the lazy French. Not paying a penny until they do something about the inflatables trying to cross the Channel. All these problems, if I may call them that, are of our own making. Our lax attitude, our weak political will. To top it, we are governed not by the elected government but by a woke Civil Service. Time to give them a bath. 

But it shows in a distasteful way the situation we face today. It sounds good doesn’t it when someone says ‘We protest against global warming’ and then just does the things that furthers global warming. It sounds good when someone says ‘ I have just thrown a statue of that horrible racist goon in the water’. The facts of how societies were in the past escapes them because they failed their GCSEs, in particular history. I am not condoning racism but what we have ended up with is just the opposite. We now have coloured people throwing their weight around. ‘You can’t touch me, because I will call you a racist’. Talk to Piers Morgan how he feels about that. Talk to Emma Raducanu how she feels about being called an immigrant and should not be really in Britain. It escaped their dim braincells that she is a top athlete winning one of tennis' top prizes. Something the woke lefties will never attain. BLM is another anachronism. The fact that ALL lives matter just escapes these dumb grasshoppers. I think we will have to take a hard look at what we want. At how we want to live. How we ALL want to live. It is political because there are many many different views but somehow or other we will have to come to a consensus and soon!

Having a backbone like steel? Then face up to responsibilities...

We probably all know by now that the prince named Andrew has a problem. According to the news on the BBC he has now been served with the necessary legal papers. What many people including myself don’t understand is this, he has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. He barely knew the lady in question. So, why not then stand up in court and officially fight the accusations? Yes, he is a member of the royal family but he is also a member of the human race. A man like half of the world’s population. One would have thought that a past member of the Navy had more of a backbone. He was under fire from Argentinian forces, not many can claim that! So courage was not in short supply! Why then walk away from these sordid claims? Face up to it because the way this is handled now just makes him show guilty. All men will understand that if you are free, not married, roaming the world, you will meet ladies. Some wild ones, some loving ones, some hard nuts, and some soft nuts. It’s the natural way. You might, if your luck is in that day, even have sex! So, look, face up to the sleazy accusations, yes you met her, photographs seem to say so. Well, OK so what, get a good lawyer. It’s all because they think you’ve got money and status. Don’t lose it.

In the meantime the royal family is under pressure. The 60’ and 70’s consignment haven’t done so well, have they? Plenty of divorces, kicking against the establishment. It seemed they just did not want the exalted position. They wanted to roam the streets of Soho, the fleshpots of Cardiff and that’s just for starters. Although they did want the exalted position but not what it entailed. That’s where it all went wrong. To be a prince or princess takes courage, a steel backbone, and a head of hair like a lion’s mane. I just know this, I am so lucky I am not a prince!

Woke Britain at its best!

Anyone who’s thinking this country is sane? First of all we have a PM who is convinced that 1.25% on NI is enough to solve the health and social care crisis. Then we have Churchill erased from our collective memories. Who is Churchill anyway I hear you ask? Well, dear reader only the man who kept his nerve during WW2 and in the end ensured our victory over the defeated Germans of the Nazi era. The world would have looked a lot different and possibly a lot poorer if it wasn’t for him. Shame on the wokists. But what do you expect? When you start listening AND acting on vociferous minorities then you are just lost. It needs a real rethink how we select managers or manageresses. And by saying that I am grammatically correct! Because friends, there IS a difference in men and women, only I am not sure exactly what. But Prince Andrew seems to know.

Talking about the NHS, I have said many times before it is a money black hole. No matter what you pour into it, it will never be enough. Besides all of that, if you put suddenly a few billions on the table the first thing that happens is a free for all increase in managerial salaries. This was proved last time. So, this time will be no different. Managerial salaries will be hiked up the ladder. Well done PM, you took note of the research and reports, I hope? Frankly, again as said before you definitely have lost the plot. Stop listening to advisers who have little idea about how the ordinary folk have to live their lives. Start making proper plans, get those lazy patriots called Civil Service back in the office seats and if you ask me, sack all of ‘m who won’t. That’s it for now, I am available as a down to earth, feet on the ground, adviser. Oh and cheap!

Found him, talking about social care ....

So, the increase in NI contributions (NI – National Insurance) is virtually agreed. 1.25%. We should not be surprised, I have said sometime ago on this blog ‘Who do you think is going to pay for it all?’ Remember the government has no money of itself. The only thing it could possibly do is print more money and fuel a huge inflation increase. The other things such as increasing VAT would hit businesses and increasing Income tax would also hit the lower paid. I have heard it said before, increasing NI would be the least problematic. Yet this government is still struggling despite the cheering smiles and the lovely words. It is quite observable that actions are in pretty short supply. We hear encouraging words like ‘We are going to press the French to become more assertive’ Eh? The French becoming assertive? Forget it, the boats will still be coming, they are now crossing the Channel at a thousand a day! And Boris’ words about families not having to pay destructive sums for care to the elderly will also sound somewhat hollow. Care costs a fantastic amount, £100,000 per annum seems to be the norm. Even the NI increase will not pay for that, simply because this nation is having to cope with more and more older people. It is said that soon there are more on a pension than are working. So, finally something has to be done. Whether Boris was up to it or not, the pressure just became too much. In any case we have done it and whatever is going to follow it, we will have to deal with it as and when. 

To my mind this free NHS stuff sounds great but in other lands people do pay. One of the problems that comes with free stuff, it becomes a magnet. Yes, also for rich people. Rich people are rich because one way or another they care about money and giving it out. Poor people just keep on complaining about not having had the same chances. Well, that may be but I know of some rich people who were poor not that long ago. How did they get out of the trap? I know, I don’t know what I’m talking about, just being a middle-classer. 

Edit 8/9/21 - Now we know a bit more. As suspected it is an increase in NI. But as per the usual the thing is not quite as it seems. You would have thought that the amount of £86,000 and that's all you would have to pay is it. No, apparently it isn't. The food and accommodation is not in that. That could be another whopping amount on top. So, perhaps another £20,000. Just so you know it and that £20,000 could be an annual charge! No-one says anything in government. What did I say about management? Talk about fuzzyness!

Yoohoo Boris, where art thou?

Yoohoo Boris where have you gone? More and more editorials are saying the same thing. The government is a rudderless boa, it started out from the harbour, flags flying, people cheering on the banks. We all saw it taking a right straight course, it was wondeful. Suddenly then it veered of course, and started the go around in circles. What happened? The captain left the bridge and is hiding in a cupboard. That is how the UK government is looking at present. Boris seems to have lost his mojo, the captain no longer has his thumb on the button. In fact he doesn’t even know where the button is! On top of that he is not on the bridge! Where is the image now of good old Winston? Who is leading the UK? Surely not his wife? Or his dog? Or did Jeremy Corbyn take over after all? Well, I had a dream, I dreamt seeing old Winston back at the helm. Yes, yes, yes, I know he liked a drink, yes I know he had faults, for all that he had his thumb on the button. He had a good wife. He had British interests engraved upon his heart. He lived for the Empire. You might think that Empire is a wrong word but the reality in those days now long gone were that the Empire was part of who we were. Frankly, without the Empire we would all be speaking German and living under the cosh of the Gestapo. So, Boris who was known to be belligerent amongst other things came to the front. Wonderful, here was another human being, looking a bit dishevelled but we all liked the flamboyant and decisive attitude. Where did it all go astray? He still looks dishevelled but no longer decisive. As a result there is infighting yet again in the hallowed halls of the rat kingdom in Westminster. As far as I know there is not a single Tory minister worthy of the name Prime Minister. Boris has simply slunk down once again in the back looking around bewildered at the things going on. The country the way I see it is a rudderless entity where every Tom, D*ck and Harry knows how we should live. Tom is a wokestaner, D*ck is a member of Momentum and Harry is in Los Angeles. God help us all.

Kelvin is my man.... well, sometimes.

As you would imagi9ne I do receive many mails, do read many political comments, and I am getting more aggressive. No, not really. But some of you might remember a person who wrote editorials for the Sun and other papers as well, Kelvin McKenzie. I would have been proud to call him my neighbour. But he lives I think in Wokestan. Not that he is woke, no far from it. In his latest missive he says McCall has to go (from ITV) and Piers to be re-instated as lead of Good Morning Britain, the ITV morning newscast. I couldn't agree more. If we believe in free speech, then free speech it is. However, a modicum of restraint is necessary. We must remember if we say something nasty or things like that, please ensure it is based on truth and not hearsay or outright lies. As Kelvin reported the sayings of a US mother who had lost a dear son in the airport bombing in Kabul, something she had said after the news she received of her boy being killed ‘My son is gone and I just want all you Democrats who cheated in the election, or who voted for him legitimately, you just killed my son. With a dementia-ridden piece of crap who doesn’t even know if he’s in the White House’. Oh la la, that’s saying what you think! Well, I understand the feelings of a mother hearing that news and yes, she was bound to harshly criticise those who she thinks are responsible. But war is war and people will die, sometimes unjustly. Perhaps it didn’t help if she also was a fervent supporter of the previous president. If you live in a nation that thinks it is the saviour of the world albeit a saviour with a rifle in one arm and a cannon in the back-pocket, then I am sorry but you will have to abide by the political endeavours of the government you elected! Elected by the majority and if you do not agree with that, try next time to have the majority on your side! In the meantime I say, that’s how democracy works. If you do not like that, and the same goes for all the woke idiots living in Britain, then pack your bags and move to Russia or China. Bye for now!

Water, water, water everywhere but how much really?

Some time ago I mentioned something about the water, that is potable water, drinking water, problem. Yesterday on the BBC4 TV channel they showed a programme called ‘The H2O molecule that made us’. For the non-molecular scientists among us, H2O is the molecule that water is composed of. Two atoms of Hydrogen and one of Oxygen that have combined. It was worrying viewing. You think that we have problems with global warming, yes we have but the impending problem that is looming on the horizon is absolutely huge. We are using water reserves like there is no worry, there’s plenty for everyone, WRONG! It showed the Arabian peninsula now devoid of water which was pumped up, mostly gone. The Arabs set up a company that now grows crops in the Arizona desert and does exactly what they did in Saudi Arabia. There is only some 30% left and is expected to be gone within two years. The same story happens all across the world. Water is pumped up from wells and wasted. It waters crops but 90% is actually disappearing up in the air, the plants only use 5-10% for itself to grow and fruit. It was an eye-opener to see how water is actually transported across the world. You grow crops, say tomatoes in Arizona, use its water then export the tomatoes to Europe. What you actually are doing is exporting the water, it cannot irrigate Arizona again. Another fact was mentioned, the axis of the Earth has tilted because of the weight of all the dams that have been built. Water in reservoirs are quite a weight. There are thousands of dams already, mostly in the northern hemisphere. So, with many more people to feed it can only get worse. We will need to look seriously at how to conserve water. It is a finite resource. Funny to say it, we are surrounded by the stuff. Except we cannot use it, even if de-salinated there are loads of other chemicals harmful if ingested over time. So, look after what we’ve got. It is more precious than the oil we also pump out.