There are many who choose to put their heads firmly in the sand and deny that the biggest cause of Britain’s problems (apart from a Conservative government) is leaving Europe. Covid has had its effect, no doubt but Brexit is the real villain! Tell me one thing that is now affecting us that isn’t in some way related to leaving the EU? The repercussions of this terrible referendum will haunt us for many years to come. Not withstanding the economic and employment issues our rights enshrined in EU law are being dismantled. Far from being free we will have lost many of the rights we have enjoyed for years. It is time we acknowledged the huge mistake we have made

That’s all

Stay well

I read that the police officer killer of Sarah Everard might get a whole life sentence! Whole life sentence, fuck that. I am not a violent man but I’d string him up by his balls and beat him with a baseball bat until he was no longer a burden on society! The violence that continues against women by men, makes me ashamed to be one. The very thought of committing a violent act against a woman is so repugnant, I struggle to understand it. I get that there are disturbed individuals who for whatever reason derive some twisted pleasure from attacking women. I know there are men who need to exert some kind of control for whatever sickness has driven them to act so violently. Men’s desperate need to generally “control” is a mystery to me? What are we so afraid of? We can discuss all the mumbo jumbo of upbringing and education etc but the truth is that there continues to be a inequality and subjugation of women, that even in so called “enlightened” society continues to be an issue! I have been married 41 years and it took me a long time to understand the inequality women face. I like to believe I have always fought for equality for women and everyone but the real truth is, writing those words should be unnecessary and redundant! 

I don’t know what the answer is. I’d like to think it will be “solved” by the generations coming up behind? If it means men have to feel emasculated then so be it, physical strength is no reason for inequality. 

As the news from Britain continues to depress it is heartening to have listened  to Stephen  Fry in discussion with Richard Dawkins, two men I admire enormously. They were optimistic about our future, with the possible exception of the environment, saying history shows that human progress is often “ two steps forward and one step back” this is a one step back period, I hope they are right? 

Stay well

The sun is shining and here in Crete it’s 9am. As I look out the window there is blue sky with wispy white clouds. Yes we are on holidays and relaxed, removed from the problems that are unfolding back in the U.K. Each day I have read with sadness the chaos that has overrun our island. I have stated quite clearly my disgust with the behaviour of people and their panic over fuel. Yet it comes as no great surprise, the British have a history of behaviour of this kind. I find it difficult to understand, although I speak from a position where I have no need to panic buy petrol or worry about getting to a job, pick up kids or drive to the supermarket. My life is simple. The pressures of people’s lives has increased exponentially, as the general standard of living has improved. I have said before that for the balance of living is wrong. We are living through an unprecedented time, which has been stressful and difficult for everyone. Capitalism and a free market, have there advantages but there are huge disadvantages as well. The ability to react fast is hampered by too many factions, all wanting their say. Rarely do we find fast responses that benefit us all. The pandemic was an example of collective responsibility but it still was poorly managed and many deaths could have been prevented. It is no surprise that the population reacts badly when further media hyped bad news sends them into a frenzy? I am sure we are not alone in our anger,  over the way our government has handled most things, many other European nations are expressing the same anger! Fundamental changes are required both politically and socially, we cannot continue the same way we do now. If you keep doing the same things you will keep getting the sam results!

Stay well

 Imagine how bad things would be if we hadn’t taken back control? We have, lower energy bills, drivers, less staff vacancies, no shortages, better trade, less paperwork, easier travel, more rights and there would have been no disruption to our daily lives. It’s okay though because we are heading for a bright independent future, with prosperity for all, the like of which we have never seen! It’s all working out wonderfully well! When even Boris, privately confesses he made a monumental fuck up by supporting Brexit, you have to ask what was it all for? Would any other country in Europe, EU member or not, destabilise itself in the name of independence? Only the British could be so stupid. And now we prove how dumb we are by creating a fuel crisis when there was no fuel crisis! I wrote yesterday that it makes me ashamed to be British, watching from Crete as the lunacy unfolds, I got several messages telling me to stay and not to come home. What must other nations think of us when they see what a selfish, ignorant bunch we are? I understand the problem was heightened by a media who were hungry to stir up the news and our collective mood is not the best as a country but the scenes at petrol stations were just moronic! Only the British could behave this way! We have many things we can be proud of but out obsession over something being possibly unavailable is an ugly and self defeating trait that deserves nothing short of contempt!

When you then have a government that are totally incompetent and indecisive you have no chance!

Welcome to Britain’s glorious future!

Stay well

People of the U.K. you are completely nuts. Last year you stood outside and applauded essential workers how the fuck do you think most of them get to work? Shortage of truck drivers, how do you think the ones we have fuel their trucks? What a bunch of self centred, ignorant idiots. Queuing that’s going to help the pollution levels, pumping out exhaust fumes while waiting! Stupid is as stupid does! 

So what if we have shortages and especially for Xmas! You can go without your bag of crisp or thar extra crumpet. We’ve survived worse, so you don’t have a big choice, so what! Normal service has not resumed and we have to learn to live with it.

Brexit and Covid are factors but this was coming from a long way back. The two issues have certainly not helped but there has been warnings for a very long time!  Brexit is far more to blame than Covid, even if no HGV testing has been available. Europe has a shortage of goods drivers in almost every country. 

It’s time a radical rethink of how we deliver produce. We used to deliver more by train? We have a canal system and before you laugh at that suggestion, not everything needs to delivered fast and surely we can invent green water transport. I don’t like the idea but smaller vehicles then moving goods and don’t need HGV training. Obviously there are practicalities that require large bulk transportation. How many trucks deliver full and return empty, is there a way of utilising that capacity? As for getting drivers from Europe, what a joke, would you return to a country that did not want you, to experience shortages, find overpriced accommodation and deal with British? One more thing why would you want to spend time driving on our roads anyway? I have done one journey of 90 miles recently, on a Friday, M40/M25 took 4 hours, yes there were two accidents and the inevitable hold up on the M25 but 4 hours for 90 miles!

Anti-vaxers confronting school children outside schools gates is completely unacceptable and they should be ashamed (and arrested) Believe whatever you want, that’s your right but don’t impose your views on impressionable kids. There is enough crap they have to deal with without this being confronted with idiots

Having read about everything that’s is happening we may just stay in Crete. If we did not have to  pick up the cats  I think we would.

Stay well

 Oh the bitter sweet joy for me as I watch the chaos unfold and the words “I told you so” come so easily! If you tell a workforce to fuck off because you no longer wish to remain in their club what did you expect would happen? It was no secret where many of our jobs were filled from. We are so pathetically stupid it beggars belief. There is no doubt the media is complicit in this panic buying, almost gleeful in their reporting of “shortages” but who can blame them when we have a government that slaps them at every turn and then uses them for their nefarious purposes!

Let’s state clearly Brexit is a monumental disaster perpetrated on a public using fear and undisguised ambition for the few to the detriment of the many. Yes the EU is far from perfect many things need reforming but that is true for any monolithic group but look at the mess we are in! How many reports do we need that tell us how impossible operating has now become. How many industries have told us they don’t have enough staff, can’t deliver are dumping produce. The government is trying to block these reports, they don’t like the public finding out. “Its not easy being green” but damn easy to lie, cheat, line your mates pockets and govern in slogans! I am at a loss to understand how we got in this situation and yet understand it all too well! 

I read Keir Starmers essay published by Fabian, the changes he proposes are ambitious and hard to argue with. How Labour would carry out his plan is not revealed. Words are easy (look what I write!) but should they get elected the and the practical realities hit home will they have the resolve or even the will to implement them?At present he can’t even unite his own party let alone the country! 

We must vote this Conservative nightmare from government even if we are sceptical of the opposition , it is time we had a change because we cannot continue  as we are.

Stay well

Well let’s get right to the heart of this Covid thing and nail our colours to the mast. Firstly I don’t care about the conspirators or the rumours or any of the bullshit written and put out there on every platform imaginable. I do agree that there are under lying medical conditions which could be triggered in small numbers of the population. There will always be a low quota of those who react badly to any vaccine. Secondly, I personally believe, that we should all be vaccinated. I do not want it to be mandatory and would support personnel choice. Medical science is extremely advanced as the production of the various forms of vaccine has proved. I understand the natural skepticism the some people have over the speed it was produced but this was an unprecedented situation that required fast action and we got it! Those who viewed it with suspicion and believed it infringed their freedom were at best misguided and at worse ignorant fools whose behaviour is irresponsible! This was one time when you set aside your personnel view and did something for the safety and protection of everyone. Once again let me be very clear I do NOT support it being mandatory, I am expressing my opinion. We don’t know how the future will look but from what I have read from the medical professionals it looks brighter but we must take great care.One thing is for sure, the sooner I can feel safe not having to wear a mask the better!

If Boris Johnson’s speech at the UN was meant to be statesman like, as usual he was a miserable failure. While one applauds his message and even his optimistic assertion that we can make things better, his delivery and references were those of a man who has little grasp of what he is actually saying! One feels that he is given a speech, told he has give it and then is pushed out onto the platform. Perhaps they give him these references just for a laugh an to make him look like the fool he so obviously is, if so it’s working! You can hear his aides laughing behind the stage saying “you wait till he gets to the Kermit the frog bit”! 

My darling wife asks the same question almost every day “Who votes for these people and why?” It’s a valid if simple question and we throw our hands and nod sadly as we know the answer but just can’t understand it. 

Stay well

Clouds big grey thick clouds. That’s the the view, as I write, looking through the balcony door of our apartment. It is a spectacular sky, obscuring the normal sight of the mountains across the bay, the sea, windswept, white caps on the waves. The temperature has dropped to a barmy 20 degrees and the wind speed increased, so your once a year Panama hat, would be swept off to skitter across the rough roads of Ayios! There is a chance of precipitation according to the weather forecast but here is a micro climate and forecasts are often wrong. 

Ag Nik,as it is referred to, has 72 sets of concrete steps, some so long they sweep up and take you high above the Lake where the cafes and restaurants sit hoping that they will capture their share of tourists. The inclines can be steep and narrow, so that you feel like a mountain goat climbing until the relief of the summit. They can be more difficult to descend than going up! A town that has relied on tourism for so long that it struggles to survive without it and the signs of the pandemics bitter damage and is evident in shops and bars that are gone forever. The virus did not affect the town badly but the lack of visitors certainly did. Still new businesses have emerged and the two large hotels on the main seafront are being refurbished to open next year as 5 star accommodation. The residents are as friendly and helpful as ever and after 17 years of holidaying here it is good to meet with our many friends, eat, drink, laugh and catch up on all the news and gossip! We relax and do little but then that is the point!

If you love a place, then it feels like home and the familiarity is comforting. We are always welcomed and the warmth and love we get is always humbling.

I hope everyone has a place like that whether it’s far away or on your doorstep.

Stay well

Are you looking forward to this coming winter? Will your heat, electricity, gas and food be available? Is it all doom and gloom? Well you would be easily lead to believe so, wouldn’t you? Of course Boris says he well deal with it all in the same brilliant way he mangled sorry managed Covid? No doubt we will experience some hiccups, although perhaps it will give us all some perspective and appreciation of what we have. Unfortunately the less well off will be the ones who will suffer most, they always do, no government really cares and this one in particular is the least caring there has ever been! 

Boris could not negotiate his way out of a paper bag and as his heralded trip to the US proves. America could care less about a trade deal! His triumphant blather during the Brexit campaign of how easy it would be, as always was bullshit. Now he is, as usual, backtracking and saying he never said that and it would always have been difficult. Yet more lies from the champion of lying! His constant assertion that he did not say something during interviews, when there is recorded footage of him doing so, has become a habit! His standing as PM must be a joke with other leaders and surely they only deal with him because he holds that office, not because of who he is? If Boris turned up at a meeting with you, your immediate thought would be who is this clown?

We are saddled with him and he continues to fiddle while we burn. Proud bright future for Britain my arse! He may have Union Jack underpants but he’s taken a mighty dump in them!

However, I am optimistic that in spite of all of this the young will change it all for the better and soon. They have to be our hope.

Stay well

Todays word from Susie Dent: Niffle-Naffing (19thcentury) dilly dalling or a way of fussing about in order to ignore the important stuff

Energy prices rising and in spite of what is reported, the real reason is of course Brexit. Why because no longer being in the EU we are out of the umbrella of the unified protection that we enjoyed keeping prices under control. Don’t let this lying government mislead you into believing that other factors are the main cause. Energy costs are rising but you look at the cost per kilowatt across Europe compared to the U.K. and we are double the price!

Once again the promised “bright future” has been brought into stark relief because even though we could have stayed in the protected price consortium, Boris choose not to! There is not a single promise or advantage that has been fulfilled since leaving and it’s only getting worse. I’m sure there will be further revelations highlighting the foolishness of leaving the EU and you can bet they will hit your pocket or leave our country worse off!

So we have two choices either fight this government and it’s right wing agenda or throw our hands in the air and give up! Too many have already given up and fighting seems futile but ultimately the people will win, how long it takes or whether the damage done is to great remains to be seen but we must not stop resisting and reporting.

Stay well

Pathetic, hopeless, lying, corrupt, deceitful, misguided, prejudicial, duplicitous, irresponsible, fractious, superior and unfortunately elected.

The worse government Britain has ever had at a time when we need great leaders this is the smarmy bunch of fuckwits we get.

Your welcome 

Stay well

Well I had to write something even though I am currently in the warmth of Crete. Need I even say, what I think, of the suggestion that we return to Imperial weights and measures. The opportunity for sarcasm and humour are endless. The reaction has been entirely predictable and when I first read the proposal I wondered if I had lost a few months and it was April 1st! 

Never mind that the education system has been teaching metric and many will have no idea what pounds and ounces are, surely the very simplicity of metric is the very reason we use it? This idea that we must return to the “values” of some idyllic past is a nonsense and this is just another example of this governments inane thinking! Divorce from the EU does not mean you have to abandon all the shared commonality simply because you have to be “independent”!

Soon much of the legislation that protects our wildlife, fauna and countryside, that was agreed under EU membership is going to be repealed. It will leave our countryside woefully unprotected and you can bet all sorts of development will be granted to yet more cronies of this corrupt Conservative party.

How strange that all those Brexit supporters are silent now the effect that leaving has become the disaster that even they secretly knew it would be. I have not read or heard a single one shouting or boasting of the advantages it has provided since our exit? Nothing has happened other than turmoil, additional bureaucracy, job vacancies and shortages, whilst huge additional costs have blighted businesses at every turn. Welcome to Britain’s bright new future!

I’m just going to enjoy the rest of my hols and try to forget about it all!

Stay well

Today we fly out to Crete so I may not write for three weeks.

I promise to leave on a happy note? However I can find little to be happy about as the news continues to be depressing. My natural optimism has been tested to the full and whilst my tiny opinion matters little to anyone but myself, it is our collective protest that can eventually make the change that is so desperately needed! I cannot emphasis enough how this current government is eroding our rights and bringing in legislation that is prejudicial and restrictive. Simple human kindness and compassion has become an offence, punishable by time in jail! I don’t know about you but that is not a country I wish to live in.

We have an ineffective opposition leader, who cannot break free from his lawyer persona and become the passionate hard hitting leader he needs to be right now! I am not a Labour voter but there is no doubt they have lost their way after a disastrous flirtation with Corbyn. 

Given that there were many promises that have never been fulfilled that the Brexit campaign promoted, why is there not more pressure being put our government and the leave campaign for their complete failure to live up to them? I repeat, that it is very noticeable, all those Brexit campaigners have been silent. Where is all the boasting of all the promises made that have come to pass? The public are not as easily fooled and well aware of what a monumental mistake leaving the EU has, as predicted, become! Not to worry look at all the massive trade deals we have done with the rest of the world! 

I fear for the younger generation and the mess we have left for them. There are less opportunities for them than ever before and no matter what the government does to try and plug the holes, the prospect for so many of them is grim. My generation is largely responsible. We were the first to benefit from the “freedom” we were given and have squandered it for material gain! I am generalising and it is never that simple especially if your not white. 

I don’t blame the young for not listening to us older people anymore, we have done little to gain their respect with the state we have left their world in. 

Having written all that, I am still optimistic, that we can rescue both our country and the world. It takes the will of us all to do it but I still have the belief that humanity can come together and as the Nick Lowe says “What’s so funny about peace love and understanding?”

Stay well

Well done the passport office. Went collect my new one and it took less than two minutes. Sad to loose my European old one but such is life!

I have not written about the state of our beleaguered country this week even though there is plenty to write, as always. Every day brings more disappointment as our government pass more legislation of a questionable nature. for instance this week they have passed a Crime bill which they admit unfairly targets Gypsies, Travellers and Black people and then they try to justify it. It is beyond belief! The institutionalised endemic prejudice and fear of whites over other ethnic groups is based on loosing their privilege. We have ruled the roost for so long, done so much damage to the world and guess what we want to retain the status quo! I struggle to understand how we continue to subjugate people of a different ethnic backgrounds and how the colour of your skin makes even the slightest difference? Still it is an old long standing problem and my two pennies worth make little difference. 

I saw a video of climate protesters blocking a slip road onto the M4, by sitting in front of the traffic. Now while I applaud the intention, there seems to be an irony in stopping cars and that have there engines idling pumping out fumes. Having been in the motor trade I can tell you that most pollution from a car engine occurs when it is stationary and the engine is running! There is no doubt that we are ruining the very planet we live on and that drastic action is required to halt the advance of climate change (assuming it can be). I find it laughable that many of the changes we are making to become “green” can generate enormous amounts of pollution to make the constituent parts. A electric or hybrid car is a good example. The energy required for the battery technology alone would negate any of the supposed saving that the vehicle would have on the road!

Well tomorrow we will be making a carbon uplift of our own as we fly out to Crete, so I can’t say to much!

Stay well

We will, new Passport permitting, be off on our hols this week. Pre holiday excitement never hits until the week we are leaving. The amount of forms and arrangements you have to make before going is bewildering and the rules could change at any moment! If you don’t know where to look you can easily fall foul. Our wonderful governments website is not the easiest to navigate and at times either contradicts itself or just does not work! My wonderful wife takes care of all the bookings and has diligently followed all the protocols. We nearly got caught out by the passport changes and had to read the info a number of times until it was clear. Hopefully I will be picking up my new “British blue” (more like black) one today from Peterborough. If you apply for one do not use the digital upload. No matter how good your selfie is, the software will not accept it. I found a chemist who for £6 took the picture and using the same software as the passport office, was able to check it would be acceptable. You get a code, enter it on the site and they upload from the “cloud”. 

We are going for three weeks and our two cats are in for a shock as a cattery was the only practical solution to their care. I hope they will forgive us. Their grumpy enough as it is!

Stay well

Let me add my congratulations to Emma Raducana, brilliant!

Sport can lift the spirit and leave you breathless with admiration. whatever you think of football and the Premier league, watching Manchester United fans welcome Ronaldo back to Old Trafford certainly gave them joy! 

I have never been a particularly good at any sport, I have taken part in quite a few and decidedly average at all of them, capable but thats about it. The level that professional sportspeople play at is quite astonishing to the average person. We don’t see all the training and hard work and practice that makes them as good as they are. Then there are those who rise to another level and become champions blessed with either natural talent and/or a fierce determination to make the most of their skill. We know the riches that can be earned and the fame that comes with it. If you like sport and I do, then you have to admire their skill. 

I am no fanatical sports fan, indeed as I have got older my interest has lessoned. I still watch but have not got the patience, for instance to watch a whole game of football. I even wind through Match of the Day and just see the goals. Sport may not be everyone’s thing and thats fine but we cannot deny the breath of human achievement and the emotion and joy, it can often put us through!

Stay well

 Today I am simply going to paste an email I have just sent to my MP Philip Hollobone. (Conservative) I looked up his record. Some of it is referenced. I suggest you look up the record of your own MP it could be very revealing.

 Dear Philip,

I read this morning that the PM has said that the British public are in support of the stated intent not to let migrants into our country and turn them away.
I am a long standing member of the British public and I do not support this intention, so would you please tell Mr Johnson on my behalf?

In a separate theme, I have done some research on you parliamentary career thus far. As admittedly a new constituent, I was unaware of your voting record and attempts to introduce a number of private member bills to parliament.

I shan’t list all of the bills you have tried to get through, you will know them far better than me, except to say that your views could not be more diametrically opposed to mine. There is a strong whiff of xenophobia and racial prejudice in your track record, although I am sure you would vehemently deny it? 
It is clear you are on the “right” wing of the party and it appears your voting record has a taint of self-interest, such as voting against a proposed amendment to make landlords make rental properties “fit for human habitation” being a landlord yourself?

Your “filibuster” against a Green Party proposal to reverse private sector investment in the NHS was at the very least hubris of the worse kind. 
Notwithstanding your support of Brexit (how is that turning out for you?) your refusal to see constituents who wear the Burka because and I quote “going round like wearing a paper bag over your head” is a denial of democratic rights of lawful citizens, whatever your personal view of that garment might be and is truly abhorrent. You were rightly warned that you could face legal action. Then to compound your view, you tried to introduce a bill that regulated certain face coverings, fortunately it never got anywhere.

Philip I am sure you believe your a well meaning representative of your constituency and no doubt there are many voters who support your views. It goes without saying I am not one of them.

I look forward to your reply

Sincerely 
Paul Primhak

Stay well

Well the good news is that there is no good news but that is the last of the bad news!

I read an email I had sent to my MP to two my two golf partners, yesterday, I told them that I did not expect a reply. They asked why I bother? My answer is simple, if you don’t keep registering your objection to this governments performance then they will never change. Not for one second do I think my email would have any affect on him or his party but you have to keep trying. It is a small, insignificant thing to send a message to your MP, that does not mean you should not try or that one day just maybe they will take notice?

It is our democratic right to hold our elected representation to account. Whilst we may think it is a pointless exercise, if we all did it maybe, just maybe they would listen. They are certainly not listening at the moment. Tragically democracy is slowly  dying and our rights are dying with it. True democracy has never really existed, it can’t, certain rules and regulations must be in place to kerb ever changing public attitudes. Regrettably it is always the few who ruin it for the many! A two party system is not Democracy and certainly not when one of those parties is ineffectual and in turmoil. You could reasonably argue that we live in a dictatorship, a one party state. 

I will continue to write to my MP and voice my objection to government policies and corruption. I urge you to do the same, while we still can!

Stay well

Brief today.

Conservatives just made the poor poorer and migrants the enemy.

We are living in an age of no compassion and the death of democracy.

I’m past caring to be honest.

Stay well 

Well you don’t need me to say very much do you? Are you surprised? Okay we all know there is a funding problem and investment is needed. If they had not spaffed so much money up the wall or handled the pandemic better, perhaps, just perhaps we could find some understanding for a rise that was firmly promised never to happen. I have no idea what the conversations have been that lead to this decision but we all know that this government are unable to keep any promise or not renege on a deal or policy. Whilst the public moans and complains one thing becomes clear, this is what happens when you vote Tory and the opposition is ineffective. No real use in complaining, we are stuck with this lot for another 4 years. At the next election the country will be so deep in the shit that no government will be able to get us out of it. The Conservatives are not entirely to blame, they are not the only architects of this disaster but they sure played a huge part and have consistently made poor decisions! Now it is no secret that, I am no supporter of the Tories and have a deep hatred of this particular lot. I am no supporter of Labour either. The UK no longer has a party that represents vast swathes of the public. What mystifies me is I have never met or spoken to a single person who supports the Tory party, Brexit or any of the right wing policies that have blighted our country in recent times? So who are they? We know the famous ones, those who supported leaving Europe and are obviously Conservative voters but who are all the others? Of course I am being deliberately naive and disingenuous we know from the election results exactly who voted for them. We know because they have an 82 seat majority. We know because both of the constituencies I have lived in have Tory MP’s. Now maybe I don’t meet that many people or move in those circles but I have genuinely not met a person who voted for them? 

If like me you feel helpless, disenfranchised and have no confidence in the country going forward to this bright future then I have no comforting words, just do your best, it’s all you can do!

Stay well

I have just started reading Michael Holding new book Why we kneel, How we rise. almost from the start this book upset me, as he begins to relate the prejudice and inequality which has taken place over hundreds of years. For those who may not know Michael Holding played cricket for both Jamaica and the West Indies from ‘75 to ‘85. He was known as “whispering death”, a fast bowler so smooth and elegant that he hardly made a noise.  During the reports on George Floyd’s  death in America he spoke eloquently, emotionally and passionately about the prejudice that black people suffer every day and how inequality with white people continues. He had buried his feelings for his whole life even though he still experiences prejudice but now he is speaking out and his book uses his sporting credentials to  have spoken with other sports people who have also experienced the same issues. I urge you to read it. I am not going to explain his prose except to say  I agree with his assessment that education for all people is the only way it can be addressed. As he says, history is written by the winners and by those who harm not those who are harmed!

When I grew up racial slurs were normal and accepted and I was as guilty as anyone else, being ignorant of the harm it caused. I like to think my younger self knew it was wrong but that is no excuse. Any form of racial slur is simply unacceptable and yet now in the 21st century it continues unabated in almost every place in the world. Even lighter skinned  black people are prejudicial against those who have a dark skin, which I was aware of but find difficult to understand. 

The world is weird in a myriad of ways but peoples inhumanity to others is the most inhuman of traits and must be resisted in every way.

Stay well

Perhaps there will be so many shortages that fast food like MCDonalds will be forced to close completely and then what would the world do? We might have to find alternative food like vegetables or salad or other healthy eating. It would be ironic if we made a dent in the obesity problem because Brexit caused so many shortages! It had to have some advantages! 

Have you noticed how all the well known Brexit supporters have gone very quiet as the huge problems it has caused have piled up? No shouting about our big bright future only silence. All the promises disappeared like smoke as if they had ever been true in the first place! Nobody boasting about how good things are and what wonderful progress and independence we have achieved! Indeed many of the leading Brexiteer’s have expressed concern. It’s done and there is no turning back but what a mistake, we now have to live with. It’s not finished either, there are still separation issues to sort out. This mad isolationism will haunt Britain for years.

I think by now most people agree that Boris and his cabinet of no hopers and liars have done a piss poor job over the last few years. If you wanted a PM and minsters who were going to cock it all up, you could not have got a worse lot than these. 

It is easy to lambast them, we don’t have all the info or know all the factors involved but having said that does watching them fill you with confidence that they can manage the country? It only fills this man with horror and a deep anger at the state of our union! I have written about many subjects in this blog and often repeated myself as they events of the world unfold and yet little seems to get better indeed it only seems to intensify!

On a brighter note our new kitchen is being fitted over the next two days.

Stay well

Well no surprise that this government is trying to raise National insurance in order to fund the NHS. Ironically as a pensioner I no longer pay NI. I would be willing to pay more tax to fund the NHS if it could be guaranteed that it would be used for their funding. Think on this, the government is spending several billion on a nuclear sub, a railway network, 250 million on a royal yacht, not to mention the extraordinary amount of billions that have wasted already! This increase will not affect the rich but will impact ordinary working people. Yet another caring policy from this uncaring government. 

The government is about to launch an attack on our democratic rights. The new Elections Bill could stifle campaigning by charities, stop eligible voters from casting their votes, and smash the authority of the elections watchdog.  

⚖️ The Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill: The government is trying to use this law to completely undermine the right to protest. Protests that are deemed “too loud” could be shut-down and their organisers put in prison.

These are just some of the new legislation’s that are being introduced and with an 82 seat majority will not be difficult to write into the statute book. How quickly our democratic freedoms are shoved to one side in the name of “law and order”! 

I urge you, write to your MP and tell them that they must fight these proposed bills! 

Now that it is said here is another short piece what I wrote. It was a little while ago as the topical figures will show:

It’s not easy being the Devil!

Being the Devil is not easy. For a start you have to answer to a lot of different names, Beelzebub, Satan, Diablo, Lucifer, Old Nick etc (117 according to the internet). People believe I am fallen angel, kicked out of heaven for rebelling against father. This is true but not the full story. We did have a falling out. You try living with a omnipresent God. Overbearing is an understatement, so yes I did have a bit of a tantrum and he did throw me out. Mum tried to reason with him but he was having none of it. He can be very unforgiving. He has forgotten all about it and all but forgotten me. I don’t mind after all he did me a favour and now I am very much my own man or at least thats what he lets me believe? 

It’s not so bad being in charge of hell. And before you accuse me and fall for all that nonsense about me punishing sinners, that is not what I do. I do have demons and it’s no holiday camp, it’s not meant to be. We  supervise and keep things ordered. If you do end up in hell it is all of your own making and you repeat your worse sins for eternity.  There is no torture, hellfire and damnation just the drip drip drip of reliving your own personal nightmare! 

I find it amusing that people worship me and practice all sorts of rituals and black magic. I can tell you with absolute certainty that worshipping my father, any other God, or not believing anything, makes not the slightest difference, it is what you do in life that counts. 

I occasionally look in on some of my residents and am amazed, they are constantly surprised, why the same things keeps happening ad infinitum. I get bored and go back to my residence vowing never to do it again. The demons and I play all sorts of games for amusement but there are strict rules that we must not interfere with human activity. Rules are there to be broken and our favourite diversion is being mischievous  with you humans. Just tricks and jokes to relieve the boredom. Putting unsuitable men in positions of power is great fun!

I want to set the record straight, this foolishness about selling your soul to the Devil to have obtain your greatest desire, is hogwash. For a start I don’t want more residents, far from it, we’ve got too many already. I’m having to build more and levels by the month as you horrible humans keep flooding in at an alarming relate. I hardly need to buy a soul your too good at getting here all on your own!

A popular game, is betting on which famous people will arrive . It kills time and is our version of a reality show! The current front runners, are Donald Trump, Valadamir Putin, Boris Johnson and that guy who owns all those retail outlets in the UK Philip somebody? I know they are obvious but it’s good sport! We are struggling to agree on what Trump’s personnel hell will be after all there is a multitude of sins to chose from. If you are wondering why I have not mentioned Dominic Cummings, he is one of my chief Demons and he’s really enjoying himself!

As I said we like to play little tricks !

Stay well

Word of the day from Susie Dent: DOWFART (18th century Scots) One who is feeble, idle and entirely ineffectual.

Well as even my two regular readers seem to abandoned me, there seems little point writing anything? So here is my latest short story

The Man in the Hat

“You know what they say George, if you want to get ahead get a hat!”

George frowned and looked at his companion with undisguised contempt. “Your pithy sayings are becoming tiresome Henry”

Henry laughed “Well suit yourself I have other fish to fry” He laughed again and left the room.

“Good riddance” He called after him

George had been grumpy for days and his patience was wearing thin. Normally he was happy to take Henry’s gentle chiding with good grace but his current mood had dulled his normal good humour. 

If he did not discover where the painting was soon he was in trouble and the search had not been going well. What had appeared to be a relatively simple task had become frustrating and George’s demeanour had soured. 

As an art historian George had been involved in many projects where a painting had to be tracked down but this one was proving to be more difficult than most. His client was not an easy one and she had taken his lack of progress badly and insisted he double his efforts. She was paying and she wanted a result!

The painting had been in her family for many years until a relative had mistakenly given it away with some other items that were being cleared from her house. Unfortunately it was some time after that she had discovered it was missing and by then it was too late, retrieving it from the charity that had collected it.

Records at the Salvation Armies depot were accurate and well kept and George was optimistic he could find the painting quite easily. He was quickly disappointed and the trail went cold. The man who had purchased it for the princely sum of £25 had died shortly after and his belongings had been auctioned by the house clearance company. The records at the auction were not so well kept. They were only interested in selling fast and clearing out, they cared little for who had bought items and most did not fetch much more than £50.

George tried to get a list of people who had attended as by law they were supposed to sign in but that proved useless as they had only paid lip service to keeping it.

One of the staff had given a pretty good description of the man who bought it but without a name or address the information was very little to go on.

George was frustrated and a further fractious conversation with his client had not helped. 

He was leaving his office when a man approached the reception desk with a wrapped up painting under his arm. This was not unusual, people arrived with paintings everyday. His company specialised in authenticating works of art and George spent most of his time inspecting pictures for that reason. He was just pushing the door open when he noticed something in the reflection of the glass. He turned and stared at the man, who wore a battered broken felt hat with a red indian feather tucked into the brim, George excitedly went over to him “Excuse me but I wonder if I might be of assistance?”

Stay well

Well I had decided to cease hostilities towards the chaos in the world but I cannot stay silent over the Texas legislation eroding the rights of women. Whatever your thoughts on abortion, it is a hard won right that women have the choice over their own bodies. As a man, had my partner chosen to abort a child as her choice, I would have been devastated but I would respected her decision. Fortunately it has never affected me or my family. The reasons for making that choice are well known and I am not going to discuss them here. The criminalisation of such procedures is nothing new and I understand the argument that the pro-life supporters put forward. (Don’t necessarily agree but understand)  It will always be a contentious issue, when is a foetus viable and I am not medically qualified to comment. For me the woman, whose pregnancy it is, should have the choice, unless they are unfit to do so!

Women’s rights, which should never have been in question in the first place, are being eroded and high jacked by the trans community. Those who still have a penis but identify as women are causing disruption in the advancement of equality and progress. Young people support them, saying they have the right to be who they want to be and everyone else is to frightened to call them out over their insistence on certain pronouns and terminology. And dare you say that a woman has a vagina or that men who identify as women are not really biologically female you will be shot down in flames and even prosecuted. Why should a “ex-man” be allowed into a women’s “safe” space? Young feminist dismiss those who fought for the very rights they now have, with no idea of the struggles that got them. I have stated clearly in the past, I have no problem with anyone being who they want to be (with some exceptions). It is whoever shouts loudest and the headlong rush to establish the transgender community, has left a nasty stain on the progress of women's rights. The very fact that women have to fight for complete equality is in itself a totally disgusting, it should not even be an issue! Girls and boys are different, which it seems we no longer accept. We are wired differently, we share a vast amount of our biology but are still biologically separated! If your born male your male forever and vice er versa. And think on this women who wish to identify as men do not need to fight for rights, they immediately have them, just by changing!

Today everybody is shouting and nobody is talking. Honest and fair debate has been sidelined in the vast whirlpool of information and opinion that clamours for our attention and turns us inside out and upside down. 

Tomorrow I will retire once ore and publish another story

Stay well

 Once again I am trying my hardest to refrain from commenting on all the usual crap! So here is another story for your Wednesday morning delectation.

Fly in the Ointment

Mr Shallack was fussy and his class could not stand his constant interference in their projects “don’t do it like that” “do it this way” “no Gordon that will never work” He never stopped pointing out what he thought was their mistakes. 

They spoke often about him and what they could do about his confidence sapping comments. “We should teach home some kind of lesson, something he won’t forget” Gordon said vehemently, he thought Shallack picked on him more than the others. 

“What?” replied Sheila a rather attractive lady whom Gordon fancied but had been rebuffed when he had asked out. 

“Yes what?” Repeated several of the others 

Gordon looked round at the group and realised he did not have a clue what lesson they could teach him.

Weeks went by and Shallack did not stop his relentless critique of their work. He was very knowledgeable and there was no doubt he had taught them much about the subject and it’s background and theory but when it came to any encouragement there simply was none. The grumbling and moaning from the students continued and a couple actually gave up and quit the course. True to form Shallack mocked them in front of the whole class and said he never thought they were any good!

Gordon had almost given up but if had one guiding principle it was to never give up. One evening Shallack was particularly savage in his criticism of ladies work, she had largely been exempt from his ire until now. She was quiet and from what Gordon could see one of the better students with a real control over her experiments. This evening however Shallack spared her no mercy as he lambasted her sloppiness and complete lack of understanding as he saw it. Freda, that was her name, looked at him in horror as he red faced tore her work apart she physically recoiled from him and the others stopped what they were doing looking on with undisguised hatred.

Gordon was boiling inside “Shallack you horrible bully you have gone too far and we aren’t going to take it anymore you owe that lady a sincere apology” was what he thought but somehow something stopped him from saying it out loud!

They were all relieved when the class ended and nearly all of them tried to comfort Freda who looked shell shocked and very upset.

Gordon did not consider himself a brave man or especially strong when it came to confrontation but he knew this couldn't go on. It was more than just demoralising but it might turn quite a few of them off of the subject for good. He wondered how other past students had tolerated Shallack and whether the college was aware of his behaviour. He had to do something but what?

The following day as Gordon arrived at the college he saw Mr Shallack arrive on his vintage Vincent motorbike. Gordon knew it was Shallack pride and joy and he had seen him warn anyone who got to close to it or stopped to admire it. He kept it in pristine condition and would often go out and polish it during the day or put a cover over it if it rained. An idea formed in Gordon’s mind and he smiled to himself as he visualised the outcome!

A couple of weeks later on a warm summer's evening as they were leaving, Gordon and his classmates were crossing the car park when they suddenly, they heard the most terrible scream and looked over to see Mr Shallack waving his arms madly and what appeared to be a black cloud forming around him. He was trying to shout but the cloud was getting in his mouth and nose. In his desperation to get away he knocked over his precious Vincent and it crashed to the ground heavily breaking the headlight. None of them moved, they stood rooted to the spot mesmerised by the scene unfolding before them.

“There flies” Sheila shouted “Hundreds of flies”

“Yes” said Gordon with a sly smile on his face “ I wonder how they got there?”

Stay well