It now emerges that the three Labour MPs to be charged with fraud for fiddling their expenses may claim parliamentary privilege under an ancient ruling to escape prosecution. Don’t you just love these elected custodians of our liberty? Doesn’t it bring a warm glow to your heart? And as if that is not enough now that they are resigning their seats (well being chucked out by their own party as it happens) they will still be entitled to the redundancy payoff - that’s another £150k between them. It gets better and better.
Meanwhile we are promised more snow this week. How much is uncertain but everybody I speak to has had enough now. We did have a little taste of spring at the end of last week - I was sitting drinking coffee by the sea in Brighton - but alas it seems we have to suffer some more. This week should also see the arrival of our new (much larger!) oil tank which may be just as well if it is going to get colder. The present one is clearly totally inadequate for the house. So our oil supply problems should get better - we hope.
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Well we did not get the sunshine promised us today but I did manage to get out in the garden and start to get ready for spring. There is still a huge amount to do and it is a question of trying to work out what to do first. I have now trimmed the wisteria along the front of the house and spread a great pile of wood chips as mulch in the shrubbery round the obelisk. The latter was really the last step in revamping this part of the garden - rescuing it from the wilderness and replanting it with rhododendrons.
Yesterday the gardener starting fitting the fanlights to the greenhouse. He has made them in wood in the traditional way so that they match the rest of the greenhouse which dates from the middle of the 19th century. It will be quite an achievement when we have finished renovating it, particularly as it contains some very active vines which fruited well last autumn.
The season is starting at last with snowdrops peeping through in many parts of the garden to be followed shortly by a dazzling display of aconites - or at least so we are told by those who have known this garden for longer than we have. Can’t wait for the spring to come and for the garden to come alive again.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
So old Gordie’s answer to the MP expenses scandal is to change the voting system to something like a proportional representation approach. This he proudly announced today. How does he think fiddling with the voting system is going to restore our faith in a bunch of self seeking crooks who stole our money whilst making all sorts of condescending and patronising remarks about the electorate they are supposed to serve?
Clearly he still doesn’t get it. We the British public have been appalled at the extent of what has been going on and it has left our faith in the integrity of politicians in tatters. I still reserve particular condemnation for the Labour party MPs who are always trumpeting the cause of the working man (and woman) and banging on about equality whilst fiddling their expenses and sending their kids to private schools (and who I think the record shows were the worst offenders). What crass hypocrisy. So no Gordie, tarting about the issue of where we put the cross on a piece of paper doesn’t fix it. OK?
Tags: Gordon Brown, proportional representation
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Last night I drove to Leamington Spa to see Nanci Griffith in concert. She was absolutely brilliant. Like the rest of us getting older with her hair turned grey and looking for all the world like a middle aged school teacher - not surprising I suppose because she was once a teacher.
But when she starts to sing….. She has a new CD out which the tour was promoting and which I already have. It has some great songs on it and the title track in particular is amazing - called ‘The Loving Kind’ - it is about a mixed race couple who married in Virginia in the 1950s and were sent to jail! Believe it or not this was against the law in that state at the time. They fought it through the courts and won in the end and the law was changed. Just makes one reflect that despite the things we bitch about a lot has changed for the better in our life times.
And the surname of the couple was Loving - how poignant is that!
Tags: Nanci Griffith
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Jan 30th, 2010 by Oldfart
I have to say for a politician Tony Blair did pretty well in front of the Iraq enquiry yesterday. All his barrister training came to the fore and he put forward a pretty convincing case for his actions. I have to say I agreed with the Iraq war at the time, to take out that total son of a bitch Saddam Hussein in the name of real human rights.
The military did a brilliant job and all the doom mongers were proved wrong. But that was when the problems began. Neither Bush nor Blair had the faintest idea how to manage the peace in the cultural context of that country with its history of violence and mixed ethnic groupings. The result we see to this day and it is not obvious what the average Iraqi has gained.
But why have another enquiry into all this? Old Gordie set this one up and I think he just wanted to give Blair a tough time and embarrass him in front of the committee. If that was it I think he failed.
Tags: Iraq, Tony Blair
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Jan 28th, 2010 by Oldfart
Today’s Times carries a catalogue of the dodgy science (and scientists) supporting the global warming circus. Most of it we have heard before and it does those involved no credit whatsoever. But more interesting is the commentary supplied by one Vicky Pope.
The gist of what she has to say is that mistakes have been made (actually the facts suggest persistent attempts to mislead the public and deny the rights conferred under the Freedom of Information Act) but that the science underlying the arguments in favour of man made global warming ‘remain robust’. According to our Vicky it is simply a communications problem concerned with public perception of what climate research is all about - like refusing to give out information that may not suit the thesis and deleting inconvenient emails sent by research staff at East Anglia University.
May interest readers to know that (Dr) Vicky Pope is the head of climate change advice at the Met Office - yes the same people that predicted the barbecue summer and mild winter. Good to know we are in such capable hands!
Tags: climate change, Dr Vicky Pope, Met Office
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Jan 27th, 2010 by Oldfart
Well its back to blighty tomorrow and not sure how I feel about that. Right now it is blasting rain at us which was not what I hoped for in Spain but that’s the way it goes. At least it has been warmer than back home and we have had some lovely sunny days.
No doubt lots of things will need to be done when we get back and there is still all the planning bureaucracy to face. That has dragged on and on and cost us money we were not expecting. But then spring is coming and hopefully we will be able to spend time in the garden getting it in shape. There is still a lot of work to do in terms of managing the shrubberies, planting the herbacious border and just generally getting on top of the weeding. We did have plans for doing quite a lot of this work in the winter but the harsh weather has defeated us.
The good news so far this year is that I have found some time to read, having hardly had the time to pick up a book for nearly 6 months. And certainly having a break out here has been really good - as well as catching up with the bunch of reprobrates who claim to be our friends. Their antics in providing many of the comments on this blog has kept us all amused during what has been a hard winter. I know it is all nonsense but then so are the politicians and all the rest.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Jan 26th, 2010 by Oldfart
So France is going to ban women wearing the burka veil. Meanwhile in the UK we think it absolutely fine for the Muslims to set up a separate society here with their own sharia law, establish extremist groups to encourage youngsters to become terrorists and to espouse the public aim of making the UK a Muslim country. Wouldn’t say the French were my favourite people but I think they have got this one right.
If you recall whilst we allow people to go around in the weirdest of gear because of religious belief, BA tried to stop one of its staff from wearing a simple cross round her neck because of her religious beliefs. Personally I would get rid of it all, including the religious beliefs it all represents. Religious bigotry has been the cause of misery and violence towards millions over the centuries, thrives on ignorance and has contributed little to advancing mankind.
Not that I am seeking to be controversial or anything…….
Tags: burka
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Jan 24th, 2010 by Oldfart
It emerges today that more of the so-called science that the global warming circus is based on is rubbish. We have all heard the warnings that adverse weather events are now going to become more common as the planet warms up and this is part of the official view of the IPCC. Even the Africans saw a great opportunity at Copenhagen and lodged a claim for billions against the western nations as being primarily responsible for the global warming that was going to lead to hurricanes and floods in their countries. Well it has now been show that there is not a scrap of evidence to support this theory which was paraded as scientific fact.
This comes on top of the use of other bogus science (see earlier blogs) to shore up the claims about man made global warming and it is surely time to seriously call into question this whole argument. Let us have some real research to establish the facts. Certainly there has got to be a whole lot more to convince me to give up my Jaguar and go for a battery model.
And have you noticed how politicians change when an election is in the offing? This lot have been in power for 13 years now and have been full of pompous nonsense about knowing what is best and generally lording it over us. Suddenly all that has changed and they have started ‘listening’ , or so they would like us to think. The latest is that, after the outcry from the public, Labour have suddenly been converted to the idea that ex-servicemen who have done their bit for the country and been wounded in the process should receive good health care for life. Well anyway that is what public opinion has been advocating, but this lot can’t even get their proposals right. What they are now going to do is to allow anyone who has ever served in the forces (including cooks, clerks etc) to queue jump in the NHS for the rest of their lives. That is not what we had in mind! If they have been in a war zone and had their leg blown off or some such then they should certainly get special treatment. But clerks - no. I mean why not let librarians queue jump?
Tags: care for ex-servicemen, global warming, Labour policies
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
Jan 23rd, 2010 by Oldfart
So what is Darling’s response to Obama’s initiative on the banks? - he is not going to take the lead being given and will simply carry on as before. Oh great! That’s really what we need - not.
One of the most alarming reports to come out of Government recently by an independent observer is the total disarray in terms of strategic thinking and policy formulation. Apparently it is total chaos. Now many of us looking from outside were inclined to this opinion but we put that down to political prejudice. But apparently we were correct in our appraisal.
Now if there is one thing worse than a Government whose policies you may disagree with it has to be a Government that has lost the will to govern and is thrashing about in its own sordid mess. Where are the measures and thinking that will take us out of this economic downturn and secure a better future? Brown is clearly useless as a PM and those around him are busy scrabbling for position when he takes a tumble and they can rip open the carcass.
Oh for a PM with some clear ideas and the balls to implement them!
Tags: economic downturn, managing the banks
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »