Saturday 25 August 2007

David Cameron

Enjoyed reading this paragraph by a VERY impressive young political journo/adviser.

"An ex-CCHQ senior researcher recalls when David and George were fledgling MPs and attending Prime Minister's Questions preparation for Iain Duncan Smith. "The pair of them would walk in, were slightly dismissive of IDS, would rip up the script, give their lines, eat a croissant and breeze out." He adds, "The air of confidence and self-assurance was magnificent. There was, of course, an inner desire to punch them."

Well this chimes well with me. I like the idea that Cameron and Osborne feel confident in their own abilities, running the greatest country on the planet is not for the faint hearted!! I like David Cameron, I like George Osborne and would wish to see his public profile heightened. But I too would like to punch them out of the same "inner desire" shown by conservative ministers, in as much as we all want to do that to people who effortlessly achieve what the rest of us have to work immesurably hard to even cusp.

Herein lies my undoubted respect. I'd love to punch them in the nicest possible way for being clever and confident and clearly highly competent. However, I'd love to punch the living fuck out of Tone and Gordo for being two complete fuckwits and for screwing up the country I love. Fuck you Gordon, I'll give you more than a fucking punch if we ever meet!!

Wednesday 22 August 2007

Human Rights

One of my favourite authors/commentators is the American humourist P J O'Rourke. He is deeply libertarian and acutely incisive of thought and is prone, as am I, to a reductio ad absurdam approach to modern myths. One of my favourite quotes is (and I paraphrase somewhat)"There is only one basic human right; you can do what the hell you want. However, with it comes one basic human responsibility; you bear, in full, the consequences of your actions."

This is where the Human Rights Act fall flat on its face. It does not even attempt to link rights with responsibilities. How can this be so when PJ's slightly glib premise actually shines a stark light on the underpinning morality of western society? As a society I believe we are not defined by our rights but by our responsibilities and by how we discharge them. The human rights act has turned this ethos on its head and clearly places rights above responsibilities. I struggle to handle the logic of this. Rights surely exist ONLY if you accede to the societal norms that ensure the common good; move beyond these norms and feel the consequences. It is fundamental to a moral and viable society. Most long standing laws, unlike he human rights act, exist to protect the wider populous from those who deliberately choose to harm us, this can only be right.

If you do not wish to live by society's rules you have NO RIGHT to be part of that society.

Tuesday 21 August 2007

Cold War??

Big bad Bear!

Let's get some things straight! If the Badgers and the Backfires want to come back over the horizon, let them. In fact I'd love it if they cusped into UK airspace and provoked a diplomatic incident. I'd love to hear stories of the renewal of the only real element of the cold war as submarines joust to within an inch of their multiple lives in the Greenland-Iceland-Faeroes gap and generally well equipped NATO forces face a large but largely inept Soviet army across the central German plain.

Porquoi?

Because the hidden Gordon Brown scandal is his funding of the Armed Forces. We are so underfunded that the Navy is effectively useless and all funds rightly but secretly go to those fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, even if it means cuts in other areas. For those not in the know the Navy is HUNDREDS of MILLIONS short because Gordon doesn't give a flying fuck about us. And in a way, nor do you. Dear electorate, "defence of the realm" that which you think you pay for is, in fact just enough to make us "feel" safe. National Defence is not a nice to have, it is a fundamental responsibility of government and is currently being abrogated in massive spades by the Browne noser.

Bottom line? We are underfunded to protect the UK and its interests by several billions but, on the grounds that Gordon and his duplicitous mates couldn't give a flying fuck about us, we are hamstrung.

Perhaps the populous is happy with this. I hope not.

Sunday 19 August 2007

Local food for local people!

This caught my eye

Bastard Supermarkets

We have a farm shop near us and less than a mile away from the local Tesco. The meat in Tesco is shit, the vegetables are ok and the range of other goods, from bin bags to HDTVs, is utterly unbelievable. Tesco provides me with range, convenience and seriously competetive pricing. The farm shop cannot give me these. However...

The farm shop provides, in some areas, quality that Tesco could NEVER afford to match. Supermarkets spend millions to have you believe that their buying power provides the highest of quality across the piece. This is simply not true and where it is, you are charged premium prices. Were I to have a dinner party and with to serve fillet steak, I would avoid the watery, overly fatty, under-hung, tasteless Tesco meat like the fucking plague. Don't even bother with the shitty, overly-hyped "Jamie" steaks in Sainsbury, they're shit. The farm shop fillet steaks, from local farms and on a financial par with the supermarket "expensive" range, is not only far,far,far,far, superior, being properly managed and locally produced but the farmer gets more money than he otherwise would from a supermarket.

Big Supermarkets will squeeze their suppliers to provide "same same" stuff for lazy buyers for as long as we'll let them but astute shoppers can drive a real alternative, keep independent farming going and taste real food by looking up their nearest farm shop.

Did I mention Fiona loves me too?? If not I will for ages. Things are just so perfect at the moment.

Thursday 16 August 2007

Who am I??

Hugely belated update. Apologies to both my readers, you can take dad to the pub now mum!!!

My non-posting has a complex provenance. I've oft told of my love for Fiona and how this is re-shaping my life. Well that is now permanent but not without almost daily trauma. Posts about errant ex-husbands who only want the good bits of a parental relationship and none of the trauma they left behind or close family/friends who promise much and deliver less than nothing would currently feature higher than my usual agenda items!!

They might hold an interest for a while but are closely personal.

Politics is currently as dull as fuck. With the exception of Dizzy, everyone is in Brownian motion and it is as dull as a dull thing with dull bits stuck on something really dull!

The final complexity? I've realised something. I'm not a Dizzy, a Guido, an Iain Dale, a DK a Mr Eugenides. I'm not an opinion setter. Not through lack of desire or I wouldn't be here!! I think there are two elements at play here; the first is my Armed Forces reticence to step beyond that which I feel morally acceptable, or indeed legal, in my position.

The second perhaps provides a window into a new area to develop this blog. My strength lies not in the generation of views, but in their analysis. I'm goin to think a while but I reckon my talent here, is is forensic analysis of shit logic.

I cannot form beautiful phrases, I cannot construct elegant sentences, but I can EASILY take a counter-view to a perceived argument.

I started this blog in a desire to be heard during divorce. It made me feel alive and whilst the motivation and ergo the general thrust might change, the desire does not.

Oh and by the way, did I tell you I love Fiona??