Ummm, I'm back!
Still angry? Yes in many ways. Still angry personally? Nope, happy in a new relationship that makes me so happy I could shit!!
So why back after a long denoument? Because I care! My Babe couldn't care less about, politics, economics, physics, ethics, et al but I love her. The difference is I do and I want to change things by posting here. By change, I probably mean rage against the machine but hey....
more later
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Friday, 26 October 2007
I'm back!
Not that I've been missed!
I feel I need to say something about Gordon Brown.
He tells me that he's a conviction politician yet all I see from him is platitudes or falsehoods. He tells me he has a vision but cannot articulate that vision despite his labour leadership hustings. He tells me to give him time to shape his vision and then employs lots of consultants to generate it, maybe. .......But at least the Smith Institute is well paid.
Let's face facts. He's a man devoid of ideas, morals, vision or indeed basic brain function. He is, in effect, a total cunt. And yet he's prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. How the flying fuck did that happen? Oh yes, Tony gave it to him over our heads.
for what it's worth I believe his "safe pair of hands on the economy" was the length, breadth and depth of his so called towering intellect and that we have a PM morally, intellectually and politically bereft of any idea as to how to run our great country. The man's a cunt! Full stop
I feel I need to say something about Gordon Brown.
He tells me that he's a conviction politician yet all I see from him is platitudes or falsehoods. He tells me he has a vision but cannot articulate that vision despite his labour leadership hustings. He tells me to give him time to shape his vision and then employs lots of consultants to generate it, maybe. .......But at least the Smith Institute is well paid.
Let's face facts. He's a man devoid of ideas, morals, vision or indeed basic brain function. He is, in effect, a total cunt. And yet he's prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. How the flying fuck did that happen? Oh yes, Tony gave it to him over our heads.
for what it's worth I believe his "safe pair of hands on the economy" was the length, breadth and depth of his so called towering intellect and that we have a PM morally, intellectually and politically bereft of any idea as to how to run our great country. The man's a cunt! Full stop
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
The Rugby World Cup
I am a rugbyphile of the highest order. It is the sport that has given me the greatest pleasure both in playing and spectating. It is a sport so rich in nuance that football fans like Iain Dale don't even understand it!! it is brutal yet balletic, it is painful yet joyful, it is, as my favourite T-Shirt says, ELEGANT VIOLENCE!
I'm also greatly heartened by the current performance of the "minnows"; rugby is becoming a truly global game and that makes me a happy man. No sport "grows" a young person like rugby. It is the real "beautiful game". England 3 Israel 0? Who gives a monkey's fuck!!!!???
I'm also greatly heartened by the current performance of the "minnows"; rugby is becoming a truly global game and that makes me a happy man. No sport "grows" a young person like rugby. It is the real "beautiful game". England 3 Israel 0? Who gives a monkey's fuck!!!!???
Monday, 10 September 2007
Maddy
I am reluctantly taking down my Maddy poster.
Like many others I currently don't know what to believe and feel that my support is not quite as unequivocal as it was.
I'd like to try to explain why but all the arguments I've tried to post are either fatuous, disingenuous or based on mere supposition. But, but, but.
Part of my issue is that I have not liked the well orchestrated media machine behind the family, they were ill advised (sic) to be so clearly media oriented/manipulated. They had the media spotlight anyway, I feel others may have set them up for a fall through today's obsession with outright media manipulation rather than heartfelt direct appeal. Even this repetition of general MSM comment makes me nervous.
I have other concerns but will keep them to myself for now thankyou.
Update: Still none the wiser but working hard at not jumping to conclusions. Fascinated that the tabloids are also not jumping to conclusions but merely reporting the most lurid details they can possibly get their hands on. Hands up those who think they are beginning to hedge their bets at the expense of the disposable/dispensable McCanns? How well advised were this, let's face it pretty savvy, couple to so completely embrace the notoriously duplicitous press?
Like many others I currently don't know what to believe and feel that my support is not quite as unequivocal as it was.
I'd like to try to explain why but all the arguments I've tried to post are either fatuous, disingenuous or based on mere supposition. But, but, but.
Part of my issue is that I have not liked the well orchestrated media machine behind the family, they were ill advised (sic) to be so clearly media oriented/manipulated. They had the media spotlight anyway, I feel others may have set them up for a fall through today's obsession with outright media manipulation rather than heartfelt direct appeal. Even this repetition of general MSM comment makes me nervous.
I have other concerns but will keep them to myself for now thankyou.
Update: Still none the wiser but working hard at not jumping to conclusions. Fascinated that the tabloids are also not jumping to conclusions but merely reporting the most lurid details they can possibly get their hands on. Hands up those who think they are beginning to hedge their bets at the expense of the disposable/dispensable McCanns? How well advised were this, let's face it pretty savvy, couple to so completely embrace the notoriously duplicitous press?
Sunday, 26 August 2007
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!!
"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.
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.
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.
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??
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??
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Global Whining
When I was a young lad (yeah, yeah, I know), 30 years ago plus, I subscribed to a magazine called "Speed and Power". Besides telling me about such awesome weapons systems as the new Jaguar and MRCA (Tornado) aircraft, it was full of highly informed scientific warnings of the forthcoming Ice Age, yes, Ice age!! Northern Europe was once again going to be plunged into a frozen wasteland that would see glaciers reappear in Scotland after a 100,000 year absence. Politicians were deeply alarmed. Hmmmm
Scientists have always been, usually correctly, held in high regard but I harbour strong fears now that their "conclusions" are designed to hit political buttons thus engendering further funding, the real raison d'etre of some eminent modern scientists!! My analysis of the science behind Global Warming suggests it is far from the "done deal" we are constantly told it to be. Indeed, in a (linked throwback to "Speed and Power" above) our current level of global warming is not only not that unusual in even relatively short geological terms, but the human contribution is almost certainly swamped by that of the Sun. Sunspot activity happens on an approximate 11 year cycle and is clearly considered a major factor in current climate conditions by a number of scientists. Sadly these people are being shouted down by opportunistic politicians and unscrupulous scientists seeking further funding with the effect of stifling debate. This I abhor.
The bottom line is that, whatever the causes of so called "Global Warming", the answers are probably scientific and not remotely political so let's not sully the debate with weasel political cant. Planet Earth experiences cycles beyond our influence and beyond our timescales, let's not get so up ourselves as a species that we think everything that happens on a planetary scale is to do with us. It's an effing big and seriously complex universe out there.
Scientists have always been, usually correctly, held in high regard but I harbour strong fears now that their "conclusions" are designed to hit political buttons thus engendering further funding, the real raison d'etre of some eminent modern scientists!! My analysis of the science behind Global Warming suggests it is far from the "done deal" we are constantly told it to be. Indeed, in a (linked throwback to "Speed and Power" above) our current level of global warming is not only not that unusual in even relatively short geological terms, but the human contribution is almost certainly swamped by that of the Sun. Sunspot activity happens on an approximate 11 year cycle and is clearly considered a major factor in current climate conditions by a number of scientists. Sadly these people are being shouted down by opportunistic politicians and unscrupulous scientists seeking further funding with the effect of stifling debate. This I abhor.
The bottom line is that, whatever the causes of so called "Global Warming", the answers are probably scientific and not remotely political so let's not sully the debate with weasel political cant. Planet Earth experiences cycles beyond our influence and beyond our timescales, let's not get so up ourselves as a species that we think everything that happens on a planetary scale is to do with us. It's an effing big and seriously complex universe out there.
Doctors don't kill??
Firstly apologia to my small band of readers for not blogging much, my excuse it that I'm forming a new relationship post divorce and I think I deserve the chance to do that. Think i might try to change my style from the long rant (takes me a while to build up the ire!!) to more frequent, shorter, pithier missives. Let's see how it goes.
Anyway, onto the very weighty subject matter at hand, the media incredulity that doctors could possibly bring themselves to kill. Notwithstanding the tacit governmental admission today that these "doctors" didn't necessarily belong in the NHS and should have been practicing at home,I'm astonished that people think doctors don't kill people. There is, I know, this Utopean view of the Hippocratic oath and it's direction to doctors that life is sacrosanct in all instances but even a little forensic analysis says this is not true. Doctors in today's NHS make regular decisions that condemn someone to death, they usually have the conscience salving clause of being able to make that as dignified and painless as possible, but the system, constrained by money and those nice people at NICE, triages certain people to die or suffer horrible ends. They have to, it's part of their job spec and must often be deeply stressful.
Now let's be clear, the foreign born doctors who attempted mayhem last week were intent on murder, pure and simple. They are evil, poisonous and deluded individuals with a warped sense of justice and do not remotely deserve the epiphet of "doctor". They deserve neither our sympathy or our understanding, they are merely scum. We should feel lucky that these men are very poor engineers as their relatively simplistic plan should have worked if executed properly. My beef here is with the MSM who have taken the ridiculously simplistic view that doctors only ever heal and that to have perpetrated this attack must have struck at the core of these doctors ethical fibres. The NHS asks them to make life and death choices daily and I suspect they were very able to suspend their Hippocratic feelings. Doctors decide on and see death every day of their working lives,did the MSM not think they might actually have a decent acquaintance with it? Why are our press so stupid?
I'm uncomfortable with this blog and might pull it but will publish and then consider.
Anyway, onto the very weighty subject matter at hand, the media incredulity that doctors could possibly bring themselves to kill. Notwithstanding the tacit governmental admission today that these "doctors" didn't necessarily belong in the NHS and should have been practicing at home,I'm astonished that people think doctors don't kill people. There is, I know, this Utopean view of the Hippocratic oath and it's direction to doctors that life is sacrosanct in all instances but even a little forensic analysis says this is not true. Doctors in today's NHS make regular decisions that condemn someone to death, they usually have the conscience salving clause of being able to make that as dignified and painless as possible, but the system, constrained by money and those nice people at NICE, triages certain people to die or suffer horrible ends. They have to, it's part of their job spec and must often be deeply stressful.
Now let's be clear, the foreign born doctors who attempted mayhem last week were intent on murder, pure and simple. They are evil, poisonous and deluded individuals with a warped sense of justice and do not remotely deserve the epiphet of "doctor". They deserve neither our sympathy or our understanding, they are merely scum. We should feel lucky that these men are very poor engineers as their relatively simplistic plan should have worked if executed properly. My beef here is with the MSM who have taken the ridiculously simplistic view that doctors only ever heal and that to have perpetrated this attack must have struck at the core of these doctors ethical fibres. The NHS asks them to make life and death choices daily and I suspect they were very able to suspend their Hippocratic feelings. Doctors decide on and see death every day of their working lives,did the MSM not think they might actually have a decent acquaintance with it? Why are our press so stupid?
I'm uncomfortable with this blog and might pull it but will publish and then consider.
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Zimbabwe is beyond descending into chaos And we, as a nation have a responsibility, whether we like it nor not!!
Is Zimbabwe's current predicament our fault? Clearly not. Mugabe is a distinctly evil dictator, sadly democratically elected and the fact that he has been indulged by the UN and many influential countries makes me feel physically sick.
Should we invade Zimbabwe? Well it's the clincher that Tony Blair is/was/always has been a liar!! Of all the "tear stained issues" that should have affected him, Zimbabwe, as a commonwealth country should have been writ large. Instead he ducked and dived like a dodgy used car salesman and condemned thousands to death and many more to abject deprivation and pain. Well done Tony, would you like it to be counted in your legacy?
Oh no! Your legacy is only that you've told us you've done something about, you venal barsteward!!!
I repeat as a member of the Armed Forces, if we invade anywhere on the planet, let's not make it Iran, let's rebuild southern Africa's breadbasket and re-make Zimbabwe the engine of growth not only there but also in Mozambique and beyond.
What we have allowed to happen in Zimbabwe has affected so many other countries it defies logic and shames us.
Is Zimbabwe's current predicament our fault? Clearly not. Mugabe is a distinctly evil dictator, sadly democratically elected and the fact that he has been indulged by the UN and many influential countries makes me feel physically sick.
Should we invade Zimbabwe? Well it's the clincher that Tony Blair is/was/always has been a liar!! Of all the "tear stained issues" that should have affected him, Zimbabwe, as a commonwealth country should have been writ large. Instead he ducked and dived like a dodgy used car salesman and condemned thousands to death and many more to abject deprivation and pain. Well done Tony, would you like it to be counted in your legacy?
Oh no! Your legacy is only that you've told us you've done something about, you venal barsteward!!!
I repeat as a member of the Armed Forces, if we invade anywhere on the planet, let's not make it Iran, let's rebuild southern Africa's breadbasket and re-make Zimbabwe the engine of growth not only there but also in Mozambique and beyond.
What we have allowed to happen in Zimbabwe has affected so many other countries it defies logic and shames us.
Friday, 8 June 2007
"My message to those who don't like celebrities is that punishing celebrities more than the average American is not justice."
So said the lawyer of celebrity fuckwit Paris Hilton.
for the record "WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF?"
Guys, Paris is a common criminal. In fact in everything she does she shows herself up to be common in a way even Essex would not recognise. The idiot girl is pampered beyond belief, stupid beyond parody and believed she lived above the law. What is so fucking sad is that certain US gaolers did too!! The barking mad crack addict down the corridor, who probably does need psychiatric care, would get some money for oral "favours" while Paris gets let out. Holy fucking, fucking shit.
At a time when we need heros more than ever we pander to celebrity. Western civilisation is under threat like it hasn't been for over a generation and the best we can do to counter the one eyed malice of radical Islam is to pander to the hysteria of a thick, pampered, frankly rather ugly slapper.
Hands up those who think we're doomed?? Hands up those who think we fucking deserve it???!!!
Gloomy mood tonight!
for the record "WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF? WTF?"
Guys, Paris is a common criminal. In fact in everything she does she shows herself up to be common in a way even Essex would not recognise. The idiot girl is pampered beyond belief, stupid beyond parody and believed she lived above the law. What is so fucking sad is that certain US gaolers did too!! The barking mad crack addict down the corridor, who probably does need psychiatric care, would get some money for oral "favours" while Paris gets let out. Holy fucking, fucking shit.
At a time when we need heros more than ever we pander to celebrity. Western civilisation is under threat like it hasn't been for over a generation and the best we can do to counter the one eyed malice of radical Islam is to pander to the hysteria of a thick, pampered, frankly rather ugly slapper.
Hands up those who think we're doomed?? Hands up those who think we fucking deserve it???!!!
Gloomy mood tonight!
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Grammars again!
Two headlines in tomorrow's Telegraph.
"Tories in U turn over Grammar schools" and, in breaking news
"Almost 100,000 taught in failing schools"
Once again I iterate that Cameron is right, to fuss arse over a couple of hundred grammars that are now largely safe from ZanuLab inspired extinction at the expense of hundreds of thousands of failed children is preposterous in the extreme. What the fuck has gripped the Tory party?? Your goal, my friends, is to rescue the countless thousands from intellectual and vocational poverty created by Labour's mismanagement of education, not to pontificate over a natural given. Fucking grow up you spineless cunts! Do what's right not what feels comfortable!!!
"Tories in U turn over Grammar schools" and, in breaking news
"Almost 100,000 taught in failing schools"
Once again I iterate that Cameron is right, to fuss arse over a couple of hundred grammars that are now largely safe from ZanuLab inspired extinction at the expense of hundreds of thousands of failed children is preposterous in the extreme. What the fuck has gripped the Tory party?? Your goal, my friends, is to rescue the countless thousands from intellectual and vocational poverty created by Labour's mismanagement of education, not to pontificate over a natural given. Fucking grow up you spineless cunts! Do what's right not what feels comfortable!!!
Monday, 28 May 2007
Muslim and civil liberties groups reacted with horror
Said the Daily Mail, playing completely into the hands of muslim and ultra-left wing groups about civil liberties. Let's just get some things straight here.
a. The Daily Mail is a really stupid newspaper that often unknowingly promotes its own betes noir through total ignorance.
b. I abhor and denounce this renewed attack on our liberty with all my might.
The new political landscape seems to be polarising into an authoritarian/libertarian rather than a left/right one, albeit that there are strong parallels. Let me make my position clear I am a libertarian to the core of my being. I chose to fight and potentially die, my compact with the British people is that I am here to defend their rights. Paramount amongst those rights is the right to seek liberty from the state as long as you recognise and contribute to it. Labour appears to seek to destroy that bond and I'm not going to let it happen.
Britain is a paragon of individual liberty, the agglomeration of which is a democracy for and by all. I will not allow these NuLab turds to destroy that enviable historical legacy.
a. The Daily Mail is a really stupid newspaper that often unknowingly promotes its own betes noir through total ignorance.
b. I abhor and denounce this renewed attack on our liberty with all my might.
The new political landscape seems to be polarising into an authoritarian/libertarian rather than a left/right one, albeit that there are strong parallels. Let me make my position clear I am a libertarian to the core of my being. I chose to fight and potentially die, my compact with the British people is that I am here to defend their rights. Paramount amongst those rights is the right to seek liberty from the state as long as you recognise and contribute to it. Labour appears to seek to destroy that bond and I'm not going to let it happen.
Britain is a paragon of individual liberty, the agglomeration of which is a democracy for and by all. I will not allow these NuLab turds to destroy that enviable historical legacy.
Music Again
Yesterday, in the car, 5Live Grand Prix coverage has finished, there's no cricket on R4LW and can't be faffed to plug in the MP3 so flip the dial to R2. There I found that old CAMPanologist Dale Winton playing some sort of album chart. When I turned on he was playing Jethro Tull and swiftly followed it with a track from King Crimson, hardly R2 material but top drawer!! That track led my thoughts to Greg Lake and onto ELP. Once home I thought I'd have a look on You Tube to see what ELP was on offer. Well fuck me sideways with a barge pole if I didn't discover amongst many excellent things, a fantastic live performance of Pictures at an Exhibition with the band, and Carl Palmer in particular, clearly enjoying themselves. Have just finished listening and am a happy man! Some of the other stuff is great too. Highly amused by how much of a porker Greg Lake is in some of the later videos but his voice has matured magnificently and adds some real depth and gravitas. At times, the musicianship leaves you open mouthed in awe.
I'm a regular poster on a Bath Rugby website called ERE. You Tube, in a similar but clearly different way to ERE, is a real example of the recent democratisation of the internet. I can now say what I like about rugby when I like, blog to my heart's content on the issues of the day and watch/listen to almost any music I like.
Fantastic!!
Am now going to search for some King Crimson!
More on this later perhaps.
I'm a regular poster on a Bath Rugby website called ERE. You Tube, in a similar but clearly different way to ERE, is a real example of the recent democratisation of the internet. I can now say what I like about rugby when I like, blog to my heart's content on the issues of the day and watch/listen to almost any music I like.
Fantastic!!
Am now going to search for some King Crimson!
More on this later perhaps.
Grammar Schools-Cameron is right
What a fantastically interesting issue. My gut feeling, after a beer or two is I should do this extempore and see how it goes.
I am a grammar school boy. In fact I'm the classic example of the current debate's poor kid made good. I was born into a very poor family, probably out of wedlock although my mum refuses to concede that 45 years later. My father was an arse of the first water and, as he's now dead, I will not go into detail, suffice to say he left us when I was seven and I never missed him.
From a very young age, I harboured a desire, inspired by my grandfather, to join the Navy. My primary school years were up and down. I attended an infant school and two separate primaries. I was bright but un-preposessingly shy due to my background. I passed my 11 plus with ease and went to Weymouth Grammar. But, but.... I passed partly because I was an august baby and therefore had a potential 11 month march on my class mates because age in year was considered important at 11 plus.
Still, I got into Weymouth Grammar and instantly, er, floundered. I initially struggled academically but also struggled socially with people who were very different from me. I ended up in a low set. I was bullied incessantly from 12 to 15. Hmm, Over time I realised I was clever, I could do things and worked my way up the "pecking order". I ended up doing my maths "O" level at 13 and getting a B, because I was good. Subsequent "O" level activity was mixed and I ended up with 7. Average. But in that time I'd fought my way to acceptance, it was hard graft and often literally painful but I became well liked. The minor point here being that grammar schools are not, and never were, paragons of virtue and harmony, they can be as tough as any comp.
I moved on to the sixth form and was adamant that I was going to to do Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry as my core subjects. I was advised early on to drop chemistry,primarily 'cos I'm a lazy bastard, I did not demur. 3 half decent A levels later I joined the Royal Navy as an Officer.
Result for Grammar Schools! Er, yes, 30 years ago! Let's fast forward
My son Ben is the son of a Grammar School boy and a Grammar School girl.... let's hold onto that idea.
Ben goes to the local comp. It's ostensibly one of that hateful twat Campbell's "bog standard" comprehensives but yet it's not. Thanks to a visionary head and stunningly well utilised investment, it's a school to die for in the area. And yet, bizzarely, due to the town's mining history it's not seen as being as good as Bath Schools! I would send anyone to his school it's a place of real quality.
As for him? He's top in his year in Maths, Science and (er) Technology (woodwork I think). He didn't quite make the national maths challenge finals in London but he was, by a league, "best in school". At 13 he realises that he needs to have all the talents and works really hard at English, he's good at it but by no means perfect, he continues to strive. He's also a fabulous rugby player and wants to join the school's CCF. In short, a well rounded pupil in a good school.
So. Where are we? Right where David Cameron is as far as I'm concerned. He is utterly right to call the the grammar school debate "sterile". Yes I was a grammar school boy but my son is doing better at his state school than I ever did. Let's be grateful he's the product of a parental past that was grammar school based, and move forward to what creates a culture of excellence in all our children. Ben's school aggressively "sets" its pupils and gives them individual targets EVERY SINGLE YEAR! This is, I think, Cameron's vision and it's one I utterly endorse.
So my conclusion, albeit a little obvious, is that where I once trod, Ben is now following. Today's good comprehensives can, and do, deliver the same level of performance as my school back in the 70's. Let's just teach to ability, let's let talent flow, and let's fund the right class sizes to do that.
Parents should be up in arms that less than a third of comps are like that despite so called "record government investment." Therein lies the scandal, not that grammar schools may or may not have a viable future but that this government cannot, or more likely will not, see the wood for the trees.
I am a grammar school boy. In fact I'm the classic example of the current debate's poor kid made good. I was born into a very poor family, probably out of wedlock although my mum refuses to concede that 45 years later. My father was an arse of the first water and, as he's now dead, I will not go into detail, suffice to say he left us when I was seven and I never missed him.
From a very young age, I harboured a desire, inspired by my grandfather, to join the Navy. My primary school years were up and down. I attended an infant school and two separate primaries. I was bright but un-preposessingly shy due to my background. I passed my 11 plus with ease and went to Weymouth Grammar. But, but.... I passed partly because I was an august baby and therefore had a potential 11 month march on my class mates because age in year was considered important at 11 plus.
Still, I got into Weymouth Grammar and instantly, er, floundered. I initially struggled academically but also struggled socially with people who were very different from me. I ended up in a low set. I was bullied incessantly from 12 to 15. Hmm, Over time I realised I was clever, I could do things and worked my way up the "pecking order". I ended up doing my maths "O" level at 13 and getting a B, because I was good. Subsequent "O" level activity was mixed and I ended up with 7. Average. But in that time I'd fought my way to acceptance, it was hard graft and often literally painful but I became well liked. The minor point here being that grammar schools are not, and never were, paragons of virtue and harmony, they can be as tough as any comp.
I moved on to the sixth form and was adamant that I was going to to do Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry as my core subjects. I was advised early on to drop chemistry,primarily 'cos I'm a lazy bastard, I did not demur. 3 half decent A levels later I joined the Royal Navy as an Officer.
Result for Grammar Schools! Er, yes, 30 years ago! Let's fast forward
My son Ben is the son of a Grammar School boy and a Grammar School girl.... let's hold onto that idea.
Ben goes to the local comp. It's ostensibly one of that hateful twat Campbell's "bog standard" comprehensives but yet it's not. Thanks to a visionary head and stunningly well utilised investment, it's a school to die for in the area. And yet, bizzarely, due to the town's mining history it's not seen as being as good as Bath Schools! I would send anyone to his school it's a place of real quality.
As for him? He's top in his year in Maths, Science and (er) Technology (woodwork I think). He didn't quite make the national maths challenge finals in London but he was, by a league, "best in school". At 13 he realises that he needs to have all the talents and works really hard at English, he's good at it but by no means perfect, he continues to strive. He's also a fabulous rugby player and wants to join the school's CCF. In short, a well rounded pupil in a good school.
So. Where are we? Right where David Cameron is as far as I'm concerned. He is utterly right to call the the grammar school debate "sterile". Yes I was a grammar school boy but my son is doing better at his state school than I ever did. Let's be grateful he's the product of a parental past that was grammar school based, and move forward to what creates a culture of excellence in all our children. Ben's school aggressively "sets" its pupils and gives them individual targets EVERY SINGLE YEAR! This is, I think, Cameron's vision and it's one I utterly endorse.
So my conclusion, albeit a little obvious, is that where I once trod, Ben is now following. Today's good comprehensives can, and do, deliver the same level of performance as my school back in the 70's. Let's just teach to ability, let's let talent flow, and let's fund the right class sizes to do that.
Parents should be up in arms that less than a third of comps are like that despite so called "record government investment." Therein lies the scandal, not that grammar schools may or may not have a viable future but that this government cannot, or more likely will not, see the wood for the trees.
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