An aide to John 'Vince' Cable, the Business Secretary, has interfered in the talk about Ched Evans, a footballer who was convicted of rape and now wants to return to football. I have no idea why but this is one of those subjects which seem to throw up more nonsense than it should.
Both sides in the argument seem to be exhibiting gross disrespect to the British Justice System. First, have no truck with people who suggest that he didn't really do it. Evans was tried and found guilty of rape. He may be able to appeal the verdict, I don't know, but unless and until that happens he is guilty.
The other side also seem not to have understood the Justice System. A convicted criminal is sentenced not by the feminist twitter feed but by a judge. That sentence was handed down, he served it and is now out. The Judge didn't say 'Four years and you shall never work again'. It was just the prison sentence.
We have a great problem with recidivism in Britain. On release prisoners are more likely to return to a life of crime than not. Here is someone who can do a job and people are trying to stop him.
Anyone who is such a halfwit as to believe that footballers are role models needs locking up for their own safety. And even if they were it doesn't alter the fact that our system has released Mr Evans. Let him get on with his life.
09 January, 2015
2015
I should have begun the year by giving you my forecasts but to be honest they're more often wrong than right.
OK, here we go.
In the Greek election this month the left-wing anti-euro Syriza party will be the largest, but they won't have enough of a majority to do what they want. As a result a fudge will be organised to keep Greece in the euro. which is the last thing the people of that benighted country need.
After the British elections in May David Cameron will be Prime Minister but only after the sort of undemocratic stitch-up he used last time. UKIP, it pains me to say, will not do as well as people think.
The oil price will firm up a bit after the end of the summer.
There will be the usual amount of hunger, disease and war. There will be more Islamic terrorist outrages and Europe will increasingly see an anti-Islamic backlash, which, it will quickly be realised, is not a healthy development.
Out on a limb here: Italy will choose a woman president and the Labour Party a woman leader.
The euro will continue to look unsustainable but will not actually collapse.
In America the Republicans will continue to fail to find a credible candidate to oppose Hillary Clinton.
The FTSE 100 and the S & P in America will reach new highs; the European bourses will not.
People will get fed up having to carry enormous smart 'phones around with them.
OK, here we go.
In the Greek election this month the left-wing anti-euro Syriza party will be the largest, but they won't have enough of a majority to do what they want. As a result a fudge will be organised to keep Greece in the euro. which is the last thing the people of that benighted country need.
After the British elections in May David Cameron will be Prime Minister but only after the sort of undemocratic stitch-up he used last time. UKIP, it pains me to say, will not do as well as people think.
The oil price will firm up a bit after the end of the summer.
There will be the usual amount of hunger, disease and war. There will be more Islamic terrorist outrages and Europe will increasingly see an anti-Islamic backlash, which, it will quickly be realised, is not a healthy development.
Out on a limb here: Italy will choose a woman president and the Labour Party a woman leader.
The euro will continue to look unsustainable but will not actually collapse.
In America the Republicans will continue to fail to find a credible candidate to oppose Hillary Clinton.
The FTSE 100 and the S & P in America will reach new highs; the European bourses will not.
People will get fed up having to carry enormous smart 'phones around with them.
08 January, 2015
Perfect!
The supremely irritating TripAdvisor - why can't they spell adviser properly? - has just sent me an email entitled 'Paris in 2015 - sounds perfect!'.
Perhaps it is some sort of political statement.
Perhaps it is some sort of political statement.
Je suis Charlie (3)
The problem now appears to be how people react, in France and elsewhere. France has around 6 million muslims, the highest of any Western European nation, and feelings have been running high for some time.
People will see that the gunmen escaped to the Banlieue, the suburbs around Paris, which are effectively a police no go area. Political tension is palpable and more than a thousand cars are torched every year.
With Marine Le Pen riding high in the polls it will be Hollande's unhappy job to calm the feelings of non-muslims. There is a clear threat of backlash.
Elsewhere, there have been anti-muslim riots in Germany, and nationalist parties are on the rise in several European countries.
These are going to be difficult times.
People will see that the gunmen escaped to the Banlieue, the suburbs around Paris, which are effectively a police no go area. Political tension is palpable and more than a thousand cars are torched every year.
With Marine Le Pen riding high in the polls it will be Hollande's unhappy job to calm the feelings of non-muslims. There is a clear threat of backlash.
Elsewhere, there have been anti-muslim riots in Germany, and nationalist parties are on the rise in several European countries.
These are going to be difficult times.
Je suis Charlie (2)
By the way I'm not sure I want to hear too much from the French about freedom of speech.
If Charlie Hebdo, instead of printing cartoons about Mohammed, had said that fewer than 6 million Jews died in the holocaust, the magazine could have been closed and the journalists imprisoned. Equally if it had conducted a personal campaign against the President. The penalty for saying that the Turks didn't commit genocide over the Armenians during WW1? €45,000 fine and a year in prison.
A couple of years ago a French wine writer who described Beaujolais as a vin de merde was prosecuted for criminal libel.
Free speech should mean just that.
If Charlie Hebdo, instead of printing cartoons about Mohammed, had said that fewer than 6 million Jews died in the holocaust, the magazine could have been closed and the journalists imprisoned. Equally if it had conducted a personal campaign against the President. The penalty for saying that the Turks didn't commit genocide over the Armenians during WW1? €45,000 fine and a year in prison.
A couple of years ago a French wine writer who described Beaujolais as a vin de merde was prosecuted for criminal libel.
Free speech should mean just that.
Je suis Charlie
There is only one way, in my view, to see the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris: it was an attack on us all, from the great international publications to this humble blog, down to the ordinary person who reads them.
I have read Charlie a couple of times (Hebdo means 'weekly' in French). It was often offensive, sometimes needlessly provocative, rude. But the point to be stressed is that it has every right to be those things. If you didn't like it you didn't buy it, tout simplement.
We have all been staring down the barrel of those guns. Let us now show how we can comport ourselves when threatened.
I have read Charlie a couple of times (Hebdo means 'weekly' in French). It was often offensive, sometimes needlessly provocative, rude. But the point to be stressed is that it has every right to be those things. If you didn't like it you didn't buy it, tout simplement.
We have all been staring down the barrel of those guns. Let us now show how we can comport ourselves when threatened.
Happy New Year
I have neglected this blog over the last year, partly through illness and partly through getting involved in other projects. It is very much a part of my plan to keep it going, however, so there should be many more posts in 2015.
If there are any Readers left I wish you a Happy New Year
If there are any Readers left I wish you a Happy New Year
12 December, 2014
Immigration
I read that thousands of people are estimated to have been given British passports even though they are criminals or otherwise quite unsuitable. A recent report lists smugglers, illegal workers and in one case someone who admitted to stabbing a man to death, as successful applicants.
I had my passport stolen a while back and for months have been in correspondence with the Passport Office, who seem to me to be what I would call, were it concerning anyone else, utterly thorough.
I now wish I had given my profession as 'Serial Killer' - I'd probably have received a replacement immediately.
I had my passport stolen a while back and for months have been in correspondence with the Passport Office, who seem to me to be what I would call, were it concerning anyone else, utterly thorough.
I now wish I had given my profession as 'Serial Killer' - I'd probably have received a replacement immediately.
10 December, 2014
Torture
Using advanced interception techniques, this blog can reproduce the interrogation of a terrorist subject.
MI5: Do you know about a plot to blow up part of the London Underground?
Abdul (not his real name): Yes, I know all about it.
MI5: When and where is it going to take place?
Abdul: I'm not telling you
MI5: Dash it! The bounder refuses to talk! Oh well, nothing for it, those innocent commuters are just going to have to die.
See anything wrong here? If we think someone knows about a plot to murder thousands of people, I want him waterboarded, surfboarded, beaten with a copy of the Independent and forced to listen to a recital of EU Directives until he spills the beans.
When you enter a war, either against another state or against 'terror', nasty things happen. Thousands of innocent people died in our bombing raids on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and so on, but we're not allowed to beat up a terrorist suspect in order to save lives.
That is how we should see the arguments on torture.
PS I should mention that I don't think torture should be authorised, as in the recent American case, by intelligence officers. I think it should be authorised by a High Court judge on strictly pre-determined criteria.
MI5: Do you know about a plot to blow up part of the London Underground?
Abdul (not his real name): Yes, I know all about it.
MI5: When and where is it going to take place?
Abdul: I'm not telling you
MI5: Dash it! The bounder refuses to talk! Oh well, nothing for it, those innocent commuters are just going to have to die.
See anything wrong here? If we think someone knows about a plot to murder thousands of people, I want him waterboarded, surfboarded, beaten with a copy of the Independent and forced to listen to a recital of EU Directives until he spills the beans.
When you enter a war, either against another state or against 'terror', nasty things happen. Thousands of innocent people died in our bombing raids on Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and so on, but we're not allowed to beat up a terrorist suspect in order to save lives.
That is how we should see the arguments on torture.
PS I should mention that I don't think torture should be authorised, as in the recent American case, by intelligence officers. I think it should be authorised by a High Court judge on strictly pre-determined criteria.
27 November, 2014
New Tories
How, I must ask, has the Conservative Party sunk so low? You meet them on the doorsteps, at parties or their fundraising events and something speaks to you that all is not normal, not as it was. Has some alien force invaded? How did they enrol these new people?
We hear a Judge confirm that Andrew Mitchell, a former Chief Whip, had indeed called a policeman (a policeman!) a f***ing pleb and tried to bully him out of doing his job. This week also we hear that David Mellor, a former Cabinet Minister, has been recorded swearing at a taxi driver, and listing his achievements - broadcaster, QC etc before saying the cabbie should get an education before arguing with him.
Having a rank in society or a good education brings with it obligation, not the right to sneer. You know what I think about people who use their position or their education to bully more ordinary folk?
I think they're f***ing plebs.
We hear a Judge confirm that Andrew Mitchell, a former Chief Whip, had indeed called a policeman (a policeman!) a f***ing pleb and tried to bully him out of doing his job. This week also we hear that David Mellor, a former Cabinet Minister, has been recorded swearing at a taxi driver, and listing his achievements - broadcaster, QC etc before saying the cabbie should get an education before arguing with him.
Having a rank in society or a good education brings with it obligation, not the right to sneer. You know what I think about people who use their position or their education to bully more ordinary folk?
I think they're f***ing plebs.
06 November, 2014
The way we live now
A lesbian couple, described as intelligent and sophisticated, approached a male gay couple, also described as intelligent and sophisticated, with a view to them, the lesbians, conceiving children.
The procedure was done by in vitro fertilisation. Two children resulted. Now the two sets have been quarrelling over 'parental access'. Legal action has been taken, the parties being known as 'Mother 1 and Mother 2' (M1 being the biological mother) versus Father 1 and Father 2 (F1 being father). The children are called Child A and Child B.
The action has been going on for 4 years and cost more than half a million pounds.
Custody has been awarded to the two Ms, even though they have a history of domestic violence with each other, M1 having been treated for psychiatric disorders and M2 being described as 'controlling'.
F1 and F2 are allowed to see something of B but only write to A.
The two children's lives have been 'irredeemably marred' by the court conflict.
I don't really know where to start here, so I'll just report it. Bonkers parents, unnatural relationships, domestic violence, children's lives ruined.
The procedure was done by in vitro fertilisation. Two children resulted. Now the two sets have been quarrelling over 'parental access'. Legal action has been taken, the parties being known as 'Mother 1 and Mother 2' (M1 being the biological mother) versus Father 1 and Father 2 (F1 being father). The children are called Child A and Child B.
The action has been going on for 4 years and cost more than half a million pounds.
Custody has been awarded to the two Ms, even though they have a history of domestic violence with each other, M1 having been treated for psychiatric disorders and M2 being described as 'controlling'.
F1 and F2 are allowed to see something of B but only write to A.
The two children's lives have been 'irredeemably marred' by the court conflict.
I don't really know where to start here, so I'll just report it. Bonkers parents, unnatural relationships, domestic violence, children's lives ruined.
Immigration
Recent confusing figures trying to quantify the cost or benefit to the Exchequer of immigration are missing the point.
The important aspect is that a significant number of people in Britain - enough to turn an election - think that immigration has created ghettoised areas where English is not spoken and life not lived in an English way and that this leads to social upheaval.
The non-political class also recognise that these people need public services such as schools, hospitals, policing and so on, costs which don't come out in the figures.
It is not racist to discuss this and if the present politicians don't allow such discussion, either they will find themselves replaced by people who are more normal, or the hitherto silent majority will rebel.
I am just talking about discussing the matter, nothing more than that.
The important aspect is that a significant number of people in Britain - enough to turn an election - think that immigration has created ghettoised areas where English is not spoken and life not lived in an English way and that this leads to social upheaval.
The non-political class also recognise that these people need public services such as schools, hospitals, policing and so on, costs which don't come out in the figures.
It is not racist to discuss this and if the present politicians don't allow such discussion, either they will find themselves replaced by people who are more normal, or the hitherto silent majority will rebel.
I am just talking about discussing the matter, nothing more than that.
Europe
We now learn that some €7 billion of the European budget (around €150 billion in total) was paid out in error, whilst the masterminds behind this are asking Britain to stump up another €2.1billion.I am not here making the traditional eurosceptic point. We knew it was corrupt when we joined; we knew they could ask a successful country for more money to subsidise the lazy and unsuccessful; we accepted that European Law takes precedence over ours.
We should pay up without all this whingeing: this is money we owe.
Of course we shouldn't have joined in the first place. Of course we should now leave (we should have left long ago). But this was our cock-up and we must take responsibility for it.
OH NO!
It seems that the head of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, has entered the pantomime season early. From a press conference to mark his new job:
JCJ: I am not the head of a band of bureaucrats
Public: OH YES YOU ARE!
JCJ: I deserve some respect
Public: OH NO YOU DON'T!
Dear me. I don't suppose we shall ever take these people seriously.
JCJ: I am not the head of a band of bureaucrats
Public: OH YES YOU ARE!
JCJ: I deserve some respect
Public: OH NO YOU DON'T!
Dear me. I don't suppose we shall ever take these people seriously.
28 October, 2014
Close encounter
My first thought was that he was probably protesting against unchecked immigration and the cost of belonging to the European Union and that it would do Mr Cameron good to meet a member of the general public.
Mr Farley - alright I'm guessing here - is not an Old Etonian.
However the truth was even better. Mr Farley, who surely has a future on the world stage, didn't know who Cameron was.
26 October, 2014
Jack Bruce
Sorry to hear of the Death of Jack Bruce. He started as a jazz musician, playing upright bass, played blues with John Mayall, pop with Manfred Mann and of course progressive rock with Cream.
Quite a cv
Quite a cv
Apology
Sorry for the lack of posting. I have been in the South of France which has a glorious warm autumn.
Whatever people tell you about France's economic disaster it is not true of the Cote d'Azur which is comfortable and expensive.
Terrible coffee, though.
Whatever people tell you about France's economic disaster it is not true of the Cote d'Azur which is comfortable and expensive.
Terrible coffee, though.
Sense of time
As usual on these occasions I got up this morning not knowing what bloody time it was. I had some recollection of having changed the time on my 'phone before I went to bed, but another recollection that I hadn't known how to do it. Turning on the computer, which updates itself automatically, was the only way to find out, and by that stage I was awake and the day had to start.
It was 5am.
Now, at last, we see some sense. Russia, which had turned to some sort of permanent summer time a few years ago has listened to its people, who feel their biorhythms were being played around with, and abandoned the concept completely. The clocks will no longer change in Russia but simply reflect the time nature intended.
It is high time our own so called democracy did the same.
It was 5am.
Now, at last, we see some sense. Russia, which had turned to some sort of permanent summer time a few years ago has listened to its people, who feel their biorhythms were being played around with, and abandoned the concept completely. The clocks will no longer change in Russia but simply reflect the time nature intended.
It is high time our own so called democracy did the same.
11 October, 2014
Boycott
But apparently the two go back fifty years. Shell pays Lego to make imitation Shell petrol stations, fuel trucks and so on, and the contract is worth around $100 million.
Now Lego has pulled out, persuaded by the environmental pressure Group Greenpeace that Shell are absolutely horrid.
Shell and Greenpeace also go back a long way, following Greenpeace's wholly bogus attack on rig decommissioning some years ago. Greenpeace hadn't understood anything about oil and water and supplied the media and the public with outrageously inaccurate figures.
Really, we do need a few more facts and a bit less hysteria from the enviro-loonies. This blog has long boycotted Greenpeace; it is now boycotting Lego, too.
What are those little bricks made of, anyway?
Nobel Peace Prize
Considering that the Nobel Peace Prize has, in the recent past, been awarded to the European Union, Barack Obama, Al Gore and the bogus International Panel on Climate Change, we must congratulate the organisers on awarding it to someone, Malala Yousafzai, who has actually benefitted humanity.
Spare a thought for Kailash Sathyarti, the Indian children's campaigner, who shared the prize with Malala but whose name is likely to be forgotten.
Spare a thought for Kailash Sathyarti, the Indian children's campaigner, who shared the prize with Malala but whose name is likely to be forgotten.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)