Life in General

Those who peruse my Random Ramblings will know that I am very pro our forces and all that they have to deal with, I am also anti the venal posturing of the political glitterati and partial to the delights of Bacchus.

As we slide into the period of contemplation and Saturnalia that has become known in these politcally correct times as "holidays" which we in our pre PC times used to call Christmas I am looking forward to being able to relax, escape the rat race and the products of fermentation and distillation in many varied forms. Whilst I am doing this and relaxing with my family around me I will certainly be sparing a thought for those families seperated by the necessity of having someone on the ramparts keeping the barbarians from our lives. If you have time over this period please think a moment of these people. Consider that we sleep safe at night because we have these guys and gals prepared to accept the challenge of manning those ramparts for us.

At the same time as we think of those on the ramparts consider by way of comparision the politicians who are currently awaiting trial for their claims for second homes they never used, duck ponds etc etc. In this time of belt tightening that will impact us all in many ways like, less maintainance of roads, fewer nurses, cuts in education(cornerstone of any future sucess) and defence cuts, let's see how many politicos, non jobs, quangos and local councillors who either get paid less, lose their jobs or actually become accountable us, the great unwashed?

Bacchus

I have been sat here enjoying the fruits of Bacchus(wine) and it has taken my meandering thought train to sin tax. Governments all over the world rely upon the populace(povo, pobre, citoyen, comrade, mug) to continue to fill the coffers of Government for our consumption of alcohol and tobacco. I am sure that if they could work out a way to charge us for each thrust as we fornicate/copulate/procreate they would. As someone who is avowedly anti tobacco I have no issue with taxing tobacco and all it's derivatives and yet selfishly I resent every penny, euro, cent that they impose on my sin of choice.

I suppose this goes to prove that we are intrinsically self interested and self involved. In some respects this correlates with my previous ramble in that our political representatives reflect our society as a whole. I therefore pose the question-" are we all by nature venal and self serving"?

Since there are few if any who view or indeed comment on my ramblings I guess this is to some extent a fart in a forest, no-one smells or hears it, so no one responds. Ah Grasshopper, what is the sound of one hand clapping?

Another Catharsis

Seems that life just continues to get more and more hectic. What do you give up on, well in this instance I gave up on this valve. So here I am back to vent, discuss, indulge in dialogue even if no-one reads my ramblings.

I was having a look at the Help for Heroes website today, what an incredible group they are and I include in that group all who have contributed. People do the most amazing things when they are motivated, a cause like this has motivated thousands who have done the most extraordinary things to raise money. From the wounded who have climbed mountains, run/walked/staggered marathons to youngsters who have raised money or given their pocket money. I am in awe of them. when the capacity for good is tapped into like this it is humbling, it also brings into stark relief the horrors that others visit on us.

Listening to the crass stupidity of the religious nut in Florida proposing to burn Korans to remember 9/11. Have we learnt nothing from the Holocaust, it is a short step from burning books to burning people. I am not religious but I would defend any persons right to worship the religion of their choice. All I ask in turn is to not have their choice shoved down my throat. This idiot in Florida appears to have forgotten that Christianity in recent times has pushed itself as the religion of tolerance(not always the case viz Crusades, Inquisition etc etc:). The incredibly sad part of all of this is that by and large the majority of the proponents of both faiths(Christian and Muslim) are content to co-exist and just want to get on and live their lives, worship their God and feed and educate their families. Zealots, fanatics and fundamentalists will lead us down the path to destruction if we don't stop them.

I know that the constitutional amendments enshrine the right to free speech and I imagine that this pompous preacher will invoke that to allow him to launch a diatribe and to destroy what I assume is his property(I assume that he has purchased Korans for this purpose). Surely Barack Hussein Obama should now show his leadership and intervene and try and persuade this idiot that he should not do this. He has already succeeded in inflaming the passions, in this case rightful passion, of the Muslim world. If he can't, then his own congregation should point out that this behaviour is likely to lead to more deaths of service personnel in Afghanistan.

I think that the thread that links these two together is that if the idiot gets his way then he is likely to create even more need for organisations like Help for Heroes. I know that there are a lot of people who for various reasons do not agree with the war in Afghanistan, whatever your thoughts on the war, support the troops who don't have the luxury that we have. We can say "no" and voice our negative views, they cannot. They have to pick up their kit and do our elected governments bidding, often under-supplied, under paid and over stretched.

Time passes

It has been some time since my last blog. I have missed the catharsis, my occasional rants against the iniquities visited upon us by our Politicians have helped to clear my mind. I have to say that all my railing against them has paled into insignificance when you see exactly how venal and self serving they are! I read in the paper yesterday that the eventual repayment could be as much as £1million, in the same paper there was the comment that one Politician will only have to pay back £13000 of £63000 stolen from us, this equates to approximately a 20% return, on that basis they could have stolen as much as £20 million pounds.

Isn't that the amount it would cost for the TA to keep training? How munificent of Brown to stepp in to say that the Government will continue to fund them. The smoke and mirrors will be where else in the Defence budget will they take the money from. When you consider this have a look at the link to YouTube below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJH8EFz_0MU&feature=related



At this time of the year consider as you walk about on your daily lives these and many others. Wear your poppy with pride!

Pontification

The tyranny of the blog

Every now and then I come on here and read blogs esp a certain Leeds lass and others and feel contrite because I haven't metaphorically put pen to paper and created. laid down, bared my thoughts and soul.

This is my personal rant against what I perceive as the iniquities of our society, fair to say a lot directed at our Politicians, especially the current rabble in power, by the way how in the seven shades of Hades is that twat Mandelson(three time crim) being touted as the next leader of the Labour Party. In my humble opinion this can only mean that he knows where some deep and dark skeleton is buried.

Anyway, I digress from the tyranny of the blog, I feel somewhat inadequate because I don't sally forth and bare my soul but then I pause and reflect that even on my most loquacious days I am reticent to let any one see my inner me. This is as close as it gets utilising the somewhat dubious anonymity of the web and relying on the fact that few if any read my random ramblings.

Let me add, that whatever form God, Yahweh, Mohamed, Buddha, Krishna et al takes wasn't he marvelous when he created the female form, but goodness gracious me why did he make it so difficult to understand? Was definitely on a good day when he decided to create rugby, alcohol and allow us to enjoy meat. Not sure when he decided to throw tobacco, vegetarians and Greenpeace into the mix but hey, we are all allowed off days.

Ramble done, cocktail calling.

The passing of the Seasons

I've been out this afternoon and evening, a September eve with a full moon(I think) and because of the shitty weather had to have four layers of clothes, a hat and waterproofs. What the hell is going on, 1940, Battle of Britain, the RAF were sat in shirt sleeves waiting for the Germans to come over. Global warming or just the natural cycle of things.

What has happened to this year? Yesterday it was New Years Day and now it's nearly Autumn, leaves are going brown, nights are drawing in. Is it a function of growing older that the years go by faster? If it is then I need to go out and indulge in every way and with every one as soon as possible. Vices need to be enjoyed as often as practical and the corpus not so delecti needs to be worn to a nub. I want to appear in front of my maker in bits. Worse thing to hear at my funeral, "doesn't he look good". I want people saying, geez he is worn out and dragged out.

Oh happy thoughts!

Randoms

Everything I enjoy is likely to kill me!

Government advice

I like sitting in the evening after I have finished work and enjoying either a few cocktails or some wine or even a bottle of Champagne occasionally. The way I do it is described as binge drinking and will probably kill me according to the advice from Gov't. I don't smoke so I am safe from Nanny on that(have to agree with her but that is because I am an Anti Smoking Nazi). I have never done drugs but feel that looking back at it, when it wasn't prohibited there wasn't the money in it and criminals didn't get involved. Not sure about this one, don't want it around but the solution we are trying at the moment isn't working. Sex, ah the eternal joy, licit, illicit, hidden, paid for, over the side in what ever form, it is great! If they could the Gov't would tax it, if they could they'd put a meter on dicks and fanny's and charge for entry. Food, we all love it, we all eat too much. Like sex it is a universal lever and pleasure. Food is unique however because so many of us have love/hate relationships with the dinner table. I wonder how much of it stems back to the days of "eat up, clear your plate or you don't get down from the table" that was imposed post rationing?

If I could answer these questions and pick the right numbers tonight, life would be simple.

Clarkson

I see that Jezza has been carpetted again for an intemperate use of language. There was a huge furore over his driving a car up the side of a scottish hill, his suggestion about the murderous intent of lorry drivers, his description of Brown to an Aussie reporter. Has the BBC not realised that in the latter instance and his latest comment about Brown, Clarkson is reflecting the views of a large percentage of the UK populace. One only has to look at the result of the recent by-election in Norwich North(a previous Labour bastion) to see that this is the case. We are treated to the spectacle of a Prime Minister under seige from his own party, the opposition and the electorate, clinging like grim death to his role. It is entirely unedifying and demeaning for us as a country. He is surrounded by cronies who time and time again are caught out in lies and petty politicking.

The recent Labour scramble to denigrate Gen Dannant for daring to ask for extra troops and support for them to actually fight and prosecute the war in Afghanistan, a war that we have been put in by Labour(one of the few correct decisions they have made in my humble opinion). No doubt the comments by the former SAS Commander Brigadier A Wright over supplies today will put him in the firing line by the low lifes of the Labour spin factories. What a shabby lot our current batch of politicos are. We would be completely up the proverbial excrement creek without a propulsion method if Hitler was camped at Calais today. They would all be running round trying to get the next boat to Canada with as much money as they could stuff into their pockets.

The only issue I take with Clarkson on his comment is the use of the "c" word, Brown isn't one, they are useful, a source of eternal delight and wonder and shouldn't be denigrated in this way and associated with the festering pile of ordure that inhabits No10.

Think back the days of Cabinet meetings before Blunkett and Straw shuffled off. Between the three of them you had three good eys and four good ears, the most capable and intelligent creature in the room was Blunkett's dog. Are we really sure that the dog hadn't seen the light and led him into the field of cows and then tried to make a break for it? Sadie the Black Lab for PM, maybe we should start a petition!

No particular title Pt ll

I am sat here having imbibed a few cocktails and feeling mellow.

It seems that this government and indeed many around the world are starting to move their sights and the sights of various NGO's, partial agencies and the rest of the dross funded by me the hard working tax payer to target my elixir of choice- to wit alcohol. Like any pleasure(Gov't speak "vice" therefore highly taxable) the various Politicians see it as an easy target. It provides huge amounts of revenue and they can tax it up the kazoo and know that we will continue to imbibe. Also like any pleasure the adage of "too much of a good thing does you harm" applies. The current "binge drinking" purge is actually nothing more than the press climbing on a band wagon. Pause for a moment dear reader(Jane Austen moment) and consider your youth, think how shedded you used to get! Are the teenagers/youths any worse than we were, I doubt it.

I send out a plea to all, we know you are going to tax our vices, be it booze, baccy or sex but please don't tax them 'til the pips pop. Let us enjoy them, life is too short to go without some buzz!

No particular title

For a change I am on here with no particular rant or rambling to vent about.

Puzzling over the whole benefit that we as society accrue from the exam system and schooling system that seems to celebrate and promote mediocrity. There is no place in it for losers, they are all winners. I wonder how that equips youngsters for reality, the stark and harsh reality is(especially at the moment in business), if you aren't at the top of your game and winning, then you will lose. Sometimes even if you are doing well, you lose. Life is harsh, it isn't always fair, good guys do come second, good doesn't always triumph over evil. The mark of the individual is how he/she deals with that reality.

I guess the nub of what I am saying is that, given the alternative, you just have to stick your head down and soldier on. Never, ever give in. You may not reach your objective but you can stand there and say "I gave it my best shot".

Undignified Scramble

Interesting being sat here on the sidelines watching our politicians scrambling about trying avoid losing their place at the trough. Many are using the Nuremburg defence and some commentators are coming out with statements like "well, it's the system that's at fault". That's very true, it is the system at fault but ask this- Who created the system? We elect our MP's to go up to London and represent our interests, they sit there and are required to promote the bedrock upon which we as a society continue to exist and hopefully evolve. They should by default be set higher standards of integrity and their own moral compasses should have told them that it is wrong to claim for a mortgage that you have paid off, a duck pond in your home in France, an extension so your brother can live with you or a 42" plasma TV. We the electorate have a right to expect that of them, they have a duty to meet that standard. That's why they put themselves up to be our elected representative! Now, human nature being what it is there will be some that slip and I take no issue with that, I do however feel that the venal, money grabbing that has gone on under this system with not a voice of dissent, a murmur of disquiet from any of the those with their snouts firmly buried in the trough means that we need a thorough cleaning of the pig sty. Brown you numb nut call an election, call it soon and let we the public decide who deserves to stay.

The latest debacle

It just get's funnier and funnier. If you wrote it as a script for "Yes Minister" it would have been binned. Maybe reality TV does have it's place! Imagine the wife of Ken Follett, wealthy author feeling afraid and she has to get us, the tax payer to make her feel secure.

Doesn't it just warm your heart the a nurse's salary has been spent making her feel safe, or three nurse's have been used to furnish Keith Vaz's home or another way of looking at it 150000 bullet proof vests. The galling point of all of this is, they all say "it's all in the rules", does that make it right? Especially when they wrote the rules! It cannot be right to claim £25000 pa to furnish a home when a reasonable wage is less than that. Why should I pay for a Flat screen TV when I haven't bought one myself.

If I claim from work I have to show invoices and it has to be a justifiable business expense, heaven only knows that the Revenue will scrutinise it all and disallow and possibly fine me if not legitimate. MP's, we make our rules and you don't even have to show expenditure for £250 or less.

Let's just flush the whole sorry lot down the nearest drain and start again, bet Fly Blown Brown is clinging on just to milk every penny he can get before he has to call an election.

Politics

Oh how the mighty have fallen. I find it intensely amusing that the prudish Jacqui Smith has been hoisted by her own petard. She has presided over a Home Office that has introduced and attempted to introduce all sorts of rules/laws regarding the nations sexuality and hubby has been sat at home enjoying the dubious delights of porn. I wonder if she was around as he was salivating over the delights of which ever pneumatic starlet was performing, oh wouldn't it be just the icing on this cake if it turns out that it was gay porn that he was indulging in!!!! Is it a sacking offence-No but the judgment and the lack of care and attention to detail hardly meet the standards expected of a Minister of State, especially one at the heart of our legal system. Small wonder that there are so many absconding asylum seekers and illegal immigrants in the country if she can't even be bothered to check her expenses claims. That should be a sacking offence-incompetence and lack of care destine her for a career on the back benches. 22K for staying with her sister seems exorbitant as well. This government has introduced more legislation and more criminal sanctions than any other in history when you compare like with like in terms of time in office. What odds for a Labour victory next election? Brown will out on his ear and hopefully some of the sleaze buckets that inhabit the present cabinet and back benches.

Christmas and all that

Well Christmas Day is almost over and it has been a success. We invest so much into these days and they often fail to live up to expectation. All the meal came to gather at the right time, everything worked smoothly, I remembered all the bits and did sufficient vegetarian roast veggies(I know it sounds like an oxymoron but it isn't,I roast a whole batch in goose fat for the carnivores....mmmm yummy). If the meal fails or the meat is burnt then it effects the day. If the presents that have been bought don't elicit the right response from the receiver or it doesn't work, the wrong batteries have been bought or (more so these days) they are too complex for an adult to deal with and have to be handed to a tech savvy 8yo. It's all pressure on the day and when it works and you have a good, relaxing, stress free day it is really special.

Here's hoping that anyone who reads this has one of those. I also hope that it has been peaceful for all our troops deployed around the world. Keep safe ladies and gents in whatever inhospitable corner of the globe you have been deployed to. Thank you for your hard work, dedication and enabling us to sleep safer in our beds at night.

Hiatus

Haven't written to this for some time. As with many of us, reality takes over and we have to get out and earn the filthy lucre. In my quiet moments I have had pangs of guilt for not posting. It has been an eventful few months with the horrors of Mumbai, attacks in the Philippines, the Menezes trial,the credit crunch, more of our troops being killed on active service. There have also been some remarkable triumphs, the way that the population of Mumbai rallied and refused to give way to sectarian violence, the people who have refused to crumble under the strain of economic woes, the Help for Heroes organisation and many other examples of the indomitable nature of the human spirit.

The pundits seem to believe that the US economy will start to turn round mid next year and the UK will follow some 6 months later. I am sure that if the bunch of barely functional idiots that we have in charge don't actually start to do something rather than cancel public spending projects that benefit us all but especially our National Defence then the recovery will be delayed and prolonged.

I saw on US TV that one area of the economy that isn't suffering is the Sex Worker, I don't believe that for a moment. What I would imagine is that a. There will be more competition and b. People will not spend the money they used to when times were good. In my opinion the only recession and boom proof industries are Funeral directors and toilet paper manufacturers. There may be some others that are safe like alcohol, tobacco and condoms( the vices, guilty of two and an anti smoking nazi)but again like the sex worker industry people reduce consumption and go for a blended whisky rather than a single malt, a new world offering rather than a bottle of Petrus.

Here's hoping that any and all who read this have a Happy Xmas a Peaceful New Year and best of luck in weathering the economic storm.

Rants and ramblings

Normally I use this as an exercise in clearing myself all those pent up frustrations at the lunacy that pervades our lives now. I rail about the pathetic government we have leading us, the shabby treatment meted out to our troops or just to throw out some thoughts. I sat here and opened up my blog, thinking I haven't actually written anything for a while and feeling I should. I then realised that I use it as a catharsis and if I don't need that at the moment then no need to ramble or rant. I guess part of the reason why I don't need to is because I haven't been reading newspapers or watching the news too much recently. The reality is that all the issues still exist, Zimbabwe is worse now than ever, Brown and his loonies are still screwing Joe average every which way they can and twice on Sundays, our troops are still being mistreated and their trust abused, quality of life here gets worse by the day, knife crime increases and yet still I don't feel I want to rant. Is it because I feel more content in my skin, is it because I haven't been tapped into the news or is it that I am ground down by the detritus that is life in modern Britain in the "noughties". Maybe Pfizer can turn their attention from Viagra and look at something to cure the ennui bought about by the state of the nation!

Royalty

Reading the papers over the last few months has been a mixed bag for the inhabitants of Buck House. There is the scandal of the coke/sex royal, the joyriding Prince in his helicopter, Young Philips marrying a catholic who has converted to Anglicanism, Zara with Tyndall who is now due in Reading CC over Drink Drive allegation, the farce of the Diana enquiry and that silly, sad little man Al Fayad. Throw into the mix Harry trying to lead a quasi normal life as a serving officer albeit in one of the aristocratic regiments of the Household Cavalry. I know that in many eyes they are all fair game but shouldn't we, as the public simply say enough is enough, certainly we should have let Harry serve his time in the line. The so called "jolly" flights by William were nothing more than something that has always happened, the only difference is that he has been hung out to dry. Since the earliest of days of the RFC and RAF any opportunity to link personal pleasure to training flights was taken. This drivel about his trip to Afghanistan was pathetic, I wish that they could come out and prove how long ago the plans were laid for him to go there. The risk assessment alone would have taken weeks to carry out, approval from our pathetic Government another week and then Grammy and Pops had to say yea. Let's hope that the election results are catastrophic enough for Labour to divert the press to pontificating on the knives being out for Gobonastick Brown.

On the subject of elections, don't you just hate it when people hover outside the polling station and ask if they can see your polling card. The answer is no, it's my vote, everything about me when I vote is between me, the officers running the station and the ultimate outcome announced by the returning officer. For those who don't bother to vote, spare a thought for countries like Zimbabwe where, when and if you get to exercise your vote it may cost you your life if the "war veterans"(who are mostly under thirty so must have been 2 or 3 when serving)find out you voted for the wrong party. People have died for the right to vote and continue to die to exercise that right. We give it away so easily. It is especially surprising to me when a woman doesn't vote given that it is less than a century since Emily Davison was killed trying to get the vote and less than eighty years since the qualified right was abolished.

Time for a change

It was announced on the news last night that our Prime Minister has a support rating of 28%, the lowest rating of any PM since the 1930's when we were in the Great Depression. He has called the banks in today to berate them for the credit crunch. This from the man who stole £5 billion from pension pots, who has been behind the introduction of more and more stealth taxes since Labour came to power. The UK is in probably the worst situation since the Winter of Discontent in 1979, I cannot recall a time when morale and confidence was this low. Brown must be in a state of funk waiting for what his enemies will be plotting. The enemies are all those in his own party who will be sitting and silently plotting how to unseat him and take the power for themselves. The sooner the better! The big problem is that there is no discernible blue water between the two main parties, since New Labour arrived they have become more centre right than the Tories. It's only the defence,enterprise and business acumen that seperates the two now. The Liberals are a joke, they can afford to come out with all sorts of crack pot ideas because they know they will never have to implement or fund them. Their Leader is a cypher, a non entity and totally without significance. I wouldn't recognise him if he walked past me in the street. He has contributed nothing to the political scene. At least the past incumbents(Menzies excepted) had something about them, Jeremy Thorpe with his sex scandals, Paddy Pantsdown and Mr Sobriety, even the cabal who were behind the original Social and Liberal Democrats were more than just a dot on the page.

We get the leaders and the party we deserve, Winston Churchill with his womanising, misogynism, smoking and drinking would be completely un-electable today. Do we demand too much of our politicians in terms of private behaviour, because we do this and insist that they have had led a blameless existence we end up with non entities. The sort of person who achieved nothing at school and is likely to achieve nothing in life because they would never want to be part of a failure. It is inevitable in life that as you attempt, so you will sometimes fail. Success has a million fathers, failure is an orphan. The bland, self serving batch of politicians that we end up with have never done anything by and large. Those that end up in office and positions of responsibility are often those who have been the most mediocre.

Let's change PM, let's change parties, let's change politicians. Also let's elect people not bland non entities.

Shabby Treatment

I have now become an infrequent blogger. Pressures of work is my excuse. I am not a regular reader of the Mail but decided this week that I will buy it, mainly because of the DVD's. I love the stiff upper lip war films with John Mills, Noel Coward et al in them. Today's Mail(Sunday) had the front page covered with the story about the treatment of the returning fallen servicemen and contrasting how differently they are treated here and in Canada. It seems that "ceremonial" matters are not a Force priority for Thames Valley Police, it should be! They cannot be bothered to provide and escort for the coffins from the border with Wiltshire (who incidentally not only do so, but also pause at the War Memorial in Wootton Basset where the locals gather to pay respects)to the Coroner's Office in Oxford. What kind of mad society do we live in! Why haven't our elected representatives stood up in Parliament and demanded that these fallen be afforded full respect. Why doesn't the Chief Constable of Thames Valley afford them the respect of one uniformed service to another. Our Courts have this week allowed Abu Quatada to stay here at our expense and yet we cannot spare a couple of cars and motorcycle outriders to ensure that our heroic dead are treated with proper respect. In life they may not have been heroes or carried out heroic deeds but their sacrifice demands that we treat them like returning heroes. If I was living in Thames Valley I would be demanding of my local councillors an answer to this question and a refund of the Police Precept from my council community charge. The Chief Constable isn't serving me in the way I wish her to.

Sometime

It's been a while since I sat and placed metaphorical pen to paper in the ether. In my defense this was in part because I was actually using genuine pen and paper to berate my MP. There is a link on the Royal British Legion's site for The Broken Covenant in which their is discussion about how we as a nation have broken the covenant that exists between us and our Servicemen and women. Whatever your view on the wars that we are currently involved in we should never lose sight of the fact that we as civilians have the luxury of debate. The squaddie has none. He/she has signed the dotted line, taken the shilling and must troop off to whatever foreign clime deemed by the British Government to have caused offence or be in need of our assistance. I would urge anyone who peruses this rambling to have a look at the Royal British Legion site, whatever your view of the merits of the war in Iraq or Afgahnistan remember that it is the people in the uniform who are on the frontline that guarantee us the right to express those views. Consider this, Pakistan have this week insisted that You Tube block certain feeds, China blocks some of the BBC content, Zimbabwe doesn't even allow British journalists to report from there, we, within reason have pretty much unfettered access to all manner of information, news and content. We also have the right to express ourselves freely, again within reason. These were hard won freedoms, won by servicemen in uniform putting it all on the line. Support or don't support the war BUT ALWAYS SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!