THE LAST POST

Life is a disappointment, both personally and in general.  Over the years I have come to terms with failure and limited success by remaining cautiously optimistic as events unfolded.  Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that there is no turning back, either of the clock, or for my country.  Much as I dislike the egotistical, arrogant and dismissive Mr. J D Vance, he was not wrong when answering a question on 'which was likely to be the next Muslim country'.  He replied 'The United Kingdom'.  The 'Raynor Witch' remarked that she didn't recognise his view.  The woman is race and religion blind, be it through genuine belief, though how can that be is beyond me, or because her politics dictate that stance.  She has eyes, doesn't she?  Does the fact that 'Mohammed' - in all its derivative spellings - and currently the most popular name for new-born offspring, tell her nothing about the winds blowing in from the east?  Maybe it's just the general indoctrination of the 'left' that takes a pro-migrant stance on all things Asian and/or Muslim.  Take the abuse of white girls in care homes across several counties over the past decades.  In almost all cases the perpetrators have been Asian but the police and authorities who are paid to protect these children have failed to do so due to 'not wishing to upset the onion bhaji cart' - a cart that stinks of  'One rule for the minorities and another for the white indigenous population'!

We now have open discrimination in the workplace where white applicants are pushed to the bottom so that black, Asian and other ethnic and social minorities can get priority. How does this policy make for a fair and accepting society?  And they wonder why there were riots in the north-west of England last year!

We continue to allow umpteen thousands to cross the Chanel unchallenged.  We house them, we feed them, we provide 24hr a day medical back-up while a doctor's appointment is unavailable to those who have been born here, worked here all their lives and paid in to the migrant and minority funding NHS.  Funding being available to keep these newcomers in a manner they could only dream of before their boat came in.  The 'Rayner Witch' promotes housebuilding as a flagship achievement.  With so many newcomers scrounging their way into our country - though rarely our society - we will need considerably more houses than the millions she is currently suggesting.  It is an endless task.  The countryside is being devastated, water pollution has reached totally unacceptable levels and  wildlife is under threat like never before, but still no uprising, no protests, no voice.  Why is that?  Could it be because the left has been so successful in fragmenting our society that no-one really cares any longer? 

Note:  Today it was announced that more migrants have crossed the channel in the first three months of 2025 than for the same time last year!  I rest my case...

The Education industry has a lot to answer for.  The left has seen to it that discussion is not to be encouraged, opposing views are to be publicly admonished as unacceptable and woe-betide anyone who has the temerity to question gender, transwhatevers, inbetweenies and other time-consuming and costly oddities who constantly demand attention.  The needy shall inherit the earth!  From play-school, through primary, secondary and finally University, there is a constant barrage of left-thinking, dictatorial brainwashing that is fostering a very worrying and potentially totalitarian society upon a country founded on free speech.  Humour is one of the main sufferers from the policy of 'Cancelling' all who raise an opposing view.  Speakers, known for their stance on social matters are no longer welcome in universities.  Even the Labour government are concerned for the future of democracy in society, which says a lot about the current state of play.  That is why I have been writing for the past thirty plus years.  This relentless tide of change however, and the age at which one finds oneself brings about a pause, a reflection.  I have sadly come to the conclusion that all really is lost.  Our country is broken,  the nation is without pride - other than that of a 'Gay nature', obviously!  There is a total lack of respect, we have become a selfish, greedy society with the adults of tomorrow growing up in a social-media cocoon without experience of hitherto 'normal' conversations and discussions.  The world of 'influencers' and dubious websites pander to the vacuous in society.  They have become entrenched in their supposition that the truth is what they read on a phone, but it is a narrow view. The re-writing of our nations history, usually by those with vocal muscle and an ethnically-cleansed leaning, are damaging the next generations ability to learn a more rounded account about our past - ethnic warts an'all! 

While others, younger than me may take up the cudgel and fight for freedom of speech, I will retire to my garden, my model railway, my railway carriage in the garden and our family's continued quest for answers as to how our eldest son died in tragically mysterious circumstances.  Any comment on  police professionalism, corporate honesty and integrity will wait until the reading of their report, due this Autumn.

So with Mr. Trump on the economical and political warpath, Mr. Putin on the Ukrainian warpath, Israel on a similar footing with Hamas and the daily stabbings in the UK, I'm just glad I'm the age I am.  Our generation saw the best of Britain... 

Certainly for now, Goodbye...

                                       WHEN EQUALITY MET REALITY

The trial of female black Australian footballer Sam Kerr concluded yesterday.  Not being a follower of women's football, her name was previously unknown to me, as was her country of origin, her colour, her sexual preferences or the fact that she was the captain of the Australian national team.  So, 'the gal's done good' in her career -  credit where it's due. 

Credit ends at that point, however.  Ms. Kerr and her partner,  Kristie Mewis, had been on a night out in Twickenham on the 30th January 2023.  A dispute later arose with the taxi driver who no doubt would have thought 'Why me?' during the journey - one that ended up at Twickenham Police Station instead of the intended destination.  It would appear that their behaviour in the cab was not exactly 'ladylike', one of them vomiting and a cab window being broken apparently. You can't buy class...  I also read that there was further disagreement over the fare.  The taxi driver locked the women in his cab and drove to Twickenham Police Station.  The surprise, of course,  is that Twickenham still has a police station!  

At the station, SK commented to PC Lovell that 'This is a racial f****** thing' - but then she would do, wouldn't she?  You could write the script.  Another 'person of colour' with a chip the size of a plank on their shoulders whinging about race,  when she should have been making grovelling apologies to the taxi driver for the mess they made of his cab and offering financial restitution plus a donation to the 'Taxi Drivers Welfare Fund' -  if there is one -  or some such associated charity if there isn't.  It's not as if she can't afford it, she kicks a ball for a living after all!   It's quite clearly not in SK's nature to apologise when overly merry, she has an altercation with PC Lovell and adds further racial fuel to the antipodean fire by calling him 'f****** stupid and white'.  And there we have it!  SK contends that while she does not deny making her accusation, she rejects any notion that her outburst was racial.  How does that work?  What a foul-mouthed, loathsome piece of imported Aussie she is. 

 The jury took over four hours to find her 'not guilty' on Tuesday.  I would like to know the make-up of the Jury.  If it's anything like our TV adverts then the 12 chaps and chapesses, 'good and true',  would have consisted of more ethnics than white natives.  If it did consist of those with a more pale complexion then they must have been either Liberal-Democrats, to the left of common-sense or downright deluded!  As the prosecutor asserted, if it were the other way round and the officer was described as 'f****** stupid and black', all racial hell would have been let loose.  Demonstrations outside Downing Street, public disturbances in London before kicking-off in other cities and towns across the country.  Looting, processions, calls for changes in the law and all that goes with minority power. 

Anyway, her football club, Chelsea, appear to be taking no further action while Football Australia is to 'reflect' on the matter.  Once again, if the colours were reversed, the disgraced racist white player would be metaphorically tarred and feathered, forced to attend race, gender and diversity classes for an extended period, made to apologise to all and sundry within the world of sport and banned from competitive football until the age of which he or she would be retired anyway.  Slight exaggeration?  Maybe, but sadly. it's one rule for the indigenous white population and another for the coloured minority - a minority that is not so minor of course!  

Footnote,  the BABC describes Kristie Mewis, her partner, as her 'fiancee'.  Is that an upgrade?  Also revealed in one of the stories about the farcical outcome of this case is the fact that the couple are expecting their first child.  I think we can safely assume that its first word will be four-lettered!  Ye Gods and little fishes... 

                     WILL THE UK GOVERNMENT PLEASE TAKE NOTE!

Mr. Trump has done more in three weeks than successive UK governments have done in decades.  Oh what joy to see someone - anyone - have the guts to send a message to the world's poor that it is time for their own rulers to start funding change instead of relying on help from those who pay for and take responsibility for their own lives.  Not having children you can't afford would help in many cases.  

I remember I had only recently left school when us Brits were informed by the press about a food shortage in a far-off and previously unheard of country called Biafra.  We were all urged to donate money, clothing and presumably anything else that was going begging.  No-one questioned how much actually got to those who were allegedly suffering.  No-one mentioned the corruption that was, and doubtless is still rife in these so-called third world countries.  The whole system of world-wide aid can be likened to the welfare and benefit bill that the UK taxpayer faces on a daily basis, just larger.   Take away the ever-present handouts  from those on welfare benefit, universal credit and access to food banks  - and many have made this a lifestyle choice - and you'll find recipients will either sink or swim.  Similarly, take aid away from those countries that have relied on the west for financial support for decades and you'll see their inhabitants sink or swim - literally in many cases!

The headlines regarding the American President's move to make huge cuts to the USAID programme make interesting reading with not a little relish and mirth thrown in for good measure.  The BBC states that 'Experts warn of threat to global health', while The Guardian warns that 'Trump's foreign aid cuts could be big strategic mistake'.  The media outlet 'politico.eu' sees Mr.Trump's measures as 'leaving the UN food agency scrambling'.  I bet it is.  These worldwide agencies and charities have never been made as accountable to the public purse before and they do not like it.  How good it is therefore to note the message from the U.S. Dept. of State which opines that 'The United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return to the American people'.

Oh, that our Chancellor was of similar mind and had considered British pensioners when attempting to fill her £22 billion black hole - a term that is not without irony when you consider which part of the world our money ends up slushing about in with little accountability or gain for those funding the projects.  Imagine having the vision, the wherewithal, the guts to take the financially draining bull by the metaphorical horns and say, 'The UK agrees, aid has to stop. Taxpayers should not be ripped off any longer and we are stopping all aid as from tomorrow and all projects will cease at that point'.  Aaaahhhh,  such bliss.  Neither the Chancellor nor Mr. Starmer will ever have the balls to follow such an inspirational lead, which is a pity as they would be looking a vote-winning gift-horse in the mouth.  Sadly politicians are totally out of touch with the electorate. I have always been of the opinion that charity starts at home.  Is it too novel an idea to suggest that government finances follow business practice and cut their cloth according to their pocket?  Why should working people in any country subsidise those in foreign climes, many of which are ruled by despots, juntas, or at best those you won't find shopping at Harrods with money they've actually worked for.  

Diversity, gender and race are all getting the same treatment in the USA.  There had to be a push-back of the power minorities are wielding across the so-called developed world. How refreshing and warming  it is to read of a president who openly queries the participation of transgender athletes, highlights racial problems in South Africa and attempts to dismantle diversity, gender and equality departments across the board in American politics and business.  Throw in the proposed lack of automatic right to American citizenship and the enforced repatriation of migrants to their country of origin and you have a recipe for automatic and universal approval. This is as close as one can get to a 'migrant-induced orgasm'!

When I am stopped outside a shopping centre by a charity worker inviting me to give my time, and ultimately my money, to whatever cause they are promoting, I now ask the salary of their chief executive and do they have a department responsible for equality, diversity and gender?  If they do, they will be told in no uncertain manner that they obviously have too much funding already and that I will spread the word regarding their misplaced priorities and their financial profligacy when they should be concentrating all their efforts on the people they aim to support.

Merely reading that the politically-chattering classes are 'shocked', 'aghast' and 'appalled' by the president's moves is music to my right-of-centre ears - Aaaaahhhh all over again.  It is reassuring to know that at least someone is taking taboo subjects seriously, putting their country first and is proud of their flag!  

Perhaps UK residents should send a collective letter to the US government and ask if we could become their 51st state.  With a future such as Mr. Trump envisages for the USA, selling our soul to the Yankee Devil seems a small price to pay in the long term.  If only lawyers can be kept out of politics, the world would be a better and less costly place.  

I will sleep well, smiling as I drift off.  The thought of all those to the left of Stalin running about like chickens of a headless condition realising that not everyone shares their views and that there is a wider public with common sense who until now have struggled to be heard is further music being played to this very appreciative Brit.

Don't get me wrong, I am still no devotee of the American President, but he does do what he says he would and doesn't waste time with pointless committees.  So for that, my eternal gratitude.  Overall, the man is still a pushy, classless, bully-boy arse, but on current form I can live with that...

            THE TAXPAYER-FUNDED GOOSE THAT LAYS ITS GOLDEN EGGS

It will never cease to amaze and infuriate my sense of justice that not working due to varying medical conditions can be so financially rewarding.

This textbook example of our country's generosity through taxpayer funding refers to a hospital cleaner who appears to have done little in the way of cleaning.  I certainly can't imagine her mop and bucket saying with all the usual enthusiasm that comes from familiarity,  'Morning mummy, which wards are we cleaning today?'.  The hospital concerned is the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.  Zoe Kitching, the cleaner in question took several periods of sick leave between 2019 and June 2023.    In total, she took 406 days off work during that period, one continuous absence lasting 130 days - that's four and a half months! 

Eighty-five per cent of this time off was apparently due to her disability which comprised of  'anxiety', 'depression' and being 'bipolar'. As Messrs 'Law', 'Best' and 'Charlton' are the Holy Trinity to Manchester United, her three afflictions are to an impending Golden Egg! The report I read stated ZK 'was' bipolar, as opposed to 'is'.  Does it mean the problem has 'cleared up and gone away, or the correspondent doesn't know their tenses from their elbow?  Incidentally, the remaining fifteen per cent of time off work was due to Covid-19, cold and/or flu.  Poor lass, she was put through the mill, wasn't she,  not much passed her by without a sick-note being there for the signing.

Despite meetings with hospital management, none of those to whom she was responsible to, nor answerable to, took on board her 'disabilities'.  There's a surprise!  In fact, an Occupational Health report in 2021 stated she was NOT a disabled person under the Equality Act of 2010.  ZK was duly dismissed in June 2023.  Not good enough apparently, certainly not good enough for those sitting in judgement at this week's tribunal.  The hospital management suffered rapped knuckles, with the judge, one Robert Childes, stating that 'The NHS Trust should have permitted a high level of sickness absence overall and failure to do so was a failure to make adjustments'. The tribunal ruled that it was 'irrational and wrong' to deny ZK's disability status and that she should have been afforded more sick leave. More!!  Obviously 130 days at a time isn't long enough!  Have these judges ever employed staff?  Would they put up with that sort of behaviour from someone in their employ?  ZK represented herself, well she would do, all that time not working, sitting at home with depression and all that goes with it. What better tonic than to 'hone up' your courtroom skills, research the law and take your employers to court.  Anyone in their right mind with genuine problems and a desire to be fair to their employers, would have resigned on the basis that they were not fit to work, thereby granting someone who was not only fit but able to work the opportunity of employment.  Employment that would not only see a regular face within the team of cleaners but a mop and bucket firmly attached to its longstanding human partner, exuding excitement and jollity every working day.  

ZK was awarded £49,147 in damages.  Unbelievable!  With me in charge of the tribunal, an apology by ZK for wasting tribunal time and hospital/taxpayer money would be the first part of the somewhat speedy court proceedings.  This would be followed by a desire to change the law so that similar cases never get further than a daydream. Finally, (some three minutes after the case started its waste of everyone's time),  there would be a summing up word of advice given to the alleged 'victim' to 'get over it' and stop feeling so sorry for themselves!  Still, it paid off for this lady, must be so inspirational for those seeking similar financial gratification in the weeks and months to come, especially in Mr. Starmer's world of even greater employee rights...

 

                         THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE ENTITLED

On the 2nd of December 2024 the British public awoke to the news that a 76 year-old grandmother had been taken ill whilst on holiday in America.  This sort of  occurrence has happened to numerous holidaymakers over many years,  Few instances make the media news unless the unfortunate soul is famous of course.  Most people are responsible, most people take out insurance.  The grandmother in this case, Mrs Patricia Bunting, decided against such peace of mind, and being of an irresponsible nature, certainly on this occasion, and against her daughter's advice, made the trip to Florida hoping that all would be well for the three-week duration.  

By the time news first went to press, PB was already a patient at Orlando Hospital suffering from flu and Covid-19.  The woman has COPD and atrial fibrillation but still decided against insurance on the grounds of cost, quoted at between £3-6000.  To my mind it's quite simple.  If you cannot afford the insurance, you cannot afford the holiday.  The same analogy can be applied to one's car, though many motorists fail to understand that one either!

Slow forward to the 14th January and PB is still in hospital seven weeks after being taken ill in her hotel.  She travelled with her two sons aged 40 and 42, plus her grandson aged 23.  What didn't go unnoticed was the reference in the papers to the fact that both her boys are unemployed and that the grandson is autistic.  What the former tells us is that the taxpayers have probably paid for the offspring's trip to Disneyworld,  If that is not the case and mummy has paid, then instead of accepting a freebie, they should have clubbed together and bought insurance!  Who in their right mind at PB's age and existing medical conditions  would even contemplate travelling more than five miles outside of Wigan without insurance?   Surely a day excursion into the great metropolis that is Manchester would require insurance?  You could without fear of exaggeration probably add flak-jacket, bullet-proof vest and bodyguard, we are talking about the North after all!  Quite what the grandson's autism has to do with the price of eggs is anyone's guess. Though if I had to, it would be to guess that a sympathy vote was needed in order to bring a hearty 'Well done', an 'awwww'... Anything really that smacks of empathy with mental illness in all its variant forms.

Only days before (Friday 10th January), daughter Emma announce to a less than sympathetic world that her mother was being repatriated on a medical flight due to leave the USA on Tuesday, 14th Jan.  Monday 13th, however, came the news that there were complications and she would not be leaving hospital that day and no return date was imminent.  

So, what do you do when there is no pot of gold to act as back-up come a rainy day or emergency?  No stash of cash from hard-working sons who turn up trumps when the going gets tough for their 'Lets-wing-it-and-hope-bugger-all-goes-wrong' mother?  No distant aunty in some far-flung flood-ridden,  disease-ridden or God-forbidden African or other third-world country - though  Mablethorpe's also a possibility - who has recently died and left them a family fortune?  Answer?  You ask the public to pay by setting up a GoFundMe page!  Unbelievable!  What concerns me more than the matriarch's foolishness and total lack of responsibility - and at her age, she really should know better - is that donations to the tune of over £40,000 have been garnered from those who have more money than sense and who,  by their very action of giving to this extremely unworthy cause, make the process of pointless charity easier to start for the next case of 'decision without responsibility'.  I wish PB well and hope she pulls through, but really, that £40.000+ could have gone to real cases of need - animal welfare for instance,  a local hospice,  a model railway club...

Sadly. no-one wants to be responsible for their actions, it is the way of the world.  Let someone else pay, from taxpayer funded benefits and donations from Blighty to American taxpayers' subsidies through hospital funding.  Such is modern society, even more so 'up north'!

I wonder if they still have 'Trouble up their mill'? 

 

                            PUTIN AND TRUMP - THE DEADLY DUO!

Not long now until Donald Trump is inaugurated once more as President of the United States of America.  He became the 45th President on the 20th January 2017 and on the 20th of this month, America's 47th.  I wonder how many people saw that coming in 2021 as Mr. Biden took to the stage?  I currently wonder as to where the world is going given the ambitions of both DT and VP?  Neither being of a shy and retiring nature, it is possible that a more peaceful future can be found with the incoming American President.  He has met the Russian Head of State during his previous term which may be cause for some comfort to those foreseeing a rather dismal future for world peace.  The fly in the territorial ointment is Mr. Trump's desire to control the Panama Canal, incorporate Canada within the USA and buy Greenland from the Danes!  His publicly-made-known ambitions, or tick-boxes on a bucket list have inflamed the Panamanians, outraged the Canadians and worried the good people of both Greenland and Denmark.  Not ruling out taking control of the Panama Canal or Greenland by forceful means doesn't make for greater peaceful confidence either.

I have previously commented that the United Kingdom needs DT on board,  He is at least pro-British, unlike the current incumbent - pro-Irish and fairly anti-British.  DT's Scottish roots may have a lot to do with it, but it doesn't stop the man from being a child-like bully whose basic mentality has never risen above that of a 5 year-old in a school playground.  

When you stand back and look at both men, are they that different?  Both are proud of their respective countries and will fight for their sovereignty as any mother would defend her offspring whenever trouble - perceived or tangible - raises its head.  Very laudable - I wish the UK had a leader who fought for our country with the same fervour and passion.  Sadly, the days of Mr. Gorbachev, perestroika and glasnost have long departed the Russian scene.  The 'old guard' has re-emerged as a force not only to be reckoned with politically, but to take control either through physical force or intimidation and mischievous acts during neighbouring countries elections. The aim being to de-stabilise the country, their democracy and ultimately control the future of a newly-formed alliance.  Can the same principle of control not be put at DT's doorstep?

I remember back in my own secondary school - Spencer Park on Wandsworth Common - I asked a teacher what the difference was between a communist regime and that of a dictator.  The reply was something to the effect that communists control by committee and a dictator controls by himself.  Have things changed?  Is that a fair assessment and appropriate today?  I think so, especially when you note the closeness of allies and family that make up DT's new government.  It is natural to surround oneself with people one trusts, but DT does seem to make it appear as close to an inbred 'Norfolk' family as one can imagine.  Note:  For readers abroad and maybe not familiar with the County of Norfolk, situated in East Anglia, England,  they never say 'Give me five, they always say 'Give me six!'. Or...  'When arrested for a potential crime, the police never bother with DNA because they all possess identical genes.  Or ...   'Norfolk is a wonderful county, a population of 2 million people yet only 83 surnames!'.

But I digress...  Musing, as I do, wouldn't we be proud as a nation if a British Prime Minister were to announce that our army was about to invade France, and consider it as a new territory to be 'replenished' with souls either unwelcome or unwanted in the Motherland!  For example, the immediate removal and re-settlement of channel hopping migrants, all prisoners serving more than six months, anti-social families who make their neighbours life a misery, all owners of XL Bully's and other 'trophy' dogs that make up in size that that is lacking in their owner's penis and anyone who frankly isn't 'English' enough in class or diction to remain here and contribute to the raising of the next generation!

Musing further however, and getting back to the 'Despotic Duo', I can't imagine anybody raising a hand in objection if either one announced they were annexing Croydon or Slough.  Just a round of applause and a universal cry of 'About time!', I'd imagine.  One can dream...

                       ONLY FOUR+ YEARS TO THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION

I commented previously that we needed a Labour government for a number of reasons.  One, in order to wake the Tories out of their corporate malaise, their arrogance, their lack of direction and performance.  Two, to address their trustworthiness, honesty and ability to follow through the policies on which much store was put by the electorate, who loyally voted for them over several general and local elections. 

Sadly, the Tories appear to have learnt little thus far into Labour's term in office.  A Tory (of unknown or forgotten status) recently opined that those who voted Reform cost the Tories in last July's election.  Wrong, dear boy!  It was the Tories who cost the Tory Party their chance of continuing in government. It was theirs to win, not lose.  The opposition wasn't exactly everybody's cup of Yorkshire tea.  Remember, only 37% of the voting electorate put their cross against a Labour candidate, not exactly an overwhelming vote of conviction or confidence.  Is it not plain to the Tories by now that if they hadn't been so weak and gutless on the continuing issues regarding Law and Order, Immigration, the NHS, Policing, Care and the Environment, they would still be in power as I write and there would be no need of a Reform Party!

Having taken an interest in politics since my late teens, I look back - and not through rose-tinted glasses - and I can honestly say, it is difficult to recall such a thoroughly nasty group of people at ministerial level currently leading this country.  Rarely, over a new government's first six months in office, have so many major decisions been made that have led to such universal antagonism.  From Sir Keir Starmer, alongside the 'Three Witches of Westminster', down through the pecking order of ministerial positions, there isn't one who shines as a decent and seemingly caring member of the Labour government.  How long were they sat in the doldrums of politics, the desert of political importance?  Long enough to come into power with policies that would see action taken on important areas of society within a short period of 'bedding in'.  Wes Streeting, the Minister for Health, is looking at 2028 before announcing much needed reform to the crumbling 'Care' provision and associated services.  The release of prisoners so that we can lock up more prisoners did not go down well with the general public, and rightly so.  The Labour government displayed all the imagination and empathy of a party out of touch with its citizens before its first month of tenure had elapsed. 

From the pensioners' fuel support being discontinued,  tax rises for both business and the working public, to car tax increases and National Insurance increases for businesses across the board, this ghastly mix of cohorts have little in common with what one would perceive as 'Socialist' values.  

The north-west of England, Lancashire in particular, has been a hotspot for the sexual grooming of young girls in care.  Mainly perpetrated by men of Asian 'heritage', as the left like to refer to them,  (They're still Asian!), various committees have concluded that many a blind eye was turned by the police, social services and other interested parties due to the 'race factor', which would have raised its embarrassingly coloured head.  Oldham Council want the government to hold a public enquiry.  Jess Phillips, the Safeguarding Minister who is extremely lightweight and 'to the left of public opinion',  has blocked their request by responding that it's a 'local matter'!  It's a racial matter, and that's the last thing the Labour Party wish to be involved with.  Think of the loss of Asian votes, especially from the Muslim population, it's what keeps Labour in power in Lancashire.  Mosques, Mayors and Martyrs!   Oh!  -  and Mohammad, the most popular boy's name registered in England last year. Does that not tell you something?  Can you picture another summer of discontent, race riots, looting and other unseemly, ungentlemanly behaviour?  I wouldn't rule it out.  The country is a tinder-box just waiting to be set alight, suppression on grounds of race does not make a problem disappear.

Elon Musk is,  as I have previously stated,  not someone I would invite round for afternoon tea. Such are his unnecessary comments on the aforementioned Jess Phillips, ('She should be jailed', Musk says!), that I wouldn't even share a bag of pork scratchings with the all-powerful but socially ill-mannered and meddling oik.  Wealth does not equate to class.  Nigel Farage would do well to distance himself totally from the man who would interfere and, more worryingly, undermine our democracy and social stability given half a line on Twatter!

The United Kingdom needs America, it therefore needs Donald Trump to be on our side and as an ally, that Musk character is an entirely different kettle of jellyfish...

                                    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...

                                                     THE 'ASSISTED DYING' DEBATE

Friday sees the debate in the UK Parliament when MP's will mull over the pro's and con's of letting individuals choose whether to end their lives or not.  There are naturally strong views born out of beliefs, both religious and secular on either side of the argument.  I liken the discussion to that of abortion - both subjects being fiercely opposed by those who believe that they are right with no allowance made or granted for anyone with an opposing stance.  Emotion, justice and morality all play a part on both sides of the argument.. Those of a religious bent - and I do consider those who believe in characters from a best-selling novel to be nothing other than bent! - should not be allowed to use this 'crutch' as a reasonable argument against either the choice of dying or aborting a foetus. Unfortunately, there are sad saps still at large who have believed in such tosh ever since that well-reported incident on a cross. (Can't believe it really took place myself, can you just imagine the 'Health and Safety' implications!). Bearing in mind the congregational sizes at your average church service, is it representative of our population to allow twenty-six C of E bishops to sit in the House of Lords?  They pontificate, at great cost to the taxpayer, over proposed government legislation before voting on the subject's possible implementation prior to being passed back to the House of Commons for amendments or support.  The quicker these non-elected, minority-serving, migrant-fawning hangers-on are banned from office the better our democracy will be.  That goes for all members of the House of Lords, not just those with a 'nod to God'!  

It hasn't gone unnoticed that head honchos at the C of E, the Catholic Church and the Jewish faith have banded together in a show of unity, as if anyone should care, and come out with the following statement: 'Part of the role of faith leaders in communities is to provide spiritual and pastoral care for the sick and for the dying.  We hold the hands of loved ones in their final days, we pray with families both before and after death.  It is to this vocation that we have been called, and it is from this vocation that we write'.  Vocation?  Vocation?  Sanctimonious prigs! It is not a proper job!! Not once is there reference to the physical and mental suffering of the individual concerned. This 'Collective of wastefulness' goes on to say:  'Our pastoral roles make us deeply concerned about the impact the bill would have on the most vulnerable, opening up the possibility of life-threatening abuse and coercion'.  Is it just me, but the irony is not lost.   'Vulnerable'?  'Life-threatening abuse and coercion'?  I thought those attributes played a large part in the everyday life of those 'members of the cloth'.  (The words 'large part' and 'member' taking on a life of their own in more ways than one!).

 I'm all in favour of a second house, but one where the incumbents are elected to serve by the general population, not because you are high up in some religious sect or due to an accident of birth - a great-great-great grandchild of a so-called 'noble heritage', 'Yeoman stock' or diluted 'blue blood' with an unbroken family listing in DeBretts!

Meanwhile, back in the land of the living - including those who clearly wish they weren't - despite the Prime Minister's directive that Friday's vote should be 'free', Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary and the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, one Shabana Mahmood, have both publicly declared they are voting against the bill on Assisted dying.  Wes Streeting has stated that passing this legislation will be costly to implement for the NHS and could 'lead to someone choosing to end their life early as a way of saving the NHS money'.  I thought he and Rachel Reeves in particular would be over the proverbial deathbed, if not the moon, should this be the case.   Surprise, surprise, Mrs. M, the L C & J Sec. sees the bill being passed as placing the country on a 'slippery slope towards death on demand'.  A tad dramatic in word usage, but then she is a barrister, as opposed to a barista, and not untypical of an MP representing a constituency that has a large Muslim population, in this case, Birmingham Ladywood.  Whilst she may well hold genuine concerns on moral and/or ethical grounds, one should never discount the percentage of motivation created by the guile and pandering of an MP in order to hold on to their seat come the next election.   As has been noted in the press, if the bill is passed, two of the 'Top dogs' involved in its implementation and success will be those who voiced their opinions and voting intentions.  That could cause a few problems methinks, still, I'm sure the good Mr. Starmer has all situations covered.  Thought...  There's always Novichok to fall back on if things look awkward - joke... joke!

Whilst it is a serious subject, I continue to be naively optimistic for a positive outcome.  The mischievous and whimsical side of one's nature does however allow one's mind to conjure up thoughts of a dictatorial regime - elected obviously - where subjects could be put down on the grounds of 'Being kind to them and good for society at large'.  What an opportunity to find space to drive on the M25 without the usual tailbacks?  It's the elderly that I have trouble with.  Now I say this as a 77 year-old in body, but 47 years-old in mind - well that's how I see myself.  Some may differ.  I do recall an instance when I described myself as 'Young at heart', to which I was subjected to the retort - 'More childlike really!'.  We still speak...

Queuing at a supermarket checkout usually causes blood vessels to enlarge, if not burst.  'Bert and Doris' stand between me and the customer being served.  They tut, they moan in dismissive, though hushed tones as their wait continues.  She sporting inherited broach on her coat, he sporting flat cap, as opposed to baseball cap, which often denotes ongoing chemotherapy in the elderly. They look at me for moral support in their dual irritation but their turn eventually arrives - and milk it they do!.  They are slow at packing, they are slow at paying.  Doris can't find her purse, the assistant gives me a sideways glance indicating her own irritation at their slowness.  Bert reminds Doris to show their Nectar card before the final sum is requested. That's also lost in the Tardis that serves as a handbag!  Much searching and a further minute out of my life, when 'hey presto' another rabbit is extracted. I am beginning to feel slightly more confident that this  couple will soon be on their way and out of my life. Bert then reminds Doris that they have vouchers.  More scrambling, same handbag, different pocket!  Just as I'm losing the will to live and asking myself why B&D had to be in front of me that day, I witness the debilitating ageing squawks seeking advice from said assistant who by now has joined me, and those behind me, in losing the will to live.  'Are any of these vouchers any good', Doris plaintively asks.  The assistant trawls through said collection and verbally confirms that six are irrelevant and three are out of date.  Doris puts them neatly back into her purse, which is then equally neatly placed in her handbag ready to be extracted on their next visitation in a week's time - at precisely the same time of  day.  These are people of routine! I am now served, my goods being placed quickly in my bags and with consideration to others behind me.  My Nectar card and credit card are to hand, I carry no vouchers.  A swift transaction, a smile, a 'cheerio' and I'm away.  Off to my car, but sadly snookered in my quest to exit the sliding doors as there stand Bert and Doris who have met up with Neville and Elsie, chattering like monkeys and oblivious to the their trolleys  being parked in such a manner as to stop all 'who enter here'  or  those wishing to exit and make up for lost time and a possible course of counselling.  Assisted dying?  A nudge in the right direction for some springs to mind...  

                     IS THAT  'CHILDREN IN NEED'  OR  'NEEDY CHILDREN'?

Every year the BBC hosts an evening of fun and frolics with the aim of raising money for 'children in need'.  Every year the event rakes in upwards of £40 million.  It is a lot of money, subscribed to by generous donors across the length and breadth of Britain.  Every year I bury my head in another channel - any channel, or no Channel at all - with the express intention of avoiding any contact with the hype, hysteria and brash whooping that accompanies the pointlessness.  Over the years groups of middle-aged men and women have swum through ice-cold water, tumbled out of aircraft hoping their parachute will open before they die, or immerse themselves in a bath of cold baked beans for two hours - and all for the chance to 'be on the telly'!

As with all so-called 'good causes', one is left wondering where the money raised actually goes to?  My first thought is just how much is taken in admin costs, especially the salaries of those at the top.  When researching information regarding large, well-known charities, the money paid to chief executives, directors and those involved the 'equality and diversity' racket was mind-blowing.  Comparisons with those at the helm of our utilities sprang to mind!  As Christmas approaches, viewers of commercial TV stations are currently subjected to adverts for a wide range of charities - or bad causes - as I think of them.  'Help the children in Gaza' they cry, or 'Support famine relief' in some God-forsaken, war-torn African country where the ruling junta are 'doing very nicely, thank you!'  Helping the homeless on the streets of Britain is a common theme spread across several charities.  Gone are the days when the narrater, having hopefully appealed to your conscience while you take in the visual poverty, asks for a donation 'big or small'.  Oh no, they now seek a specific amount, one of them asking for £29.80p.  Audacious, arrogant and frankly, a bloody cheek!  

Captain Tom will be turning in his grave - either metaphorically if he was cremated, or physically if buried - as news breaks that his daughter and son-in-law did very nicely out of the book sales.  The public bought the books because they thought the cover price was going to our most popular charity of all - the NHS!.  Little did they know it would be funding the double-barrelled Ingram-Moore's lifestyle to the tune of £1.5million. 

Some 30 years ago, I was organising motor shows for a well-known car magazine.  I hosted over forty shows during a 7-year period.  The shows were free to the public and because they attracted families, I arranged children's activities, helicopter rides, industry-relevant trade stands and a few charity stands.  Lessons were learned as patterns evolved.  Initially I invited national charities that had relevance to the location, a hospice or a hospital ward dedicated to the wellbeing of those suffering from a particular ailment.  I also invited a local animal sanctuary,  or dog rescue centre.  No fees were charged for any charity when attending the two-day show, all profits made over the weekend being retained by the charity.  What emerged was a pattern whereby the national charities just didn't turn up with no warning, telephone call, no bye-your-leave, in short - sweet naff all!  A call by me on the Monday morning after the show would reveal the same answer -'We were short of volunteers', there was a mix-up with staffing'.  Common to all 'No-shows' was a total lack of manners.  Without fail, all the animal charities appeared and were staffed for the duration.  I got wise to this behaviour early on and started charging the grand sum of £25 per stand.  Because the events were held outdoors, there was no lack of space for stallholders. Guess what?  'No-shows' became a thing of the past.  Animal charities by the way, were still given free space as they had been supportive and professional from day one.  I only ever give to animal charities, their cause is far more deserving.

Less than a week after this year's Children in Need evening its 'Chair', as opposed to 'Chairlady' or 'Chairwoman', (How the hell can anybody be a 'Chair'?), Rosie Millard resigned after protesting that grants were given to a charity whose former chief had been embroiled in a child abuse debacle.  James Rennie, the chief in question, was convicted in 2009 of child sexual assaults.  Having read of his 'interests' and subsequent jail sentence, I can confirm that he, along with the Ingram-Moore's, will not be invited round for afternoon tea!

I do wonder just how many of those contributors to Children in Need realised over the years just where their hard-earned dosh was going?  Perhaps they would be surprised, shocked even, to learn that £466,000 had, over the years been given to LGBT Youth Scotland.  That is an enormous sum and begs the question raised in the title of this article.  Are these 'children in need', or just plain needy?  Normal is male or female, everything else is a lifestyle choice and should not be subject to public or charitable funding.  Rosie Millard appears to be someone with principles and will therefore be awarded an 'Attaboy' from me and naturally invited round for afternoon tea, scones and... and...  a choice of Raspberry OR Tayberry jam with her clotted cream.  I can be no fairer than that!

If the above informs, amuses, titillates, provides gut-wrenching belly laughs or, in the case of Lib-Dems and Guardian readers, merely offends,  please look at the Trouser Press website for details and availability of books written under the name Anthony Mann and published by Trouser Press:- www. trouser-press.biz

Until the next post, for all my American readers - 'Have a nice day!', for those attempting to retain their humour within the confines of these Septic Isles - 'Do your best to get through the day!'.

                                                            OH YES SHE DOES!

The 'She' in question is a headteacher, as opposed to a Headmistress, by the name of Mandy Ovendon.  She is 'very excited' apparently by her decision not to allow any reference to Christmas during a performance at Wherwell Primary School by a touring pantomime company. A spokesman - as opposed to a 'spoke', or a 'spokesperson' - for the Essex based Chaplins Pantos explained that,  'We don't always mention Santa Claus, but there would usually include a Christmas song and there would be reference to Christmas.  On this occasion, the school asked us not to include any reference'.  What a miserable bunch of woke scrotes!  The Ovendons of this world and her ilk are the reason this country is without discussion on anything racial, gender or our ongoing and costly asylum fraud!

Wherwell Primary School is in Andover, Hampshire, not an area normally associated with a cultural and diverse melting pot.  Sadly, an influx of non-natives and their offspring have settled in the area and the education system bows to pressures considered inconceivable not a decade or so ago.

An unnamed representative from the school commented:  'When we chose to invite the travelling pantomime to Wherwell, our request was a practical step to ensure all children at the school would be able to attend and enjoy the show.  Our aim, as always, is to foster inclusivity in our school community and be a place where children and their families feel safe, welcomed and valued'.  Well, they've certainly managed to get in all the woke-speak - 'inclusivity',  'community',  'safe',  'welcomed',  'valued'. Have you ever heard such sycophantic, cringe-making bollocks?   If there are parents of children who don't take Kindly to Christmas references because it doesn't align with their beliefs they can, at best stay away, or, even better, move to a country where their beliefs are enshrined and traditions upheld.  

If the situation was reversed, does the misguided Head think a Hindu ceremony in India or a Muslim play in Lebanon would be altered to accommodate a white Church of England family who have recently emigrated from Dudley?

It is a very slippery slope this Head is walking.  Has she not considered the views of those white, native parents who, I assume, still take up the majority of the local population?  I haven't visited Andover for a year or so.  It was quite white then.  Mind you, look at the north-west of England, it didn't take long to become an Asian province where Muslim mayors abound in numbers.  Ah, such is the changing face of Britain and not helped by the likes of Mandy Ovendon.

If I were a parent of a child attending Wherwell Primary School. I would definitely be having a conversation with those responsible for this pathetic, petty action.  All it does is sow division and anger.  My child would not be attending on principle and I would explain to my child why in front of the Head.  Once again, the ethnic minority run roughshod over the native majority.

I do not wish Mandy Ovendon a 'Merry Christmas', I do however wish her and all her supporters, a 'Crappy New Year'! 

    THE EX ARSE-BISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND HIS FLOCK OF ABUSERS!

Dear, oh dear, that most exalted of all within his sect was not sitting comfortably - though nowhere near as uncomfortably as the boys and young men who suffered appallingly at the hands of the now deceased Mr  John Smyth, QC.  Not a nice man by any standards, he is described as a 'British child abuser, barrister and active Christian involved in ministry with children'.  Well,  that's one way of putting it!  Oh, and he also represented Mary Whitehouse as her lawyer some decades ago during her years of campaigning against what she considered to be a lowering of moral standards on both TV and the media.  What hypocrisy!

Justin Portal Welby, who revelled in the full title of 'The Most Reverend and the Right Honourable the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury GCVO',  has been toppled from his post of Top God - sorry, Dog - bloody lysdexia!.  The latter stands for 'Grand Cross Victorian Order'. -there's posh!  Sadly, his titles outplayed his talent for justice.   I'd like to know what these people do?  It's not a proper job.  They're not contributing to society in any form.  Shelf-stackers at Sainsbury's contribute far more than these religious wastes of space.  In this case it is the Church of England, but irrespective of whichever cult the sheep in human form follows, power, greed and abuse have been prevalent from time immemorial.  For many it has been the safe haven to continue abuse to this day - and tomorrow, and next week, and forever onwards, it appears.   Shrouded in secrecy but known to many within the hallowed halls of clerical establishment and hierarchy,  those that abuse will continue with impunity,  those that know, but turn a blind eye, will also continue to be all-unseeing and un-knowing.  That 'Club' mentality which permeates so many sects and orders continues to weave its magic across the world.  

There will be a number of bishops and no doubt those lower down in the pecking order,  wondering if the call will come for them to explain their involvement,  if any,  or knowledge of, if any, abuse carried out by the disgusting Smyth character.    The Reverend Michael Coran (as opposed to Koran, which I would have found slightly amusing), suggested that more people should be questioned.  Presumably that puts him in the clear!. It could turn into another Post Office scandal with bishops scurrying around defending their actions - or lack of them - in a manner not too dissimilar to PO or Fujitsu bosses claiming amnesia or being in the loo at the time and therefore 'none of it being their fault'!   Another bishop interviewed this morning on the BABC was the current Bishop of Winchester,  latterly Bishop of Truro and in a previous role, the Executive Leader of the 'Church Mission Society', which in itself doesn't appear overly seemly!  His name is Philip Mounstephen, just a 'T' away from a schoolboy snigger and the begging of the question 'Does he?'  That of course is before said boy is sent to John Smyth for punishment. Pure whimsy of course, but satisfying to conjure with all the same.

Perhaps if the left-leaning, migrant loving, do-gooding, slave-apologising Welby had spent more time looking at the bigger picture of Britain's ills, as experienced by the tax-paying public day-in, day-out,  he might also have taken note of what was going on with his ex-fellow 'happy camper' back in the 1970's!  If they weren't 'bunking-buddies' they certainly knew each other. You can see the Arse-Bishop wringing his hands thinking 'This is a bit of a bugger and no mistake, let's hope it all blows over soon,  huh!'.   It didn't and there are stories to be told, cases to be investigated, financial settlements to be made by the Church in the fullness of time and hopefully, several resignations along the way.  

What the C of E are left with is finding a replacement that is whiter than white in their private life, preferably without a history of abuse to their names, though probably 'nothing within the last five years will be as good as it gets'.  I spoke with a friend of mine who also fails to see the significance and point of any religion other than a cover for unedifying sexual activities and he said, 'A pound to a penny the next one will be black and female - two boxes ticked, there's a result!'.  He's probably not wrong.

    OF MIDGETS,  DWARFS AND ACADEMIC FLIES IN THE OINTMENT

The word 'seething' would sum up how I feel as I write these notes.  Seething, because part of our history is once again being consigned to history books - books that will certainly be burned if minorities are allowed to overwhelm majority views and opinions with their childish indoctrinations.

The pub-owning group Greene King has once again crumbled in the face of minority pressure.  There is a pub in Abingdon, Oxfordshire which opened in 1974 as the 'Magic Midget'.  The name was in honour of a racing car of the same name, produced in the town by MG, then owned by British Leyland.  The MG Midget had long been considered an iconic British sports car.  The pub was renamed 'The Midget' in 2002.  The intervening years have witnessed the passing of majority rule by a succession of 'minority causes' putting the fear of shame into any individual or business that doesn't toe the W*** line.

A female by the name of Dr. Erin Pritchard, who is a senior lecturer in Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University started a petition in order to rid the public house of its 'Dwarfist' links!  She said: 'I have dwarfism and like many people find the word offensive.  I doubt anyone would tolerate a pub with a name containing an equally derogatory slur against another group of disabled people or an ethnic minority'.  This is the same woman, by the way who forced Marks and Spencer to change the name of 'Midget Gems' for the same reason. The upshot of her being offended and presumably the one thousand supporters that signed her petition, is that Greene King, the gutless owners of the pub, have caved in and have renamed it again as 'The Roaring Raindrop'.  I read that this latest change refers to MG's last record-breaking car built at Abingdon.  Very few people, other than MG aficionados, will be aware of the new name and its part in the company's history, whilst millions will remember the MG Midget!  Did anyone, either driving or spotting an MG Midget automatically think of a dwarf, thus sniggering or guffawing in a schoolboy manner as they made an association between a car and part of a circus act?  

You can just imagine how much fun this woman must be!  She may have a doctorate, but I suggest she applies to the Open University for  courses in the following subjects:-  'Common Sense',     'Perspective and Proportion',  'Humour' - if that is still an allowable attribute - and 'Getting Out More'!  People like her and the one thousand petitioners are worrying examples of what is happening throughout our country.  The minority rule and there is little opposition as no-one wants bad publicity.  Zoe Bowley,  who is Greene King's Managing Director, said that the company thought 'long and hard' about changing the name,  As always, they conceded and history is consigned to memory.  People such as the sad Dr. Pritchard are a danger to society at large.  They  never see the bigger picture, so entrenched. embittered and driven are their views, so ungracious and ungiving their mentality.  

I have just taken my metaphorical file marked 'Wastes of Space in British Society' and added Dr. Pritchard's name.  She joins the ranks of Lord Longford, Peter Hain,  Peter Tatchell and the Blairs,  amongst many others of dubious worth.  It is is such a pity that people like her spoil everyday wordage.  They turn it into a cause celebre and contribute in no small measure in making  the world a much more miserable place through power garnered due to their physical appearance.  So, another group of people I shall not be looking too kindly upon in the future - miserable ticks!

My problem going forward, when espying an MG car, is managing NOT to think of dwarfs, elves, sprites, hobgoblins, pixies, leprechauns, imps, gnomes, fairies, nymphs or gremlins. Do hope I haven't missed out anyone of 'limited stature'?  After all,  I like to think of myself as 'Inclusive'...

                     IF ONLY THAT LAMMY FELLOW HADN'T SAID WHAT HE DID!

We've all said things we regret in our past.  Somebody I met only yesterday recalled an occasion when he was discussing a girl's bust size and just how he'd like to get his hands around her 'jugs'.  The other male cut in by telling him that he'd been dating said girl for nearly a year and he wasn't impressed with the other chap's desires or fantasies, before walking off into the wide blue yonder, never to be seen again.  The point is that he was eighteen at the time, new to more adult social intercourse and possibly sexual intercourse, who knows?  By the time you reach the age of 46 and you are a Labour Member of Parliament you should be aware that comments and judgements made today can come back to bite you years on - six in this case!  David Lammy has come a long way since then, mainly due to the Tories losing the last election, but he is now this country's Foreign Secretary.  I cannot  think of a minister more foreign!  Wikipedia describes him as 'English'.  That he definitely is not.  I reluctantly have to concede that he be described as British, after all, the man possesses one of our passports, bur English he never will be.

Back to 2018, as a Labour backbencher, metaphorically expanding his chest with all the confidence of his then limited power and persuasion, he uttered the following comments regarding what was then the 45th President of the United States of America, and who has now become their 47th.  Mr. Lammy described Donald Trump as a 'woman-hating, Neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath who is a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long'. Adding fuel to his badly-timed outburst, he also commented that DT was 'deluded, dishonest, xenophobic and narcissistic'.  How proud he must have felt, there in swash-buckling mode deriding the President of arguably the most powerful country in the world and unarguably, our greatest ally. The EU never came close to being an ally - before our joining, during our time-wasted membership or post resignation.  America has been there for us and for Europe.  Its  freedom to this day is due in no small way to American support and democracy, the likes of which the 'lame' Lammy; would do well to remember!  Only a year earlier, he announced:- 'Yes, if Trump comes to the UK, I will be out protesting in the streets.  He is a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser'.  Note, not even the courtesy of addressing him as Mr. Trump -  the man is without respect or manners.

This morning, the day after it was revealed that Donald Trump was to be the next president, Keir Starmer was one of the first to congratulate him and David Lammy's 2018 comments raised their left-leaning heads once again.  Interviews were held with the Foreign Secretary this morning on national media and it is all being brushed away in the manner of a slave asking for a day off as 'old news'.  Mud sticks,  Mr. Lammy.  My comments a couple of days ago on Mr. Trump were as I perceive him to be.  He is all the things I said he is and the 'Lame One' was correct with the word 'narcissistic', the man positively swims in its scent water!  But it's not all bad. Oh that we had a Tory or even better, a Reform government!  With Donald Trump and Co, one side of the water and his good friend Nigel on this side, it would interesting to see what paths and choices our countries could take with trade and wall-building especially.  DT would have a lot in common with Kemi Badenoch as well - good girl our Kemi - like her and her values.  All in all, interesting times ahead,  NOT for the Labour Party,  however.  Locally there have been a couple of council by-elections, in both cases the seats quickly swung back to the Tories.  In the West Midlands and Lancashire, two council seats changed hands, Tories losing one, Labour the other, both taken by Reform.  It keeps life interesting dunnit!

                             THE ALL-AMERICAN DREAM - OR NIGHTMARE?

Who will be the next president of the United States Of America?  Until Mr. Biden was persuaded to hand over the reins to 'Pamela with a K', the constant reminder was that with a population pf some 300+ million people, they had those two to choose from!  Mr. Biden looks for all the world like an increasingly ageing liability -gaffes galore, awkward moments, loss of memory, but elected as a Democrat President in place of Donald Trump.

The move to replace the current incumbent was timely, shrewd and above all - necessary.  From a British perspective, what's best for the UK?  Uncle Jo was pro-Irish as opposed to pro-British.  It didn't go unnoticed by the masses!  We now have a very different kettle of fish in the form of Kamala Harris.  She is certainly going to give the Trump camp a run for their and Mr. Musk's money.  Maybe Americans saw a different Vice-President to the one we saw during her term in office,  We were left asking who she was and why we saw her so rarely.  She didn't appear to be high-profile, more 'No, I haven't seen her for ages either, what does she do all day?'   Her years as a lawyer will have held her in good stead for a political after-life. She possesses decorum, a sense of proportion and mainly chooses her words wisely. KH appears to be able to read both people and the social situations of the population at large.  She would seem to have principles and determination, but I feel she could also become all things to all people depending on the political circumstances at any one time.  Oh, and as we would say in 'Sarf 'London, 'she's not a bad looking sort!'.  For me her biggest problem is that she is against the death penalty.  If she was representing a British political party, I suspect she would be a Lib-Dem, a representation designed to give false hope to many, with a life consigned to the political periphery.

Donald Trump couldn't be further from his opponent in views, principles - or lack of them - and style.  How best to sum up this odious example of all that's wrong with the world!  well... he's an egomaniac, course, loud, brash, classless, unscrupulous, child-like and a bully-boy along with a myriad of other uncomplimentary descriptions that I haven't thought of as yet.  However, where I see Kamala siding with every ethnically-challenged, displaced waif and unwanted stray on the world stage, at least DT will make a fist of returning migrants south of the border to Mexico.  I can't see KH acting with such determination and focus.  Does she like the UK?  I don't know. DT does, what with his Scottish roots and that should sit more comfortably when discussing trade.  Uncle Jo was never our 'closest ally'.

I envy the Americans, just wish we were preparing for an election...

                                 IT"S ALL OVER BAR THE TAX INCREASES

Rachel Reeves - or the current 'No.1 Wicked Witch of Westminster' - delivered her budget two days ago.  As is often the case with these announcements, it's not what is publicly said in Parliament during the 'declaration of intent' but more what has not been mentioned. Policies and changes often remain buried within, awaiting extraction, hence why two days on, news is filtering out regarding various concerns.

Farmers feel aggrieved about the change to inheritance rules, GP's are concerned about the rise in National Insurance contributions and whether it will apply to all or will they be treated as a small business and be exempt from the increases.  The fact remains that for business as a whole, increased NI contributions will lead to lower wage rises.  By reminding us at any opportunity that she was holding to her promise of not raising taxes for 'working people', the Chancellor omitted to say that prices will inevitably rise as costs have to be passed on to the customer.  It is a cycle that takes a lot of breaking without reform and imagination. 

Private schools face the imminent introduction of VAT.  This is no doubt a spiteful way of getting back at a section of society those on the left cannot abide. The irony being that this is the very education that got most MP's to the level of power and influence they have today. This government despises middle England - the South-East in particular - all pensioners that pay their way and those who have worked all their lives and been prudent, saving for a future continually undermined by Labour governments.  By withdrawing the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners not on any form of benefit, (see above sentence for details of 'real' working people), Ms. Reeves has alienated a large section of the voting population.  I just hope they remember this budget come the next election.

The £20billion black hole became £40 billion when taking into account money needed for the NHS, infrastructure projects such as getting HS2 into Euston, paying miners a pension top-up and postmasters for their disgusting treatment at the hands of Post Office management in what was one of the greatest cover-ups and injustices this country has ever witnessed.  No-one is denying that we are broke or that the country is socially broken, but it is the way government approaches these decisions that dismays the public at large.  If one accepts that there is such a financial deficit, surely it makes sense to plug the holes where money is being spent on pointless projects (HS2 springs immediately to mind), and traditional support for those who should not receive one pennyworth of help from 'hard working' taxpayers.   The NHS itself is one of the biggest culprits.  Because this country fails to make plans that are carried through, we never truly invest in staff.  We have overseas doctors and nurses employed throughout our hospitals and health centres when we should be trying our own youngsters.  Agency nurses cost an absolute fortune, yet still they flourish and drain our resources.  Once we allowed private healthcare into the NHS, it became a slippery slope of profit over service.

What would an alternative, imaginative budget look like?  Oh that Wicked Witch No.2 - Yvette Cooper - in her role as Home Secretary could have come to the rescue, galloping into the Commons on a white charger, standing in her stirrups and  halting proceedings by declaring 'I have a plan.  It may not be cunning, but it's bloody obvious and will be ever-so-popular with the masses!'.  To shocked anticipation she holds aloft a charter stating that all cross channel ferries have been commandeered and that as she speaks umpteen thousand migrants are being returned to France!  Those involved, she continues include every example of benefit-scrounging flotsam currently held in hotels, ex RAF bases, centres run by private contractors and those hunted down and found working illegally in Chinese restaurants, Thai massage parlours and a lone African homosexual seeking refuge in a West London lock-up.  She awaits her next sentence in order that the jubilation and cheering from all sides of the house can calm itself.  Beaming like a cat that hails from the north-western County of Chester, she adds that the miscreants are being deported as she speaks!  Furthermore, we have stopped payment to the French government as they have been doing bugger-all to deter the small boats and that we will be saving in the region of £20 million a day!  'Hurrah and Hussar' they shout in unison.  And there's more...!  'What's more', (Told you there was more),  'the Government has seized the  assets of the German manufacturers of dinghys and closed the business down at the same time making it illegal to cross the channel without  a passport showing British nationality spanning a fifty-year period, a British driving licence and until they are discontinued,  a Waitrose loyalty card'.  She further announces that due to so many deportations, we no longer need to build as many houses and that the country's 'Green Belt' has been saved for future generations!  To ecstatic cheering she takes a bow before taking her leave.  The Chancellor, cutting a lonely figure and not wishing to be excluded from the accolades bestowed upon her fellow cabinet minister, stutters before tearing up her previous declarations and announces that all pensioners will indeed get their winter fuel allowance reinstated, NI contributions will be decreased by 1.2% and VAT will not be charged on private schools!  

As MP's gaily skip (as opposed to 'gayly skip') back to their constituencies  'True Brits' make their way en-masse to the Kent coast in order to witness the deportations and loudly exclaim with a new-found fervour  'That's right, bugger off back to France, see how much you'll get in benefit from the Froggies!'   All around laugh and cheer before pint glasses clang in unison and happiness and contentment permeates throughout the land.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, we have the American election to look forward to! That'll be fun...