Something to worry about? Well.. take your pick

Bought the wrong newspaper yesterday (28/3/2023), The Mirror. Good heavens what a vitriolic rubbish. I suppose no British newspaper is good, they all seem to want to air their opinions on politics, one-sided only. Anyway, the Mirror is unabashedly Labour, no doubt about it. Funny though I say it, I had to agree with their main article. Their bit on Kwasi Kwarteng and also the delectable or should I say, kissable Matt Hancock. Well, someone wanted to kiss him. But the main thrust of the piece, dare I say it, money. I have said many times that there is a grey area with too many politicians about cash. Let’s not call it corruption yet but until it is made clear what is allowable I suppose it is. Parliament insists that all earnings outside are declared but how many seem to forget that? Even the Chair of the 1922 Committee seems to have different idea on how it is alright to ‘earn’ money on the side. What I have said in the past still holds strong today – people become politicians not because they say they hold a strong belief in bettering the lives of the poor and downtrodden. But it seems to them a nice job with loads of freebies and a possible road to many more riches. I suppose this is pretty stark and loads would say wrong as well! OK in that case tell me why you think it is wrong. Look at the behaviour, look at the House of Lords, the posh sitting room with free snifters and a cash handout of £300 just for turning up to read the newspaper. Did someone say there is something wrong in this country?

I suppose it is what it is and until we get really serious about it, won’t change. I also wonder why the woke elite is silent about these things? This morning’s lead article in the Sun newspaper is about just that. The new elite governing Britain. I will not name them because mostly we all know them already, a football commentator, a political commentator, a busty (enhanced) TV presenter and an erstwhile aide-de-camp to a previous prime minister. These are the ‘elite’ pressing their woke ideas onto us, the great silent majority. They are doing so incessantly and as a result loads of young impressionable men and women or rather boys and girls, follow those opinions. You might note I do not use ‘ITs’ and ‘non-binary’ as I detest gender manipulation. However, the main problem is that government(s) seem to listen. Take the last Scottish First Minister, she created some problem with allowing male gender altered individuals to go to a female prison. What she had forgotten is the proclivity of some people to ‘use’ any system to their personal advantage. So, to obtain an easier sentence and prison term a male suddenly changed to female albeit without any operations or gender changing medications. By allowing this the First Minister had to make a hasty exit from the political arena. Yes, it is fun, fun, fun, in the UK today! Please, will someone tell the throng waiting for a transfer by inflatable dinghies in France?

Is it real help or just a token...?

Not sure whether any British politician has figured out what do to help the Ukraine. Sure, we will have (hopefully by now) sent some Chieftain tanks and also ammunition but the rate at which the Ukrainian army is using it, thanks to the ‘human wave’ tactics of the Russians, they need millions more bullets, grenades and missiles. The other thing which I do not understand is the reluctance to deliver up-to-date warplanes. It seems to escape our notice that the Russians are testing a. our resolve and b. our economics. Meaning the Russians expect our resolve to weaken, our economics to dive and to drive a wedge in the European Union and also NATO. Even though Britain is no longer a part of the EU we are still pretty well involved in the political rooms of Europe. Including military organisation. There should be no doubt in our thinking Russia will not stop despite sanctions, despite set-backs on the battlefield. In fact Russia is now building up allies, China is also part of that. We are simply facing authoritarianism versus democracy. Russia has simply gone back to what it has always done. From time to time despotic rule coupled with enormous corruption. Indeed, as it has today. I am not saying that we are clean, that corruption and despotic types of managers and politicians do not exist here but at least we do still have a free choice. To have peace is good, but a peace based on lies and conquered expansions of land, will never last.

We do have our lot of incompetents who due to their lack of knowledge may easily fall to corruption. As has been shown many times. The good thing here is that sooner or later they get caught. In the end I sincerely hope that our resolve will not weaken or waver and that through our support the Ukraine will be free and complete. It also should teach us a hard lesson and that is simply said – ‘ Never put all your eggs in one basket’. And ‘Be as self-reliant as possible’. Meaning that to be reliant on only outside supplies and suppliers, will eventually break you. To be self-sufficient is of paramount importance. We need to grow more of our own food. There will always be imports because some fruits for instance only grow in tropical climes. It is a big call and that is one of the reasons why politicians are looked upon with some trepidation and dismay. We have Prime Ministers Question Time in Parliament. If that is a porthole on how politicians make decisions and discuss the ramifications, then you know why they are held in contempt. I should hope that some might be strong enough to hold it together. But I do fear the present lot, bar a very few, fall way short of what we really need.

What's wrong Pussycat? I don't know, I'm a dog...

Politicians in this country and possibly in other countries as well, are wondering why nobody likes them. Why they have lost the trust of the general population. Well, I can certainly tell them why that is. For a change politicians do not seem to have much of an idea what is going on. They don’t have a grip on the issues. The rules/laws they make tend to have so many sides to it that they are virtually useless. Development is one of the very much weaker issues that pertain the country. One of the issues is that development is permitted without thinking about infrastructure. I had to go to the hospital in Cardiff (The Heath) which is what I would term relatively modern and also very large! But with all the new building of houses in Cardiff the number of people has shot up and that would include also more people needing medical treatment. It is quite noticeable how busy this hospital is and from where I am sitting it is already way too small to accommodate the numbers! This is also shown with the parking problem. There is simply no room. 

Politicians keep on talking about giving more money to the NHS but I don’t think that’s the whole problem. Politicians don’t seem to know much about demography or topography. They built a hospital like the Heath in the year 1971 according to the present population then. It was hailed as the latest in technology, 1,000+ beds and all politicians opened the various bottles of champers and toasted each other on a job well done. Great so far. But then the selfsame politicians started to build whole new areas of housing and also did not notice what was going on with immigration which was increasing year by year. When present populations moved westward because of the pressure of having to find accommodation for incomers. When house-owners figured out that to move to cheaper areas like Wales was a lucrative business as they could rent out their property or sell at much higher prices. Some TV programmes were continually showing how nice and cheap life was in Wales. Free prescriptions, for instance made many pensioners think life would be better in Wales. Plus because property was much cheaper it also attracted people looking for a holiday property, and use it as a second home. Causing of course, local young people being unable to buy a house in their own area! Also that most of the year the property would stand empty. 

All these things could have been foreseen but were never being spoken of or researched by politicians. This country’s politicians are masters of the ‘OOOOH, I didn’t know that’. And ‘OOOOH, don’t blame me, that was then and this is now’. Look at good ol’ Boris. He didn’t know the difference between laws made and whether politicians had to abide by them. It all just is showing a total misconception of what is actually going on. Politics should not be an art that just plugs holes in society as they occur. Generally speaking people come in a host of varieties. Some good, some bad and some extremely bad. Yet laws or decisions to do something about bad behaviour or let’s say, criminality are woefully inadequate. Besides all of that, law enforcers are also woefully inadequate insofar checking and understanding the purpose for which they were set-up.

It is time to reset all of this, make politicians go through some rigorous training so they before sitting on the hallowed green benches know exactly what ails or what is needed in our society. So, good luck Mr Rishi, see if you can do it.

Copper landline or go digital?

It’s a wonderful world still, isn’t it? Well, at least if things go our way it is. Sometimes we get ideas to do something and it all goes pear-shaped. I have got a brilliant self-installed network run by Linux (I have not used Windows in a million years). Just because I love hate their technology. I also had installed Linux with the best router in the world. Draytek Vigor. Never heard of it? No, neither had I but it leaves most of the others in the shade, usually the ones whom you would see advertised hourly. Its security is impressive. But I decided to upgrade! In the UK there are plans by BT (British Telecoms) to do away with all copper cables and go digital. And to do this by 2025! 

Now knowing how things tend to get done around here I think it would be 2055 before all that was done. But hey, a little upbeat message in these times of rising prices will do us great! Whether it is just hype or not even true, who cares? We must leave the backroom boys have their 5 minutes of glory. At least, they have proved they have a brain. A very small one to be fair but nevertheless it is a bit of some grey matter. So, we are going digital. Called VOIP, Voice over Internet Protocol. Yes, wonderful, what next? How do I get it without paying off existing contracts with IPs? Obviously we need new equipment. New phones, we still would need Broadband (obviously) and some companies will be set up to fleece us with inflated costs to provide the ‘SERVICE’. So, what would we really need? In reality it needs policing. Meaning you cannot just buy a digital phone, link it to your router and off you go, speaking for free with the rest of the world. Each one of us would have to have a number that would identify you. Much like the normal landline phone today. It is the way others would be able to contact just you and me and not a million others all at the same time. That just would not work very well. So, a contract for your line and some time based charges. I have already found this way of working existing. Companies like BOnline or Usomo, can issue a new number or port your existing number and for little cost marry that to a service costing a third of the present telephone charges. 

Typical contracts can be something like a tenner a month (Ten pounds sterling). So, what would we need? We should have a VOIP capable router and preferably digital phones although normal phones can work with a VOIP capable router. I already have a VOIP capable router so am awaiting further developments. But presumably I will have to negotiate a deal with a company to have the digital line and they may even sell the phones although you can get them already from the likes of Amazon. Although having said that, Usomo offer a monthly contract for £8.00 that includes the needed phone for free! It’s incredible what new technology can do. I understand most of the US already have gone digital but as usual the UK is slow out of the starting blocks. I think it has something to do with pressures by companies to slow things down so they can flog all their old equipment at inflated prices. Look at the broadband shambolic market. Even knowing that we will go digital they still flog broadband deals at prices that send shivers along my spine. BT in particular is not ashamed to ramp the costs up. So, knowing all this I have taken some steps to deal with the coming changes. Let it come!

Panic! Snow's around....

PANIC!!! Some snow has been seen in South Wales. Bread and milk all gone (within 5 seconds of the first flake falling). In my place, cars are moving freely but all schools have been closed. The temperature is close to zero which means the bottom layer of snow is already slush! The birds in our garden are still feeding from the hoppers out with black sunflower seeds. (Which the tits love). Funny to see the much heavier jackdaws trying as well but can’t. I now see long-tailed tits which were never seen around here but now there are loads and all having a go at the fatballs! Sometimes five are hanging on the same feeder at the same time and in the tree next they are waiting as well. Close to eleven o’clock the snow is stopping – according to the authorities on the subject. We’ll see, I have not a lot of confidence in authorities nowadays. Too many seem to be staffed by complete idiots. Does anyone check educational attainment nowadays? Well, good question, listening to the kids coming home from school they learned a lot about colour composition because they had to do two paintings or drawings showing the teacher who had a qualification in how to vacuum-clean a living room. Fortunately she gained a certificate so I am satisfied she knows what she is talking about. At least, she appears to know the difference in shade between red and orange. When I asked the kids how you would find the square root of a number by only using division and no calculator, they were stumped. Simple arithmetic is not taught anymore nor is arithmetic just using your brain. No paper, no pen. No wonder councils cannot figure out their budgets. It takes all year apparently and then it is full of errors. Same for the main government. Well, you noticed I am at home as I cannot get to work, time to sweep the front of the house and sweep the snow of the glass roof of the greenhouse!

Mobiles - The death of Childhood?

Question – Why are we not banning TikTok? It would be relatively easy. A message to parents – check what your child is doing on their mobiles. We are using a paid-for software called Famisafe. Guess what – yes, TikTok, YouTube, and its Kids equivalent are banned. TikTok must be viewed as an insidious bit of software made and governed by the Chinese. It’s basically spying on everything you do. As parents you have a responsibility to see what’s being downloaded and used and how your daughters and sons are using messaging on Whatsapp. Make no mistake, companies like Meta (erstwhile Facebook etc) have no wish to alter anything. They want you to use them without any restrictions whatsoever. Why is that the case? Well, money, their profits. Advertising pays millions if not billions, into their coffers. They will not change until forced to do so by governments and law makers. Google, a benevolent company? Forget that quickly, they are not. The same thing applies there, money. On its own there is nothing wrong with earnings. Money, finance, makes the world go round and round. But when it becomes the all over-riding modus operandi even to the tune of world domination and destruction of all opposition, then it becomes a destructive force. A force for evil. That is the situation today. The Internet has been hacked by malevolent forces, criminal forces and the sooner we get to grips with that, the better.

Just look at TV programs like ‘Love Island’, it will give you a pretty good insight of the world inhabited by empty-headed girls and boys. Or perhaps I should say, ‘Young men and women’. All that matters is how you look. Words like ‘Toxic femininity’ abound and this is something we see all around now in our schools as well. Girls goad boys whilst their mates film this on their mobiles. In the next five minutes we will all be able to see it on TikTok. I am in favour of banning cameras on mobiles. Sorry, but as I said, the whole shebang is not used as intended but used for nefarious purposes. We, as people are just unable to govern ourselves and remember one of the mantras that has been around for a long time ‘ Treat others as you would be like to be treated’. To some extent, all of this has had a bearing on the Woke fraternity and how they see the world. All aided by the ubiquitous mobile phone. I am not advocating sending the mobile phone to nether regions but we do need to control their use much better. The sooner the better! But above all I would urge parents to take more care, more interest in what the kids are doing. Remember and I know that 99.9999% of people ignore this advice, kids should not to be using mobile phones until they are 13 years old. One 15 year old girl (read on the website) said mobiles are the death of childhood. I suppose I could not have said it any better.

Food? Yeah, where is it?

Most of my friends and acquaintances are panicking about food supplies. The local supermarkets have curtailed allowances of certain greens and fruit. I am scratching my head because I must be frank – I haven’t seen anything! Perhaps I do not panic quickly but my local supermarket just has a few lettuces on view a but plenty of prepacked tomatoes! At this time I do not really eat lettuce anyway but I can see the point. Spain has had a few problems growing lettuce. However, why have we arrived in this situation? I have thought and said, we are not growing enough of the food we need in this country ourselves. I used to drive back from Birmingham where most of my customers were, back to South Wales via the fruit growing area of Herefordshire. Great views as well! Malvern Hills, Ledbury and more. But there were always billions of plums for sales, apples and pears galore but today, all virtually gone! The orchards deleted like a software program. I suppose it is not much different with vegetables. You may ask – Why? Well, I think there are two things, first of all the government doesn’t care a hoot and that is not strange as they don’t care a hoot about anything. They all believe it is cheaper to import. Secondly, the nation’s growers do not receive any support whatsoever. In fact it is the reverse. Taxation and operating costs are sky-high. Planning laws mostly stops farmers from providing up-to-date buildings because you know, in this country we rather see dilapidated farms because it reminds us of the glorious past when we were an Empire. You might well ask – how were we in the industrial areas during the empiric days? Well, plenty of data here, just Google the ‘Victorian Age’ and see how well the workers were treated. It’s all just gobblydygook. As a result we do grow very little in this country. Yes, there are some tomato growers in Norfolk and you might be able to buy some cucumbers, potatoes are also available but already going out of stock. The governments lax attitude to all this is worrying viewing climate change. As we already hear complaints by farmers about the very dry months after Christmas, it does not augur well if this summer will be excessively dry! If we have what we had last summer prices in the autumn will be sky-high! Climate change is here, there is no longer any doubt. It might get much worse. I noticed when it rains the raindrops are twice the size and the amount of rain that falls quickly overcomes the drains. The roads in our town flood quickly because of not cleaning the sewers and too much rubbish left by ‘caring’ people. Our river at the back is very busy eroding its banks which I had never seen before. The river can rise by feet in a matter of minutes! So, there you have it, a problem facing us all, climate and food. Now just hope the government will wake up and stop guzzling the champagne.

Party-gate, did anyone enjoy the party?

Not sure what other people think about the continuing inquiries that permeate the British political system. One might think – ‘Is it not about time they started to govern’? Every day there are hour long political debates what has happened or not happened at parties held during lock-down at the time of the Covid pandemic. Now there is everybody frothing at the mouth about a political loser whose WhatsApp messages miraculously appeared in the public domain. Instead of tackling important issues like HS2 and its continuing financial problems, the bad economical situation of the nation burdened by a national debt of gigantic proportions and above all the energy problems; we are keeping very busy being regaled on all the shenanigans our wonderful capable politicians have been up to. 

When reading some of the WhatsApp messages released you might say – ‘What the f**k’? Well, first of all, the guy who wrote the rubbish should need a quick lesson in what is important in this world and go back to primary school to re-learn how to behave within society. The same goes for the journalist he trusted to write his memoirs, no matter what she says now, what she has done is to say the least, reprehensible. Next, the high powered lady who chaired the Inquiry, the so-called Party-gate inquiry. She suddenly decided to go back to her leftie roots and is most likely to join the Labour party to be Keir Starmer’s sidekick. She has obviously taken a few too many snifters of the freely available champagne within the hallowed circles of government and forgotten how this would look to the Inquiry which as now become a bit of a laughing stock. At the same you may start thinking what in all honesty did Keir Starmer think of? As the leader of the opposition and lawyer to boot, he should have known the likely kickback of such a decision to offer a job to someone who was highly regarded as an independent person and the right one to lead a difficult Inquiry. That now has all been thrown into doubt.

As I indicated above, government in this country continues to shoot itself in the foot if not the head! Both sides are slugging it out in the personality stakes. It is like sword fighting on the old schooners of yonder times whilst singing Rule Britannia as the ship is slowly sinking. I know there will be an election, probably 2024 rather than 2025 because the way this is going we need a dictatorship when Army generals will have to impose order. I will be classified as an idiot saying that but does anyone have a better idea? The money wasted by this and previous governments is of staggering proportions. Due to incompetence, bad decision making and departments working against each other. It is high time to call an end to all this rubbish and correct the course of the Ship of State!

Is this a diatribe? Hmmm, maybe.

As a church member of more than 30 years I have, like thousands of other members, tried to be a Christian. Sometimes failing but at least most of us are and keep trying. I suppose people not going to church tend to think of us as goody-goody and better than them. The good news here is, not only is that not true as in fact we certainly are not goody-goody nor do we think ourselves better than those who are not Christian. As a matter of fact we know we are not so good and acknowledge that fact before God. Most of us try to abide by what the Bible teaches. At least up to now. Because the mouthpiece that is the Church, and in my area that would be the Church in Wales and to some extent the Church of England, now are seemingly diverging from the Bible. Today it just seems to pander to the Woke brigades clamouring for everything. I personally do not believe that the Bible is the infallible voice or word of God. But it has a two-thousand and more years old report about human life in search of God. The Bible does show that throughout. In particular the Old Testament shows the successes and also the many failures. But generally speaking as Christians we hold to the tenets of the faith as outlined in the Bible. Now, the Church and its priests ought be in the forefront of that. I think they have lost it. In the rush to placate and in the hope of finding converts or new members, the Church is now watering down some of the beliefs. In fact the Church of England soon will be discussing whether they ought to rewrite all their service material so as to be gender neutral. So, God will not be He, God will be an It. As it is it would be more to my opinion about what God is, as I think in God there is no gender at all.

So, the question of marriage comes up frequently, together with gender. Should the Church allow marriage between same-sex couples. The question of being gay in itself is not really under attack. Let’s be fair being born gay, either female (lesbianism) or male (homosexual) is part of life on Earth. It happens. Either through some natural issue like genetics or possibly chemical (the issue of high levels of oestrogen in drinking water). Marriage between a man and a woman is first mentioned in Genesis 2:24. The New Testament also states in Matthew 19:4-5 the words from Jesus.You can look them up, even on the Internet. So quite clearly the Church must teach what is in the Bible. It does not mean the Church should ban gay people from getting married, there are plenty of opportunities without the Church. However, it is quite proper to have such a marriage blessed.

My problem is that as I look around me to the world I am seeing all sorts of attacks on long standing rules, beliefs, in fact there is no field which is not under attack. If we are going to ignore the old texts on which our faith as Christians is based, we might as well shut up shop altogether and go home.

 Yn y cyfamser - Hapus Ddyd Gwŷl Dewi! Gweddiwch drosof fi bechadur tlawd!