BEWARE OF GREEKS BEARING GRUDGES

                                     BEWARE OF GREEKS BEARING GRUDGES

So, both senior members of the Huhne family have been found guilty of various crimes - and all to save the male of the specie from incurring a penalty worse than points on his licence - a ban!  Mr. Huhne already had nine points for speeding offences.  Does that not show the total disregard he appears to have for a law that is appropriate for everyone else and the total arrogance of a man seamlessly climbing his way up a very greasy pole.

Found guilty by a jury, Vicky Price will also pay a hefty penalty for her involvement in the cover-up.  What can be better than the prospect and satisfaction of knowing they could both be behind bars come the summer.  I'll not be visiting myself!

EASTLEIGH BY-ELECTION

                                                      EASTLEIGH BY-ELECTION

What strange coves the voting public are.  I honestly didn't expect the Liberal Democrats to retain Eastleigh constituency.  I am aware that the election only came about because of the downfall of its MP and we are mid-term and governments are never very popular at this time, but how on earth did so many people come to the conclusion that a Lib-Dem candidate was the candidate for them?  It beggars belief that anyone would vote for a party that is only in government by default.  It is without doubt the most 'fence-sitting, namby-pamby, let them all come to our shores and settle here party' I have ever had the misfortune to witness.  Heaven help this country from a full Lib-Dem government.  As a speaker on Radio 4 put it very succinctly, two thirds of the electorate voted for right of centre parties and once again, the left of centre party got pride of place at the finishing post.  What a pity a few more people didn't vote with confidence and put their cross against the UKIP candidate.  For David Cameron to comment that it is a typical mid-term blip and the UKIP was once again a protest vote, shows a great deal of arrogance and little real comprehension that the public is frustrated beyond belief at the Conservatives' inability to really tackle Europe and immigration.

THE THIN END OF A VERY THICK WEDGE

                                       THE THIN END OF A VERY THICK WEDGE

I note with dismay but not a little surprise that the Malaysian owners of Cardiff City Football Club are to tamper with its history once more.  Having already changed the nickname of Cardiff City Football Club from The Bluebirds to The Dragons and their playing strip from the traditional blue to red, they now have the audacity to propose a change in the very name of the club.  

For the whole of my lifetime it has been Cardiff City Football Club but apparently, should they gain promotion to the Premier League, their owner has suggested the name Cardiff Dragons, which sounds as if they should be in a rugby league or rugby union division instead of football.   It smacks of everything I dislike in the modern game where tradition counts for nothing, but then with so many foreign owners of football clubs, is it really the tradition they are interested in, or the money to be engendered from the selling of a 'brand'.  It is the word 'brand' that the owner used to describe Cardiff City Football Club.

I really do hope they do not succeed in gaining promotion and was extremely glad that Middlesbrough won yesterday by two goals to one.   I've read of supporter dissent but  this is where they really have to stand up and be counted, because if the club is allowed to change its name it opens up the floodgates for other clubs to do likewise, with perhaps the sponsoring name of the club coming after the town in which the football team evolved.   Will we see some dreadful concoctions such as  Manchester Toshiba or Chelsea Sony, although strangely enough Waitrose Reading doesn't sound quite so bad...

I DO OR I DON'T!

                                                                

                                                                     I DO OR I DON'T!

It never ceases to amaze me that anyone who possesses a view that maybe at odds with the "politically correct" is denounced out of hand, without thought that their opinion is theirs to freely express.  I was under the impression that that was the society we lived under, one where freedom of speech was the very foundation of our democracy.

David Jones, the Conservative MP and Welsh Minister, stated that whilst he is not opposed to same sex partners adopting children, he feels that as they cannot biologically procreate children themselves, the institution of marriage is one that should be reserved for opposite sex partners.  Can anyone tell me what is wrong with that?  It's his opinion and why he voted against the recently debated same sex marriage laws.  His opposite number in the Labour Party, Shadow Welsh Secretary, Owen Smith, stated that "David Jones's comments are profoundly offensive and he should apologise immediately".  Why?  As I said just now, it's his opinion.  If he didn't stand up for his beliefs what is the point of him being an MP.  We have few enough of them who are prepared to stand up and be counted, the majority pander to the minorities as it is,  and someone who stands up for what they believe in should be applauded.

Frankly, if I was an MP I too would have voted against them, but then, I am not as liberal as Mr. David Jones and am totally against same sex couples being able to adopt a child.  I am firmly of the opinion that all children deserve a mummy bear and a daddy bear.  Please don't tell me it's natural to be brought up with either two mummies or two daddies, because it ain't!

BEEF, HORSE, KANGAROO... BADGER?

                                           

                                          BEEF,  HORSE,  KANGAROO... BADGER?

Why is it that I happily consume pork, lamb, beef and venison, but shy away from kangaroo and horsemeat.  I mention kangaroo because it was on a local pub's menu recently.  I'm not sure whether it was seeing the 'roo'  in my mind's eye and thinking 'Aaaaah', or whether it was the thought of the poor animal being carted half way across the world in order to satisfy a publican's ego.  Actually, I think it was my preference for  meat to be obtained as locally as possible.

Most of our meat is purchased from Farmer's Choice who deliver frozen traceable cuts and we also buy fresh meat from our local butcher.  We  occasionally buy meat from Morrisons because they have their own abattoirs, and from Waitrose, because I have faith in their ethics.  I do hope that faith is not misplaced.  Those who know me will be only too well aware that I will not touch ASDA now that it is American owned, Lidl or Aldi (equally foreign owned) and I wouldn't soil my shoes on Tesco's doorstep. Up until now it has always been my contempt of their ability to build wherever and whenever they like. They appear to run rough-shod over weak and inept planners and planning regulations.  There is an arrogance that I find most distasteful about the company.

It is therefore with great delight that I follow the latest twists and turns concerning the horsemeat debacle. I really do hope  this issue encourages more consumers to buy British traceable meat slaughtered as locally as possible.  It should be our farmers' future, not  the future of the French or Romanians!

WHEN EQUALITY IS NOT QUITE SO EQUAL

                                       

                                      WHEN EQUALITY IS NOT QUITE SO EQUAL

Can someone please tell me why a criminal who attempts to smuggle five-and-a-half pounds of cocaine into this country is allowed to wheel free from prison after only a few brief months?  His sentence was three-and-a half years, so why isn't he being made to serve his very just reward?  Well, a disability helps no end.  Add a vociferous mother and a group of banner-waving supporters and any government minister will succumb.
It's all very well chiming on that Mr. Daniel Roque Hall is not a well man, but should he not have thought about the consequences of imprisonment if caught?  With a street value of £370,000 surely he wasn't expecting to be given the Queen's Award for Industry!  His mother stated that he'd been through a major ordeal!  What kind of ordeal?  Finding out that concealment of drugs in a wheelchair is not an Olympic sport?  A crime is a crime whether you are able bodied or disabled and no difference in sentence should be applied.

A SMILE FROM EAR TO EAR

                                                       

                                                        A SMILE FROM EAR TO EAR

I have been following the slow-burning story of Chris Huhne's speeding case over the past couple of years with not a little relish.  Always hopeful that he would eventually be found guilty of being the actual driver, as well as any other associated crimes, my delight at the outcome is on a par with the moment that Gordon Brown described that lady voter as a 'Bigot'.  Sadly for Mr Huhne his whole personna is there for all to see - and hear!  Cold, calculating, arrogant and driven - something I suspect he wishes had happened that fateful day.  One cannot speak more lowly of a man who 'asks' his wife to  take his punishment for him. 

Other than his immediate family and those very close to him, one will never know exactly what sort of people they are, or as a couple, were.  But having seen his wife being interviewed, she sadly seems to be in the same mould.  There is a smugness.  Was she like that before she met him, or did it come from marrying somebody who appears to be extremely domineering and his idea of success is to be at the top of politics as well as a business life.  Right.  Let's put this file to bed until the sentence is announced - oh, joy!