There is no doubt that 2022 has not been the best of years for the world in general! For us personally it was the best of years with the birth of our granddaughter Hannah and yesterday we enjoyed her first Xmas She really is the best present we could ever get! 

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could finally get rid of all these nasty petty pathetic men who seem to continue to ruin our lives and believe they are right! In no particular order if Putin, Trump, Farage, Johnston, Rees-Mogg, most if not all Tory ministers, any other dictators, the Taliban, Chinese Communist Party, North Korea and so many more the world would be an infinitely better place! It has to be accepted that we cannot solve the many problems that beset our country let alone the world but surely there must be agreement that at the very least we don’t make it worse? I am not optimistic about our future and fear for the future of my children and especially my granddaughter? The heady optimism of my generation seems to have dissipated and burst like the dream it was. We have conspired to make the world a shadow of the place it could be. We have made enormous progress particularly with technology but as a human race I fear we have regressed. I am not expecting joy and peace for everybody but neither did I expect this creeping sickness of fascism and the continuation of racist behaviour and such extreme views!

I am sick of being labelled weak or too liberal, a lefty leaning moaner because I don’t share the views of the capitalist society that sets up profit and the acquisition of money as it’s only goal! I am not altruistic I understand only to well that we have to have some form of renumeration in order to live in our modern world. I am more than aware that equality is unachievable, that there will always be the haves and the have less! I accept that there are many good people who do their best to make the world and peoples lives better, it feels like it but al is not doom and gloom!

This is no Christmas message , as you all no I abhor religion and all that it stands for but I would like some balance brought to the world!

Stay well

What are your thoughts on all the strikes? Don’t support the “workers” inconvenience, ruining your Xmas? Perhaps you are with them surely they all deserve better pay and conditions? Everything is political and nothing more so than Unions doing one of the things they are there for. Personally I am generally a supporter of this industrial action. When you see the wastage and expenses claimed by our government (which runs into multi-millions) their excuse that it will fuel inflation is bogus and disingenuous in the extreme. Yes many of these “workers” are already paid well, yes some of the union leaders are remunerated well. None of this is relevant in relation to a pay increase or some of the demands that are being asked of them by their employers! We love them and we hate them all at the same time. It is inconvenient, for many it will have an effect on their plans and why we complain that is all done at Christmas is bogus. If you were planning action at what time would you do it, when it has no impact on anyone or when it has maximum impact? Have you ever witnessed a government who condemn every strike, every action and yet refuse to interfere even though it is the fundamental task of governing to make sure the country runs! There are two side to every negotiation but in order to resolve a dispute you have to negotiate. It used to be that unions would make a demand above what they really wanted the employers would eventually sit down with them and agree to pay them less. Job done. Now both sides to a greater and lesser degree seem to have forgotten how to negotiate and the government has entirely absolved themselves of their  responsibility to help! It seems rhetoric and opposing each other has become more important than meeting and discussing a solution. The press and media love to vilify everyone and there is a some evidence that particularly one union leader might just be relishing the limelight a little to much? 

I am no great lover of Christmas and frankly it will not affect me but a stand has to be made after twelve years of Conservative misgoverning and corruption!

Stay well

I am not innocent of writing an insulting or vitriolic barb on social media, indeed I have written at least two this very morning on Twitter. I have noticed that this social media platform has become petty, full of bile and outright hatred. Perhaps it is a sign of the times we live in, that our frustration and outright disbelief, of the way of the world and particularly our country is running? The public are disenchanted with just about everything and who can blame them! An NHS under siege and falling apart at the seams. Strikes by disenchanted workers who have had enough of the way they are treated and the re numeration they get for doing their job. Not being able to afford to live is a reality. People homeless and on the streets is a reality that we all witness every day, well certainly in Kettering! Food banks are a reality. What have we come to when Ministers openly shout about opening more of them ? I do not claim to know the solution to these and the many many other problems that our country faces. The problem is that those we have elected on both sides of the divide don’t know how to either? They are just as guilty of petty insults and hatred as the rest of society! Whether they are a reflection of us or we are a reflection of them is a mute point! Never in my 70 years have we had such pathetic, inept MP’s as we have at present. There is not a states-person worthy of the name! I have bleated on many times about the endemic corruption that seems to pervade public life and there have been so many examples of it, that we have lost count and just shrug our shoulders, as though it is expected and is normal behaviour! 

My granddaughter Hannah is already 6 months old and we adore her, as you would expect but I despair at the world my generation is leaving her and the nation she will grow up in! I know she will have the values of our family instilled in her. We can be sarcastic, insulting and swear a lot but we also are fair, accepting, kind, generous , loving and at the risk of being superior, intelligent. I can only hope that the cyclic nature of the world will come around and there will be a period of peace and prosperity and the dire state we find ourselves in will improve? 

People often ask the perfectly understandable question “ what is the point of our existence?” My answer is simple, there is no point and that is the point! The sooner we come to accept that we are nothing significant or special, that there is no life beyond death and all we can do is live to the best of our ability, the better off we will be! We have to cope with all the tragedies and hiccups that life throws at us. If this sounds like some new age philosophical mumbo jumbo, well so be it, it is no less true for that!

Stay well

Apparently we live in a “woke” world The dictionary definition reads   "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)," 

Sounds perfectly reasonable doesn’t it? Surely we all aspire to be “actively attentive” on many subjects and if they are “important facts & issues” we should be aware? I am not ashamed of being one of the so called “Liberal left” These days if you are reasonable and balanced, you are weak left leaning moaner. You’re supposed to have definitive views, no wishy washy sitting on the fence, seeing both sides of a debate. Your either for us and if not you must be against us and not only are you against but your stupid and pathetic! Now I don’t like the Tories, I think I’ve made that perfectly clear but with the exception of a number of them, I don’t think they are stupid or in many cases don’t genuinely care about the country, I vehemently disagree with their policies and methods but (and there is so much evidence of corruption and cronyism) I can understand where they are coming from! Naturally I would fall under the current definition of “woke”? 

This lady who was “insulted” at this royal do! I think I too would be offended by someone of any age who was persistently asked me where I was from after answering the question once of twice ! Now in the great scheme of things is it important? Yes. It highlights the barely perceived underlying prejudice that still exists even if the enquirer was meant to be friendly! 

One last thing, I am fed up with this constant news trail about Harry and Megan. I could care less about them! Just leave them alone and let them stew in their own pathetic fantasy!

Stay well!

It is a strange planet we live on. Each of us observes the issues and each of us has our stance on who is right and who is wrong. We are all of course convinced we are right no matter how “open” minded we try to be. One should always try to listen to all points of view. Even with those we vehemently disagree with there can be some merit in their opinion. There are many whose views are so extreme that you could never find any common ground. Whether on religious, political, ethical or any other view we diametrically disagree. We find it difficult to understand why others do not see things the same way we do, after all to us our view is obvious!

As an instance, I am an atheist and have been very intolerant of those who believe in God under whichever banner they practice. As I have got older I have become more tolerant but religion still from time to time makes me angry. I find it very difficult to understand how anyone can have faith in an intangible being when the evidence is overwhelming that no such being exists! I understand many people’s desire to hope for something either to explain life or to exist after death. 

I think this illustration sum it up for me:

The Pope was having a animated discussion with an atheist, they were getting nowhere and the Pope exasperated said “The trouble with you atheists is your like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there!”

The atheist smiled and replied “Indeed you are the same You are like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there. The difference between us is that you think you’ve found it!”

So for those of you who like firm opinions here are a few of mine in no particular order:

Climate change is real the evidence is overwhelming!

The Conservatives are ruining our country!

People in America who still support Donald Trump are bonkers!

Vladimir Putin is a nutcase who is trying to destabilise the West and has invaded a sovereign country!

Anyone who does not think that Brexit was the most disastrous thing we did to ourselves is misguided and living in a fools paradise!

Stay well!

One simple message this morning if Trump wins a second term we are even more doomed than we are already!

Stay well 

I have not written for some time. Odd considering the avalanche of stuff that has been going on? It has been so disheartening and depressing, that I could not bring myself to put words on the page as every other one would have been an expletive! Since I last wrote we have had two unelected PM’s. We have had a Conservative Party that has been and is increasingly so unfit to govern that it has passed beyond parody! The same old faces shuffled about into various government posts and as has been the case for so long talking utter bollocks! Naturally Labour are getting their fair share of flake, as you would expect, some of it well deserved, most because they have such a huge lead over the Tories in the polls. Those polls are meaningless and if we are still two years out from a general election are baseless and certainly no real indicator of how we will vote! 

Economic austerity and balancing the economy is not the way to get our country out of the current malaise. Spending money is the way to go and everyone knows it, you cannot run a country like household economics. Our debt is not due until 2050 and easily serviced at 3 billion a year, a mere pittance in the vast amounts we talk about each day! Investment and massive stimulation of our economy is what is needed, not mealy mouthed intentions to “balance the books”! It is a barely thinly disguised move towards privatisation of our NHS and other institutions. We must stop being in thrall to the markets and actually look after the people, thats what we vote for!

I notice that there are many who still deny “climate change” You would need to be blind, deaf and dumb not to have noticed. Unfortunately, as always, the wheels turn too slowly and the damage will probably be irreparable! As for the Stop Oil protests, like many, I agree with the message but not the method of delivery, having said that there are many changes that would not have happened without public disorder and protests, not least of all the vote for women!

The state of our world is not a good one at this time and in truth has not been for many many years. 

Wendy and I have our own little ray of sunshine in the form of our granddaughter Hanna, now 4 months old and as easy going baby as you could wish for!

Stay well

My reaction to Liz Truss becoming PM!

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay well

 It is stunning when you see and hear the litany of shit that Boris perpetrated on this country during his time as PM. With his tenure finally about to end there have many reports and broadcasts listing all the stuff that he did and more importantly did not do. It is a very long list! I think it is clear by now that I hate Johnson his whole party and everything they stand for. How we allowed this man to become PM is beyond my understanding (and yet it isn’t) Why there are still people who still support him is even more unbelievable (no it isn’t). I understand why the sitting MP’s might still support him because that are only concerned with being re-elected.

The most frightening thing is that should Liz Truss win the party leadership and become PM she is actually worse. Think about that, someone in No 10 who is actually worse than Johnson! I don’t want Sunak either, I just want the Tories gone before they do even more damage to our fragile country. 

I sometimes think it is some alternate reality we are living in, some dystopian novel written as a warning of what can happen when governments abuse their power. Yet it’s a nightmare and  you then realise it is all too real! 

One can only hope that the wheel will turn again and sense will prevail. The pain of 12 years of Tory rule will be felt for many years to come and should they remain, we are totally fucked. 

We are far to “British” and it is time we stood up for ourselves and acted more like a Nation who have finally had enough of this tyranny, because tyranny is what it is!

Stay well

 Our annual break in Crete begins next week and we will be away for a month, yippee!

I already know the answer to this question, why do we still have people in this country who support the Conservatives so staunchly, when you would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not see the damage that have perpetrated on our country since they have been in power? I would really like to hear from someone who supports them as to why they continue to do so or did in the first place? There is not a single person (as I have said many times) I talk with, who has anything but contempt for them!

Sadly, I have this horrible feeling that no matter how much damage they continue to do to our economy, NHS, social services, environment, no matter how badly they mismanage the energy and cost of living crisis, no matter if they finally accept that Brexit was a massive own goal, they will still win the next general election! I hope I am wrong but the lead Labour have in the polls (no matter how meaningful they are) needs to reinforced by a strong voice and at present Starmer is not capitalising on their obvious disharmony and shameful behaviour! Labour need to do and say more.

We need a real revolution in British politics and only us the people can make this happen. We must use every peaceful means to shout for change, no matter how hopeless you may feel it is, we must not give up. Unfortunately much of the protests that are currently taking place are not being reported by the mainstream media, who can no longer be relied upon to bring unbiased reporting to the public.

I am happy to be leaving our shores for a month and to be in an country where the painful daily litany of shame and economic shit is not a worry. The Greek government though poor and still in dire economic condition have done far more to help their people than our pathetic mealy-mouthed politicians have!

Stay well

It is easy to descend into despair as everyday the news does nothing to improve our collective mood! So personally speaking I have decided not to give a fuck! There is nothing I can do to change either my situation or anyone else’s! I am in the last quarter of my life and I just will not waste my time worrying about it anymore. So I intend to ignore it all and look after myself and my family and enjoy my granddaughter and as she grows help to be whatever she wants to be! 

Humans are complex, mercurial beings and as far as we know the only self-aware, thinking species on Earth. We have thoughts about our thoughts and endlessly analysing ourselves to death. I live in the moment and don’t get to far ahead or concern myself to much about yesterday. We all have regrets, I don’t dwell on them. Generally speaking I am a happy person who can easily shake off the daily bad news Am I selfish, yes, do I care, yes but being selfish allows me to shake off the anger and sadness that seems to accompany our view of our world. I rant and rave about the state of our country and the rest of the world, in these blogs, it is my way of getting it “off my chest”! 

In truth for all my complaining and anger towards events and the imbalance of equality I really don’t care as long as it does not affect me and mine too much. I am financially reasonably ok, just for now. I have enough too eat and drink and can afford as we will very soon to leave our shores for a month long stay in Crete. I can’t wait to leave this petty miserable country! 

The energy price hike is worrying for all of us. I have just found out that as a pensioner I will get £300 heating allowance this winter, hooray, that should almost cover one months bill!

So when I urge you to take up arms against a sea of trouble and make every effort to make your voice heard, don’t take to much notice, I am a hypocrite who in truth is not going to and never really has given a fuck!

Stay well

 I have heard of the shit hitting the fan but not in such vast quantities. The honour roll of Tory MP’s shamed and named for voting to allow the water companies to pump raw sewage into our seas goes on and whilst we should highlight their disregard for our beaches and health, they will take no notice, because they are the majority in Parliament and there is little we can do. That’s not to say we should not continually call them out at every opportunity and rightly condemn them for their neglect and barbarism but until we rise up and actually do something, they will continue to ride roughshod over us and could care less! Voting them out at the next general election will not be enough. We must destroy the Conservatives down to the level that the Lib Dems experienced after their coalition with them. They must not get a sniff of power ever again. The damage that have perpetrated on our country is incalculable and all so as their masters could get richer and retain power. It cannot and must not continue. 

If you want your children to grow up in a country that gives them little opportunity, poor pay and no prospects then please by all means continue to vote Tory, you will get your wish. The rich can ride out these economic and social issues because they are immune. They can pay their bills, they can afford private health care, they can afford to travel and live elsewhere. 

Tory Britain, 12 years of mismanagement, corruption, lies, breakdown of services and now a cost of living crisis! Is this is how you want the future of your country to continue? Once one of these two tossers gain power it won’t improve indeed it will only get worse! You have been warned, if you let this party govern again then you deserve everything you get!

Stay well 

 Strikes, inconvenient, disruptive and costly? Damn those pesky people for wanting a decent wage! There is no good time to strike but if they don’t do it now, then when? There is no doubt that there are hundreds of thousands of workers that do not get paid enough and wages have not kept pace with the expense of living for a very long time. The strikes do not affect me but I support them and indeed I would go further and say there must be a general strike! It may not achieve anything but it also maybe the only way these politicians (Tory) might sit up and take actual notice, instead of sitting back doing nothing and absorbing themselves with their own internal leadership contest! 

Profit, profit, profit at any cost. Do these large corporations not understand that if you pay decent wages you get better work and other benefits? 

We have left a a giant mess for our children and in our case our newly born grandchild Hannah. Who knows what hardships she might have to face by the time she is an adult? Admittedly her parents are “well off” but circumstances can change very quickly!

What has happened to our once proud and independent BBC? They have been neutered by this government and now running so scared that they hardly report the news anymore and certainly don’t report anything that might be deemed as critical of their Tory masters. Their neutrality has been so compromised they shy away from controversy and say as little as possible, so as not to upset their masters and lose their precious licence fee. Frankly there is little they broadcast these days that is worth the price. Of course they are not alone in this, most of the large news sites seem to have an aversion to report any kind of anti-government news. For instance yesterday there was a huge march of the “Enough is Enough” campaign and not a single word was printed about it on either the BBC or Sky, nothing?

Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight it has always been thus but I remember the huge innovation and optimism that pervaded the sixties and in my early life everything seemed possible! What a fuck up we have made of it all. Technology may have enhanced our lives but it has not stopped the human race continuing to rip the world apart! History is goes around and around, we have ups and downs, never have we as a country so effectively bolloxed our future so badly as we have since 2016! 

Stay well

Rightly both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are being held accountable for all of the proposals and comments they are currently spitting out. Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with all of the critics and find everything they say abhorrent, we must remember they are only trying to appeal to their own party and it’s membership, they could care less what we think, as we have no say in their contest. Once whichever one wins (and it is looking like Truss🤬😵‍💫) and they are the incumbent at No 10 they will say entirely different stuff and renege on every promise that have made. The column inches, social media, debates and general fuss that is being made over their contest is a waste of words (yes I get the irony of this sentence) We the people have no choice!

Mick Lynch has rapidly become my hero. Whether you agree with him or not ( I do) he speaks calmly and with great authority and our politicians could learn a thing or two from him. 

We need a general uprising as unpalatable as that may be. We cannot tolerate the shambles our country has become. Our rights are going down the tubes and inequality has never been so stark. The younger members of society need to stand up and be counted. My generation have fucked things so badly we should never be trusted again!

There are hundreds of thousands who will not be able to pay the exorbitant hike in energy costs. My advice don’t pay them! If enough of us do it, they will have no choice but to actually do something about it. We are being held to ransom over what in our society is now a basic human right. Surely all of us should be able to light, heat and cook in our homes. We can do without all the other stuff we run but those three are basic needs! 

Stay well

 There is no doubt that our masters could easily do things to ease the “cost of living crisis” VAT could be cut on several items, prices could be capped on others etc. Tax cuts will as always only help the rich. Corporation need to be taxed of their huge profits and those who stand to get richer by them need higher taxes as well. Only if wealth trickles down will the less well off lives be improved. Of course it isn’t that simple and these measures will help but there are real problems which money will not solve. This Conservative government is reluctant to take any of these measures because they are the party of the wealthy, that is their constituency and always has been. Let us be clear, especially as we have the most right wing version, this government cares little for the plight of its people only the insistent need to cling onto power! The intolerable situation of having a government that is not just asleep at the wheel but driving the country over a cliff is even worse as these two idiots fight to see which one of them will enter number 10 and make the country even worse still! The opposition is all but silent and only ex PM’s are rising to the occasion and slamming this governments inability to help in any way. We have an outgoing PM who says the problem is for the next leader and I suppose from this turd of a man we should expect nothing less, we know he never cared he just wanted to be PM. 

I am ashamed of those of my generation who have let this parlours state of our country come to this because we are too lazy, comfortable and apathetic. I hasten to add I do not excuse myself from that statement. How so many from a generation born so close to the finish of WW2 and the facist regimes that destroyed Europe, have become so right wing towards the tail end of their lives beggars belief. There is no doubt that the “older” generation is the one that mostly supports this corrupt and lying bunch and whilst many have seen the “light” I would not be at all surprised if most did not vote for them again!

The last 12 years have been a disaster for this country and from 2016 onwards that disaster has increased 1000 fold and then a 1000 fold again as soon as the Johnson premiership started. The Tories cannot control everything especially as their paymasters have exerted enormous influence over them, most of the parlours state of country lays firmly at their door. We may have still been in economic recession, no matter what stripe of party was in power but there is not shred of doubt, that had this lot not been there it would not be as bad!

Stay well!

 I have not watched any of the “leadership debates” but I have seen the reports. I have stated that I don’t want either of these horrible candidates to become leader but sadly one of them will end up PM and continue to run the worst government of all time in the UK. It is looking like Truss but I am sure there are twists and turns to yet come before the dust is settled.

As you read each day yet more bad news, as the inevitable recession rides back in to town, remember the Conservatives have been in power for 12 years and are largely responsible for the mess we are in. This must not be forgotten when the next general election comes around. We must never let their party govern again!

I have seen several recessions, many many strikes, minister resign in shame, corruption at every level, political parties rise and fall, PM’s arrive in glory and leave in ignominy, interest rates rise and fall again and round and round we go but I can honestly say that in all my nearly 70 years, never has a ruling government been as bad as this lot. Having said that the standard of political discourse, with the odd exception, has never been so poor on all sides of the political spectrum. I know it easy to criticise but genuinely if you are a adult over the age of 30 can you honestly say your happy with this bunch? 

I have not spoken to or overheard a single person who does not want this government gone. I think we may have reached the point where we are keener on getting them out than who replaces them (obviously Labour). I am disappointed with Labour and there lack of solid policies and poor record on holding the most corrupt of governments to account. You can’t sit back and let the Conservatives do all the damage themselves, you have to attack and keep the pressure on them at every opportunity!

Stay well

 So the England football team have won something at last, the men have failed but the women have “brought it home” well done.

Do you think our politics has reached rock bottom? If you want know how it works I suggest you read Jess Phillips book, The Life of an MP, an unvarnished look at what it take to become an MP and how they really behave in Westminster. she admits to having to toe the party line in order to get elected, even if as an individual you do not agree with the message. It is reveals a murky world of back room deals and shady agreements.

The most disturbing aspect of the current political thrust is the erosion of our human rights. Under the guise that the laws stand in the way of the government achieving their objectives, is just a thinly disguised way of saying they don’t want to be held accountable or have any legal challenge. You may not be affected by any changes but one day someone your related to or know maybe and we cannot let our rights disappear. 

Did you know it is against the law to award peerages to a lot of people in order to rig the Lords into voting the way government wants them to? It is punishable by a 2 year jail sentence. Boris yet again riding roughshod over the law, it never ends!

Stay well

It looks as though the momentum is with Liz Truss and if that is the case, put simply we are fucked! If it was not for the fact that our granddaughter Hannah has just entered our lives, we would be leaving the country, quickly! It would be a tragedy whichever of these two losers won but doubly so is it is her. I have long advocated that women should be running the country but she is as mad as a box of frogs! 

Paradoxically although our political and economic world is being torn asunder, I am a happy man. I may moan and complain about the parlays state of the UK but personally I am happy. It is summer, I have just become a grandfather and am as physically fit as I have been for a couple of months after a dodgy back and knee. Naturally I am concerned about the rising cost of living. I do not for one second dismiss the hardship and turmoil that it causing for millions of families but it is rare in my life, that in the retail world, prices have not steadily risen and only rarely dropped? As now, there have many times when prices have risen fiercely and I do not lessen the impact that such huge rises have. It is true that I am more insulated then at any time in my life but this does not mean that we have not discussed a number of ways to try to save.

I wrote to one of the directors at my energy supplier yesterday and once directed to the right set of accounts found they are operating at a substantial loss and have been for five years. I was told that they are not the only ones of the smaller/mid-size suppliers, who have been. Therefore I posed the question why and how do they remain in business? I have no idea what the operating profits of the larger energy suppliers are, though we are aware that several of them are making enormous profits. If the smaller companies are losing money who in their chain is making the profit? Somebody somewhere is making a lot of money and as always it is the consumer who is footing the bill!

As is always the case with these industries, we never really know the truth. 

Stay well

 No choice It is the predicament of the people in our country we have no choice. We can’t  choose the leader of our government, now the the former one has been ousted. We have no choice over the policies that government implement even if we were their supporters and if we weren’t we have no choice! We cannot influence a single thing, only in a general election and even then it is one day when we make a choice and after that we have none! We maybe a “democracy” but you can guarantee that the people have little or no say in its future. Yes we had a referendum but then again that was no choice, either you believed the lies or you were having your rights removed. We live in an age of apathy and silent acceptance. 

Truss says she is going to curb the power of militant unions, she has no idea what a militant union is. If you were around in the 70’s then you will know what I mean!

If I was one of these candidates I would have stayed away from any public debate and kept my mouth shut except to explain to the party what my policies are. Debates are pointless, we have no say in the choice of our next PM, yet again!

Let’s be crystal clear, Pandemic aside, we would not be in such a poor economic and social mess had we still been in the EU. We would definitely not be if we had a genuinely progressive government who actually want our people to prosper and not look after the privileged and wealthy! 

I feel sometimes as though i am banging a drum in a padded room where no sound escapes and that there are still those who are blind or just too ignorant to understand the damage that has been done? I am dumbfounded, though not surprised, that there is anyone in our country who still believes that the Conservatives are the right party to be in power? I understand agenda’s are in play and huge influence is wielded. I fail to understand the constant flow of spiteful rhetoric spouted by Tory after Tory. I fail to understand how people listen and accept their bullshit? I am neither naive or stupid but this last 12 years has been a disaster for this country and it is only getting worse. Unfortunately we are powerless do stop it because as usual, we can shout all we like but we have no choice!

Stay well

 Wendy and I have just been blessed with a granddaughter but the thought of having Liz Truss as the next PM is enough to have us contemplating moving to Crete permanently. It was bad enough with Boris but if that woman gets the job we are doomed. Never has there been a more prime example of a person who has been promoted way beyond their level of incompetence. It comes to something when I would prefer that slime ball Sunak in preference to Truss but is just highlights how low the Tory party has sunk, as if they could have sunk any lower!  

I am sick of answering every appalling event with the words “well we should have expected it” or “It’s never been any different” I want to switch off but it is impossible as each day our world descends into more chaos. I am sick of my own pessimistic writing. There are great and good things going on in the world no doubt. 

Nature has tried desperately tried to get rid of human kind for thousands of years but it’s biggest pest keeps surviving, earthquakes, floods, fire, pestilence, volcanoes, climate change, extreme heat, extreme cold, disease, tsunamis, you name it she has thrown everything at us and still we continue to destroy her. We’ve tried wiping each other out several times and have failed to do so. Millions have died but we are still here kicking and screaming and getting it all wrong at every turn! We will die out eventually but whether by the time we do we have actually learnt to be human is highly unlikely.

Stay well

There are substantial rumours that Boris Johnston is trying to get the decision to remove him overturned and that he believes he will be reinstated as PM by next year? Only a man as deluded as he is, would attempt such a move or actually believe he could return. They must nail him for the many times he mislead Parliament wether deliberately or not!

They won’t admit it, the can’t admit but none of the architects of Brexit will admit that it the cause of many of the issues that beset our country. they certainly won’t take the blame! I still see comments that those of us who voted remain should stop moaning and accept the democratic decision. Well we have as much right in a “democracy” to hold that opinion, as they do to tell us to get over it. You can see with your own eyes the chaos it has caused and the damage it has done. 

If a single person thinks the Tories have run this country well over the last 12 years then you have not been living in the same one as I have? There are global events that no government would have found it easy to deal with not least the pandemic but  I suspect most of us could have made better and more common sense decisions they have!

The choice, of the two, left to fix the mess he has left us with is a dire one and the damage inflicted is so bad, that whoever the government is at a general election, it will be mightily difficult if not impossible to rectify!

Life goes on and we must endure!

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Naturally I am delighted that Boris will no longer be PM, though I have a feeling we have not heard the last of him in the political arena. He has gone but the choice of his replacement in many ways is more frightening than having him remain! Sunak or Truss is not a choice, it is a damning reflection on the paucity of Tory candidates and the moves that have been going on for weeks in the background as they manoeuvred to oust Johnston and place themselves in the frame. No doubt all sorts of skullduggery and shenanigans have taken place behind the scenes as alliances were formed and promises made and broken to the Conservative party MP’s and members. We will never know the truth about what appears to have been Johnson’s sudden demise, even though we all knew from day one how unsuitable he was to be PM. You can bet it has been months in the making and the final act was the avalanche of resignations. The general public are not easily fooled (maybe!) this was not a sudden and spontaneous manoeuvre, it was planned and executed to put the maximum pressure on Boris and force him out. We all knew he would never go voluntarily and his unapologetic words since have shown yet once more how unfit he was to govern.

His final appearance at PMQ’s was just a further example of how right up until the last he bullshitted and blustered and repeated lie after lie as he “answered” questions in Parliament. His legacy is one of lie’s corruption and sleaze and he will not be remembered with as the “statesman” he so craved us all to believe. Have no doubt that even from the sidelines he will continue to spout his crap and tell over and over the same litany of lies. Scandal will follow him and he will become embroiled in yet more, it follows him around like his shadow!

It is depressing that this government will largely continue with much the same cast as before and with the same disregard for our welfare continuing to fiddle while Rome burns!

The head may change but the body will still make the same tired old mistakes it has made for 12 long years.

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 Glad to report that our granddaughter is home and all is well.

How do you feel at the moment? Happy with the state of things? Everything going your way? I simply ask because I wonder how everyone really feels, whether we do all worry about our countries position, whether you actually care or are too wrapped up in your own problems or perhaps are just not interested? There was a time when we would be out in our thousands protesting, irrespective of any legislation designed to stop us. Either we feel helpless or are to lazy, apathetic or no longer believe we can change anything? I certainly come in to the lazy category! With so many social platforms, such as this one, to express our dismay maybe it is hard to motivate ourselves, when we can sit, as I am in my comfortable kitchen typing this? 

We are living in turbulent times, uncertain, tragic, hysterical and depressing! Most of us are concerned over everyday ordinary stuff that makes up our lives. I am far more concerned that family and friends are well and healthy. For instance how are the majority of us going to pay our energy bills, my new tariff increase my monthly DD by over £230, with no other choice! I fear there will be many who will not be able to pay. Wendy and I are now thinking hard how we can save. We have discussed not putting the heating on this winter and I invested in a eco friendly kettle. It is the small things that will help to save money. when your energy company does raise your costs, do not meekly accept, immediately write it them and question everything.

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Little bit of a struggle at the moment. Our newly born granddaughter went home with mum and dad but has been back in hospital since Wednesday due to being dehydrated. All is well but the wheels of the NHS turn slowly and testing etc is not fast. My son has developed a positive hatred for the doctors but has nothing but praise for the nurses (no choice really his wife is a Matron).We hope the will be released today but when is the question?

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What a farce our politics has become. It has always had an element of the pantomime but it has become a bigger joke then ever. There are serious matters discussed and good work done but the headline weekly theatre of PMQ’s has under Johnson been a car crash. Yesterday he signed off, for what hopefully will be his last ever PMQ, saying he will leave with his “head held high” , a more deluded man you will never meet. He has not necessarily gone because of his policies, though they are reason enough, he has gone because even the Tory party could no longer stomach his behaviour. There are those who say he did a good job, that he “got Brexit done” (after all he one was one of the prime causes it happened), he saw us through the pandemic (not yet over) he has supported Ukraine. Any leader would have had to have dealt with all of those and frankly he did not handle any of it well. However his fitness for the job was seated in his unrelenting ability to embroil himself in scandal after scandal, he broke the law, more than once, he supported MP’s who had committed foul acts and of course he is and has been a serial liar! He has to go and be limited to the back benches and then hopefully his constituency will get rid of him at the next election. 

He is going to be replaced with yet another Tory right wing leader and whilst they will endeavour to be scandal free (not one of them has a clean record) the policies will not change and the rich will get richer and those worst off in society will still be.

The is only one solution to this Tory rule of 12 years and we all know what it is. My concern is that the nation is so conservative centric that they will get in again.

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 You know I still believe we are fundamentally a decent nation of people. Frankly I don’t care at present. Yesterday we welcomed our one and only grandchild Hanna into the world and Wendy and I, as you would expect, could not be happier. Mother and baby doing fine and today I will meet her for the first time.

It is these things that make a pleasure!

I don’t know what sort of world she will grow up in but I know her parents and ourselves will try to give her all the love and knowledge we can to deal with it all.

I won’t be around to see the vast part of her life but I will do all I can to nurture her. I intend to be a silly grandpa and teach her all the same nonsense I taught my sons.

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Three failed PM’s in 6 years and now we watch as 11 hopefuls, so far, vie to perpetuate our misery as the Conservatives continue to “govern”? We have to have a general election with whichever tosser they elect instead of the absolute horror that is and was Boris!

Whether you want them back in power or not, we deserve to make the decision on which party should now be in power. We will have another leader foisted on us with recourse to the ballot box! Yes May and Johnston went to the country and called an election but after the antics of Johnston and those who continued to support him and now want to lead, we should get the choice?

Promises, promises, if one more candidate says they will cut taxes I will eat my hat. If you are not sick of this hypocritical bunch of mealy mouthed enablers than you have not been living in the same country as I have! 

The answer to who should be the next PM is simple, none of the above!

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Apparently the cleaner at No 10 is contemplating throwing his hat in the ring to become the leader of the Conservatives? He says he has no chance of winning but why not every other bugger has! 

Every single prospective candidate is as guilty as the next of enabling Boris Johnston. Not one of them is not scarred by association. For all of their collective rejection of the man they all were prepared to stand by him, defend him, follow him and carry out his instructions. Jeremy Hunt may claim he has never served under Boris but let us not forget what terrible Health Minister he was. 

Whoever does become the leader and therefore PM, they are no better than the man who came before them! This is still the same party, this is still the same ethos. Yes I’m delighted that Boris is going, though cannot understand how a party who no longer wish him to be leader can let him continue as PM? I’ve wanted Boris to go from day one, he should never have been allowed to become leader in the first place, charisma and character he may have (hmmmmm) but he was a proven liar,  with a well known lack of integrity and a track record of infidelity and corruption. 

Any government would have struggled with a pandemic, which we are still suffering. Who knows what, another party in power, would have done? What we do know is the personnel behaviour of a man who was well known for having a loose relationship with any kind of rules. Remember all the men and women of his party who continually appeared on our screens and airwaves shamelessly defending and justifying his behaviour! Many of whom are now running for his job! Hypocritical and duplicitous are just two words that come to mind.

I fear in spite of all that has happened, all the lies and corruptions, come a general election the British public will still vote this sleazy lot back in power? 

We need a different voting system and some how we desperately need a government who can actually govern and address the real problems we face. I despair that it is too late but hope I am wrong?

 My reaction to the cavalcade of minsters and ex-minsters touting themselves as the next leader and PM

Ha HA Ha HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

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 It goes without saying that I will be “over the moon” once Johnston finally realises he cannot remain as PM but we must temper our delight because the Tories will still be in power and there is not a single one of them that is fit to be the next leader, never mind PM! Every single member of Parliament under Boris is tainted with the stain of his time in office. Let us be clear the vast majority of them supported him through scandal after corruption after lie. None of them can use the word “integrity” without shame! The current avalanche of resignations are merely to disassociate themselves from a PM whose time is up! That he should have resigned months ago is now a mute point but few of them resigned along the way even though Johnson had committed so many crimes and told so many lies. 

He claims he has a mandate from the people. The truth is that he only has a slim majority in his constituency and that almost 65% of them did not vote at all. His leadership was only possible because they voted him as an MP and not by much.

This whole fiasco is amusing and tragic in equal measure. No matter how amusing, this is the governing of our country and it was already a disaster, what word would you use to describe it now?

This the end of Johnston and it was always going to be in the most ignominious of circumstances, though none of realised it would end without anyone left to actually govern? 

We will have days and weeks of this farce as the Tory party unravels and the infighting gets worse. Surely a General Election has to be called, the people deserve to choose the next government, it certainly could not be any worse than what we have suffered for the last 12 years!

No doubt the money men have leaned on him and the real power has told him he will have to go, good riddance!

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 Are you like me struggling to believe anything thing you read in the news or on social media? Have we become so cynical and lacking in trust of anything written or said? So many lies, so much spin and misdirection! The world is a scary place and becoming scarier by the minute. Everyday we wake up to yet another tragedy, another shooting, another sleazy scandal, day after day after day! We are more polarised than ever, if your not on the right, you must be on the left, if your not religious, you must be anti-religion, if your against trans, you must be anti-trans. Indeed any comment that seeks to take the middle ground will be interpreted by one faction or another as a defining statement either against or in support of whichever view suits their agenda. Women are the biggest losers as their rights are eroded and their independence once again trampled over by insensitivity and a lack of understanding that belongs to values, we thought had long since been discarded. 

People have strong views and opinions and are entitled to them but there is reluctance on both sides to give any ground to the other. It appears easier to disagree all the time, than find any common ground? 

Temptation is a difficult prize to resist and it is evident that far to many of our elected Parliament are unable to do so. Who of us would say we would not be tempted given the opportunity to line our own pockets if we thought we could get away with it? That so many from the top down do it so shamelessly without any remorse has become the norm and their blatant refusal to accept responsibility for their actions is only a another symptom of the wider attitude prevalent in much of societies throughout the world!

We must do our best to remain steadfast in our beliefs, whilst accepting that there will always be those who we will disagree with. We cannot accept the current standard in public life and must do all we can to revisit it’s creeping erosion of our rights.

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It seems these days there is a weird juxtaposition between whether a woman has control over her own body but woe be tide if you offend a man who has transgendered and identifies as a woman! Women have fought hard to be considered equal and still need to continue that fight but the truth is that are still far to many men in power don’t give a shit about their rights. This is especially true of those predominantly on the “right” ! Why there is still such an antiquated view of women is beyond my understanding. Is it fear, is it simple domination, why are many men still so infused with keeping the “little women” in her place and why are there still so many women who support such behaviour. I may a simple fool who believes we have always been equal but I just struggle to understand. 

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What a bizarre and depressing country America has become. The latest news over abortion is utterly appalling and it does not need me to point out how it has set back women’s rights. It is depressing enough being citizens of Britain with the government that we currently experience but one consolation is, we don’t live in America!  There are no words adequate enough to describe the state of our world at present and might not be such a bad thing if we wipe ourselves out! There are so many things going wrong it is hard to know where to begin. 

We visited our oldest friends yesterday in their new home in a lovely village close to Ely. They are very happy there, now close to their grandchildren and loving life in the Cambridgeshire countryside. It was a delight to wander round the local country paths. After lunch we went to Ely city which has the most magnificent Cathedral which dominates the landscape and is another stunning piece of historical architecture. Ely is a lovely city with the river Ouse flowing through it.  We had a wonderful day.

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Am I mistaken or is Grant Schapps the Minister for Transport? If he is, why is he not at the very least, getting in contact with the striking unions? It is obvious that by ignoring the situation they government can blame everyone else and bash the Labour Party. Starmer has said he does not support the strike but he has no power to negotiate, he is not in No 10. The unions are no longer affiliated to the Labour Party they are independent of each other and whilst I am not naive enough to believe there is no continued collaboration, the Labour Party does not rely on their votes and has no control over their tactics. Once more this is a Conservative move to hold the opposition responsible and distract us from their appalling governance.

Don’t misunderstand the Labour Party are with the odd exception, are wish washy and not making clear who they are, support or will do should they ever get in government?

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Each day Johnston is only a small step away from yet another scandal, another blunder or yet more corruption.That he continues to survive is no surprise, I think we all understand now the man is completely without shame or any vestige of integrity. Despite a large part of his party voting against him, he continues to exercise a tight grip on them, this is proof once more, that ultimate power corrupts. Each spokesperson who sits in front of the camera or microphone has their own self-interest to protect as a member of the government, however “humble” their position. The odd one has resigned in disgust or more likely been caught and has had no choice but to resign! 

There is still a large public support, those who think he is doing a good job and that we knew we were getting a maverick when they voted for his party. They are entitled to their opinion. As happens so often, they have confused personality for substance and bombast for actual policies! He was helped by an unpalatable opposition but his election has become the disaster we all really knew it would be. The excuse that the pandemic gave him holds no water anymore. The war in Ukraine has affected the West. Global energy and and a post Brexit economy have not helped but it has only highlighted his inability to govern while scandal after scandal has engulfed his office. He claims he has “got the big decisions right” but if you analyse why, they were largely of his own making! He flip flopped over the referendum until deciding that “leave” was his best route to power and he supported that for no other reason. Indeed he flip flops all the time and surely is this most insincere apologising PM of all time. We want politicians who listen and change  their minds when public opinion has spoken, he does so only because he is forced not because he sees reason!

Brexit has turned our to be the disaster many of us said it would, the economic downturn and poverty that besets our country is not the sole fault of leaving the EU but it certainly is a contributory reason. We live in a global economy and no country is isolated or immune to those forces but mismanagement at home does not help.

He is the worse PM ever and his ministerial colleagues are just as bad, what is so depressing, if this is a reflection of us as a people, then we are in pretty bad shape!

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 We will look back on this period as one of the most shameful and shocking times in UK history. There is no doubt we are being governed by the worst party ever to have gained power in the UK. Lead by the worst PM and a bunch of pathetic sycophants, who could not come up with any decency, if their lives depended upon it!  If the ballot box is the only way it seems we can rectify this shambles then I hope nobody forgets the chaos and division this lot have perpetrated on us! 

There will always be voters who will continue to support this bunch not necessarily because they really support them but because they are scared of any alternative. It is true that the opposition has been weak and at times ineffectual but who really wants this lot back in power? Politics in our country is at it’s lowest ebb and needs a complete overhaul. While the status quo remains we will never recover. Change will be difficult because it suits both parties to keep things as that are. 

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So the letters have been received and the vote of no confidence is triggered. I think he will survive but the end is nigh! Even a narcissist liar like Johnson must have realised that the gig is up. He’ll hang on and certainly will not go unless he is firmly pushed but he will have to go. Why, because the party no longer see him as an electoral asset and once you can no longer win votes you are of no use, no matter how good or bad a PM you are! Johnson needs to be gone for so many reasons it would take to long to list them. The Conservative Party loved him on the back of him delivering an 80 plus seat majority but they can longer stall the rising tide of losing, with him as leader. His demise is one all of his own doing, there is nothing truer then a fish rots from the head down and he is rotten. I’m sure there are many Tory MP’s who genuinely believe they are going in the wrong direction but most are fearful of note winning their seat back! 

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What is it about Top Gun, I don’t get it? I don’t get why Tom cruise is so popular? 

I can’t understand why I have not had my £150 refund on council tax? I don’t need it but it has become a matter of principal!

I still can’t understand why we voted to leave the EU?

I don’t get how we were duped by Boris and voted his party in power?

Those are just a minuscule sample of all the things I don’t understand and as I get older I seem to understand less and less and yet more at the same time! For instance I do get gun culture in the USA but at the same time I fail to understand why?  We live in a world of so much contradiction, it is a wonder that any of us can fathom anything? For most of us living our lives the best way we can, it is difficult to  see all the troubles in the world, scarred by religious belief, politics, power hungry men, wealth and privilege and the damage we have done to our Earth causing endless destruction and death! 

This week in which we celebrate the 70 years of our sovereign and those who wish to enjoy the festivities, it is hard to reflect on a world in which there seemed so much hope when I was young and now, as I approach my 70th birthday all that optimism fro a bright future has gone up in smoke. Yes we have made progress, yes things improved, we are more accepting of many things and of course our technological and medical advances have been staggering. Our standard of living in the West has generally improved and perhaps this is just one of those short term blips that often happen before the next leap forward gathers pace?

I am still an optimist, I still believe we can live in peace and stop killing each other and put things right?

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This week we are supposed to celebrate the 70 years of the Queens reign. I am no supporter of the Royal family and would not be sorry to see them go. They are not the only Royalty in the world or Europe but they certainly are the most prominent. Britain is unique when it comes to the position of our Queen. They are interwoven with the fabric of our society in a way that no other country has. 

As for celebrating her longevity, I’m afraid as far as I am concerned it is a waste and a distraction. I read that the government has spent £1.1 billion on Jubilee celebrations and arrangements! I am sure you know what I am going to say next, so I shan’t bother! There is an irony that we seem unable to look after the poor in our country but we can celebrate the rich and privileged, which says it all really! The Queen and her family cannot help the accident of their birth or upbringing. 

Many will not agree and see her as a shining example of duty and service. Certainly the newspapers, in this country, would be bereft without the Royal family and their trials and scandals. Like all families they have good and bad members and being in the public eye their whole lives cannot be easy. Having said that with great privilege comes scrutiny and unending interest!

I am not against the Queen herself, I don’t know her and never will, it is the institution she represents, that I object to and that the public purse continues to support a family that has so much wealth already, is unnecessary and that money that could be spent for much more important things.  

I will not be celebrating this week but if you are just take a moments pause to think about what it really represents?

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 And now Bozo wants to bring back Imperial measurements! Can nobody stop this idiotic despot from being in power? Watering down the ministerial code and now this! He has lost the plot, if he ever had the vaguest idea what that was to begin with? He has broken his own laws, floundered and flopped at every turn, made himself an international joke and our country a laughing stock and now he wants to turn the clock back. As if there isn’t enough red tape already since Brexit now they will have to convert to export, which is difficult enough already! I can’t see anyone following this stupidity, though knowing his government they will write it into law! Your child has been at school learning metric and previous generations have been taught metric but no let’s go backwards! Pound shillings and pence, furlongs, pounds and ounces, feet and inches, what next, stove pipe hats, kids cleaning chimneys, black and white TV? Of course Rees-Mog would be in favour. How the fuck did you vote these fuckwits into power? There is a view going round that Bozo’s  constituency petition, to have him stand in a by- election if enough of them sign it, one can only hope they are listening? 

I’m so ashamed to live in a country run by these inept, dangerous fools that my anger cannot be calculated. The most frustrating thing is we are not close enough to an election to rid ourselves of them!

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 If there is going to be a shooting in Britain could it be in the Cabinet room during a meeting of ministers? 

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 If Boris has not mislead Parliament then the definition of “misleading” is not the way I understand it! No doubt the greased pig will slip through the butchers legs once more and his lying, cheating premiership will continue? It is a sad reflection on this country that this is the man whom many put their trust in and now they watch as democracy (what there was of it) is held to ransom by a ruling party who have no shame, no morals and no direction! If anyone but the powerful rich can claim they are better off under this Tory shambles, then you have been living in darkness. I don’t expect his shameless, cowardly party to remove him and he will never resign willingly. The principle of law, his law, seems to have been forgotten in all the rhetoric. He HAS lied to Parliament, he HAS mislead the House. Any other PM would have resigned long ago, instead he struts(ha ha) about as though he is the leader the world has been waiting for! The hubris of the man is astounding, though not unexpected. The longer he and his weak, vindictive and hopeless government are in power the worse this country will get. It is true that many issues are not within their control but the ones that are, are so badly mismanaged it is doing irrevocable damage to ALL of us!

As for the shootings in America (21 this year) I no longer know where to begin. It has all been said before over many years and nothing, NOTHING has changed. Indeed if you read about the gun lobby and the gun manufacturers their views have become more entrenched and the sales of guns have risen by 600% to 25 million per annum. Just give that some thought, 25 million weapons sold per year!!!! There is little that can be done, so many guns are already out there and although they can stop (if they are allowed to by the constitution supporting lobby) the sale of weapons, it is far, far to late! When you see these tragic massacres and then Republicans saying they will defend their right of the  Second Amendment, when yet more children have lost their lives, it says it all!

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 Each and every day the current news (and past) has been, well horrible. to continue my theme of yesterday as Wendy says, why can’t we we all be nice to each other? Naive, hippy dippy, pathetic, all of the above? To quote Nick Lowe (as i have many times) “What’s wrong with a little peace love and understanding?” Human nature is mercurial, unpredictable, unstable and at times so mesmerisingly incomprehensible, that one wonders whether we are all of the same species? It seems no coincidence, that history shows, time and time again how one MAN tries to shape the world to their plan! I don’t need to list all the dictators who have caused so much death and destruction and I don’t need to cite the fanatics whose ideology, cannot be broken and in the name of their faith they subjugate their people and in particular women! 

It is bad enough that these things are going on and we can thank our lucky stars that we do not live in any of those places. It behoves me to point out that this country is no longer the one we understand or feel comfortable in. I understand that no government can control it all and there are outside forces, over which they have no control at all but this lot have mismanaged just about everything and anything they touch. I need not point out for the 1000th time how they have and continue to behave!

Frankly I am glad I have reached the last quarter of my life (not that there is a choice!) I not sure I would want to live long enough to see all the continued destruction and political upheaval that never seems to stop! I know there are good things going on however small, I know courage and bravery are performed everyday, I know there is goodness and kindness displayed. I can only hope that eventually they are the predominant human traits that prevail?

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 I have not written for a little while, mainly because I just repeat my deep seated disgust with just about everything. There are good things happening, stories that inspire or revive your faith in human nature but day after day, it seems to be doom and gloom. Like most of us, I have no answers only questions and opinions, they go unheard, unanswered and ignored. I suspect most of us live with a feeling of impending crisis, to add to the many we have already lived through. Okay in reality does it really affect me, no, does it impact my life, to a degree but certainly not to the extent that many are impacted! It is an oblivious and naive thing to write but one wonders why it is so difficult to co-exist in peace. Think how much less effort it takes to try and get on. 

Take Putin for example, we know his motives (well kind of), we understand his deep resentment over the independence of nations he believes should still be part of Russia. We get that he has huge military resources (however badly run they might be), that he is a natural bully, a dictator but (and I say this with my tongue firmly in my cheek) how much easier would it have been if he had just tried to be friends with both Ukraine and the rest  of the West? Putting all the death and atrocities, the Ukrainian exodus, the damage to their country to one side, his own country would not be suffering the punishment the West is imposing (not enough)? Why cause such horror when a friendly word a conciliatory gesture could have made Ukraine, if not allied then at least a good neighbour. Obviously that ship sailed a long time ago once he invaded the Crimea and there was no rolling back. Why is he so afraid of NATO? It isn’t as though they are going to attack him, quite the reverse the West want to operate in the Russian market it is a huge country and there is money to be made. It is more than sad, more than mad, more than horrific, more than a waste, more than senseless and is so often the case it hinged on the whim of one man and it has changed Europe forever!

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 I was going to write yet another rant about, well you know what! It seems pointless !

I am not a man who readily falls into depression or misery at the state of our country but I have come close. I am not for one moment denigrating or minimising anyone who suffers from this state. I have lived with my wife’s depression and it is an insidious, nasty, debilitating disease. It takes courage and patience to keep it at bay and it never truly departs. I do my best to remain on an even keel but the constant litany of bollocks, makes me want to scream. I would, for instance, happily take my 4 iron and shove it up a number of MP’s (Tory) arses!

I am glad in a perverse way (not that I have a choice) that I am coming towards the end of my life because the way we are going this is not a world I want to experience to much more of a future in. Not that I am looking to depart to soon I have every intention of living to a ripe old age, especially as our grandchild will be with us soon.

I read yesterday about a woman who was purchasing a packet of Chicken legs and asked the assistant whether they were front or back legs, the assistant replied she did not know and would ask the manager!

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 What a bunch of tossers the whole Tory front bench is. If this is government then we are all better off leaving and going to the Ukraine 🇺🇦 

As for the Mayor cutting a a ribbon to open a food bank in Dartford, a more insensitive and damning sign of the times we live in could not have been made!

Shambolic, irresponsible, out of touch, uncaring, wealthy, privileged, corrupt, lacking in any integrity, clueless, smarmy, lying and twisted bunch of ministers in the history of parliament. 

Yes it’s easy to complain, insult and generally call them names but with this lot what alternative do we have as from the top down they are rotten to the core and if you do not think so you are living in a different country from me.

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 You may have noticed that I have written less lately and sparingly about you know who! Frankly the whole sad saga has become so disheartening that that writing about it is painful. One can only say so many times how appalling this government is. 

So we had a very nice weekend, with Sunday being Wendy’s birthday and a walk in fine spring weather around Wickstead Park, occupied the morning and made one smile as we saw the verdant blossoming of nature and the abundant goslings and ducklings following their parents around the lake. There is nothing like being in warm weather , with a cloudless sky and the birds furiously tweeting.

Have a great week.

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 Yesterday we went to Compton Verney House and had a lovely day wandering about the grounds. The trees are spectacular, old and huge. A more English country house scene you could not imagine, it only needed Mr Darcy emerging from the lake bare chested and it would have been complete!  

The main house is an Art Gallery and that have the most fantastic collection of ancient Chinese figures and bowls etc. The intricate workmanship is phenomenal. Detailed etching of stunning quality and most artefacts were more than 1000 years old. 

One of the attractions, which we only found out after booking the tickets, was the exhibit of, most, of the last few years Portrait of Artist paintings and drawings. We have watched the last few series and until you get see them for real you cannot know how good they are. How they produce the programme portraits in just four hours is remarkable. One or two I would definitely hang on my wall. It made me want to take a class to learn how to at least attempt to produce realistic drawings and I will be investigating.

The restaurant was pleasant and the food good, if the service was a little slow. It seemed they had insufficient staff. 

If you want a pleasant day out amongst nature and like art, then go. It was a refreshing change from everyday normality. We had to laugh, as you might expect there were a lot of “older” people wandering about and much as everyone does not wish to admit it, we realised we are now part of that group! Tempus fugit!

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Can it get any worse? As the evidence piles up how unfit this government is, they still cling desperately to power blaming everyone and anyone for all the chaos they have caused, all the sleaze and corruption they are mired in and all the laws they have broken, worst of all the many many lies that have told. If this is the government you want then you are as culpable as they are for the many ills that beset our country and are just as responsible for the demise of decent democracy. If honesty and decency have any meaning anymore, then we must shout from the rooftops our disdain for this bunch! No one is without blame even those Tories who might still be honourable and upright, who persist in supporting a cabinet with no morality or direction. Whilst I suspect there are many Conservative MP’s who have had enough, their desire to be in the majority seems to out way their outrage. No politician wants to be on the loosing side but there comes a point when the evidence before you is so overwhelming, it can no longer be ignored or pushed aside. Turning a blind eye is one thing and surely no government is without fault but this ignorant denial that their PM is without conscience or a shred of decency is tantamount to criminal negligence!

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 So are you struggling to pay your bills? Has your weekly shop outlay risen by several pounds? We have a cost of living “crisis” and if your wondering why then you have not been paying attention. You may remember that in 2016 this country voted to leave the EU. Since then we have had an unprecedented pandemic, war in Ukraine and the worst government ever elected. Many of the causes are beyond our control but those that were within it have been handled so badly, it has exacerbated an already worsening situation. Everyday more an more critics sight this government for it’s individual and collective failures and an tsunami of scandal that has engulfed them right from day one and yet there they sit, still in power and with no sign of resignation or remorse, for me and many like me it is depressingly normal! If you read my Twitter feed you would think this government is doomed and tottering on the brink of mass collapse? Yet I am sure there is a Twitter feed, for others, that will equally praise and inform you how well they are doing? One of my biggest disappointments is the lack of major blows the Labour Party has landed, even though we have the worse government ever. Never has politics been so divisive and bitter. Being an MP is not for the faint hearted, especially if you are a woman. It appears it can give you advantages and privileges that are not available to us and there are many who exploit them to the fullest extent. As for the Conservative watching porn in the House, well what can you say, other than you are not surprised! The behaviour of mainly Conservative MP’s during this Parliament has been disgusting, they are not alone, shady behaviour is not confined to just their party. they keep saying that the vast majority of MP’s stand because they wish to serve their community and do their best but unfortunately a minority keep bringing the place into disrepute and tarring them all! It appears they are as powerless to do something about it, as we are!

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 I am going to get myself into trouble by saying this but I do not like women boxing. I have championed equality in all things but (and it’s just my personal opinion) I find it ugly. Mind I’m not to keen on men boxing!

I have one simple question today, how did anyone vote for these hopeless Conservative ministers to elect them as MP’s to begin with?

You make think this dramatic but we now live in a Pseudo Facist Dictatorship. 

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Round and round it goes and where it will end nobody knows. Are you fed up, pissed off, had enough of this endless cycle of bad stuff? I know I am. Generally, I am an optimist and try to be a happy person but the last few years have proved what an unstable place the world is, as if we did not know already. Great Britain is a country full of clever, intelligent, innovative, hard working people, a culture whose history , whilst flawed, is nevertheless a rich one. We have and have had men and women who lead the world in all sorts of endeavours and achievements. so you would think that we could at the very least get reasonable, decent men and women to govern us and take us boldly into the rest of this century. Instead we have a government who preside over the worst of times and while not all it is their fault, it has been handled so poorly, that now in 2022, we face rising prices, a ruined NHS and so many more issues that they are far to many to list here. I have no problem with sensible, reasonable and well thought out explanations of their policies, I am perfectly willing to try to understand their philosophy and plans, even to accept some if they seem sensible but when nothing is clear or is just plain contradictory, unfair and adding yet more of a burden on the people of our country, one very quickly (assuming you had any in the first place!) loose even any small shred of trust you might have had! This governments behaviour has been dreadful and their attempts to justify or defend it lamentable, laughable and pathetic. So many have missed the point about Johnson and partygate. It is not that he attended these parties or whether he knew or did not not know, he broke his own laws and he presided over staff who also broke his own laws. He is responsible and no amount of abject apologies and false contriteness, will fool us that he really cares. He has mislead Parliament, not just over this one issue but over many. Of course he will not resign and lets face it we all knew he wouldn’t, it is just not in his nature. He will brazen it out until even he can no longer justify his position and even then he will have to be pushed.

This is the country we now live in, it’s very hard to be proud of it!

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 Oh Boris oh Boris 

You are such a twat

And that’s that

Oh Boris oh Boris 

Lie after lie

Pigs could fly

Oh Boris oh Boris

You are a merchant banker

A worthless flanker

Oh Boris oh Boris 

Teflon coated

Ego bloated

Oh Boris oh Boris

Now resign

You have no time!

Oh Boris 

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 There are words and phrases that come into fashion and at present there are one or two that really annoy me (no surprise there) If you have ever read my blog (unlikely) you will know I have reverence for the English language and it’s use.

So let me begin by citing the phrase “it is what it is” what does it mean? It is, what is it and how can it be what it is? I understand it’s used as a phrase to mean you don't actually understand or have an explanation for a particular subject, it is lazy a way of dismissing without having to express an opinion. Of course there are other phrases that have a similar purpose “what will be will be” “it will happen when it happens” to name but two. Different languages have their own versions, my favourite is the Greek “itsi kitsi” meaning so,so or not good but not bad. This phrase is an easy way of getting out of a subject with a sigh and a wistful shrug of the eyebrow but means nothing.

Perfect. The dictionary meaning is “A being entirely without defect Flawless” “Satisfying all requirements Accurate” “Faithfully reproducing the original” so why when I go to pay for my purchase in a shop do I hear the assistant often say “perfect” Naturally if that are referring to me then I assume they are invoking the “flawless” meaning and that I can understand! I suppose if could reflect the second definition after all it is “accurate” It certainly does not reflect the third definition. They are however using as a convenient conjuncture without the slightest understanding of it’s true meaning. A simple “thank you” would still do the trick, why embellish with a word you otherwise would never use.

Amazing: The dictionary meaning: Causing astonishment, great wonder, surprise! So why is it use to to describe the most mundane of things which are none of those things. Why are some people insistent that triviality is so “amazing”? “I spoke to my friend in the pub last night”…….. “Really amazing” No it isn’t! “I moved the car out of his way”………..”amazing” Your understanding of astonishment and wonder need a real upgrade. Context is everything and if that person had lifted their car in order to shift it, well that is “amazing”, if their friend was a three legged alien from another planet, definitely “amazing” but otherwise I am afraid it’s use has become far to commonplace for nothing out of the ordinary. 

Well I guess it is what it is and amazed as I am, nothing could be more perfect!

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 I have to apologise for all the apologies and say sorry because my apologies were not apologetic enough. I feel ashamed for so heavily critiquing the PM and have been humbled by his apologetic statement. What a hero, what a man, I have been so wrong over all these years. Now I realise what a fantastic leader and international statesman he is. I feel a fool for not recognising this dignified politician  he is and how his integrity is intact. The bold decisions he makes to push our country forward into a great future had obviously passed me by. When things looked bleak because of Covid he took the bold decision to enjoy work, with his his staff by gathering them together and having a relaxed drink. Now the police have had the temerity to fine him for allegedly breaking his own rules, how dare they! The man is a giant. We should automatically give him a further 5 years to be PM because now it has become obvious that he is the right man at the right time! His party must be so proud to be associated with him and those nasty members of the opposition have no right to pull him up and insult him over these perceived misdemeanours. 

I fully expect, as indeed they should, his party to endorse him yet again and throw out this ridiculous vote of no confidence. How could you have anything but confidence in both him and the giant intellects he has gathered around him as his ministers? 

This is a government for the people. They fully understand the state of the country and its people and moving heaven and earth to make everyone equal!

Once more I apologies for my stupidity in not seeing that this apologising PM has put any wrongs right!

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 Welcome back to the slave trade! Yes we can transport refugees to Rwanda a country so removed from them the they will no longer be our problem. This Tory government has come up with some crackers but this is human cruelty of worst type. Not withstanding that our fucking Home Secretary, Chancellor and even worse our PM won’t resign, they keep coming up with policies designed to spread hatred and despair. There is no such thing as TRUTH any more and no matter what they do their party continues to support them, even though they know he and they are the most corrupt leaders we have ever had. Their support is based on their belief that he will win them the next election. Even if you have a reasonably decent Conservative MP (and there seem to be precious few) they should lose their seat based purely on the support they have given to Johnson.

I am deeply concerned that we are tantamount to a dictatorship run by a right wing government that has all the sense and compassion of a serial killer! How have we nor risen up on mass to oust this undemocratic bunch of shameless and despicable bastards?

I am ashamed to be British and have been for some time. If this is the country you want to live in then you have lost all sense of reason. And here is the point, those of us in the world with a “reasonable” voice have no voice and when we do we do not shout loud enough because we are reasonable. We shrug and huff, complain (just as I am doing here) and feel powerless to make a difference! 

There will be more fines to come and still he will not resign. Unfortunately the real point about his breaking the law, his law, has been lost. It matters not whether he spent thirty seconds or thirty minutes, what the reason for the party was, whether he ate cake or had a drink, he broke the law and acted in a way that the rest of us were not able to! It come as no surprise that this lying, morally bankrupt, corrupt, security risk, pompous, smirking fucker will not leave office or that his party continue to slither and slime their way to support his position!

And while we are at what is wrong with the voters of Lichfield that they continually from 1992 return Michael Fabricant as their MP? Do they have no pride, no shame? 

I have lived and do live in in a Conservative constituency. Both of the sitting MP’s are horrible men with a terrible record and a dodgy past, who tow the party line at every opportunity, I am at a loss to explain how either got elected. 

Have a lovely day

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