Oh la la, these viruses. I don't like 'em!

Well, so I thought the colds and viruses have more or less abated. No sir, they have not! Felt a bit of nausea last Sunday which quickly developed in some severe stomach cramps. As there are no doctors available unless you’re prepared to hang around the telephone for 6 hours and then they might phone you back with some rapid diagnosis, usually incorporating ‘Take these antibiotics for a week’. I know it is a bit of my cheek, they are hard-working. But the Web sites I visited all said more or less the same thing, Norovirus! No, it’s not just for holiday makers on a cruise. It equally well feels at home in my stomach, I can assure you. One of my grandchildren wanted to give me a present, he was OK within two days, I am still having bouts of diarrhea four days later. It’s is far from fun. I used to laugh at those reports of whole cruise ships marooned with this virus. I reckon it is pretty well on a par with Covid. Nothing really helps either, just 4-hourly paracetamol for the cramps and pain and water with sugar and salt. No milk at all, tea without but lots of honey. I managed some toast with marmalade this morning. And yes, thanks for asking I am feeling a lot better. Now to the more important things, how’s that PM sleeping tonight? What, no party? That’s sad, he might well enjoy that viewing past occasions. Have fun whilst the ship of state is floundering or even keeling over. Does anyone think the expected report is going to exonerating him? No, me neither. As it stands I am not sure whether false pride is a good thing. If you signed an order for animals to be repatriated from Kabul leaving thousands of people behind some of which could have been saved? Well, what about it? Yes, go on telly and tell everyone you did not do that. That’s what I would do as well. You know the public in this country don’t you, gullible clodhoppers. They believe everything a politician comes up with. My intestines need a toilet right now, so till next time. I will tell you in all the gory detail how this virus behaves. Come to think of it, it’s also a bit like gastro-enteritis. We’ll see.

Anyone knows what's going on?

Hell, what do you know? I might have been wrong all along and misread the political mess we are in. From reports I am reading right now Brexit is NOT over yet! I wondered a bit about Partygate being blown up into massive proportions. A few drinks and a laugh. Yes, it was at a time when rules made by the government to combat Covid or so they thought, were broken by the selfsame politicians who made the rules. Well, there you go and probably unwise but it was hardly an occasion such as exploding the first atomic bomb, now was it? Nevertheless the result shamelessly exaggerated by the Remainer brigade headed by those warmongering ex-ministers Heseltine and Adonis, means the government is under extreme pressure. It means ousting the PM is probably the worst thing we can do right now. I still do think Boris is a lame duck, thanks to his proclivity to bend the truth but under these circumstances it is better to have a free lame duck with teeth than to have a shackled tiger. I think the view is getting clearer, there is a concentrated effort to reverse Brexit. Partygate is being used to great effect to oust the government, not just Boris. If I was Boris the time to show a ruthless streak is right at this time. Plan the closure of the Lords and elections for a second chamber. Delay the NI increase until the energy crisis abates or ends. Get plans to reform the Civil Service and get them into into gear. But above all stop shaking your head in the Commons and tear that popinjay Starmer apart! After all Starmer is just as guilty of breaking those laws. I have to admit it is getting very confusing. All the things that are wrong in this country. We should really let go of the past ideas. London needs dismantling. Why not abandon Westminster and literally spread government over the country? Set up a system such as in Germany, a type of federal government. There will be a central government dealing with matters of defence and foreign affairs, taxation etc but in all other matters the devolved governments will be responsible. The system will be based on ‘proportional representation’, not ‘first past the post’. This for starters. And just because you want to know it, I am not a socialist! Nor am I a Tory. I go by that age-old mantra ‘ Treat your neighbours as you want to be treated’.

A sobering thought or two...

It is great to be able to understand another language or even languages. It gives a totally different idea on how other people view the world. Or view the people of the nation you yourself are part of. The UK consists of four quite different parts, Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. It also governs a few dependencies like the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Its people are pretty much what you would term ‘islanders’. Others would call it ‘self-centred’. It is quite normal because if you live on an island there is restricted movement. So, the thought processes are also pretty different from those who live on the ‘Continent’. Take the Dutch website of Quora, there was a question about whether we are destroying the planet and one of the replies which I found interesting said. 'No, we are not but we are making it quite difficult for ourselves'. The planet we live on has had periods of plentiful CO2 and higher, much higher temperatures than we have today. This is corroborated by the deposits of coal and oil which are a result of the enormous forests that grew during these warm/hot epochs. The carbon stored then we are simply releasing again today! In short we are returning the planet to a time of long, long ago. With much higher CO2 levels it may well be a return to the forests of yonder days. We will not like that but frankly we have no choice because we won’t be there. We will be long gone as temperatures of 50, 60 Centigrade or higher are not very good for humanity. This process is now ongoing and probably cannot be stopped. Make no mistake the planet will be fine but we will not. As the Quora writer said, ‘Nature will just carry on, also just without us. Within the next century the planet will be uninhabitable by mammals. Of humanity only a few remnants will linger on for a while before the planet is silent once again. Slowly plants will adapt to the much higher temperatures and begin the process all over again. The planet is fine, but Gaia will be pondering where it all went so wrong.

The end of the BBC as we know it? Hmmm....

The end of the BBC as we know it? Hmmm, there might be some fight left I think, it is not over until the fat lady sings! But right now the news is good, the knife has been taken to the BBC, no fee increases for two years and possibly altogether banned by 2027. It is possibly a knee-jerk by Boris, well Nadine they say but it comes pretty well packaged with other things to save the Boris government. Well whatever, it is still a welcome thing in my opinion. The BBC as I have mentioned in the past, is a bloated, left liberal woke station that pretends to be impartial in politics. Hahaha, you only have to watch last week when all we heard were the various broadcasting luvvies interviewing and reporting only about the anti Boris brigade. Now, I have no real problem with that but it is far from impartial is it? Boris deserves a bit of bear baiting and have a bit of reality pumped into him but I would also have liked to hear a few of the groupies bleating about how good he was in bed. (Sorry, easy chair at the Cabinet Table). By all means, he has had a rough time lately but also it was mostly of his own making. As PM you just cannot hide, today there is so much about what people say and do, and all reported and commented on with social media so that you would be an idiot to say anything controversial. Or lie about something that is already out in the open because too many other people were involved. Look at that paragon of virtuous living, Dominic Cummings. Who needs enemies with friends like that? I suppose he never was a friend but a pumped up pop-in-jay who thought he was doing a better job than the government. Just another idiot who thought that laws were for the great unwashed, not for the likes of him. Time to send him quickly to the Tower and throw away the key. Well, the next few weeks will show how things will ‘pan’ out but I predict we will be looking for a new PM, and the BBC will start sending people like Gary Lineker with payoffs of £50 to the butchers.

Why was I not invited then, eh?

Why are we so upset about what our ‘betters’ are up to? Parties with copious drinks, dancing whilst the rest of us are hunkered down? Yes, I am talking about our government, its leaders and servants. Who would have thought it? Frankly friends, it has always been like that. There is nothing new under the sun, the only difference today is that through social media and more news coverage with a very wide viewer number across the world we see the inner workings of those we elect to positions of power. We see the misdeeds of those who pretend to be better than the rest of us. We see the blatant disregard of rules they set up for others to follow. We see the avarice, the corruption of those whom we have trusted with the keys to the moneybox. Now thanks to the news channels and courageous journalists (well, some of them) we have a glimpse of how rotten the inner power circle in this country really is. When a Prime Minister starts bucking and weaving to try to get out of what I would term pretty simple accusations, things are going to fall apart. In earlier days, Prime Ministers and associates were from the despised aristocrat families. Who built vast palatial landed estates, thanks to the abject slavery of the working class. And what’s more, it is like that across the world! The same thought process is still pretty much alive. When we stare at the expense of providing wallpaper for a room because someone thinks the present stuff looks like ‘John Lewis’ cr*p, you note the thinking behind it. Will this behaviour change? Yes, on your nellie. Of course not, this goes right through society. You and me are really no better. We have neighbours called the Joneses and I continually try to outdo them. I must have a bigger and better car, a bigger house, wallpaper from a French artist. If they have an expensive pug puppy I must have two. See how it is? In turn the Joneses try to outdo everyone else because they want to be topdog! HaHaHa, so why worry so much about the shenanigans in Westminster? The truth is that loads ignored the rulings. We must keep things in perspective because more problems are on the horizon. Sure, get rid of the PM and some others who so blatantly ignored their own rules but let’s ensure we will be better of and not worse.

Have we still got Credit for the National Debt?

A few of my friends have said to me, ‘Like to read your comments’, and ‘ How can you believe all politicians are wasters or idiots?’ Well yes, good observation. Obviously not all politicians are wasters but when you view the national debt, now standing at I believe at over two trillion pounds you must ask yourself this question – Did I saddle the nation with that? No? OK then who did? You’re right, politicians. This pertains then to all because it is they who make the decisions. They will defend themselves by saying that all they do is in our best interests, but is that really true? Take the Covid debacle with PPI, millions if not billions, were wasted. Panic buying, bad decisions and more. Take the foreign aid budget, millions again sent to nations who have used it to finance their space programme. Or purchased weaponry. The millions wasted to finance the upkeep of immigrants coming in by the thousand without any reason whatsoever just because they have heard Britain is the new paradise. I don’t blame them, I would have done the same. It is the lack of control and the woke attitude of too many in the wrong positions that seem to run this country. Take our Home Sec, Priti Patel. A woman of some standing with the right ideas but continually thwarted by Civil Service mandarins so that in the end no decisions are made and nothing changes. I would not pretend it is easy to run a country but too often we make laws on the spur of the moment without thinking through possible outcomes. Wrongly or rightly. Boris (PM for now) has turned out to be a man making decisions on a Monday morning and regretting them in the afternoon, repealing them before going to bed. Government is not about looking good in a mask speaking about how sorry he is about the NHS being so busy. The NHS will always be busy, always asking for more money as it is a bottomless pit. Our population is getting older and soon the over 65’s will outnumber the millenials (those born after 2000) if they are not already. This comes with vastly increased cost to the medical services. The other thing that needs tackling is the idea in people’s heads that there is such a thing as a free lunch. To have a NHS which to all senses and purposes is free, is an anomaly. It is not free as someone has to pay. The service is given free, well to some extent but the cash has to come out of taxation which we have now found out through the increase in April to the NI contribution. A service that is free creates an unrealistic demand and expectations which are difficult to fulfill. I have mentioned before we should move to a national personal insurance plan that is rolled out across the nation. Anyone earning over £60,000 annually will be required to have completely private medical insurance and would not need to be a member of the national plan. Just an idea, it might work and it might not. But it is up to the aforementioned politicos to sort it out. That in the end is what we pay them for!

Have we forgotten to be self-sufficient?

I have been wondering why so few people seem to know what is really happening with our so-called economic situation and coupled to that the state of the environment. Take the gas price. A steep curve upward. There are two reasons – first, a much upward demand, more people that have moved to gas. Not just in Britain but all across the western part of Europe. That is to say from Poland westward and all the way south to Greece. Secondly the reducing supply. Now whether this is due to a political decision by Vlad the Impaler or simply not enough left in the good old planet I will leave open to discussion. The result is the same, steep increase in the price per therm. The boss of Centrica (owner of British Gas) has been on TV saying this situation is not going to go away for some time if ever. This situation puts into a stark light the fallacy of various British governments to rely on imports. I for one have noticed that if there is a apparent glut of something, like gas has been for a few years, every Tom, D*ck and Harry moves into that, reducing the availability within a few years. So, what next for our gas boilers? If we all move over to electric you will see the same thing, due to demand there will be a reduced supply. In electricity, that will mean either powercuts or higher prices or both. The problem here is that all of us have become used to everything and plenty of it. We import fruit from the Caribbean and the Pacifics, vegetables from Spain, meat from New Zealand and Australia. Gas from Russia and that’s just for starters. We need to be more self-sufficient. We cannot grow bananas or oranges in our climate but we can under glass as they do in Holland. We must not become used to luxury goods unless made in Britain! These are the things our government needs to address. Forget about lockdown parties. Yes, these were ill advised and thought-out. Boris will pay a price and whether that will be dismissal we shall see. In the meantime show your mettle Mr PM and maybe, just maybe you will survive.

Boris, you're the weakest link. Goodbye...

By the way, just because you’d want to know, I am no Tory but at the Brexit ballot box I voted for Brexit. Not because I am anti European, certainly not but I abhor the enormous wasteful European ‘government’. Or should that be dictatorship. I now begin to believe that since we have had so many lamentable, completely unworthy Tory prime ministers, oh yes we have, this country is in the doldrums. Starting with that idiot Cameron, followed by a grey May or was it April, and then the man who had it all and quickly got rid of any vestige of competence.

The one thing I will remember him for is that he finally got Brexit done. Only it stayed at that and everything is still in limbo. What a mess. Is this what Toryism is all about? If it is then please just go, and let’s all vote Liberal Democrat. What is bl**dy wrong with politicians? Is it just a nice little job with a tidy wage and sitting on the corpulent bottoms swigging expensive champagne? Are you all champagne Charlies? Is there anyone who CAN do some work? Look if you are all too lazy, I will tell you what needs doing. Get the woke brigade sorted out. Get the legal system properly updated. Get education sorted out. Priority to sciences and kick out universities that just want to teach home economics. Just so you know, I can hoover. I don’t need a BA to prove I can. Sort out properly the care needs. Put it this way mateys, I know to care for old people costs money. Now work out what the public purse can afford and if not enough tell us all we need a proper insurance system to care for our old age. Now get on with it and stop pretending you’re the party of proper economics, you lost that accolade a while ago.

My best wish for you is to ditch Boris quickly and get somebody who is not afraid to tackle big stuff and can handle adverse criticism. Sorry Boris, you’re the weak link. Get out.

It's alright Jack I'm alright, I'm a politician...

If you want any sign that this country’s politicians are bonkers, greedy wasters of time and lives look no further than that bastion of virtuous living, Parliament! It is reported that they are due an increase of about £2,000 in their annual stipend (can’t call it a salary as they do not do any work) of some £80,000! Yes, there are less and less people who do well-paid work and pay the taxes to keep these people in luxury. I should be sorry but we are burdened with a top-heavy number of people who simply sponge off as much as they can as quickly as they can. All you hear them saying is, ‘We cannot do anything about it, it is out of our control’. ‘It is not me who does that, don’t blame me’. On top of that greed, look at their behaviour! They will tell you to abide by the rules and laws but it is quite evident it does not count for them. Even royals fall foul of that type of behaviour. It is high time to have a good and extremely hard look at how we are governed, how we want to be governed. With up to 70 million people in this already overpopulated country and rising fast year by year, something has to give. I love democracy, the freedom of speech but again it comes with a lot of responsibility. I abhor developers who live in palatial homes in the middle of nowhere because they want solitude and quiet but think nothing of plastering sub-standard houses all over wherever they can find green fields and corrupt council officials. Sounds hard isn’t it? But show me the opposite, just tell me that all planning departments in this country are completely above water and follow all the established rules?

I know, I know, it is Sunshine Saturday as I heard it being called by another smiling travel reporter and I cannot get out to see family abroad because otherwise I would have to pay the rest of my life-savings just to prove I don’t have the virus. So I feel a bit cranky. Besides it rains heavily right here and now! 

Is destroying a statue OK? In the UK it is now....

You wouldn’t believe how far this country has sunk into being woke. You might remember a year or so ago a mob in Bristol took it upon themselves to dump a statue of some 200 year old guy called Colston into the harbour. It was all over the news at the time as lo and behold the TV wallahs knew what was going on. Anyway, the TV News was interesting and there were wonderful shots of the faces of quite a number of participants. Anyway, after some investigation time, four were arrested and a week ago were set free. The Crown Court jury found them NOT guilty of criminal damage. What??!! You must excuse me, I am just a dimwitted citizen but I know criminal damage when I see it. It appears the jury was as woke as you can be. I can just about hear their conversation in the Jury room set aside. ‘Hey babe’ you know these upstanding citizens? Yeah, they protected our values!’ ‘Ooooh, did they do that? That’s a miracle in these days’. ‘Yes, BLM, babe, BLM, Colston was the devil, carting all these coloured people off to provide sugar for our daddies and mummies’. ‘Ohhh no, did he?’ ‘Yes, may he rot in hell, babe’. ‘Yes, Colston is guilty darling, by the way did I tell you I admire your tattoo?’ ‘Yes, it’s a nice picture of a heart entwined with roses all around and a sword pointed with words to describe that love is eternal but won’t last forever, don’t you think’? ‘Oh? Spic baby, span all over’. ‘So, Colston is guilty? That means these four are not, they have upheld the nation’s values’. ‘That’s it babes, we can go back now to deliver our well debated verdict’.

How can a jury decide on points of law when political overtones are at large? Let’s look at the occasion, the televised pictures show a crowd toppling a properly constructed statue to the ground and hauling to the harbour and throw it into the water. Obviously the jury thought that to be a daily occurrence everywhere and quite normal behaviour. It is without doubt that Colston at the time an example of a successful businessman was engaged in the slavery trade. Today that is not allowed (but is that exactly true?) but then it was normal and no-one thought any different. I repeat what I said a few times before – WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT OUR FOREFATHERS DID! If people want to remove a statue of a person from the past then do it through proper channels, have a vote or whatever. The other thing is this – you cannot change the past, you cannot change history. But you can learn from it. I do think the verdict needs looking at. It should be obvious that politics played a part. That must not be allowed. The law is the law. If you are not happy about it, see your MP and ask him or her to change the law. I would suggest the Court of Appeal should sit immediately.

Does power give sexual rights over others? Good question....

Anyone surprised by all the revelations in the courts over the alleged sexual contacts with a minor by our own squeeky clean non-sweating Prince Andrew? Yes? Let’s be fair if he was guilty he wouldn’t be the first or the last person of noble birth. Look at historical facts, it is peppered with princes, kings, earls, dukes jumping in and out of bed with almost anything female you’d care to name. Money corrupts but socially real power corrupts completely.

There is one thing men need to learn, and that is to understand the meaning of the word NO. The other thing that needs learning is that titles and positions of power do not give automatic rights over others. Especially not in sexual matters. In other words keep the hanging appendage in trousers.

That letter of absolving men and possibly women as well, from future legal proceedings should be set aside. If such a letter as now published was signed by Ms G it could well have been under duress. Although it is said she received some half a million quid. That’s not going to go down well of course but a crime is still a crime even though money was paid to silence the victims. All in all the clouds on the horizon are gathering and they are looking more black than ever! Even if the courts would decide in the prince’s favour as they could well do, the stigma will not go away. I believe that the prince will lose his credibility, if he has not already. And perhaps not just him, allegedly there are others of public standing. Presidents, bankers, company execs, even other lawyers who flew on the Lolita Express as Epstein’s plane was called. Wondering why? Really, the murky world of power and money is beginning to be laid bare for all to see. How powerful men behave when they think no-one will see or discover. I’m sure Epstein was not the only person who facilitated such behaviour. In the end we need to find out for ourselves what sort of world we want to live in. Sex is part of all our lives but its excesses need careful handling and control.

An irreverent look at honours?

If anyone interested wants to look what is wrong in this country, do not look further than the gongs fest that happens in the new year’s honours. In fact you may well ask what is it about honours anyway? Obviously you might also think, look who is telling!. Yes, it’s me and without honours! Seriously, it should be asked why give these to politicians? I think top sports stars are, shall we say OK but politicians? Tony Blair is a case in point, he’s made a Sir, knighted in other words and a member of the Queens Order of the Garter. Go on then Tone, show us the blue riband on your wrinkly thigh then? It is just bonkers. This system of honours needs really looking at and possibly withdrawn altogether! Most of the honours that I see being dished out are for people who eminently haven’t done anything at all to deserve them. Yet people in my own community who have done splendid community work keeping the community they are in alive throughout the lock-downs and its aftermath of deprivation, are simply overlooked. It may be that no-one has been able to highlight it but if we are going to dish out honours then at least do it properly! Forget simpletons like Blair and equivalent, because others are waiting in the wings. Poor old Jeremy Corbyn wants to be known as Sir Jeremy and live in a castle as most dictators tend to do. Putin is looking green-eyed, he might buy some billion pound estate in London to join the other oligarchs in anticipation of being knighted! Well, why not? We are knighting almost every Tom, D*ck and Harry? Let’s make it worldwide! Ol’ Donald is eagerly awaiting a phone-call.

Edit: For the non-Brits amongst us, a riband is a ribbon!