SIR GUESTLING THORN: - The thoughts of my alto ego I have opinions on everthing and am not afraid to express them I hope for more kindness and joy in the world!
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.
Stay well
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!
Stay well
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!
Stay well
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!
Stay well
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
Stay well
Revolution, it is the only way! When we have a government who are tantamount to a dictatorship, there is only one course of action and it is now clear we need to take it!
When you have a government who are prepared to enact such a cruel and unjust law then we the people must stop them. Rwanda, fucking Rwanda, it might as well be the dark side of the moon! Is this the country you want to call your own? It’s not mine.
It is making both myself and Wendy ill to be flabbergasted day after day after day by this horrendous bunch of inhuman ministers. This Conservative Party, have allowed the inept bully boys to become their leaders and we are all paying the price.
The saddest thing is, there are still those who wish to sweep aside all the corruption, lies and allow them to carry on ruining our land.
They are a reflection of us and we should all be ashamed and disgusted that we have allowed this to happen. It is not the publics fault entirely, we have no control over who they elect to lead them and who he promotes into his cabinet.
I am sick to my stomach and at a loss to find languages bad enough to express my disillusionment.
Stay well
You would not expect me to stay silent, now would you?
We all want them to resign and yet as soon as it was announced we all knew the would refuse to do so because they are getting on with the job, a phrase that has become ubiquitous with “we did wrong but we don’t care”!
Apologies are all very well and certainly apologies need to be forthcoming but if these to liars believe that is the only thing they have to do, then even the scintilla of excuse that they gave is pathetic, insulting and take us all for fools. Never have we had a PM and Chancellor who are so corrupt and morally bankrupt and yet cannot do the decent thing and go!
We should have expected nothing less from men who have proved to be lawbreakers, there own law, made especially for thee safety of the public. We have been conned and they are laughing at us!
Stay well
If for a single minute you had any doubt of duplicitous nature and corruption that surrounds our current minsters, then surely it has been blown away by the scandal involving Sunak and his wife. We know what a bunch of elite wankers we have as ministers and still somehow they survive? In a way it is hilarious and you could not make it up but unfortunately it affects us all and makes those who voted for these con artists look very foolish, unless of course you are wealthy mate!
If we repeat their election at the next opportunity we don’t deserve have a country worth living in!
Stay well
What a horrible world we live in. What a horrible country we now have and have had for some time. All the ingredients are there to make our country a pleasant place to live but we seem to continually cock it up! We are so good at destruction even when we attempt to build. There is no simple or comfortable answer and for many, whatever improvements can be made, it is far to late. Everyone has an agenda, a opposing point of view, disagree purely on principal. It is a wonder anything gets done at all. Every bit of news or political programme highlights the divisions, never consensus. Everyday our government is questioned over yet more scandal and mismanagement and yet another Tory is wheeled out to defend the indefensible and all of them are hopeless at it. Sunak the latest minister to be embroiled in scandal or should one say just more of the same scandal that never ceases! These men and women are supposed to running our country and we are supposed to trust them albeit it with a healthy dose of cynicism. Never has a collective government been so untrustworthy or corrupt, it is astonishing and sad!
I have run out of words to describe my feelings towards them, I suspect many of you feel the same.
Stay well
I don't know if you have been following events in America as the Republicans in Texas and Oklahoma roll back the decades and ban abortion. Once more women are subject to legislation that rips away their rights. Every woman has the right to choose what they can do with their body but it appears in these two states that is no longer the case. Abortion has always been a controversial subject and nowhere more controversial than in the USA. It beggars belief that in 2022 we still have those men and women who are still stuck in antiquated religious views that clearly were never fit for purpose. If men carried the babies this would not even be an issue. Why women have to put up with this shit is beyond my understanding and when there are religious women who are against abortion, I understand it even less.
All over the world our hard won rights and freedoms are being slowly eroded and not least of all by our own government.
Stay well
Calling for Putin to be tried as a war criminal is of course correct but the chances of him facing the court in The Hague is nil! Putin has no interest in what any other country says he is well beyond any rational or human behaviour. The West can shout and scream all they like but until they get out from under their own fear and realise that they have to face him head on, he will continue to do whatever he wants. I understand and hate the idea of a full blown conflict with Russia, the unimaginable danger it could spark is too horrific to contemplate but little that has been done to his regime has not stopped his relentless killing! So we have two choices either we leave them to their fate and do nothing more or we confront him? I suspect we will do the former we are too scared to do anything else!
If we had allowed Ukraine to join NATO then Putin would never have annexed the Crimea, let alone launched an invasion. He does not recognise Ukraine as a country he sees it as an occupied part of Russia.
I would not want to see a single NATO soldier killed, I don’t want to see another Ukrainian (or Russian) killed. The atrocities now being reported are reminders of the cruel and inhuman nature of war and how it escalates beyond any “normal” human behaviour. It has to stop and unfortunately short of the Ukrainian forces winning, there is only one way it can be ended!
Stay well
With the local elections coming up, there is only one piece of advice I can give you, especially if you need a money saving tip, don’t vote Conservative.
I have written many times that I am no Labour supporter. My views lean towards the liberal end of the political spectrum but if voting Labour will get these Tories out of office anywhere, then I will gladly do it! The argument that Labour has no experience in governing or that no of their front bench has ministerial experience. Is a spurious one. The Conservatives have been in government for 12 years, so how could an opposition gain experience? Boris Johnson had no experience of being a PM and although he had been a shockingly underwhelming FS, they still elected him leader! It is blindingly obvious that we need a change of government but I fear the electorate will still in spite of everything vote the conservatives in once again. Tory voters are disillusioned with them but we it comes to it they will still vote for them?
The problems besetting our land will not be solved by a Labour government, they are to deep and have been going on for far to long and yes some of these long term problems were caused by mismanagement of the previous Labour government of Blair and Brown. Indeed no government even if it was a well intentioned Conservative one can solve our many many issues. Radical policies are required to resolve the big issues. In order to make our system fairer, we the electorate must take responsibility and change our views, it makes no difference who our political masters are unless we have the will to make the changes that are needed. Unfortunately in a capitalist society, the money and the power it affords, is king and until that fundamental premise is altered change will never happen in the fair and balanced way, most of us would like.
I suspect nobody has the answer but like me everybody knows we need massive overhauling of our current system. I only wish I was clever enough to know the answers. My thinking is clouded by years of living in a western democracy under the same system and years of complaining about it! Such radical change is required that it will require minds far more clever than mine and with a bravery and courage that I have never possessed.
Stay well
Still testing positive after 9 days although feeling almost a 100%?
Corruption and lies, two words I never thought I would write so many times, as I have over the period that that Johnson and his ministers have been in power. I suggest there was much corruption before his rise but surely it had never been at the unprecedented levels, we have witnessed since his election? It has become obvious that his lies are a way of life for him, a tactic, which he uses to deflect from being interrogated more harshly on his actual policies. He does not have any real direction, so he misleads and lies deliberately! when questioned more closely he denies he said it or lies further by saying he has retracted the statement when he has not.
Meanwhile his ministers are embroiled in scandal after scandal, almost always to do with money that goes in their pockets. It can be of no doubt that they care little for the voters unless of course they are wealthy. Not all of the wealthy are bad or don’t want to pay their fair share but they are far more insulated against the huge rise in the cost of living.
My wife has just made a very strong point. Why are we not on the streets protesting against the energy prices and the rise in NI amongst many other issues? Why are the Labour Party and the unions not organising mass protests, Twitter and Social Media will not make any difference, it is only he said, she said and no where near as powerful as a real street protest!
We are weak and apathetic, worn down by the constant drag of the last few years, no longer able to stand up for ourselves in any meaningful way.
I for one will not allow my energy company to raise my DD and will continue to pay at the rate we are already on and i suggest we all do the same.
Stay well
How are you this fine April 1st? Frustrated from entering your energy suppliers web address in dozens of times and getting nothing? Looking forward to more price rises? It is an immutable fact that even as we supposedly become more efficient prices still rise. It is nothing to do with the lack of resource, it is pure commercial greed, capitalism at its worst. You can be absolutely sure that those who really pull the strings won’t be any worse off, on the contrary they will be raking in yet more riches, while the poor suffer as always. If you feel you have no control over anything it is simply because you have not and you never really have. Unless you have money or are prepared to live in a different way, you have no control and even then it is precarious!
So what can we do? Help each other and try to keep going. We are being screwed at every turn by not only our government but by the powerful wealthy men and women (mainly men) who believe they have a right to dictate the way the world is run and of course it has never been any different. We have no right to anything but living. Nobody said that life was fair and one could easily argue that despite all this shit, most of us are still better off than our predecessors?
Stay well
