Author Archives: johnengland55

Waste of Time

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Earlier this week it was announced that 2.5 million young adults have skills that are not being used because they are either unemployed or they are working in jobs for which they are overqualified. Part of the reason for this is that there are too many youngsters chasing the same jobs but also because many of them possess completely useless degrees mostly obtained in the new universities created by Blair’s New Labour Government at the turn of the century.

The idea of lowering standards so that more and more schoolkids could attend university and obtain a degree has now been proven to be the complete waste of students’ time and effort (and taxpayers money) that many experts warned of back in the late 1990’s. What is the point of obtaining a degree that cannot possibly lead to useful employment, such as a Staffordshire University degree in Sports, Media and Culture which evidently includes a study of David Beckham and his lifestyle? And what is the point of studying for a degree where there simply aren’t enough jobs to go round, for example, a Law degree?

 We now have a chronic shortage of electricians, joiners, plumbers and other tradesmen because school kids were given unrealistic expectations by the liberal clowns who taught them instead of encouraging them to spend their time training for something that could actually lead to a job.  

It’s far better to earn a wage clearing out drains than to sit at home beneath your nicely framed degree in 1960s Pop Music whilst awaiting your next welfare handout. Nobody thought to tell the kids that though, did they?

Punishing Bad Behaviour

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When somebody stands up to the playground bully the bully usually backs down. This is because most bullies are cowards and whilst they like to dish it out they don’t like getting it back. However, it’s no use threatening the bully unless you intend to carry out that threat.

The same thing applies when dealing with children, as any responsible parent or competent teacher will testify. If a child is warned of the consequences of bad behaviour and no consequences follow his bad behaviour he will know that the warnings are meaningless and he will continue to behave badly.

I wonder if Putin would behave the way he does if he was faced by a Kennedy or a Reagan?

Making it Safe

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There’s something a little unsettling about people indulging themselves in food and drink and having a rare old time whilst being entertained by animals racing themselves to death.

A dramatic statement, I know, but that is exactly what happened at the Cheltenham Festival this week and in all likelihood will be repeated at the Grand National meeting at Aintree next month.

Animal welfare groups protest that all steeplechasing should be banned but I think that that would be a step too far and I could never envisage horse racing being banned either in whole or in part.

What is needed are continuing efforts to make the sport as safe as possible. Not that the average race goer could give a damn, however. As long as he’s got a full glass in his hand he’ll be happy enough.

Only in America!

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I’m currently enjoying some time in the proud State of Tennessee, home of country music, Rock n’ Roll  and the Blues. It’s one of my favourite States, a fine place to visit and not just because of its rich music legacy. It is a place of rolling, beautiful countryside, spectacular mountains and great slow moving rivers like the Tennessee River, the Cumberland and of course the Mighty Mississippi.

Tennessee is also home to some pretty strange laws. Even though the famous Jack Daniels whiskey is distilled exclusively in the small town of Lynchburg, Tennessee it is not possible to actually buy the stuff in the town since the county where it is situated, is dry. If a county is “dry” it means that the public sale of alcohol is unlawful!

Throughout the whole State anybody wishing to purchase alcohol from a liquor store must be aged 21 or over and must produce personal id whatever their age. There are no exceptions; no id, no sale. It applies to many bars too. I know, it has happened to me several times and it’s a long, long time since I was the age of 21!

However, it’s comforting to know that even if you cannot purchase any alcohol it is still legal and perfectly acceptable for you to carry your gun into the bar provided it is concealed in your pocket or handbag and you are in possession of a gun permit. Like I said, pretty strange!

Doomed to Failure

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Last Sunday, Manchester City defeated Sunderland to win the football League Cup at Wembley. Nothing surprising there, they are an excellent football team packed with star players. However, what grabbed my attention was the fact that not one player who took to the field in Manchester City’s colours that day was either English or British.

Among the substitutes were sat three Englishmen, all England internationals and their only involvement in the victory was keeping the bench warm.  Doesn’t it make you wonder how on earth our national side is going to develop and improve when our best players can’t even get a game for their own clubs?

Until we get back to the situation where clubs are compelled to limit the number of foreign players in their sides (how about a maximum of, say, five?) the problem will continue. English football will fail to develop and our national side will remain the great underachievers with their success limited to Fantasy Football and trophies won on children’s computer games.

 

Getting Away With it

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A couple of days ago the Russians sent troops to the Ukraine province of Crimea to “protect” the province’s Russian-speaking majority from oppression by the newly established Ukrainian government. Of course, the word “protect” is a mere euphemism for invade.

So what will the rest of the world do about it and indeed what can they do? There is certainly no political will in the West to take military action against Russia and why should the West become involved anyway?

For all the huffing and puffing by Presidents, Foreign Ministers and United Nations spokesmen the talk of the Russians “paying the price” for their actions is mere rhetoric. The Russian President, Vladimir Putin,  is cool, calculating and ruthless and he knows that he can do whatever he wants and get away with it – just like his Soviet predecessors did in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Eventually the whole thing will die down and the rest of the world will carry on as before. And the people of the Ukraine? Too bad, they’ll just have to get used to it.

What a sad world we live in.

Money Talks

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Earlier this week a senior police officer admitted that the public’s perception of the use of mobile speeding cameras on our motorways is that the exercise is more about raising money than saving lives. He went on to say that many motorway convictions are in areas with no history of traffic accidents but so large is the volume of traffic that the use of speed cameras is akin to “shooting fish in a barrel”.

Well, tell us something we didn’t know. Most motorists are sick and tired of being an easy target for police forces keen to boost their crime detection figures but it is refreshing to hear the police come clean for a change.

Speeding can rarely be condoned but the use of speed cameras has surely to be proportionate and relevant. For example, if speed cameras are about saving lives wouldn’t it be better to place more of them outside schools, shopping centres and busy residential areas where there is more chance of a serious accident taking place?

Unfortunately, that’s not the point; the policeman on the motorway bridge is going to generate far more money than the one outside the local primary school and as with most things in life, money talks.

A Notable Anniversary

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Today is the anniversary of the first speech made by a woman in Britain’s House of Commons, back in 1920. The woman was Nancy Astor, an American by birth, who became an MP in 1919 just one year after women were first granted the right to vote following the end of the First World War. Even then the right only applied to women over the age of 30 and it wasn’t until 1928 that women received the same voting rights as men.

Astor, who had become Lady Astor through marriage, was a formidable, energetic  and sharp-witted woman who more than held her own in the company of men (she was a noted sparring partner of Winston Churchill) and remained a Member of Parliament until her retirement in 1945. Among her most famous witticisms were – “I married beneath me. All women do!” and “One reason why I don’t drink is because I wish to know when I am having a good time.”

I wonder what  she would make of the world today, which in spite of the two terrible world wars experienced in her lifetime, still shows no sign of settling down to lasting peace. Perhaps the world would be a safer place if it had more female leaders; men don’t seem to be doing that good a job of it, do they?

As Lady Astor herself said “Women have got to make the world safe for men since men have made it so darned unsafe for women.”

Singing for Love

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We’re now well into  February and although winter is still with us our birds are definitely  getting ready for spring which is surely just around the corner. The robin is among the first to pair up for the breeding season and the sound of the little male sat on his frost covered branch is one of the earliest precursors of springtime.

He sits there proud as can be, bright red breast puffed out, singing his heart out, trying his best to entice a mate to flutter along and join him. Judging by the number of fledglings landing on our bird tables in the summer it seems to be a pretty successful ruse. A friend of mine tried it once but sadly without any success. His singing was ok but it all ended in tears when he fell out of the tree!

I like the robin, the national bird of England and an appropriate bird for our country; small, proud, feisty and defiant, punching well above his weight – like we used to do, once upon a time!

A Force For Good?

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Whilst touring Jordan over the last few days my thoughts have regularly drifted to religion which I suppose isn’t surprising since a large proportion of the Holy Land is situated here.

It struck me that whatever your views on God’s existence, religion has hardly been an unqualified success in the history of the world. Not only do believers in God kill other believers in God because they have given their God a different name but believers in the same God kill one another because they worship that same God in different ways! Thus, not only have Christians, Jews and Muslims been killing one another for millennia but Christians (Catholics and Protestants) and Muslims (Sunnis and Shias) have been doing the same thing and continue to do so on a regular basis.

If an alien were to look down on this planet and see what we are doing to one another he would scratch his head in amazement, conclude that we are all nutters, forget about invasion, put his spaceship into overdrive and hot tail it as fast as he could into the next solar system! And who could blame him?

Religion should be and often is, of course, a force for good but organised religion often seems to be about power, fear and control. On balance, maybe the world would be a better (and safer) place without it. If you believe in God, fine; go ahead and worship your God in whatever manner you wish but don’t try and impose it on others and we’ll all get along just fine.