UK Floods

The horrific flooding experienced this week in South Yorkshire, the Midlands, and other parts of Britain has been described by some as an "Act of God". It is no such thing. It is an Act of Man.

For decades we encouraged farmers (with financial grants and subsidies) to rip out hedgerows to make bigger fields, and to put in subsoil land drainage systems.

Result? Faster rainwater run-off.

At the same time the River Boards of the 1960s and 1970s went on a mad spree of environmental destruction in the interests of Land Drainage, turning meandering river systems into straight, vegetation-free, drainage canals resembling aquatic motorways.

Result? Faster movement of flood water from A to B.

Whilst all this agricultrual mayhem was going on, town and country planners were merrily permitting housing and industrial development in flood plains, against the advice (in earlier days) of the same River Boards that were destroying the rivers' natural ability to balance the discharge of flood waters, and against the advice (in more recent times) of the Environment Agency.

In the older suburbs of our major towns and cities that were built before the age of mass car ownership you will also find people rooting up their front gardens and converting them into paved areas to accommodate one, two, or sometimes three cars.

Result? Additional surface water run-off to overload inadequate storm drainage systems.

At last, though somewhat too late I fear, farmers are considering the re-planting of hedgerows, and the Environment Agency talks about the desirability of allowing agricultural grassland to be given over to floodwater balancing. More voices are being raised by politicians and others about the need to take seriously the matter of building houses, factories and offices in areas known to be prone to flooding.

We have only ourselves to blame for many of our so-called environmental disasters.

Stirring up English Nationalism

I'm all in favour of devolved government to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but the Blair Government has made a complete pig's ear of the exercise by totally ignoring the gaping hole in their scheme which is ENGLAND!

The English are a fairly laid-back kind of people who are prepared to be kicked about a bit, but only up to a point. Take them beyond that point and they turn up the heat. I believe that we are fast approaching that "tipping point".

Already we have one sore point regarding medical prescription charges: in Wales prescriptions are free. If you live just on the English side of the border you pay the normal charges; if you live on the Welsh side you pay nothing.

Then there's the question of university tuition fees - in England students pay them and get into debt; in Scotland they don't.

Now the Scottish Executive is conducting a review of medical prescription charges, and they have also recently proposed that the size of primary school classes should be reduced.

All this is perfectly fine, and in many ways I have always found the Scottish approach to social affairs to be generally more agreeable than the English, and in any case with devolved government one expects there to be some diversity of political actions across the UK. So far so good. What I object to is the fact that England has no such devolved government; we are controlled by the UK's Westminster Government, and what makes that so unfair is that the MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland sitting in the House of Commons exercise their votes on legislation covering English domestic affairs whilst English MPs have no say whatsoever over equivalent matters in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Then we should also consider that much of the devolved administrations' social programmes are made possible by the fact that they are receiving significant subsidies from the UK government, which means that social benefits being enjoyed by the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish are partly paid for out of taxes paid by the English.

I am heartily sick of this half-baked devolution, and at the next General Election I am going to cast my vote for any candidate who supports the notion of (ideally) an English Parliament, or (at the very least) a restriction on MPs from outside England voting on our affairs.

If Labour gets re-elected, I wonder what chance there will be of Prime Minister Gordon Brown (who is a Scot representing a Scottish Constituency) addressing this issue. I am guessing, not much. Is there a case for hoping that David Cameron's Conservatives might be more sympathetic, considering the Conservative Party in Scotland is almost wiped out these days?

June is rusting out all over.

The Full Waterproofs

This delightful picture of an under-water blogger is published in connection with a couple of recent posts: one relating to a canal boat holiday that was promising to be a washout (it wasn't) and the other relating to the exorbitant prices charged by some specialist shops for wet weather gear.

Two of my internet friends insisted on having sight of the full gear in use. Since the canal holiday was surprisingly free from torrential downpours I've had no reason to model this chic little outfit; until now, that is.

After a long, warm and dry spring, June has turned out to be depressingly cold, wet and windy, and last week the UK had to put up with severe weather leading to serious flash floods in many parts of the country. I had to put the full waterproofs into service just to put the bins out last Friday morning.

Today is overcast, with more rain promised for this afternoon, but I am at present being cheered up by the song of a thrush in full and enthusiastic voice in my back garden.

George Bush in Albania

Apparently the Albanians were hugely enthusiastic about George Bush's recent flying visit; they gave him a rapturous reception.

I recall that the Albanians were similarly infatuated with Norman Wisdom.

Madeleine McCann's parents

The other week I posted a plea for the return of 4-year old Madeleine McCann who was abducted from a Portugese holiday resort, and said my thoughts and prayers were with her parents at this time.

A friend of mine who reads this blog got quite fired up about the fact that the McCanns deserved no consideration because they were guilty of neglect, in that they went off to a nearby restaurant in the resort leaving their children unattended.

Well, yes - to a great degree I also felt they left something to be desired in the way of child care, and yet looking back on my own years as a parent I know that there were many times when I was less than a model parent, and I suspect that this is true of many of us. Most of us have not had to be reminded of our periods of neglect because we were fortunate enough to be on the right side of the statistical fact that the chances of someone abducting our children are in fact very remote.

Certainly I can say that my wife and I never left our children unattended in a hotel or holiday cottage room whilst we went out, but I am sure we were guilty of other kinds of parental neglect from time to time.

Many people find the McCanns guilty of gross negligence, but these two professional and intelligent people have already found themselves guilty and are overwhelmed by an unbearable burden of guilt that will be with them forever.

I make no apology for praying not only for the safe return of little Madeleine, but also for strength to be given to the McCanns.

Cruising the Rochdale Canal with Shire Cruisers - http://www.shirecruisers.co.uk

I have just returned from a narrow boat holiday on the Rochdale Canal in West Yorkshire, and living as we do in an age where society appears to thrive on complaint and litigation I feel bound to add some counterbalance to this culture by unreservedly praising and recommending Shire Cruisers of Sowerby Bridge. http://www.shirecruisers.co.uk

In terms of customer service, quality of boats, and the comprehensive level of pre-cruise information and training, they surpassed anything we have previously experienced in fifteen previous boating holidays on various parts of the UK inland waterways system. So I am happy to place this on record (and no, they haven’t offered me a free holiday to get me to publish this on the Web!)

To describe the Rochdale Canal I can do no better than to reproduce the introductory piece from the well written Pearsons' “Canal Companion – Pennine Waters” ..

Reaching Sowerby Bridge, the Calder & Hebble Navigation goes into a telephone box, puts its underpants on outside its trousers, and emerges as the Rochdale Canal, Superman of the inland waterways, fully equipped to take on the tyrannical Pennines.

One is treated to the glorious scenery of Calderdale, the steep wooded hillsides, the craggy granite outcrops of the Pennines, and the towns that not only nestle in the valley bottom but climb up the hillsides in a stone-terraced display of gravity denial; then there are the banks of wild rhododendron, yellow iris at the water’s edge, the singing birds in the trees, the ever-watchful herons silently standing in anticipation of a fish supper, and flotillas of ducks and geese.

We were on a short break (less than a week) and were therefore only able to travel westwards from Sowerby Bridge as far as Todmorden before turning round, but the somewhat tame distance of about 12 miles was transformed into a marathon by the existence of 18 manually operated locks raising us by about 200ft on the westward journey, so by the time we had returned to base our aching muscles testified to our completion of 36 lock operations.
We moored up in Hebden Bridge for several hours and were amazed to find that the town was closed! What kind of enterprise society is this, where all the businesses get together and say, “Hey, lets not make any money on Tuesdays!” To be fair, I was told that the shops do open on Saturdays and Sundays, but it still seemed a bit odd to turn up in the middle of the week to find everything battened down. We did, however, manage to get a good lunch at Moyles Restaurant.

We had no time to investigate Todmorden because in our attempts to turn the boat around we got stuck. Water levels were down a bit so turning the boat tended to be more of a mud wrestling exhibition. By the time a number of willing helpers had pushed, pulled and shoved, we finished up in the same direction as before and decided to go through one more lock to find another turning point. This decision introduced us to the first lock with a “guillotine gate” at the lower end, and an ambiguously-written British Waters notice drawing our attention to the fact that although the gate was electrically operated, the paddles (i.e., the valves for draining the lock) were manually operated from a control box “opposite this control panel”. I looked behind me to see what was opposite the control panel and found a smart looking metal box on a post. This turned out to be a repository for dog shit! The paddle controls were on the other side of the gate.

Todmorden was described by Susan of Shire Cruisers as the "Frontier Town" being right on the border between Yorkshire and Lancashire. The town is administered by Yorkshire but has an Oldham (Lancashire) Post Code. The poor dears are therefore totally confused.

A short way beyond this lock was our turning point, but again we needed willing land-based helpers (of which there never appeared to be a shortage) conducting a tug-of-war with the sharp end of the boat whilst I did the business at the blunt end with my head all tangled up with overhanging tree branches. After much heaving, reversing, tiller waggling, and a ruined hair style, the boat was now heading back east.

The meteorological office had forecast several days of the most appalling weather so we were tooled up with all the wet weather gear, but as it turned out it was a mixture of sunshine and showers, and not too much of the latter. By comparison with the forecast we felt we had been handed a bonus, making us grateful for the fact that weather forecasting is a somewhat inexact science.

Water above me, water beneath me.

Good news for my half dozen readers! It's a blog-free week coming up. My wife and I are off on a narrow-boat holiday on the Rochdale Canal. We aim to cruise from Sowerby Bridge to Todmorden and back. We shall have to negotiate more than 30 manually operated locks, so the opportunities for hard physical exercise and loss of weight are enormous, but there will also be opportunities to put the weight back on in canalside pubs!

Those nice people at the meteriological office are forecasting a week of cold winds and rain (thanks guys!) but at least being forewarned is being forearmed. Since these boats are driven by standing in the open at the stern (the blunt end), yesterday I equipped myself with full waterproof clothing, i.e., hood, jacket and leggings, during which I came to the conclusion that specialist sports shops are rip-off merchants par excellence. As I browsed through my local sports shop I thought "They're having a laugh aren't they?" .. £120 for a packable waterproof coat and £90 for waterproof overtrousers? I don't think so! I went to a general utilities and clothing store in the next town and got the lot for £25.

Fish Funeral

This morning I conducted a fish funeral. The largest of my three ghost carp died last night after gracing my humble fish pond for twenty years.

There was a very poor attendance at the funeral; no other fish turned up, and I acted as grave digger, pall bearer, chief mourner and priest. I consigned his earthly (watery) remains to somewhere beneath my shrubbery and despatched his spirit (if he had one) to meet his Cod.

Who's taken Madeleine?

I am posting this picture here in the optimistic hope that the more it is circulated the better the chance of somebody seeing 4-year old Madeleine McCann who was abducted a week ago from a Portugese holiday apartment.

Has she been taken by some sad deluded woman who can't have a child of her own, or is this yet another example (and I can hardly dare entertain the thought) of a paedophile's sick and evil mind?

My thoughts and prayers go out to her parents.

I know they are getting a lot of support, and several high-profile business people and football stars have combined to offer a huge reward for information leading to Maddy's return.

'Bye Tony - Hi Gordon!

Well, now it's official: Tony Blair has given notice of his intention to resign as Prime Minister and Labour Leader on 27th June.

Gordon Brown has commenced his campaign to be elected as Leader, and thus Prime Minister. (A foregone conclusion)

Conservative Leader David Cameron has described the Blair Government as The Government of the Living Dead.

Cameron's shadow Foreign Secretary William Haigh has called for a General Election immediately following the succession of Gordon Brown to the Premiership, conveniently forgetting that when John Major succeeded Margaret Thatcher after whe was pushed out by her Party no such General Election took place then!

Those of you who remember the 1950s boys' comic The Eagle featuring Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future might agree with me that William Haigh is actually an alien from outer space and in a former life held a position as The Mekon - leader of The Treens. During a 1997 reincarnation as one of the many Conservative Leaders (before Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Howard and the current David Cameron) I published this photograph on my website to support my belief!

I have mixed feelings about Tony Blair's departure. In many ways he was a great Prime Minister and his government introduced the National Minimum Wage, Devolved Government (though sadly only for Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland - not England), Family Tax Credits, independence for the Bank of England (no more politically inspired interest rate adjustments), high employment, more money into education and the NHS, a stable economy, pensioners' winter fuel payments and pensioners' free local bus travel. His greatest achievement by far was to achieve the impossible, i.e., peace in Northern Ireland with a devolved government in which hard line Protestant Unionists and Catholics and ex-IRA terrorists have resolved to work together for a peaceful and democratic Northern Ireland. The Ballot has replaced the Bullet.

The supreme tragedy is that all of this potentially great legacy has been totally buried by Blair's gravest error of judgement, namely the Iraq debacle. It is for this that he is remembered and for which the British people will not readily forgive him.

Florida-style Voting Chaos in Scotland

The elections held in the UK on Thursday 3rd May were a farce. Hundreds of thousands of votes in Scotland were taken out of the system because new electronic scanners failed to recognise accurately what voters had written on their ballot papers. There is now to be an inquiry. I suppose that until or unless it is decided what to do with those votes we cannot be sure that the final outcome is wholly what the voters wanted. If the unused votes confirm the pattern of the used votes then it is clear that Tony Blair has been given a big kick in the backside and the Scottish Nationalist Party has emerged as triumphant, now enjoying the rare experience of being the largest Party in the Scottish Parliament. To achieve a working government, however, they will still have to create a Coalition with another Party or Parties. The SNP's declared intention is to hold a Referendum by 2010 on whether or not Scotland should secede from their 300-year old union with England and become an independent Country.

Adding to the farce cause by the high-tech counting system was the confusion over two different ways of registering a vote on a single ballot paper: for the Scottish Parliament you had to place a cross against one candidate as constituency MSP, and another cross against a regional Party List candidate. For the Scottish local council votes the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system was being used, so on this part of the ballot sheet voters were expected to write 1,2,3 etc. etc. against candidates in order of preference.

Labour also did badly in the Welsh Assembly elections and the Welsh Nationalists (Plaid Cymru) put on a reasonable showing. To continue in power Labour will have to form a Coalition with another Party or Parties.

In England the local council elections produced major losses for Labour and the Liberal Democrats, but only modest gains for the Conservatives.

Across the UK as a whole the results are a complete mish-mash and we now hold the distinction of having a greater variety of voting systems all operating at once than in any other country. I always said our "First past the post" system was undemocratic and should be replaced by something more representative - some form of Proportional Representation, or at least the Single Transferable Vote - but what Blair's government has come up with over the years is a hotch-potch of systems for different regions and different elections. On the 3rd May there were no fewer than four different voting systems in operation.

I wonder how much more stupid we are going to get.

Conservative Party Appeal to Voters (do they?)

Tomorrow (3rd May) UK electors go to the polls to elect Local Councils in England, and in Scotland and Wales it is a kind of mini General Election with elections for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. I'm hoping there will be a good turnout as political apathy is in danger of reaching epidemic proportions. What's the good of democracy if you don't use it? And what's the good of complaining if you don't vote.

I watched a Conservative Party election broadcast on TV the other night and Conservative Leader David Cameron was banging on about Tony Blair's record on the National Health Service. Forgive me if I'm missing something here, but by what stretch of the imagination do my local District Councillors have anything to do with the National Health Service?!

How sensible is it to make a judgement on who should run our local authority based on national issues that are the business of the Government? It's nonsensical, and if our political leaders are trying to persuade us to do that, then they are treating us like idiots (which is probably why so few of us turn out to vote these days).

The sad thing is that there are indeed many of us who will take the opportunity to give the governing Party a good kicking at these local elections, and we can expect to see a lot of Labour Councillors losing their seats based on voters' disillusionment over Iraq and the "cash for peerages" allegations currently being investigated.

Children's Playground - A Triumph of Civic Responsibility

The other day I commented on an attempt by a local businessman to purchase a right of way for an access road to his proposed housing development, which would result in the loss of up to 15% of the playing field area. The playing field committe were in favour of accepting an offer of more than £70,000.

Under the constitution of this registered charity it would require a 51% majority of residents attending a public meeting to approve such a deal.

Yesterday evening I attended the public meeting called to discuss the matter, and I was astonished to find the Village Hall bursting at the seams - standing room only, with some people standing outside listening through the side doors that had had to be opened. There were in excess of 300 people, ages ranging from eight to eighty.

In spite of feelings running high the debate was orderly, polite, and with plenty of good humour. One young lad (must have been around 10 or 11 years old) stood up and said his piece, saying that if they were going to finish up kicking a ball about near an access road and a housing development, balls might get kicked over the fence, damage cars etc., and it they went round to ask for their ball back "...they might - well - er - get killed or something!" This produced a good laugh and a round of applause.

I pointed out that up and down this country we have been selling off bits of playground and sports fields for housing development for the past couple of decades, and it was about time it stopped and we got a grip on our priorities: which is the most important - another batch of expensive houses that we don't need, or space for our children and grandchildren to play in. Regarding the playing field finances (often desperate) I said I was prepared to declare in front of the assembled public that I would be more than happy to contribute the huge sum of £1 per month by Direct Debit. I chose this ridiculous figure to demonstrate that if all these people who had filled the village hall did exactly the same it would provide an additional income of £3,600 p.a. This would more than cover the biggest annual outlay, i.e., the public liability insurance premium (nearly £2,000 p.a.)

When it came to the vote we were hugely amused to find that the committee had not printed enough ballot papers to go round. Since it had been clear which way the wind was blowing several of us suggested that we conduct the vote by a show of hands. This was agreed, and to make it even more significant, it was suggested the Chairman should frame the question in this way: Who is in favour of accepting an offer of £70,000? He did, and about four hands went up! Then he asked for the NO vote and a sea of hands shot up. Never mind a majority of 51%. This was a majority of 99%!

During the Annual General Meeting that immediately followed on, the Committee Chairman (a personal friend of the controversial businessman - but let's not dwell on that!) was (politely) given his marching orders. A new Chairman was elected, also a new Secretary and a new Treasurer.

There were over one hundred written pledges of regular donations to the playing field.

This was local democracy at its best in action. I was proud to be part of it, and it restored my faith in civic responsibility.

Don't mess with our Children's Playing Field

My village has a children's playing field. A local businessman who is used to getting his own way by flashing wads of cash around is trying to get hold of a chunk of the playing field to make an access for some houses he wants to build.

He's waved a large amount of cash in front of the playing field committee and they've gone all starry eyed at the prospect of having badly needed money in the bank with which to maintain a smaller playing field.

I think what we have to consider is which is the more important: a grassy space for our children and grandchildren to run around in, enjoying the swings and slides, etc., or a bunch of expensive houses that the village doesn't need.

Up and down the UK in the past couple of decades we have been merrily selling off sports facilities and playing fields for housing development, whilst at the same time belly-aching about kids having nothing to do hanging around on our streets.

It's about time it stopped, and here is as good a place as any to make a stand. OK, so the income and expenditure on this field is running too close for comfort, but that is not a reason to sell off a chunk of it. Someone else could come along in a couple of years waving more money around for another bit of land. Where is the logic in accumulating more money in order to maintain a disappearing asset?

I'd be prepared to commit myself to £1 per month going into the committee's bank account. At this point, dear reader, you are probably saying "He's a generous bastard! Only £1 per month?" But that's my point - it's so little that anyone could do it, and all it would take would be a couple of hundred people making the same commitment (give up a few bags of crisps or the odd newspaper each month) and there would be a guaranteed income increase of £2,400 per year (which, as it happens, would pay for the public liability insurance premium - the biggest chunk out of the committee's budget).

There's a public meeting next week to discuss the proposed sell-off. Apparently it can't be done without 51% of those attending the meeting voting in favour of it. I shall be casting a NO vote. Developments will be reported.

200 million Guns!

The tragedy of the Virginia Tech campus shootings (over 30 killed) highlights the nonsensical approach to gun laws in the USA. The right to bear arms is so deeply ingrained in the American consciousness that every time some lunatic goes on a shooting spree the result is always the same: "How tragic. Something must be done." Then nothing is done.

There are, apparently, about two hundred million privately-owned guns in the USA. Guns and ammunition are easy to come by, with a minimum of checks made on the purchaser's credentials.

The National Rifle Association seems to have a stranglehold on politicians; speak out against the gun culture and you lose votes. Charlton Heston (President of the NRA 1998-2003) told the 2000 NRA Convention that they could take his gun "from his cold dead hands". Idiot!

I am tempted to offer to eat my computer if any new meaningful gun control laws come out of the Virginia tragedy.

Where have I heard that before?

WASHINGTON, April 13 — Senator John McCain said that the buildup of American forces in Iraq represented the only viable option to avoid failure in Iraq and that he had yet to identify an effective fallback if the current strategy failed. (New York Times)

Oh yes - I recall that this was the only viable option in Vietnam, another unwinnable conflict initiated by the USA with (albeit covert) British support. British Government political support, and practical under-cover assistance, for the hell unleashed in Vietnam back in the 1960s was kept a closely guarded secret from Parliament and the British people until recently.

In the case of Iraq our support for the US President has been out in the open. I wonder if that is a kind of progress?!

Whilst the Prime Minister and fellow apologists trumpet the downfall of a tyrannical dictator it is necessary to remind ourselves that during the past half century or more the British Government has aided and abetted in both the installation and support of many tyrannical dictators around the world in the course of protecting so-called British strategic and business interests.

Iraq is just the latest in a long line of dubious and/or illegal actions by the American and British governments. As with many other cases, we have been instrumental first in setting up the tyrant, then bringing him down when he is no longer seen to be serving our interests.

All we have achieved in Iraq is an escalating bloody civil war with very blurred lines, involving outside terrorists taking the opportunity of attacking US and British forces, and Iraqi religious groups attacking each other in the name of two different versions of Islam. (Is Islam a religion for people with a Sunni disposition or is it just a load of Shiite?)

Well done guys! Now, get the hell out of there.

Everything in Moderation

"Spammers" are everywhere. If they don't get into your e-mail system they are invading your Website or Blog.

I've had several spam hits on this Blog site masquerading as comments. They usually say something like You've got a great site here and then provide a link to some commercial site or a site of dubious nature.

This is why I have now enabled "Moderated Comments". Please understand that I am not seeking to change what any genuine contributor is saying. All that happens is that any comment posted on this site is sent to my e-mail address before it appears on the Blog. If I can see the comment is spam I delete it. Any other genuine comment gets my approval for posting and it appears on the Blog.

A Big Surprise in Northern Ireland

Political events are normally so depressing these days, and so yesterday was a pleasant surprise not just for me, but all those people who have spent most of their lives despairing about the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland: the hate-filled rhetoric, the shootings, the bombings, the knee-cappings, the terrorist acts perpetrated on British cities, the control of whole communities by self-styled armed militia belonging both to the Republican/Nationalist communities in pursuit of a united Ireland and the Unionist communities in pursuit of remaining firmly entrenched as a part of Britain.

In the middle of all this there were so-called "moderates" represented by the Social & Democratic Labour Party, the Alliance Party and the Ulster Unionists, but their efforts in conjunction with the UK Government over 40 years or more came to nothing. It is ironic that in the end it took the figureheads from the two most extreme wings of the political spectrum to walk the thorny path from armed struggle to the ballot box: on the IRA side, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness (acknowledged past terrorists) of Sinn Fein; on the unionist side, Dr Ian Paisley (hell fire & brimstone protestant preacher) of the Democratic Ulster Unionists.

Credit where credit is due - the last Conservative Prime Minister, John Major took the courageous step of starting behind-the-scenes talks with the IRA. We didn't know it at the time, but the IRA were already coming to the conclusion that the armed struggle was not actually yielding results. When Tony Blair swept to power in 1997 he took up where Major had left off and he and his colleagues relentlessly pursued the goal of a peaceful settlement.

Now at last, and almost unbelievably, we have seen Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley (representing the two largest Parties in Northern Ireland after the last Norther Ireland Assembly elections) sitting at the same table and acknowledging they had signed an agreement to work jointly in a new devolved Northern Ireland Government with effect from 8th May this year.

Sorry to be slighly cynical, but I have to point out that a few weeks back, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, laid down an ultimatum for the politicians across the water: if agreeement could not be reached, the Assembly would be closed down, the Province would be ruled directly from London for the forseeable future, and - here's the rub - all payment of salaries to elected members would be stopped.

Wonderful what can be achieved by threatening the pocket! I also suspect that Dr Paisley - for so long considered to be such a religious and unionist extremist - also relishes the imminent prospect of becoming Northern Ireland's First Minister to such an extent that he might have been prepared to sit at the same table with anyone!

I believe that Sinn Fein will ultimately achieve their stated aims, since their popular support at the ballot box has been steadily increasing with every election held, and I suspect that their core support, being staunchly Roman Catholic will tend to increase over time merely by virtue of their particular take on birth control. The time may well come when they form a majority and so can re-unite the "Six Counties" with the Republic of Ireland.

I have no feeling about that one way or other so long as the end result is reached by democratic means and represents a majority view.

Tony Blair will be not a little pleased and relieved to have a large-scale positive achievement attached to his legacy to counter the Iraq millstone around his neck.

Let us hope this is a new dawn for Northern Ireland.

Spring turns to Winter

On 10th March this was my front garden (left). The grass had already been cut (twice) in warm sunshine. Today, eleven days later, winter has returned with icy north winds, snow and temperatures below freezing (right). (Spot the photographer).

At least the sun is shining! I just thought I'd brighten up this Blog, as a change from ranting and raving about international politics.

With Allies like these ... (Part 2)

The Oxford Coroner finally got to show in court the US Air Force video footage from the incident in which Lance Corporal Matty Hull was killed when his convoy was shot up by an American aircraft.

Now there's a new twist: the other day the Coroner asked for the details of the American Rules of Engagement and his request was denied by the US Military. From this it transpired that the UK's own Ministry of Defence does not have this information either!

So it appears we have a bizarre situation in which British forces are fighting alongside American allies whilst having no knowledge of their Rules of Engagement.

Just how much madder is this Iraq debacle going to get?!

One man went to mow...

This must be some kind of record: the first few days into March and I've had to mow all our lawns! Had I left it any longer it would have been totally unmanageable by the Spring. In truth the grass was so long that it was more like tackling a lush meadow. Yet another phenonomen related to our changing climate. Britain has enjoyed yet another very benign winter, with very few prolonged periods of below-freezing temperatures, and just two or three days of significant snow. The biggest problem has been periods of intense rainfall causing local flooding.

Still on garden-related matters, we now appear to have a pheasant permanently in residence. He's a fine fat specimen and no doubt would make a pretty good meal, but I have resisted the temptation to catch it and strangle it. (Actually, not being a huntin' shootin' fishin' kind of guy I doubt if I could bring myself to do it, and I get some pleasure from watching him strut about, picking up tit-bits that have fallen from the assorted bird feeders hanging in the plum tree.)

He's a very wise bird confining his life to the local gardens. Out in the woods with his friends he would be fair game for some shooting party or other.

Iran

I'm baffled by the rumours coming out of the USA regarding the possibility of military action against Iran. OK, so Iran is developing nuclear capabilities. So what?! For forty years of "Cold War" the USSR was the biggest nuclear threat the "West" had ever faced, but that didn't lead us to pre-emptive military action against Moscow. Have we forgotten the meaning of the term "nuclear deterrent"? Don't we still have that capability?

I understand that a raft of senior military men in the USA have stated they would resign if such a mad policy was pursued. No doubt George W Bush could rustle up enough gung-ho cronies to put in their place. The next Presidential election can't come soon enough for me. There is no doubt in my own mind who the most dangerous man in the world is.

Choking on Gas

A year ago I signed up to a deal with British Gas that would protect me from price increases for three years. As the price of gas, electricity and oil all seemed to be on a never-ending upward spiral this seemed to be a good deal. I agreed to a small price increase for gas and this would be fixed until 2009.

Guess what - this month British Gas introduced significant price cuts, but they don't apply to me.

It turns out that not only am I protected against price increases, but I am equally well protected against price cuts!

Achieving Sainthood by the Back Door

The other day, in my capacity as a part-time taxi driver, I brought an elderly couple home from church. When we arrived at their house, the lady asked if I would mind going inside to help free their back door. She explained that it had been jammed shut for days and she and her husband were not strong enough to shift it. Naturally I volunteered to throw my shoulder against it.

She forged on ahead up the front drive, with me in close pursuit, leaving her husband behind to struggle as best he could on his two sticks. I expressed concern about his well-being, but she said, "Oh, he'll be OK.." and then as a kind of afterthought, "...unless he falls over."

Fortunately we all made it safely to the front door and went inside. I was taken through to the kitchen, and shown the offending back door. I tested it, and sure enough, it was stuck fast. I spied a key sitting on the adjacent window sill, picked it up and unlocked the door.

That did the trick!

Quality not Quantity

I return to the Blogosphere after an absence caused in part by idleness and in part by illness. My recovery has been aided by the comments of two of my readers who have indeed been kind enough to leave comments confirming quality is more important than quantity. Actually I received a further boost from a THIRD reader (and regular internet friend) who sent me an e-mail to let me know she dips in from time to time. Modesty prevents me from revealing one of the reasons she does so, and in any case I didn't think my photograph was that good!

My wife and I have been on a spending spree, emptying the contents of our bank accounts in pursuit of a new 3-piece lounge suite, a dining room table and chairs, and a 37-inch plasma flat-screen digital TV. I think the greatest pleasure to be had from buying the furniture was the somewhat unusual degree of high-quality customer service we received in the show room, to the extent that I am happy to give a worldwide "plug" to Sinclairs of Scarborough.

http://www.firstforfurniture.com/

As soon as we entered we were greeted with a big smile by a smartly suited jolly gentleman (no other way to describe him) who asked about our requirements and proceeded to show us personally every item of furniture on the two floors of the showrooms, with a full description and demonstration of all the features. (I was sorely tempted by a motorised reclining chair but I managed to restrain myself.) He was pleased to discuss our colour schemes and show us the items most likely to fit in. Strangely, although we looked at and sat in pretty well everything on display, we finished up buying the very first items he had shown us. How cool is that? Size up your customers' requirements, take them straight to what they need, then show them everything else to confirm that none of the other stuff is for them. We spent an hour in that shop, and I'd only paid for an hour's parking on a meter just up the road. Our salesman told us not to worry - he didn't think we'd have received a penalty ticket, but if we had, then they would "pick up the tab".

The TV is a major improvement on our previous model, and I'm still trying to get my head round how "thin" it is from front to back. I watched Prime Minister Tony Blair being interviewed this morning on Andrew Marr's Sunday AM and he was so much in the room with me that I was convinced he could hear me shouting abuse at him as he once again tried to justify the Iraq debacle. Marr's earlier interview with Art Garfunkel was far more pleasing.

Well, I may surface again in a week; remember, quality not quantity. (I think there's more of the latter than the former in the above!)

Good Morning Ladies!

I've just been watching a discussion on TV about blogging. It is the new craze. It is the democratization of news presentation and analysis. It gives the ordinary person the opportunity to react with others on the issues of the day, whether they be big international events or something small in the blogger's personal life. It is so big that the "establishment" is now well into it, with TV presenters, newpaper journalists, and politicians producing their own professional blogs. It is said that the ordinary British blogger can attract an audience of up to 35,000 which is bigger than the circulation of some weekly political magazines. E-mails, site comments, and discussion threads are feeding the frenzy of debate amongst Joe Public. I reckon 90% of it is probably inconsequential rubbish (like this Blog) and a platform for the exchange of insults which you would probably not make to someone's face.

Still - the thought of attracting an audience of up to 35,000 is heady stuff, and with that in mine I'd like to say Good Morning to my own readers ... which, by reference to the regular comments this Blog receives, totals TWO. Good Morning Ladies! I hope you'll be the first to tell me that size doesn't matter - it's quality not quantity that counts.

Onwards and upwards.

With Allies like these ...

L/Cpl Matty Hull of the Household Cavalry Regiment was killed in Iraq on 28th March 2003 by "friendly" fire from a US anti-tank aircraft. Last week the Oxford Coroner conducting the inquest into his death had seen a cockpit video recording from the offending aircraft. He was prevented from showing it in open court because the US military authorities would not allow it. He therefore, in some obvious anger, adjourned the hearing until or unless permission could be obtained through the Ministry of Defence. Such permission, however, could not be obtained because of US objections.

This is rare for me, but today I salute the investigative journalists of The Sun newspaper for getting hold of a copy of the video recording and publishing the full transcript in today's paper. I am pleased this has happened, not because I want to take a dig at the US pilots involved (it is clear from the transcript that they were horrified by what they had done ... "I feel sick" ... "We're in jail, dude" ...) but because the Pentagon has tried to cover up the evidence. The British convoy were displaying the internationally agreed orange panels on their tanks, indicating they were Coalition forces, and in addition to this, when firing started they released emergency flares indicating the same information.

One might understand the mistakes that can be made in the heat of battle, but surely somewhere in the command structure there must have been information concerning the whereabouts of friendly troops, and so the directive that the pilots were within a designated "kill box" is deeply troubling; so also is the apparent lack of recognition skills of the US military. There have been quite a few occurrences of Americans killing British forces, though not, I am pleased to note, any incidents of British forces killing Americans.

My criticism is principally against the US Military Authorities who have tried to keep the relevant information from coming into the public domain, much to the obvious distress of L/Cpl Hull's widow. One is tempted to say With Allies like these, who needs enemies?"

The Price of Divided Loyalties

In the British Army there about 350 soldiers who happen to be Muslims. The shock news this week is the arrest, in Birmingham, of several young Muslims who, it is alleged, were planning the kidnap and execution of a Muslim soldier who has served time in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is said that a video of the execution would have been posted on the worldwide web. If all this turns out to be substantiated, leading to charges being made under anti-terrorism legislation it will mark a disturbing variation in the tactics of these religious and political perverts. The soldier under threat has been taken to a safe house under police protection.

It's a sad state of affairs when a group of your own countrymen threaten your life because you chose to serve in the Army of the country in which you were born and raised.

Where's the Money?

I have noticed that whenever a government minister is taken to task over the neglect of some important public service, the response usually includes this kind of thing ... "There's only a finite amount of money; the important thing is to spend it wisely and efficiently".

And I've noticed that this argument never seems to apply to military adventures in other people's countries. When the idiots who proposed the illegal and unnecessary pre-emptive invasion of Iraq nobody said "There's only a finite amount of money." In fact there appears to be an endless supply of money to be spent year after year after year in pursuit of absolutely nothing but death, destruction and chaos. The money will always be there for as long as it is deemed necessary, but as soon as you mention health, transport, welfare or education it will suddently become a finite amount.

Stopping a Run on Benefits

Nobody likes a benefits cheat, so my day made a bright start when I saw the news that one Paul Appleby - a 47 year old ex-miner - was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court to ten months in prison for illegally claiming and receiving over £22,000 in disability benefits in the past four years. Apparently he had asserted that he was unable to walk without the aid of two walking sticks or a frame. During this period, however, he managed to run in several marathons, including the London Marathon. The least he could have done was to carry his walking frame with him, but sadly (for him) he was filmed by the Department of Work and Pensions, cheerfully running exclusively on his own two legs with a broad smile on his face, completing the course in just over three and a half hours.

Surfer's Soliloquy

To BLOG or not to BLOG, that is the question —
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous comments,
Or to take arms against a sea of e-mails,
And by opposing, end them. To cry, DELETE —
No more; and by deletion say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. CTRL, then ALT —
DELETE, perchance to live! Ay, there's the ESC,
For in that real life what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this “virtual” coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of “virtual” life,
For who can bear the dark blue screens of death,
The spammer’s songs, the offers of viagra,
The pangs of “virtual” love, the law's delay,
The insolence of chat rooms, and the loans
That have no merit and the gullible takes,
When he himself can’t clear his overdraft
With a bare cheque book? who would be a bear
Of little brain in this computer’d life,
But that the dread of something after DEL,
The real-life country from whose bourn
No surfer returns, puzzles us still,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the hue of pixel resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And variations of dot pitch and R G B
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And so I stay confused .. F1 for help.

William Spokeshave

Global Warming Warning

It's January, and the sun is shining in a clear blue sky. The outside temperature is 7 degrees C.

When I first moved to North Yorkshire in 1966 it was a fairly safe assumption that within a day or two of Christmas it would be difficult to get out of the front door because of snow drifts. Snow and ice would be on the ground for weeks on end, and journeys across the North York Moors would only be possible after the snow ploughs had cut their way through, leaving 10 ft high walls of snow on either side of the road.

There's a sledge hanging up in my garage for my grandson to use when he visits during the winter. It has been used about three times in as many years.

Ten years ago my normal winter working clothes invariably included thick shirts, thick polo-necked military-style jumpers, and thick top coat. I am now going out in the winter wearing short-sleeved T-shirts and a light casual jacket.

It's all very pleasant, of course, but the downside is the increasing frequency of freak weather incidents causing damage, injury and death. We can argue until the cows stop farting about whether or not mankind's activities are causing the climate change. It could be part of the normal long-term cyclical changes that have always occurred. I suspect, however, that we have a great deal to do with what is going on. Even if we take the official American government line that our energy use has nothing to do with it we still have to recognise that the change is happening, and we had better damned well be prepared for the consequences.

My grandson is upset about not being able to use his sledge. My biggest worry is how upset he and all of our grandchildren (and their children) will be when flooding, shortage of drinking water, crop changes, intolerable temperatures, economic downturns, mass migration and consequent conflict and war become an everyday part of their lives.

...

Talking of hot spots, I see that the Venuzuelan President is threatening to nationalise a number of major industries, including some in American ownership. No prizes for guessing who the next South American President to meet with a mysterious accident might be!

New Year Resolutions I'm confident of keeping in 2007

I will not take up smoking. (I gave it up 40 years ago)

I will not have an extra-marital affair. (Haven’t had one in 44 years of marriage)

I will continue to drive on the left. (Always a good idea in Britain)

I will continue to be about 20 pounds over-weight. (It’s best to acknowledge when one is beaten)

I will continue to despise racists and religious fanatics. (There’ll be plenty of opportunities)

I will not vote again for a Tony Blair government. (He’s going to resign before the next Election)

I will continue to be sceptical of David Cameron’s Conservative Party. (He’s all froth & bubble)

I will never again be a member of a Political Party. (Unless it’s my own)

I will attend Church regularly (just as soon as there is only one Christian Church)

I will take the religion of Islam seriously (just as soon as there is only one version of it)

I will not take my car to the local shops when I can walk or ride a bike.

I will continue to dislike George Bush (but promise to hug at least two Americans)

I will maintain my Blog irregularly and unreliably.

I will maintain contact with my friends on the same basis.

I will feel bad about my irregularities and unreliability.

I think that’s enough to be going on with.

Happy New Year!

Farewell to the Tyrant

It was difficult to know how to react to the news this morning that Saddam Hussein had been executed, and it was even more difficult to absorb the video footage of him being led to the gallows, watching him refuse a blindfold, then having black cloth tied around his neck. There was a brief view of the trapdoor through which he would fall, but the BBC decided to spare us the final footage of the execution itself.

My own view is that the man should have been kept in solitary confinement for the rest of his life because I am - and have always been - an avowed opponent of Capital Punishment. Even the official view of the UK government, and all governments of the European Union, is similarly equivocal, since all of us have long since abandoned the concept of State Executions, and yet in these particular circumstances we find ourselves as official Allies of the USA, a country that still carries out judicial executions at a rate that outstrips (almost) every other country in the world.

It was of course politically wise of the USA and the UK to distance themselves from this particular judicial process so it could be said that Saddam was tried and executed by his own countrymen. I have little doubt about the man's guilt but have been less than impressed by the farce that passed for a trial. I wonder how many murder trials in the US or the UK would have continued uninterrupted under a succession of three different judges, and how many Appeals against conviction would have been dealt with in such short shrift?

My Goose was Well and Truly Cooked

It’s the day after Christmas, and I’ve been reflecting on the day before Christmas and Christmas Day itself. Responding to a widespread rumour that Christmas was a religious festival I went to Church on Christmas Eve for the Midnight Eucharist – my first time in Church for ten years (apart from the increasingly frequent funerals of friends). As always, I was able to feel some connection with God, though not on account of the fancy dress or the liturgy or the singing of carols. Indeed at one point I nearly lost all sense of connection – ironically in the process leading up to the taking of Holy Communion. As I read the words on the service sheet my brain was forced to ponder that part of the Christian message that appears to have more to do with cannibalism than remembering Jesus Christ. I balked at the words leaping out at me from the page as I was exhorted to “partake of the flesh” and “drink the blood”. Whoa! Hold up a minute!

My take on the Last Supper is that the bread and wine are wholly symbolic of the person of Christ, i.e., his body and blood, and the exhortation to partake of the bread and wine is to remember Him. We are most certainly not eating His flesh nor drinking His blood. Well, that’s my considered opinion after much thought and prayer with the brain God gave me, and if any person or persons try to convince me otherwise I regret to inform them that they are wasting their time.

I had other problems that night in Church. I noticed that the choir included a man, engaged as a Church Warden, whom I know personally to have acted in a wholly unpleasant (not to say un-Christian) way towards his neighbour over a long period of time.

All these thoughts occupied my mind as I walked back home in the light drizzle of the first hour Christmas Day and retired to bed.

The first half of Christmas Day saw me and wife at the home of our son, his wife, and our delightful 4-year old grandson for an exchange of gifts. The joy on the face of our grandson as he played with his new toys and opened yet more presents was the best Christmas gift that we could have hoped for, and the realisation that we were in the presence of the most special people in our lives was a more spiritually uplifting experience than my Church visit had been some hours earlier.

When we returned home a goose that had been cooking in the oven for some hours had spilled fat over the surface of the oven; the smoke alarms were audible outside the house, and when we entered the house we found every room filled with smoke. We opened windows, turned on extractor fans, and lit scented candles. Our goose was well and truly cooked.

A memorable and stimulating Christmas!

We are still lighting scented candles. The atmosphere in the house should be back to normal by next Christmas. Happy New Year! (And by that I mean a year free from any more mad adventures by the idiots Bush and Blair)

Ethical Foreign Policy?

A few days ago (5th December) I posted a note about the British Serious Fraud Office investigation into bribery and corruption on an arms deal between British Aerospace and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis wanted the investigation stopped (which in my book meant they were as guilty as hell) or else they would cancel the contract and go to the French.

Surprise, surprise! Tony Blair has cancelled the investigation ("in the national interest").

I'm sick to the back teeth with this Government. It is a government in which I and thousands of others had invested so much faith and hope. In the early days I was grateful for the declarations of high standards, ethical foreign policies, removal of interest rate control from the politicians' hands, the national minimum wage, Scottish and Welsh devolution (unfortunately nothing done for the English), winter fuel payments and free local bus travel for pensioners, and so on, but then we had the illegal Iraq fiasco, Blair in bed with Bush, political donations and loans in exchange for honours and peerages, the removal of the married persons' tax allowance, the Pensions crisis, increasing taxation by the back door, and now political interference in international fraud investigations. We are not even going to have the pleasure of kicking out the badly tarnished Blair (Bliar) since he's announced his intention to resign next year and pass on the baton to someone else. For the first time in my life I have no idea how I'm going to vote at the next General Election, and the more I talk to friends and acquaintences about it the more I realise they all feel the same way. Indeed more and more people cannot be bothered to vote at all. It's no surprise.

The Conservative Party under cuddly Dave Cameron (which recently unveiled a new Party Logo consisting of an oak tree apparently drawn by a 3-year old with a green crayon) looks less and less like a government in waiting, and Ming Cambell's Liberal Democrats cannot jump from 60 seats to a large enough number for government under the current voting system.

One British Soldier's View of Iraq

A friend has a son serving with the British Army in Iraq. Here are some of his recent comments ...

... the country is crazy, dirty and smelly. The place is disgusting and most of the people are filthy dirty and lazy. The day labourers aren't to be trusted; they listen for gossip to report back to the insurgents. In central Baghdad where scores of Iraqis were waiting for job's as day labourers today at least 57 people were wounded or killed.

Nothing is reported about all the soldiers that get injured every day. They are taken to hospitals in Cyprus then returned to England to hospitals for treatment. They are receiving treatment in N.H.S hospitals (not a Military Hospital as we expect). The Military hospitals have specialised staff trained to deal especially with war victims The N.H.S aren't equipped for this - another cut back thanks to Tony Blair. They need trained military staff who understand the nightmares.

Only yesterday one of the soldiers was shot in the eye another was injured by a blast.

Simultaneous explosions occurr daily and we hear of car bombing and trouble caused by the insurgents.

We are not wanted in the country: even the Iraqi soldiers resent our presence. We cant trust anybody. They pretend to be friendly but in the next breath they say "Go home to your own country". The interpreter is always telling us this. It's crazy us being here!

We give small children sweets and treats; they are all bedraggled and brain-washed. The minute we turn away they are throwing stones at us and calling names. It's a no-win situation.

The End of Pinochet - No Great Loss

Well, another tyrant has bitten the dust, and I'm not shedding any tears. Margaret Thatcher's frequent and public declarations of support and fondness for the old bugger was just one of very many reasons why I have always considered her to be a loathsome woman.

Iraq Study Group Report

At last! A group of Republican worthies has told President Bush some things that ordinary people with half a brain like you and me already knew: the Iraq policy is wrong and needs a radical new direction.

Tony Bliar is beating about the Bush in Washington today. If he hopes to leave office next summer with anything other than a reputation in tatters he will pull no punches and persuade the Toxic Texan to switch his brain from automatic to manual, pull the humble pie lever, then press the switch that engages constructive thinking.

Ethical Politics - an Oxymoron?

Saudia Arabia (that beacon of democracy and financial probity in the Middle East) has been putting pressure on the UK Government to put a stop to a Serious Fraud Office investigation into bribery and corruption surrounding a proposed huge weapons deal between the Saudis and British Aerospace.

The Saudis are threatening to scupper the deal and go to the French if the investigation continues. Of course, thousands of British jobs depend upon a successful outcome to this filthy trade, so will the government to the decent thing and tell the Saudis where to get off?

Don't hold your breath.

Wireless Route to Madness

The two computers in my house connect to the internet via a Belkin wireless router. In the current debate on energy efficiency and reduction of consumption I read that by not leaving the TV on standby each night this saves about £45 per year. This got me thinking about other things that are left on continuously. One of them is my wireless router. The supplier recommended leaving it on all the time, so I went to one of those technical support forums to ask whether it would really matter if I unplugged it each night and rebooted it in the morning.

I got about a dozen replies within hours; half of them said "Keep it switched on" the other half said "Switch if off". One said go into the router settings and disconnect it via the software before unplugging it otherwise it would get confused. Most of the advice came from people who wrote in computer geek speak liberally sprinkled with acronyms and initials such as MAC, SSID, DHCP, IMO AND WPA2.

I am a bear of very little brain, and what there is of it is now thoroughly confused, so I have made an executive decision to keep it switched on and stop worrying about how hot it gets.

More Nuts

I recently wrote about religious nuts. The other nuts that drive me bonkers are the patriotic nuts. The “my country right or wrong” brigade. There’s nothing wrong with patriotism but the best kind is that which acknowledges faults and endeavours to put them right for the good of the country in which one purports to believe. Personally I believe patriotism runs a persistent danger of over-spilling into pernicious nationalism – an altogether different species of patriotism to the noble kind.

Here is an example – one of those pernicious, smug little messages that circulate around the internet vie e-mail groups. It was sent to me the other day … I was going to copy and paste it here but have just discovered I’ve deleted it. Anyway the gist of it was “I encountered a guy with a ‘I hate America’ kind of placard, and I told him that my grandfather died in the 2nd World War, my father died in Korea, and my brother died in Vietnam. They all died so that you could stand here and protest. If I had an umbrella I’d stick it up your ass and open it. God bless America.”

What struck me about this, and so many other anecdotes like it, is how factually incorrect it is: the bit about the 2nd World War is right – this was the last major conflict in which the USA fought from the moral high ground and helped defeat the odious Nazis. But as for Korea and Vietnam – they are totally irrelevant to this argument. What did all those American deaths achieve? Communist North Korea still exists, and Communist Vietnam still exists. Indeed the Vietnam war ended with an ignominious American retreat. Finally, you have to laugh (or get very angry) at someone who in one phrase wishes to stick un umbrella up someone’s ass, then in the next phrase invokes the name of God. It’s priceless loony stuff!

"God's Foreign Policy" ?!

The New York Times reported yesterday that as Israeli bombs fell in Lebanon for a second week in July of this year, the Rev John Hague of San Antonio arrived in Washington with 3,500 evangelicals for the first annual conference of his newly founded organization called Christians United for Israel.

In a message to the assembled crowd he called the conflict a "a battle between good and evil" and said that "support for Israel was God's foreign policy".

What preposterous arrogance! God save us from religious nuts.

The sooner we all wake up to the fact that nearly all the major conflicts around the world are perpuated by religious nuts the better.

After Dubya's Drubbing

It is so refreshing to bask in the sunshine of an America that has suddenly come awake and realised that the Republican Dream was in fact a nightmare. The Democrats new-found strength hands them the opportunity to be part of the solution to current domestic and international problems, but it also gives them the chance of being part of the problem if they do not use their new influence wisely.

It is encouraging to see that a genuine debate on the Iraq debacle seems to be opening up in the USA - unlike in Britain where that huge disappointment known as Tony Blair seems to have effectively closed down the debate, as he heads a government seemingly in denial.

As I have already said to a good American friend, I am sure that the American Democratic Party (like the UK Labour Party) have their fair share of incompetence and corruption (after all, they are members of the human race!) but I take some comfort from the fact that the founding principles which form the basis for their existence are on a higher moral plane than those which form the foundation for the Republican Party (and the UK Conservative Party).

As I grow more cynical in my advancing years the best I can say is that I regard political parties like the American Democrats and the British Labour Party as the lesser of a number of evils.

Farewell to Arms

And so
Farewell to Don.
He's gone from
Pentagon.
This was
One of
Those things
Of which
He didn't know
He didn't know.

Waking up to Good News

I woke up this morning to news on the radio that put a smile on my face. As a long-term friend of the American people (as opposed to the "America" represented by the intellectually challenged Bush and his "neo-con corporatacrocy" partners in crime) I was happy and relieved to hear that the American voters had awakened from their Republican dream, realised it had been a nightmare, and put the Democrats back in control of the House of Representatives. Furthermore it was just possible that they might pull off the same thing in the Senate, but it was too close to call, and there might be some recounts.

To this interested Brit, however, the whole system is very confusing and I can't get my head round a system which can result in a House majority that is opposed to the executive president. It's a bit like us having the Labour Party's Tony Blair as Prime Minister but with a majority of Conservative MPs in the House of Commons. Such an arrangement would be untenable. If anyone can explain to me the logic behind the American system I'm always happy to learn!

I look forward eagerly to the next Presidential Election.

Who needs Town Planners?

Last week we had reason to visit Telford in Shropshire. After a 200 mile drive the last thing I needed was the hassle of trying to find our destination in the giant maze that comprises residential Telford (see above for a tiny fraction). It's a nightmare of bendy roads, side turnings, cul-de-sacs, and cul-de-sacs off cul-de-sacs, compounded by a plethora of vicious "traffic calming" speed humps and chicanes. There appears to be no rhyme or reason behind the layout of main roads, minor roads and housing estate roads that, on paper, resemble nothing so much as industrial-scale spaghetti bolognese delivered by cluster bombs.

The place was obviously designed by a committee of lunatics. Who needs town planners? Never mind "modern" towns like Telford. What about those towns and villages that have real architectural merit and display a wide diversity of attractive styles developed over the centuries. Town and country planners seek to maintain these features by the strict imposition of regulations governing how Joe Public may be allowed to make changes to their private houses, down to the shape of gable ends, or the style of windows or the colour and material used for rainwater gutters and downspouts. And yet it has obviously escaped their bureacratic minds that the charming character of the very places they are supposed to be protecting actually grew up in the complete absence of planning controls!! How did our forefathers manage to get things so right without the help of a Council Planning Department?

By contrast every town in the UK has examples of post-war developments undertaken with the approval of Town and Country Planning Departments that are no more than rectangular blocks of concrete, hideous in the extreme, and falling to bits.