AT LEAST THE REFERENDUM WAS STRAIGHTFORWARD... WASN'T IT?

              

                AT LEAST THE REFERENDUM WAS STRAIGHTFORWARD...  WASN'T IT?

For over forty years many citizens of this country have questioned our continuing membership of the EU.Why any nation state would wish to throw its lot in with a group of countries so diverse in culture and standards is beyond me.  Perhaps it had something to do with what those in power and their very close political and business allies got out of the very cloistered self-serving gravy train.  I may just be slightly cynical of course, but the public were sold the idea of a trade agreement that meant easier access for lorries taking exports to Western European nations and the similarly easy access back with imports.

So far, quite acceptable.  The problem is that as with all things self-serving, politicians cannot leave well alone.  I often wonder if support for our initial membership would have been quite so strong if mention had been made of easterly expansion to include Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.  The total population living in the UK  emanating from the aforementioned countries at the present time is (cue drum roll and trumpet fanfare) 1,750,000! And that is the disclosed figure, one can only guess at the reality of the migration.  Add this number to the French, German, Italian, Spanish et al who are legally here and you have the reason why so much of England's once green and pleasant land has been built upon.  And where has this camaraderie, this club-like fellowship, this 'We're all in it together' got us?  To be honest, not very far.  The English Channel is awash with migrants paddling their way across from France.  If only their boats were awash!  The French must be laughing all the way to their next drag of Gauloises! (Other brands are available)...

Every state puts its national interest first and foremost.  The French will always look after themselves in a very open, demonstrative way that I often wish the UK would learn from and not kow-tow to as we have done for over four decades. Then in 2015 there shone a beacon of light offering hope, false or otherwise? Yes, it was David Cameron at odds with the European establishment!  British demands, or the lack of them, wrapped in pro-EU gift paper and sold to the British public were considered enough to garner a majority.  Let's face it, he only offered the  referendum as he never thought he would lose.  Trips to Europe, talks late into the night, promises akin to Chamberlain returning from an evening with Adolf... but in the end it wasn't enough.  The British public didn't buy the deal.  The majority voted to leave and David Cameron took his  toys away and earned even more money on the speakers' circuit.  Good on him, but gutless all the same. 

For the next three years under Theresa May the country lurched rudderless from one referendum dispute to another.  The lack of a working majority contributed greatly to the problems, not helped by Mrs. May's disastrous campaign leading up to the 2017 election, when her majority was wiped out and the Good Ship SS United Kingdom became grounded on the European shelf, thanks to government ineptitude, Northern Irish doggedness and the bloody Liberal Democrats who were anything but, refusing to accept the result at the ballot box taken three years previously.  The Labour Party twisted and turned, before imploding in its own lack of direction and leadership... But hark?  Who is this I hear coming up fast on the nearside rails? Why, it is our democratic saviour! It is 'Our Boris'.  Another election and a chance to settle this ongoing sore once and for all.  Despite some Tory dissenters, cometh the hour they generally stick together.  The Labour Party was in disarray with many of their MP's committed Remainers and many ready to leave.  The problem was that they never consulted their traditional voters beforehand.  The continuing festering sore came in the form of the Liberal Democrats who proved that the one thing they were not was democratic.  Armed with a policy of overturning a decision made at the ballot box three years previous, their corporate, hypocritical, and mis-judged rallying call was led by their newly elected leader Jo Swinson - a young lady who sounded increasingly out of her depth as each week and tv exposure passed. I'm sure she'd make a very fine Akala, but a leading political leader?... I think not.  Neither, thank Christ did the voting public.  The Tories won with a very comfortable working majority, the Labour Party bloodied themselves in total despair and Ms Swinson lost her seat, resigned as leader of her party and I have heard nothing more of her since.  Perhaps she is honing up her knowledge of the word 'Democracy'. All that hype, all that publicity, all that self-belief and they end up with eleven seats! Who voted for them anyway?  I want their names and the chance to send them on a course on Basic Life Skills, then work up to 'Democracy' given time and their development of course!

Right, time for a cuppa and my good old standby for reading material when desirous of something comforting, factual and indisputable, garnished with not a small dollop of smugness and self-satisfaction. (5minutes later) Aaaaaahhhhhh... that's hit the spot... Tea, biccy and the Daily Telegraph, dated 13th December 2019 opened at page 4, column 8. Halfway down are the immortal words Dumbarton East election result;- Amy Callaghan 19,672, Jo Swinson 19,523.  It may be a close run election, but the SNP's very own Amy achieved a higher number of votes and was therefore elected.  The referendum on whether to remain or leave was based on exactly the same principle.  So please, Liberal Democrats, GET OVER IT, MOVE ON, and understand democracy...  the public do! 

 

COVID - NEED, FEED, AND GREED

                                                

                                                COVID  - NEED, FEED AND GREED

The very nature of Covid 19 surely means that governments worldwide need to protect its citizens.  I see no problem in asking the public to support any measures or actions designed to reduce risk and hopefully eradicate the virus.  The need to protect requires the need to support.  Why then do the likes of Piers Corbyn and the Massed Band of Irritating Ticks feel the need to openly protest in town and city centres flagrantly and provocatively breaching social distancing and mask wearing rules? Do they really believe all this social disruption is an inter-governmental plot in order to 'undermine civil liberties', 'the clamping down of human rights' or 'engaging in mass containment of thought and deed'?

There is no precedent, no government of any political persuasion that  could have known what to do at the start of the outbreak.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing, a bit like a vaccine, but it isn't available yet so rules must change with the circumstances as the situation unfolds and evolves.  Any political party can run the most efficient country when in opposition.  I am not the greatest supporter of either Boris nor the Tories in general, but the thought of a Labour Party in control is on a par with being in the company of Pol Pot,  Kim Jong-Un or any paid-up member of the Liberal Democrats!

The government should be supported and not be subjected to 'virus fatigue' or left-wing agitators spoiling for a fight - any fight that is!  We need to find the true source of this pandemic.  Where did it really start - a street market, a laboratory?  Was it an accident due to a lack of animal welfare, an experiment that got out of hand and into the system, or was it manufactured to create chaos within western economies?  Who knows, but I wouldn't bet against the latter!

We currently witness the social elite of the left sadly supported by certain soft-centred Tories clambering on the 'Poverty-stricken' bandwagon.  Oh how The Guardian and The Independent newspapers enjoy any attempt to shame-face the government into allowing free meals during half-term to those without... without what?  Food? Really...? Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of children are going to be, or are hungry in this country.  Where? How? And finally Why?  I would love to see an honest independent breakdown of the statistics so as to determine the true extent of such claims.  Good headlines for the left, students and teachers who positively immerse themselves in such drama, but who are we actually talking about.  I take it it's mainly those in the north, so who amongst this vast number of under-privileged, unfed and presumably unwashed actually worked before Covid?  How many stopped producing offspring prior to realising that expenses outweighed either genuinely earned income or social welfare?  As if this strain on the national debt  wasn't enough, along comes Marcus Rashford, footballer of a certain northern parish on his charger, leading the race to change policy and spend millions more of taxpayers' money on the feckless, the workshy and those with more rights than responsibility.  Bet they all possess the latest mobile phones, smoke heavily, drink to excess and still buy lottery tickets... and that is just the children! 

COVID AND ME PART 1 - PINING FOR THE GOOD TIMES

                                                          

                                      

                           COVID AND ME  PART 1 - PINING FOR THE GOOD TIMES

I alluded to house, garden and all remaining jobs being completed during the early throes of lockdown, it is now the period post-lockdown - or as they call it in the north, just another day - where thoughts of pleasant times not so long past raise their heads in one's memory bank.

In a world of economic uncertainty and social turmoil, oh how I yearn to be in my car, surrounded by drivers in the same predicament, as we wait... and wait... Ten miles of tailback and lengthening by the nano-second.  Within spitting distance of Erith to my left and Swanscombe to my right, both are inaccessible due to some selfish bastard in a BMW deciding to cut across an articulated lorry which has jack-knifed depositing it's cargo of chemicals over four lanes of the M25. Six fire engines and noxious fumes are only the start of the wait!

It is now 3.38pm, I arrived at this spot at 10.28am.  I've counted the minutes and noted the hours.  It hasn't been boring, there's the intake of carbon-monoxide emanating from all and sundry who hope that leaving their engine running will speed-up the clean-up - it's a comforting and heady concoction.  Whilst awaiting that moment when the overhead gantry's matrix changes from 'Long Delays' to "Congestion' there is opportunity to take in the actions of one's fellow travellers.  Some are busy on their phones - Fastbuck, Twatter, video-conferencing... (Actually, if my surname was Rix I'd have to call my son Matt) whilst others, like me, will still be arguing with Radio four - content, bias, diction, use of Americanisms - nothing changes and if it does, it's for the worse!  There is always ones own choice of music via the CD, Bluetooth or IPod and you can't argue with ELO or Alan Parsons Project - come plague, pestilence, pyrotechnics or merely a pile-up!

And so to the skies. Maybe a Kite?   No, not a prat at the end of a length of string, but a majestic bird swooping high within its domain... But sadly, sweeping low over the still-assembled vehicles floats the remains of a sandwich wrapper (marginally preferable to a north London rapper), a coffee cup, a crisp packet - or three... Travelling with and on the wind, they swirl as only flotsam can amongst Kent's finest litter.

Whilst all endure the relative silence that is fast becoming a way of life, a nonchalant glance across the concrete divide provides a scene us poor soles can only drool over.  Yes, you've got it!  Four lanes plus slip road full of free-flowing traffic rarely travelling below the speed of light!

Will the spillage soon be cleared?  Will all and not-a-little sundry make it to their destinations on time? Will I reach the Essex town for that talk at the WI before Jerusalem commences at 7.28pm - or even before the meeting finishes at 9.28pm?  For now, this scenario is but a dream, a longing...but one day...one day...

COVID PART 2  - NEED,  FEED AND GREED will appear later this week.

HELLO, I'M BACK!

                                                                HELLO, I'M BACK!

So, how are you on this blustery autumnal day?  It has been a while, seven years to be almost precise. Doesn't time fly when you're not enjoying yourself huh!

A warm welcome back to all those of you whose life has been on hold awaiting the latest post... or possibly finding something better to do such as actually enjoying life, and also to those of you who stumbled upon this site whilst surfing the Blogisphere.

This post is merely a 'Hello, I'm Back'... actually more of a 'Hello, I'm still alive' really, what with Covid 19  turning rapidly into Covid 20 and soon to morph into 21... 22... as the years progress.  Any excitement comes from guessing which American president will be in power at the appropriate moment in order to claim it was they who oversaw the antidote that saved the world from further harm and probably total annihilation. Messrs Trump and Biden...both in their seventies, one a maverick with a more than cavalier attitude to governing, and the other, an affable chap likened to a favourite uncle you'd expect to catch up with at a family christening, marriage or funeral, and probably in that order!   A population in excess of 300,000,000 people and they are the two choices! It's a strange world...

My work as a speaker - After-lunch, After-dinner and probably After-life - has all but evaporated and brewery tours suspended until?... As the Great Bard once noted - 'It's a right bugger and no mistake!"  With the foregoing in mind, a tidy garden, seats  and shed painted, summerhouse cleaned and the loft and garage cleared of years of non-collectable debris, I feel it's time to blow off the cobwebs of apathy and rekindle that zest... that enthusiasm... that desire to  converse with a world outside of the garden, a garden where only two families totalling six members at any one time can meet - or at least I think that's the current ruling.   Mind you, not sure why there are any rules appertaining to Guildford and district as I'm pretty sure possessing a GU postcode brings with it automatic immunity from pandemics originating from far-flung foreign climes.   I don't know of anyone who has had the sniffles let alone a full-blown cough, temperature etc.  I mean, they're not the sort of symptoms one witnesses in west Surrey  -  certainly can't see it being tolerated in Farnham, perish the thought...

Over the coming days and weeks we'll be ruminating and cogitating over aspects of modern life such as "Black lives mattering', Britain's on-going battle for 'Freedom from Europe', Prince Andrew and his transatlantic assignations, Foreign Aid - and why we give it!, Bias at the BBC, Slavery, Grammar and diction - or the lack of it...  not to mention the Scourge of British roads - yes... cyclists!!

Right, well, that's worn out the index finger on my typing hand, so a cuppa is the order of the day.

Until we meet again, Wednesday probably... Bye for now.