NICE TOUCH

                                                                    

                                                                     NICE TOUCH

I see this morning that 16 rebels have been hanged in Iran in retaliation for the deaths of at least 14 border guards in an ambush.   They don't muck about when they have a problem with security.  Oh, that we dealt with terrorism with the same haste and in a manner that didn't waste public money waiting for appeals, more appeals and a final plea to the Court of Human Rights.

We are told that those hung were linked to groups hostile to the current regime.   This announcement came from the Attorney-General of Sistan-Baluchistan province.   Now I never knew that the Iranians had the post of attorney-general - awfully English, don't you know....

THE CONTINUED EROSION OF A BRITISH ICON

                                   

                                    THE CONTINUED EROSION OF A BRITISH ICON

The Tories have never been the most supportive party when it has come to the BBC, an organisation I took to be a British icon of fairness and impartiality.   Unfortunately,  intrusion and leverage have undermined these principles over many years.   Successive governments just cannot leave anything alone and sadly, the BBC has come under the spotlight more and more over recent years.

I will gladly pay £145.50 for a TV licence just to ensure that I am not subjected to minute after minute of banal advertising that I can only assume was designed for people who are either totally retarded or with an IQ so far advanced that it leaves people like me in the cold.   I watch "Downton Abbey" but like everything else on ITV1 or ITV3 that I wish to watch, it is recorded and played back later.

One hundred and forty five pounds fifty pence for one year's freedom is not a considerable sum.   It is peanuts.   I feel yet more dismay when I  learn  that Grant Shapps suggests the licence fee may be cut or shared with other broadcasters unless the BBC rebuilds public trust.   He goes on to say that the Beeb must be more transparent and change its culture of secrecy.   This is from a  man who represents a party currently in government, whose MPs, along with those from other parties,  have totally lost the trust  of the public with regard to their expenses, greed and their total inability to listen to the public about what they want for their country.   What a bloody cheek!  It would be nice to find government being more transparent.   You know darn well that the only winners against the BBC will be yet more power going to people like that Antipodean Murdoch, who pays no tax in our country but tells people through his tabloids who to vote for at an election.   Another bloody cheek!

YOU CAN'T TRUST ANYONE

                                                   

                                                  YOU CAN'T TRUST ANYONE

According to  the German magazine Der Spiegel  the US have been listening to Angela Merkel's phone calls since 2002 - before she was elected Chancellor.   This revelation comes after the French have been protesting to Washington over the same issue.  I'm not sure which is worse,  American arrogance or American insecurity.   I wonder if they thought back then that the 'sour kraut' would one day become Europe's most influential politician,  that Germany would once again dominate Europe's political and financial policies and structure  -  and all without setting foot in Poland first or a shot being fired in anger  -  as opposed to Onger where I haven't heard of any shots being fired at all!

David Cameron seems to suggest that Britain's 'special relationship' with the USA would somehow make us immune from such dastardly deeds.  The truth is more likely to be that with all the cutbacks  we probably wouldn't have the intelligence available to know whether we have been spied upon or not.  My advice is for us to ask the Taliban or some other terrorist organisation who probably have far more resources than we do.  Where else do you think our foreign aid ends up!

POSTSCRIPT TO SWEET FA

                                                       

                                                     POSTSCRIPT TO SWEET FA

The comments made by Ms Rabbatts regarding the lack of black representation within the FA's new 'Think Tank' led me to consider the route that has been taken of late on behalf of perceived racial injustice and inequality.  Over the past few years this country has witnessed the founding of the Black Police Association, the Society of Black Lawyers, - which is now involved in the formation of the Black Players Association - and the annual Black List, which apparently celebrates the contribution of the black community to the game of football.  I wonder if Ms Rabbatts attends?

I cannot think of anything more divisive than having separate organisations within a given industry based on colour.  In previous books I have commented on the furore that would ensue should a native of this country found a White Lawyers Society,  a White Players Society or a White Police Association.  Jamie Lewis made the same point a year ago in an article in 'The Independent'.  The disappointment I felt with his column was that he prefaced his paragraph on this aspect of the situation by referring to those who query such matters as 'fascists'.  Surely one may make comment without being labelled in such a manner, but then, isn't that the preserve of those who never stand back and wonder why that view is held in the first place?

Kick it Out, the anti-racism lobby group had an annual budget of £453,000 in the season 2010 - 2011 of which some £330,000 was donated by the FA, Premier League and the Professional Footballers Association.  You could throw millions at these action groups, but you still have to understand the root causes of why the indigenous population feels the way it does, otherwise it's a complete waste of money. Lets face it, the fact that these societies and associations have been formed is down to the native population's ability to accept, for we sadly are a nation of acceptors.

DOCTOR, DOCTOR

                                                                

                                                                   DOCTOR, DOCTOR

Another groan!   Now here's a surprise.   UK ethnic minority doctors are four times more likely than white candidates to fail their clinical GP exam according to the General Medical Council.   A review into 5000 candidates was ordered after ethnic minority students complained that their exam was unfair.   I think that's a euphemism for  "I haven't reached the required standard, so let's blame somebody else".   And let's face it, racial bias is always a good one to fall back on.   There is apparently a Professor Aneez Esmail.  Guess what his job is?   No?   Well, unless you're his wife who would obviously know what he did, there is no way in the world you would come up with him being an expert on 'racism in the NHS'!   It is he who led the investigation and came to the conclusion that 'unconscious bias' could explain the findings.  Luckily, the Royal College of GP's who set the exams denies that they are unfair - which is nice to know.

A couple of years ago I met a doctor at Frimley Park Hospital who was obviously from abroad but displayed almost impeccable english. I asked him where he was from and he replied "Malta" I then asked if he liked it here.   He told me that not only did he like it here, but he proffered the opinion that to be born an Englishman was to be born into a very exclusive club.  Interested in his answer, I asked him how he felt about himself, now that he had taken up residency here.  "Oh", came the thoughtful reply,"I consider myself to be an associate member"  Now that shows class!

SWEET FA

                                                                     

                                                                      SWEET FA

I read with a groan that the Football Association has been accused of letting down black and ethnic minority people after setting up an all-white, all-male commission to improve the English football team. Well, not too long ago the English football team was all-white, so where's the lack of so-called improvement there?   They are never satisfied.

Apparently, there's a lady who goes by the name of Heather Rabbatts who is the only female board member on the FA.   She has now come out, as they say, and said she had no choice but to go public with her concerns as there had been a "refusal to understand" her position in private.   I suspect what she is saying is that nobody could be bothered to take her whinging any further.   She said, "The opportunity to lead an informed debate on the future of English players has been singularly damaged".

I don't know anything about the lady but I suspect that her whole focus on the job in hand is to promote ethnic minorities in the way that holds back real discussions on the wider picture, when there should be a far more rounded approach to football, ie why is there so much money going to agents?   Why are we allowing so many foreign businesses and rich individuals to buy iconic clubs in this country?   Why are we allowing people to reside here for five years and then play for this country?  (see previous post)   I would have thought these were far more important topics to discuss with regard to the improvement of English football, but then those with "agendas" are generally prone to very narrow thought patterns.

Those who know me are aware that I suffer from diabetes and have monthly injections into my eye to take away excess fluid.   It was interesting that whilst lying on the table awaiting my injection last month the doctor, as ever, dropped anaesthetic into my eye, followed by iodine (the idea being that if you can't feel the sting of the iodine then the anaesthetic has worked).   The iodine ran from my eye towards my ear and I brushed it away with a finger only to be told by the doctor, "Don't do that,  you'll get a smear and you'll go home looking like a golliwog".   Interestingly that as the doctor laughed at her own little funny, I thought to myself, "She's not being politically correct and she's Asian!"   It generally turns out to be the white do-gooders that can't stop harping on about inequality and all things racial.

As Chas & Dave would say, "Rabbatts, Rabbatts, Rabbatts .........."

TV ISN'T SO BAD AFTER ALL

                                                     

                                                      TV ISN'T SO BAD AFTER ALL

My winter viewing during the dark nights of that season have been  made more pleasurable by the Saturday night presentation of "Strictly Come Dancing" and "Merlin".  "Merlin" sadly ended its run earlier this year and its replacement "Atlantis" is a very poor imitation and I endured the first two episodes before switching off for good.   "Strictly", however, continues to amuse and entertain me.  The first two weeks of dismissals have seen two of the three that I would wish to be dismissed, so I can ask no more.   Tony Jacklin didn't seem a bad sort, but his smile was so ingratiating.   I know he can't help his facial structure or what it does when it breaks into a smile, but every time he did, I could only see  Tony Blackburn's face.  It didn't get any better.   I've never been a lover - no, definitely not a lover - of Vanessa Feltz.   I've never rated gobby, lippy people, either male or female - how non-sexist can one get!   So I was rather pleased when she departed last Sunday.   I hope my expectations are fulfilled this Sunday when Julien McDonald is voted off as his over-the-top antics, not to mention his accent - there's lovely hasn't it - are tending to grate.

Having just started decorating the kitchen  it was an absolute joy painting a ceiling whilst listening and watching a set of TV programmes that really made afternoon television a joy.   Two episodes of "Keeping Up Appearances" which had some priceless lines in it , followed by "Are You Being Served" and "Allo, Allo", both classics of their time and style, and to cap it off, one of the best American imports ever, "Cagney & Lacey".   Not such a bad day after all.

SO SLAVERY ISN'T DEAD

                                                      

                                                        SO SLAVERY ISN'T DEAD

According to the Global Slavery Index 2013 (didn't know there was one) it appears that many countries still practise  slavery.   It was interesting to read that 14 million people in India are considered by this survey to be slaves.   Quite what the definition of being a slave is I'm not aware.   It's probably a bit like being pigeon holed by quangos  as in poverty in the United Kingdom, but still having enough money for cigarettes, lager and Lottery tickets.   It's a strange fact of life, by the way, that by doubling the price of a Lottery ticket from £1 to £2 it  means that only the unemployed can afford them.

Getting back to the slavery question, it appears that Mauritania has the highest percentage of slaves per head of population at 4%.   I've no idea of where Mauritania is.   I know it's somewhere to the right as you stand in my garden and look north and I know there was a ship named after it.   In the wider realms of society, however, it still appears that slavery is a dirty word and yet as I've always contended, inflation rose dramatically when it was abolished - now there's something to conjure with.

SO, WHERE WAS THEIR GOD THEN?

                                          

                                               SO, WHERE WAS THEIR GOD THEN?

BBC news has reported that at least 60 pilgrims have been killed in a stampede near a Hindu temple in Central India. Thousands were apparently gathered at the Ratangarh Temple for a religious festival - probably similar to the festival they attend in a small Surrey village each year, but without clogging up minor roads and making locals feel like strangers in their own county!  No doubt we will get used to it given time.....

Getting back to India, and oh how I wish they would, it appears that panic broke out as crowds of pilgrims tried to cross the Sindh river, which is fairly close to the temple.  Most were killed in the stampede, while others drowned after jumping off the bridge.  Stampede?, Stampede?  We gave the world a word and system designed to combat stampeding, it is called queuing, if people cannot understand something as basic a courtesy as that then no wonder their god wasn't there when needed.

Thinking about it, he probably washed his hands of them in the River Sindh - which, I suspect, many of them had!

NICE TO FEEL SECURE

                                                         

                                                             NICE TO FEEL SECURE

I read with a degree of acceptance and resignation that the Director General of MI5 announced that in his opinion thousands of Islamist extremists in the United Kingdom see the British public as a legitimate target.   Andrew Parker said Al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Pakistan and Yemen present "the most direct and immediate threats to the UK".   This comes at the same time as the independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration found that fewer than two thirds of passenger movements were checked and that almost 650,000 records relating to smuggling had been deleted by those responsible before they had been read - unbelievable!

Who allows this situation to get into such a state?   Is it that we just have too few people on the borders because we've cut back to the point that it is totally ineffective?   Is it incompetent management?   Is it agency workers?   Is it that the staff are totally demoralised by the change of policies?   It doesn't seem to matter what industry one works in, the workers always seem to be the whipping boys and girls for government ineptitude and mismanagement.   Policies seem to change so quickly that nobody can get into a routine and see any structure that isn't going to be destroyed and replaced by yet another structure before the first one has had time to bed in.

Still, as long as we know that terrorists in the UK number "in their thousands" I am sure that will  help with their  next restructuring.

IT'S ALREADY A MOCKERY

                                                     

                                                        IT'S ALREADY A MOCKERY

I heard pundits on the TV last weekend refer to the latest imported teenage footballing sensation as a possible future England player.  His name is Adrian Januzaj, and he already has the legal right to play for Albania, Belgium, Serbia and Turkey - how much more choice can he need?

I read this morning that Billy Stark, the Scottish Under-21 Manager has stated that his playing for England would "Make a mockery of international football", adding "For me, international football could become a laughing stock" - well he's not wrong!  The problem is that the genie is already out of the bottle.   One's heritage is taken too lightly, it seems that you only have to go for a day trip to Llandudno and you have the opportunity to acquire another nationality.  I would much rather England lost to a better side knowing that they had played  a team consisting of born and bred Englishman, than to have won using imports who had merely gained another nationality.   Sadly, winning is all.

DO CHILDREN NOT HAVE RIGHTS?

                                          

                                                DO CHILDREN NOT HAVE RIGHTS?

I see on the news today that ministers in Ulster are refusing to give in without a fight re the seemingly unstoppable march of the 'gay wrongs brigade'.  They never seem satisfied with their lot.  People's sexual preferences are their own, but their adopting of children is not only a step too far in the clamour for so-called equality, but a blatant denial of children's rights.  ALL children are entitled to have a Mummy Bear and a Daddy Bear as parents.

My foremost irritation with homosexuals, lesbians, transgender, transvestites etc. is that their sexuality seems to be the only aspect of life that they are interested in.  They continually whinge about some or other aspect of their down-trodden gender-repressed lot and are always marching to promote  yet another  cause.  What a pity they cannot expand their breadth of horizons for their seemingly endless frustration and anger.   My main concern is that due to their apparent narrow field of vision,  children in their care could easily be brainwashed into thinking that their upbringing was the norm.  As a member of the public commented on  Breakfast TV this morning  "What's the chid going to think when he or she goes into the 'parents' bedroom and sees the pair of them together?"  And that is the point, what sort of effect is that going to have on the child.  Are they supposed to think that this 'normal'?  The ramifications of this drive for so-called equality is often at the expense of logic and the' natural' order of life.

Still, as we all know, everyone is equal, though most minorities are more equal than others!