Surely the best way of fixing the UK economy is putting all the corrupt incompetent politicians and tax avoiding billionaires, on an engine-less boat and towing it off to the Bermuda triangle in hurricane season?
Would save the country Billions.
Sunday 10 December 2023
The Economy
Wednesday 4 May 2022
Options
Political options are so limited these days.
Red Tory, Blue Tory, Yellow Tory?
Graduated levels of right wing capitalism, all very depressing.
Tuesday 13 July 2021
Social Media
A post about my experiences of Social Media.
Social media, good or bad?
I've drifted in and out of social media for many years.
Initially it was Friends reunited connecting with old school friends, but on the whole it didn't really draw me in.
I liked MySpace mainly because of the music element, I could follow all those bands I loved and find lots of new music from up and coming bands.
Had a few actual friends who were in groups who would tip me off about anything worth listening to.
Tried the Bebo one but it didn't really tick any boxes, think it was more for kids.
Son got me into Facebook in 2007 but other than exchanging a few messages with him it seemed quite dull, so didn't really bother with it.
One day I tried a few of the games available to play through Facebook and got quite hooked.
Added loads of 'friends' I didn't actually know just to enable playing some of the games, and did chat to a few around the world who were interesting.
Over the next 10 years nearly everyone seemed to join it and I was getting Friend requests from relatives, workmates, ex-workmates etc meaning I actually knew about 100 of the 700+ friends I had.
Sadly it has turned out nearly all my real friends are a bunch of bigots and idiots online, saying stuff that they would never had dared to when I knew them, or had always conceded when I'd had face to face arguments.
Early last year most of the games I used to login to play stopped working through Facebook, and they also changed the layout to suit phone use so I rarely go back. Only missing one ex-workmate who I used to share music videos with.
Joined Twitter back in 2011, when tweets were done by text message.
Only really got back into that 2 years ago.
Think I'm liking it because I don't really know any of the people I connect with, I've got about 250 followers who must have liked something I tweeted and follow about 700 interesting people.
Although there is a high percentage of morons and dickheads on there, it's good that you don't actually know them in real life.
Also a good window on the mind sets of famous people and politicians, so you know how to think of them when you see them on telly.
One thing that has really struck me over the last 2 years is just how actual news is covered by mainstream media, you can see varying points of view on Twitter about nearly everything that happens in the world and can judge the credibility of the story by the people who are reporting it, but then you watch the news on telly and if they cover the story at all it is usually skewed to one particular view and totally unbalanced.
Well that's it for now, just felt I had to post something once in a while.
Was reminded I have this blog after hearing the latest Bojo comment about people using common sense when the latest herd immunity is rolled out next week, and seeing England fans on Sunday with flares up their bums!!
Monday 29 March 2021
Kleptocracy
Surprised this word doesn't get used more?
Kleptocracy is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population.
Friday 19 March 2021
Democracy
Basing this on years ago when I had kids under 18.
If one day I said "Mum's gone out how do you four fancy take-away, what do you want I'm having a kebab" and the kids all shouted "Pizza".
So I order 5 kebab's and they all get the hump.
I could point out "it's the will of the people".
Because 20% of the population voted for the Conservatives in 2019 and evidently it's all you need to claim this.
Friday 23 October 2020
Dreams
Something different.
I'm not sure if I dream every night? but there is usually something going on if I'm woken after 1-2 hours of sleep (which due to my wife's medical condition is happening more frequently).
Usually the dream fades away within seconds of waking, even though I try hard to remember key facts.
Last night was one of those rare occasions where the bulk of the dream is still in my head.
Most dreams I remember are a strange concoction of people I know, places I've been, situations I've experienced, and a collection of TV and movie scenes I've watched, all jumbled up to make a story that seems plausible in my dream state.
This morning in real life I have one important thing to do, to go and pick up the wife's prescription.
So as best as I remember it goes like this -
I was in the local supermarket where the pharmacy is that I use to pick up and drop off prescriptions.
I am walking in the supermarket with a trolley towards the pharmacy when I notice my cloth face mask stretched across the handles of the trolley, I panic thinking I don't have my mask on and quickly go to put it on, but then find I'm already wearing a paper mask. For some reason I then put the cloth mask over the paper one and wear two at once.
As I get to the pharmacy I notice it looks totally different and quite strange, there is a big white space with several nurses all dressed in white behind what looks like four large baths?
In the baths are four old large ladies in medical gowns all with breathing masks on, I recognise one as my Auntie Audrey (who died about 20 years ago), we nod at each other.
I ask one of the nurses if this is still the place to pick up my prescription and she smiles and says yes, then she hands me a bag with only one item in it, my wife has four items each month (In real life the doctor had rung up and said they were giving her a new extra item yesterday), so I assume this is what is in the bag.
After asking the nurse for the rest she gives me the original four items in another bag.
Next scene - I am walking home from the supermarket but instead of the trolley I am now pushing a babies pram with what looks like a two year old child in it?
What starts out as local scenery soons turns into a heavily wooded area with large detached expensive looking houses dotted in amongst the trees.
The roads are still there but surrounded by trees, I take an alleyway to get closer to home which is again tree lined, but notice through the trees a large valley with a river running through it.
I can see houses by the side of the river and old couples are outside tying up boats to moorings, and one old guy is in a boat in the middle of the river fishing.
I carry on and suddenly get to what in my head is my local town, except it looks more like New York with skyscrapers and thousands of people.
As I walk through I become aware that I'm the only one wearing a face mask (indeed I have two on) and start to worry I will pick up the Coronavirus from all the gangs running around coughing and spitting at people in the street, sad to say I don't check to see if the child I'm pushing is wearing protection.
As I go to cross the busy road a cluster of 'saying it politely sex workers' come toward me asking "do you want the virus", I quickly get across the street and head for home.
Next scene - for some reason I am not home but now in a hospital.
I walk in and am met by two characters from the soap opera Coronation street, Ken and Daniel Barlow.
It seems I was delivering the child to his father Daniel who is in an agitated state and holding his injured arm.
A Doctor comes out of a room and says "bring him in now", at which Daniel starts shouting that he is not going in with that doctor, I ask him "why not" and he tells me that on the previous visit that doctor had dropped the child on his head and attacked Daniel, who pulled down his shirt to show me a huge scar on his upper arm.
Daniel shouts "I'm going to call the police", the Doctor says "it's me or nobody", Ken chips in with "calm down we will be there too".
Even in my dream state I'm totally confused with what is going on, and wondering why nobody else seems concerned.
Sadly at this point I was woken up and the rest of the story remains unwritten.
Possibly there will be a continuation during another sleep? but unless I'm woken during the dream I will never remember it happening.
Wish I was this inventive during my waking hours.
Usually the dream fades away within seconds of waking, even though I try hard to remember key facts.
Last night was one of those rare occasions where the bulk of the dream is still in my head.
Most dreams I remember are a strange concoction of people I know, places I've been, situations I've experienced, and a collection of TV and movie scenes I've watched, all jumbled up to make a story that seems plausible in my dream state.
This morning in real life I have one important thing to do, to go and pick up the wife's prescription.
So as best as I remember it goes like this -
I was in the local supermarket where the pharmacy is that I use to pick up and drop off prescriptions.
I am walking in the supermarket with a trolley towards the pharmacy when I notice my cloth face mask stretched across the handles of the trolley, I panic thinking I don't have my mask on and quickly go to put it on, but then find I'm already wearing a paper mask. For some reason I then put the cloth mask over the paper one and wear two at once.
As I get to the pharmacy I notice it looks totally different and quite strange, there is a big white space with several nurses all dressed in white behind what looks like four large baths?
In the baths are four old large ladies in medical gowns all with breathing masks on, I recognise one as my Auntie Audrey (who died about 20 years ago), we nod at each other.
I ask one of the nurses if this is still the place to pick up my prescription and she smiles and says yes, then she hands me a bag with only one item in it, my wife has four items each month (In real life the doctor had rung up and said they were giving her a new extra item yesterday), so I assume this is what is in the bag.
After asking the nurse for the rest she gives me the original four items in another bag.
Next scene - I am walking home from the supermarket but instead of the trolley I am now pushing a babies pram with what looks like a two year old child in it?
What starts out as local scenery soons turns into a heavily wooded area with large detached expensive looking houses dotted in amongst the trees.
The roads are still there but surrounded by trees, I take an alleyway to get closer to home which is again tree lined, but notice through the trees a large valley with a river running through it.
I can see houses by the side of the river and old couples are outside tying up boats to moorings, and one old guy is in a boat in the middle of the river fishing.
I carry on and suddenly get to what in my head is my local town, except it looks more like New York with skyscrapers and thousands of people.
As I walk through I become aware that I'm the only one wearing a face mask (indeed I have two on) and start to worry I will pick up the Coronavirus from all the gangs running around coughing and spitting at people in the street, sad to say I don't check to see if the child I'm pushing is wearing protection.
As I go to cross the busy road a cluster of 'saying it politely sex workers' come toward me asking "do you want the virus", I quickly get across the street and head for home.
Next scene - for some reason I am not home but now in a hospital.
I walk in and am met by two characters from the soap opera Coronation street, Ken and Daniel Barlow.
It seems I was delivering the child to his father Daniel who is in an agitated state and holding his injured arm.
A Doctor comes out of a room and says "bring him in now", at which Daniel starts shouting that he is not going in with that doctor, I ask him "why not" and he tells me that on the previous visit that doctor had dropped the child on his head and attacked Daniel, who pulled down his shirt to show me a huge scar on his upper arm.
Daniel shouts "I'm going to call the police", the Doctor says "it's me or nobody", Ken chips in with "calm down we will be there too".
Even in my dream state I'm totally confused with what is going on, and wondering why nobody else seems concerned.
Sadly at this point I was woken up and the rest of the story remains unwritten.
Possibly there will be a continuation during another sleep? but unless I'm woken during the dream I will never remember it happening.
Wish I was this inventive during my waking hours.
Tuesday 9 June 2020
'Merica
So the American election choice is either a) A geriatric with signs of dementia owned by big business or b) A geriatric with signs of dementia owned by big business?
Suppose they're lucky because they know what they're getting.
Suppose they're lucky because they know what they're getting.
Tuesday 26 May 2020
The Irony is Strong
Sudden calls from Tories to control the Main Stream Media after years of misinformation designed to prop up whatever lies the government is seeking to spread.
Newspapers all run by tax avoiding Tory supporting billionaires, and the BBC whose directors were appointed by David Cameron to control the flow of information, under threat of losing their licence fee.
Suddenly the weight of public opinion and falling revenues have forced them to print some actual truth, and the Right wingers don't like it.
Probably a great time to hold these people accountable, but in reality they will be gently reminded who looks after them and will all toe the party line once the current fuss has died down.
But it was fun while it lasted.
Newspapers all run by tax avoiding Tory supporting billionaires, and the BBC whose directors were appointed by David Cameron to control the flow of information, under threat of losing their licence fee.
Suddenly the weight of public opinion and falling revenues have forced them to print some actual truth, and the Right wingers don't like it.
Probably a great time to hold these people accountable, but in reality they will be gently reminded who looks after them and will all toe the party line once the current fuss has died down.
But it was fun while it lasted.
Monday 11 May 2020
Common Sense
Interesting that several government ministers have been trotting out the line "the general public should use common sense", to excuse themselves from all the mixed messages that come out every day.
Obviously this is coming from Conservative HQ as part of "operation blameshift" which will be ramped up for the next few months as it is with every other disaster, just remember Grenfell which managed to shift the blame to the firefighters.
Sadly as this blogs title suggests common sense seems to be going out of fashion at an alarming rate, a quick trawl through social media shows a high proportion of the population are led by whatever they are told by the media, which as anyone with an ounce of common sense knows is agenda driven.
Sometimes you think their must be a program of brainwashing going on, as people you know and seemed quite well adjusted are posting whatever the media tells them and refuse to believe overwhelming evidence to the contrary?
"It was the public wot did it"
Obviously this is coming from Conservative HQ as part of "operation blameshift" which will be ramped up for the next few months as it is with every other disaster, just remember Grenfell which managed to shift the blame to the firefighters.
Sadly as this blogs title suggests common sense seems to be going out of fashion at an alarming rate, a quick trawl through social media shows a high proportion of the population are led by whatever they are told by the media, which as anyone with an ounce of common sense knows is agenda driven.
Sometimes you think their must be a program of brainwashing going on, as people you know and seemed quite well adjusted are posting whatever the media tells them and refuse to believe overwhelming evidence to the contrary?
"It was the public wot did it"
Wednesday 1 April 2020
Monday 30 March 2020
Sunday 29 March 2020
Clapping
So Boris has got the clap, or maybe I've been getting confused with all the stupid posts I've read in the last few days?
Have to admit I knew nothing about the clap for the NHS the other day, just read about it afterwards from all those muppets who have been singing the Tories praises throughout this shitstorm.
I guess it was a guilt trip for all those who supported the party of austerity and the slow dismantling of the NHS after realising that during a crisis we really do need them.
Not that any of them get the irony of the whole situation 😒
Now I see there's a call to clap Boris??? for his cock-eyed handling of this whole situation.
If I hear any it will lower my expectation even further of the mental state of this nation.
Have to admit I knew nothing about the clap for the NHS the other day, just read about it afterwards from all those muppets who have been singing the Tories praises throughout this shitstorm.
I guess it was a guilt trip for all those who supported the party of austerity and the slow dismantling of the NHS after realising that during a crisis we really do need them.
Not that any of them get the irony of the whole situation 😒
Now I see there's a call to clap Boris??? for his cock-eyed handling of this whole situation.
If I hear any it will lower my expectation even further of the mental state of this nation.
Friday 27 March 2020
Four Years
Four years since I posted anything, and probably over ten years since I posted anything worthwhile?
Maybe I should start again, but it got tedious when the only people who bother to comment are the troll types, who inhabit most online platforms and only live to criticise others.
Also depressed that it seems nearly all my family and most of my ex-workmate friends that I'm still in touch with, seem to have been brainwashed into a sheep mentality where they all believe and follow anything they are told by the media.
Much as I used to enjoy a good face to face argument where opinions could be expressed and I could refute anything I knew to be untrue, social media has pretty much done away with this.
At this time of Coronavirus it has become obvious that a more dangerous virus has been propagating for the last dozen years affecting the ability of people to think for themselves.
All that's needed is one hack to make up a story in line with the particular media's political leanings and print it on the front page, even if it is proved to be 100% fabricated they will only be required to print a retraction on page 19 in small print. Before that happens the headline has been shared across the internet by anyone of the same political persausion, then the sheep get on board thinking they've discovered something which will impress their friends.
Anyone with a basic knowlege of fact checking will usually ignore it, but sadly there are already millions infected by the "if it's on the internet it must be true" virus and will then start quoting it in conversations and the lie spreads. Any political question and answer session will usually contain a handful of placed stooges to bring up the lie and subvert any sensible conversation.
..... Oh what's the point? the muppets are taking over the world :(
Maybe I should start again, but it got tedious when the only people who bother to comment are the troll types, who inhabit most online platforms and only live to criticise others.
Also depressed that it seems nearly all my family and most of my ex-workmate friends that I'm still in touch with, seem to have been brainwashed into a sheep mentality where they all believe and follow anything they are told by the media.
Much as I used to enjoy a good face to face argument where opinions could be expressed and I could refute anything I knew to be untrue, social media has pretty much done away with this.
At this time of Coronavirus it has become obvious that a more dangerous virus has been propagating for the last dozen years affecting the ability of people to think for themselves.
All that's needed is one hack to make up a story in line with the particular media's political leanings and print it on the front page, even if it is proved to be 100% fabricated they will only be required to print a retraction on page 19 in small print. Before that happens the headline has been shared across the internet by anyone of the same political persausion, then the sheep get on board thinking they've discovered something which will impress their friends.
Anyone with a basic knowlege of fact checking will usually ignore it, but sadly there are already millions infected by the "if it's on the internet it must be true" virus and will then start quoting it in conversations and the lie spreads. Any political question and answer session will usually contain a handful of placed stooges to bring up the lie and subvert any sensible conversation.
..... Oh what's the point? the muppets are taking over the world :(
Sunday 20 November 2016
Thursday 3 September 2015
Election Results 2015
I meant to post this the day after the General Election back
in May, but as I had become completely disillusioned with the whole political
process I didn't bother, and going on the figures I guessed the British public
couldn't give a toss either?
Dispiriting fact is that only two thirds of eligible voters
bothered to vote.
The Conservatives got power despite gaining less than a
quarter of the eligible votes and less than a fifth of the country as a whole …
so much for democracy.
Love or loathe UKIP they were severely screwed by the first
past the post system, picking up over a third of the Tory vote and ending up
with one seat compared to the Tories 331?
To a lesser extent the Liberal
Democrats and Green Party also suffered from this system.
Sadly we all have to live with this result for the next five
years, and with the current state of the Labour party and the Tory supporting
media ramping up their opinions conning all the gullible people in this
country, it looks like this is our future .... Bleak.
But I do like my facts and figures so here it is.
Tuesday 18 August 2015
The Labour Leadership Battle
When the names were announced I thought is that the best they can come up with?
Cooper and Kendall are usually out of their depth on question time, let alone trying to hold their own in Parliament.
Burnham seemed to be the one big name there, but have just found him to be a bit dull and stuck in the "wannabe" Tory mode.
Corbyn offered something different, but he doesn't fit the bill of "new" Labour, he's not young and bright to appeal to the image concious media and some of his policies just sound like "old" Labour.
But as a Labour supporter all my life, he ticks a lot of the boxes that I want filled for a leader of my party.
Do I think he will become Labour leader? I hope so but probably not as there are too many people calling themselves Labour supporters whose only interest is winning the next election, even if that means adopting all the Tory policies.
Do I think he will become Prime Minister? Not a hope, the Tory run media will slaughter him with every skeleton in his closet spun to make him appear a totally loonie leftie, and all the lemmings will lap it up even if Cameron is running the country into the ground.
Would I vote for him? Yes, if he gets good support in the country for his policies it might persaude some Labour supporters that they need to get back to being a party of the people, instead of the current position of pandering to Tory voters with a conscience.
Hopefully by 2025 Labour will have come up with an electable leader, who follows traditional Labour policies?
Thursday 13 August 2015
Oh Yeah?
Good things come to the bosses of the companies that employ people to work their asses off for low wages, while they sit in their boardrooms drinking champagne and deciding who they can screw more money out of, while checking what the latest loopholes are for not paying tax.
... and before anyone says they probably worked their asses off to get in that position? some might have done, but a lot inherited it from relatives and haven't done a proper days work in their privileged lives :(
Tuesday 11 August 2015
Old News
Every day there is some story in the papers or online that seems to get Social media going nuts.
Today's was a story about how a father in Dubai stopped rescuers from saving his drowning daughter because if he had let them touch her it would have "dishonoured" her.
As it turned out the story appears to be true but it happened back in 1996, but for some reason was published today as breaking news?
As tragic and horrible as this incident is, I haven't seen many people condemning the Mail, Telegraph etc for bringing up a 19 year old story obviously with the intention of stirring up more hatred?
Sadly the thousands and maybe millions of comments that have been published today prove that the people will believe everything written and published without question and voice an opinion, yes this one appears to have been a true story, but so are all the historic atrocities performed by virtually every nation and religion in the world .. so how far back do you go to make a point?
Today's was a story about how a father in Dubai stopped rescuers from saving his drowning daughter because if he had let them touch her it would have "dishonoured" her.
As it turned out the story appears to be true but it happened back in 1996, but for some reason was published today as breaking news?
As tragic and horrible as this incident is, I haven't seen many people condemning the Mail, Telegraph etc for bringing up a 19 year old story obviously with the intention of stirring up more hatred?
Sadly the thousands and maybe millions of comments that have been published today prove that the people will believe everything written and published without question and voice an opinion, yes this one appears to have been a true story, but so are all the historic atrocities performed by virtually every nation and religion in the world .. so how far back do you go to make a point?
Thursday 16 July 2015
Virgin On The Ridiculous
I think I now know why Virgin bills are so high.
Over the last week the phone has been making really loud crackling noises making most phone calls unlistenable, especially a problem with the answering machine as the 10 times a day scam artists / solar panel sellers etc never leave a message but we get a recording of several minutes crackling after they put the phone down.
So called up Virgin who arranged to send an engineer, booked for an 8am-Noon slot he turned up at 1pm.
As he listened to the problem I suggested it might be related to the frayed cable between the outside box and where it comes into the house? he said it was unlikely and preceded to change the internal socket which did not fix the problem.
After spending a couple of hours changing cables and connections in our outside box, the manhole about 50 feet away and in the main box 2 streets away the problem was still not fixed.
So he arranges for a senior engineer to come around and check the various cables in the street this morning, I am sure he replaced the same things as the guy did yesterday but somehow managed to cut off our internet and TV, the phone still worked but was still as crackly as before.
Called up the first engineer to point out we still had the problem plus new ones, he couldn't explain but said he would come back this afternoon, but would also call the area engineer to come and have a look.
Before he arrived the TV and Internet came back on, although he didn't know why?
He changes the internal socket again which makes no difference, so finally he checks and repairs the short length of cable between outside box and where it comes in for the internal socket (as I had suggested at the start) and finally problem solved.
I'm not a telecommunications engineer so what do I know, but just a little bit of common sense would have suggested that might have been worth changing first? :)
Over the last week the phone has been making really loud crackling noises making most phone calls unlistenable, especially a problem with the answering machine as the 10 times a day scam artists / solar panel sellers etc never leave a message but we get a recording of several minutes crackling after they put the phone down.
So called up Virgin who arranged to send an engineer, booked for an 8am-Noon slot he turned up at 1pm.
As he listened to the problem I suggested it might be related to the frayed cable between the outside box and where it comes into the house? he said it was unlikely and preceded to change the internal socket which did not fix the problem.
After spending a couple of hours changing cables and connections in our outside box, the manhole about 50 feet away and in the main box 2 streets away the problem was still not fixed.
So he arranges for a senior engineer to come around and check the various cables in the street this morning, I am sure he replaced the same things as the guy did yesterday but somehow managed to cut off our internet and TV, the phone still worked but was still as crackly as before.
Called up the first engineer to point out we still had the problem plus new ones, he couldn't explain but said he would come back this afternoon, but would also call the area engineer to come and have a look.
Before he arrived the TV and Internet came back on, although he didn't know why?
He changes the internal socket again which makes no difference, so finally he checks and repairs the short length of cable between outside box and where it comes in for the internal socket (as I had suggested at the start) and finally problem solved.
I'm not a telecommunications engineer so what do I know, but just a little bit of common sense would have suggested that might have been worth changing first? :)
Bog Standard
Long overdue next post I know, and Just a couple of whinges sadly.
Replaced my toilet a couple of weeks back as the cistern on the old one had given up again, the diaphragm had split again and the rest was held together with cable ties.
As my disabled wife was having problems with the height of the old one it seemed a good opportunity to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and replace the loo with a new one.
Higher disabled toilets are really expensive so as I'm not too bad at DIY I bought a standard loo and built a platform for it to stand on and raise it about 3 inches which was what was needed.
Other than having to buy a flexible waste pipe it all went well and the wife is happy.
Here comes the whinge - it's one of those with the smaller "water saving" cisterns, the problem is if you've done your number two's (to put it politely) it takes at least 2 flushes to clear it properly and sometimes needs a scrub with the bog brush which was rarely needed with the old one?
so it really does not save water and probably uses more?
Replaced my toilet a couple of weeks back as the cistern on the old one had given up again, the diaphragm had split again and the rest was held together with cable ties.
As my disabled wife was having problems with the height of the old one it seemed a good opportunity to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and replace the loo with a new one.
Higher disabled toilets are really expensive so as I'm not too bad at DIY I bought a standard loo and built a platform for it to stand on and raise it about 3 inches which was what was needed.
Other than having to buy a flexible waste pipe it all went well and the wife is happy.
Here comes the whinge - it's one of those with the smaller "water saving" cisterns, the problem is if you've done your number two's (to put it politely) it takes at least 2 flushes to clear it properly and sometimes needs a scrub with the bog brush which was rarely needed with the old one?
so it really does not save water and probably uses more?
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