CHRISTMAS GREETINGS AND GRUNTINGS

I must be getting into the Christmas spirit.   I awoke earlier to Chris Rea in my ear - not literally, obviously, we've never met.   I'm not that strange!  It did, however,  prompt me to extend the hand of friendship to those considered 'proper' people and a cursory grunt to all others.  From mere irritating ticks to those who would never be invited round for a mince pie or hot toddy.  No Ho-Ho-Ho for them, simply a grunting!  Far from being engulfed in the marketable and profitable time of goodwill, harmony and love, I perceive it to be more a case of cloying hypocrisy, sycophantic and sick-making  behaviour by the masses.   

So, with Christmas almost upon us, may I extend the warmest of seasonal greetings and felicitations to readers of this blog wherever you may be residing within this overpopulated world.  To regular readers of this blog in the UK,  USA,  Germany,  Switzerland,  South Korea,  Singapore,  Japan and Russia, thank you for your continued interest.  To those of you who may be new to my muses, I hope you will stay with me throughout the coming year.

Readers of my books may recall that there is a 'Pit of Pointlessness' into which, over successive titles, I have decreed that individuals, groups and whole species with common interest are metaphorically shackled before being thrown into oblivion, an abyss, a pit from which there is no escape.  There is one solitary pole, greased for good measure and situated in the middle of the pit so there is no way of touching the rock face, let alone rejoining humanity. All miscreants may attempt to climb the pole and peruse the land they once traversed with ease, but they can never return, for them it is hell on earth.  Just for the record, no-one has climbed the greasy pole more times than Tony Blair.  His failure has been mankind's success.  

And so it is 'Gruntings', not 'Greetings' that I wish for those mentioned in the following dispatches before they are well... dispatched!

The Labour Government - Cabinet, MP's. councillors and supporters who voted Labour at the last election.  All those who voted Lib-Dem.,  Green Party or any other left-leaning outfit. (I will spare those who voted Tory as I admire loyalty even though it was not reciprocated over the term of the party's last term of governance. They will also be required to vote 'Reform' at the next General Election and any By-Elections that take place in between time). All civil servants, trade unionists,  university and college lecturers, most school teachers (individually checked for levels of indoctrination and w***ness). All LCA's (Lycra Clad Arseholes) - cyclists not already 'Pitted'!  All employees, members and supporters of 'Stonewall', 'Liberty', 'Black Lives Matter' and 'Shelter'.  Virtually all, if not all, those dubious souls on long-term benefits, disability benefits and the homeless. (Means testing for all those purporting to be physically disabled, the bar for receiving tax-payer funded handouts being extremely high.  So high in fact that actual work would be less taxing than attempting to claim a single penny!)  For those who have made a career out of claiming financial support for mental illness, claim no more dearie - 'Get over it and WORK!!  All those over here on false pretences, all those arriving in not-so-small boats from the near continent who are robbing us blind, taking advantage of a welfare system they have never contributed to,   housed in hotels, redundant army and airforce bases yet still wanting what is denied those who were born here and work - decent housing within their own lifetime.  All the misguided luvvies from the theatre and television who support the very people the majority would wish returned to foreign climes. All who harm animals and wildlife in general through hunting and trapping for profit and house-building.  All CEO's of charity's, their title telling you that a large proportion of donations goes either on inflated salaries or supporting their pension pot.  All charities that employ staff involved in the following:- 1) Gender - and all that makes it complicated.  2) Diversity - and all that makes things awkward for white natives to be considered for employment.  All the top brass and investors in the banking sector and our utilities.   All who 'help' those in need in far-flung, debt-ridden, gun-ridden, war-mongering heat-stricken middle-eastern or African outposts, let them look after themselves for once.  They'll probably still die due to an opposing 'cause' anyway!  The troublemakers at the National Trust who seem to think that 'Left is Best' when it comes to policy and heritage, and that's the nation's heritage, not just theirs!  Oh, and Elon Musk, obviously.  No-one should be able to wield such power and influence.  The man is a danger to society and world order.

Think that's about it for now, I know there are plenty more irritating coves who frankly could easily be 'pushed in the right direction' and not wished seasonal cheer, but the queue is getting longer by the writing, so for now, let's think about the good things to come in 2025...  I'm sure there will be something... Won't there?  What's that?  A direct hit on Croydon from an unknown source destroying the whole borough?  Well yes. that would certainly help push up the land value! I'll drink to that - Cheers!

Happy Christmas!

                                     WHEN  'INCLUSIVE'  MEANS  'SPECIAL'

I have always liked watching football on TV and 'Match Of The Day' has been a staple diet of my viewing since it was first aired back in 1964, the 22nd August to be precise.  Remarkably, for a programme that has run continuously for over 60 years, there have only been five presenters, a feat in itself!  This is a credit to the format, the continuity enacted by a succession of producers and the professionalism of the presenters themselves.  What has been seamless and common to all five is they have never been what one would consider 'common'.  Good diction without being plummy, in other words, what one should expect from the BBC.  Sadly. over the past decade, new faces have been introduced in the form of pundits. They form  the traditional and ongoing 'gang of three' who analyse, debate and chew the cud after each match has been shown.  With new faces has come a drop in standards, diction has taken a backseat in the race to be as 'inclusive' as the corporation feel they can get away with.  

'Football Focus', a sort of 'warm-up' programme televised at lunchtime on Saturdays,was enjoyed for many years by many a fan.  I know from talking to others that I am not alone in giving it a miss nowadays.  Female presenters in the manner and with the professionalism of Gabby Logan are perfectly acceptable.  She looks comfortable and acts with authority.  Sadly,  there are not enough of her standard within the BBC - or BABC, as many think of this behemoth of an institution that appears hell-bent on promoting ethnic or disabled  candidates over native able-bodied white Britons.  So many of their sports presenters and pundits, (P&P's), usually former players from both men's and women's football,  appear lazy both in speech and diction.  It grates!  Penal-ee,  con-inui-y,  Manchester Ci-ee,  Manchester Uni-ed.  Is there a shortage of 'T's around the world?  It is sloppy and audibly irritating.  It does nothing for one's trust in an opinion or analysis on any given situation.  What is wrong with these people?  The problem is far more prevalent in black presenters and pundits - both male and female.  Why should this be?  Can the BABC not manage to employ members of the so-called 'ethnic minority' who are capable of reasonable diction over a period of ten words?  It's not that difficult, surely!

Before  MOTD starts, there's a cursory check to make sure it's not 'Black History Month', or 'Black Lives Matter'.  The latter  gives rise to the uncomfortable and embarrassing witnessing too 'native white Britons' turning their  heads away, having lowered the sound, so as not to throw-up at the spectacle of white men going down on one knee in subjugation to and paying homage to those of darker colour.  The whole spectacle is shameful and an insult to everyone who isn't 'Of colour'!  Secondly, one will have to continuously juggle the volume in order to mute the 'diction-less cove'  - or coves - as the case may be.  *Still waiting for 'White History Month' to make an appearance.

What I wasn't prepared for last weekend was the sight of club captains wearing rainbow-coloured armbands in support of the LGBT 'community'.   Why?  What the bloody hell has one's sexual preference got to do with men or women kicking a football around for ninety minutes in an effort to entertain their team's supporters, the majority of whom are neither L, G, B, T or queer!  The football industry has apparently become chummy with the charity 'Stonewall', which caters for the likes of their 'community'.  Again I ask - Why?  The move does not help inclusivity, it is divisive.  Captains wearing rainbow armbands, players sporting rainbow boot laces.  It is truly cringe-making.  What I'd like to know is how many of those players out there on the field last Saturday did so because they believed in the cause, and those who did so because of the flack they'd receive should they not adhere to the directive?  I noted that the captain of Ipswich Town, Sam Morsey refused to wear n armband - good for him, glad someone had the balls to refuse the 'Call to armbands'.  

Manchester United's players were to wear Adidas-made 'rainbow-themed' jackets for their entrance onto the field last Saturday against Everton.  One player refused and so the whole team was spared what most 'normal' people would consider a humiliating and unnecessary, politically-motivated gesture. I wonder just how much political pressure is put on business to 'co-operate' and promote these fringe interests?  I suspect that it can be quite intimidating, with a lot of hand-wringing from those involved thinking, 'One wrong move, one bad decision and my career is shot'.  

 I have little in common with Gary Lineker when it comes to politics - actually, there is absolutely nothing we have in common, birthdays once a year being as 'in common' as it gets!  He is however, a consummate professional presenting MOTD, though I would dispute his worth to the BABC and paymaster - the general public through our licence fee.  

Who will follow him after his departure at the end of this season?  Probably a female, probably a black female.  The Beeb will be clinking glasses of Jamaican rum as they celebrate another couple of boxes ticked in their 'W*** target' quest!

I could be wrong and it turns out that standards are to are raised, but I won't be holding my breath.  Oh for the days when football was a 'politically quirk-free' game and you were treated to the dulcet tones of Mr. Kenneth Wolstenholme.  'They think it's all over, it probably is now...'

                                  CHILDREN - AND WHO SHOULD HAVE THEM?

Anyone who knows me will be aware that I am very traditional in my view on parenting.  I suspect it comes from being born in an era when common sense was as rife as rickets and there was a universal assumption that children needed a 'mummy bear' and a 'daddy bear'.  Despite calls for multiple classifications of 'sexes' to be recognised throughout the world, those with even a modicum of intelligence will agree that there are only two sexes - male or female, or for the sake of gender equality - female or male.  Why do these unnatural couplings wish to 'own' a child?  Is he, she or 'it' a trophy to be bandied about in their cloistered little world?  Will they become outcasts if 'without child'?  Will they be considered 'odd' if they don't become a family - like 'normal people' - because the one thing they are not, is normal!  

It does not make for easy reading, learning that the likes of Tom Daley has two children with his 'other half', an American film-maker by the name of Dustin Lance Black,  20 years his senior.  No reason to mention it, but I did anyway.  I find it uncomfortable at best and  disgusted and queasy at worst that any man has a 'husband'!  It doesn't sit right - any more than a woman having a 'wife'.  As discussed in previous missives and indeed any or all Anthony Mann  books, homosexuals and lesbians have been around since the evolution of man and woman kind.   Adam or Eve could have preferred sex with someone of their own gender given the choice, problem is, there wasn't any,  so they had to make do with what they had - a bit like rationing - and in their case it was each other!  GET OVER IT - or her in his case!  (That is if you are a believer in such complete bollocks, otherwise it's all just an imaginative relationship written by some unknown scribe in order to start a chapter in that book of fairytales and myths - or 'The Bible' as its more commonly known). And you have to give credit where credit is due, it has sold a few copies since first published, helped in no small way by that Mr. Gideon who went round selling copies to a whole host of hotels across the four corners of the earth.  Bet he was glad of a bed after a day's traipsing the streets seeking out out a Premier Inn or Travelodge in deepest Darfur, the wetlands of Brazil or the drug-ridden alleys of Croydon - wonder if he got a discount or a free coffee?

We Brits care about our NHS.  We will moan about it, we will complain about the time we have to wait for an appointment, but we will defend it to the nth degree when someone else criticises our national treasure. What is indefensible is the obvious waste within the system.  The Nurse Letby case where hospital management is falling over backwards in order to apologise for not listening to consultants and doctors about concerns raised, ignored and/or met with a deafening silence as any action would impinge on the 'good name' of the hospital and repercussions for all who sail in her - especially those at the high-end of the salary structure who could be the first to be affected should an inquiry be forthcoming.  Agency nurses, consultants covering shifts for others who were on strike have cost the NHS an absolute fortune and in the case of the former continue to do so, day in, day out. 

Whilst I was aware of same-sex couples illogical and frankly appalling ability to adopt children. I wasn't aware of their being offered IVF on the NHS - or taxpayer funded, as many of us see it!  What a bloody cheek and what an insult to 'normal' couples!   I spent some time researching the subject.  Well, OK, I googled 'IVF for same-sex couples' and an avalanche of options cascaded before me in a manner not dissimilar to when I was seeking statistics on crime committted by black and other ethnically-toned non-natives in the UK!  

Top of the advertisements/contacts is a company called Care Fertility.  Entering their site and scrolling down brings you face to side-face with a black woman sporting semi-shaved head and dressed in what could be an Emu or a mop, not quite sure.  Moving down their page the reader views two female couples, one couple appearing to be excruciatingly happy to the point of silliness and the other couple blissfully happy in a sort of 'come-to-bed' manner.  The company provides IVF for both NHS patients or those who can afford to go private.  Their site is followed by many more companies and clinics perversely going where none would have been necessary in days of yore. 

Worryingly, taxpayers are funding adverts promoting all manner of services available on the NHS.  Having read their blurb on their website, they are positively falling over themselves in order to widen the already banal idea that same-sex surrogacy is normal and acceptable in wider society when in my view it is anything but.  I await a survey in a decades time when researchers talk to these children about the upbringing, their social life and their own sexual preferences, not to mention asking if the 'two mummy's'  that of traditional couples.  I suspect that just as religious beliefs are handed down from generation to generation, same-sex parents will be very single-minded in their surragate, fostered, adopted child's approach to relationships. Will Martha wish to date Arthur - or will she prefer Bertha?  Will Lily desire Willy or will Willy wish to become Lily?  Or will Lily fall for Milly, maybe Willy will court Billy?   Time will tell...