Blair on Fox Hunting
This is in the Guardian’s report on Tony Blair’s new book.
He regrets the hunting sort-of ban, incidentally. He hadn’t understood how important it was to many people. Careless Tony; he should have known. But banning hunting is a class issue of great totemic importance for parts of the Labour tribe and he went along with it. Typical Tony in his early years: inexperienced, ill-read and eager to please.
In other words he didn’t let the truth get in the wayof his gut feelings. How many other decisions he took would have been different, if he’d properly researched the subject and also listened to those with alternative views?
Coast is in Denmark
Coast is one of my favourite telvision programs. Today was all about Denmark. I’ve been to the country a couple of times, although one was just to get a connection to Oslo.
My next-door neighbour at the football is also a man who has a Danish father, who had been trapped in the UK at the start of the Second World War.
The program was about the Danish coast and agriculture, but with a fair amount of Second World War and other history thrown in. They also visited Heliogoland, which seems a fascinating place. A large part of the program was about how the Danes got most of their Jews to safety in Sweden. They didn’t mention King Christian X, who surely became one of the unlikely heroes of the war.
I doubt many monarchs would have did what he did to give support to his people.
The Isle of Wight, Great Yarmouth, Hastings and Morecambe
I am going to Portsmouth to see Ipswich on the 11th of this month to see Ipswich play. I thought that I might take the ferry and see the Isle of wight. but after reading Bronwen Maddox’s article in The Times today, I don’t think I’ll bother.
She says that the Isle is rather run down and virtually cut off from the rest of the UK, just like the other towns in the heading of this post. All places share higher unemployment than the rest of the country and have a run-down feel.
She says that the solution to the Isle of Wight’s problem is a bridge, just as all the other towns could do with transport connections to the rest of the UK to attract industry, jobs and tourists. I know the route to Yarmouth well and is it not only sib-standard, but very dangerous. upgrade it or perhaps the railway that runs alongside it and you might improve one of the worse unemployment blackspots in Southern England. I also drove to Hastings once. Never again!
These are the infrastructure projects that we must start. I even suspect that some might even be financed by the reduction in benefits, when the jobs are created.
August Births
Both C and myself would have considered ourselves successful; she as a barrister and racehorse breeder and myself as a computer programmer, who helped create a multi-million pound company. We were both born in August many years ago.
Our most successful son of three is at the peak of his profession in London, despite leaving school with no qualifications at all. And he too was born in August.
So why this stigma against August births? Perhaps Leos and early-Virgos have a drive lacked by others, born in colder months.
I should say that some years ago I analysed all the birth weights for a year in an English county to see if we could find any patterns that might point to why some children were born with a low weight. One of the findings was that twins were more numerous eight or nine months after Christmas. Unfortunately, the data wasn’t good enough to know if the twins were identical or fraternal.
So I do wonder if some August children, having been conceived perhaps after a party, just want to get on with life and don’t succeed.
My Favourite Conspiracy Theory
I think it might have been in the 1940s or 1950s, when a photographer claimed he took a famous picture of a flying saucer. It was saucer-shaped and you could see the so-called engines underneath.
The story ran and ran and the US government was accused of hiding the truth. The photographer kept the story going and only when he died did the truth come out. He said that the picture was of a lamp in I think a Chicago bar. The engines were in fact light bulbs.
Reporters went to the bar and found that the lamp was still there.
So this one wasn’t really a conspiracy theory, but a hoax of the highest order.
Always check your evidence and never believe the eyes and ears of a biased individual.
You may not believe what I have said, but I can understand that as I canh’t find any reference to the story on the INternet.
Does Government Policy on Terrorism Fuel Mistrust?
The BBC is reporting this morning that DEMOS, a respected and influencial think-tank has said that goverment policy on terrorism is actually fuelling mistrust of the authorites. The BBC says this.
Secrecy surrounding counter-terrorism operations is fuelling mistrust of authorities, a study by independent think tank Demos suggests.
It urges the government and secret services to be more open to stop extremist groups using conspiracy theories to discredit them.
A Demos spokesman said: “Less-secret services could make Britain safer.”
The study calls for greater communication with trusted community leaders and individuals.
The report – entitled the Power of Unreason – says groups use conspiracy theories to recruit and radicalise people to commit acts of violence.
An example of one such theory is that the bombings in New York and London, on 11 September 2001 and 7 July 2005 respectively, were “inside jobs” carried out by authorities in the US and UK.Other theories highlighted were that “freemasons control the world economy through manipulation of paper currency”, that the UK government is “consciously seeking to destroy Islam” and that a “conspiracy between the Japanese government, the US, and the Jews existed to gain world domination”.
The study claims such theories are frequently adopted by extremist groups to demonise outsiders, discredit moderates and push them in a more extreme and sometimes violent direction.
As an example, over the last few years we’ve all heard many conspiracy theories about 9/11 from people who believed it was a plot by the US and ISrael against Islam.
But then use of these types of theories are nothing new. You only have to read histories of the Nazis to realise the untruths they pedalled against Jews, homsectuals and anybody else they thought inferior.
We should be more open as DEMOS says and fight these theories with the only weapon we have! The truth!
One of the links on the BBC report is to this page on their web site about a conspiuracy theory about the London bombings. What a load of old twaddle, this guy is saying. The trouble is it’s dangerous old twaddle and the BBC was absolutely right in exposing the twat behind it.
What Shall I Do Tomorrow?
Today is not really the problem, as there is plenty of good sport on television, with the Grand Prix and some football. But it is tomorrow!
I thought that I might like to go to the cinema in Haverhill, as it would be possible with a taxi both ways.
But having seen the list of awful American films they are showing, that is a complete no-no. Most seem to be in 3-D, which is totally appropriate for someone with bad eyesight. I should also say that this relives some really bad Bank Holidays in the past, where C and I would vargue because there was nothing to do. Often we’d go shopping in London or Bluewater, or perhaps go and have a meal. But I can”t do that as I’ve got no transport and must stay here in my beautiful and lonely prison.
I could go to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, as I haven’t been for many years.
I can’t even do some of my new found love and time filler; cooking. I’m miles from the nearest shop and that would again mean a taxi both ways, just to get the things I need.
So I’ll just stay here and rant at all the people , who’ve said they’ll visit me and never have!
But at least there’s Tuesday to look forward to!
Don’t They Ever Learn?
Pakistani cricketers are once again in the brown stuff. This time, it’s about spot betting on whether a delivery is a no-ball or not. But the Pakistani cricket team has been involved in all sorts of scandals over the past few years. So you’d think that with all the problems in the country, that the cricketers would be playing to try to give some sort of lift to their unfortunate compatriots.
If the allegations are proven to be true, then those involved should be banned for life from ever playing cricket again!
The real curse is this spot betting. Imagine yesterday at Portman Road and you could bet on Grant Leadbitter hitting the bar from a free kick. (Actually, what he did deserved a goal!) But bookmakers in some places will take such a bet. Certainly no reputable or licensed one would.
As an aside to this Oxfam have just said that billions of pounds will have to be spent to reconstruct Pakistan and it must start now! Can we trust the country to spend the money wisely and not let it end up in the hands of crooks?
Even if we can, these cricketers have sowed the seeds of doubt in many peoples’ minds.
Is Something or Someone Getting At Me?
I’m certain, I’ve read it somewhere, but when you have a stroke you do get a slightly bit paranoid.
I have had a couple of good days, but things seem to keep going wrong despite the most thorough planning beforehand.
It started on Monday, where the house I was wanting to buy in London failed its survey. Let’s face it, I’m crocked enough without having to worry about a house that’s about to fall down on top of me as well.
Yesterday, the plan was simple. I would take the train into Cambridge, play an hour of real tennis and then take a bus back to Newmarket, so that my secretary could pick me up, when she went into town to do the banking. The tennis was great and really does help my movement and left arm, but then Stagecoach intervened. I got to the Drummer Street Bus Station at about 13:45 and that should have given me plenty of time to catch the bus a few minutes after two. When you can’t drive, you get used to the waiting. At 14:40 or so I gave up, as despite the text system telling me three times buses were due, nothing arrived. Obviously Stagecoach have it in for me.
I walked to the train station to catch the next train to Dullingham, which meant a wait at the station until 15:43. But at least the train was on time, even if the single coach was very crowded.
Friday improved after that, as I watched the cricket, where Trott and Broad entertained everybody with some purposeful batting. Also, a friend came round with a goodbottle of wine for pasta in the evening and we put the horse racing industry to rights. He even brought my basset hound a friend to play with!
Today was very much a curate’s egg. It started well, as a friend took me to the station to get the train to London and the train was on-time all the way. I had been intending to see several houses in London with my son, but five viewings had been reduced to two overnight and both had problems. I just feel that something is telling me that I have to stay here for the winter as a punishment. Where I live may be beautiful and in the middle of the country, but when on some days, you see no-one except the postman and the paper lady it is not good. At least my basset hound hasn’t decided to go and live elsewhere!
At least, I was able to get to Ipswich to see Town beat Bristol City, with the help of Calamity James. Sorry David, but you were at fault for both goals. This blog was also publicised in the program.
My problems today started, when I tried to get home. The train to Bury St. Edmunds was on time, but I couldn’t find a taxi in the town. One number said that I could have a taxi at 21:30.
Eventually, I walked to the town centre and found one, that drove me home. But because he was on the rank, he was fifty percent more expensive.
So am I right to feel paranoid? If I’m honest, I suppose I should forgo the simple pleasures in life, like watching Ipswich Town and just watch what Sky deigns to make available.
But that would mean giving into those dark forces that are trying to make me miserable!
I am however made of sterner stuff and won’t let the bastard or bastards get me down!
The other problem is that the bastard getting at me, has made Monday a Bank Holiday. So that means family viewing on the box and no decent sport either.
August Birthdays
With Samantha Cameron having given birth in August, there has been a lot of talk recently about the disadvantage of August birthdays.
But it wasn’t always so!
Both my late wife and myself would have considered ourselves successful; she as a barrister and racehorse breeder and myself as a computer programmer, who helped create a multi-million pound company. We were both born in August many years ago.
Our most successful son of three is at the peak of his profession in London, despite leaving school with no qualifications at all. And he too was born in August.
So why this stigma against August births? Perhaps Leos and early-Virgos have a drive lacked by others, born in colder months.
I should say that some years ago I analysed all the birth weights for a year in an English county to see if we could find any patterns that might point to why some children were born with a low weight. One of the findings was that twins were more numerous eight or nine months after Christmas. Unfortunately, the data wasn’t good enough to know if the twins were identical or fraternal.
So I do wonder if some August children, having been conceived perhaps after a party, just want to get on with life and don’t succeed.
