Category Archives: Crazy World

Whingeing Separatists

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I’ve just returned from a trip to Canada. Nice country, Canada, open spaces, clean air, exciting cities, decent people and they’re very friendly to us British. They have a problem though.

It’s called Quebec or more accurately it’s called the Quebec question since the province of Quebec – six times as big as the UK with a fraction of the population – is a beautiful place and the people are generally as friendly here as anywhere else in this vast country. The problem is that Quebec was originally French but when the British defeated France in the Seven Years War (1756- 1763) French involvement in North America was ended.

Very generously, the British Government allowed the French speaking Canadians to govern themselves in return for a declaration of loyalty to the British Government. A hundred or so years later, in 1867, Quebec became a founder member of the newly created Dominion of Canada and was allowed to maintain its French identity within the new country. Since then Quebec  has continued to exist as a French speaking province with road signs in French, French speaking schools and all sorts of privileges granted to French speakers. So much so that at times you’d think you were in France.

Every once in a while Quebec separatists gain power in the province and they invariably agitate for a referendum on whether or not to leave the Federation and break up Canada. So far, every attempt at independence has been voted out but still they keep trying. Elections took place in Quebec earlier this week and the winners, the Parti Quebecois, are now pressing for another referendum.

The rest of Canada, rightly proud of their beautiful and unified country, are getting sick and tired of all this and sick too of the constant whingeing emanating from Quebec. The people of Quebec have many privileges and concessions, probably more than anywhere else in Canada but it seems that the more they have the more they want and further concessions by the Federal Government only result in further bouts of whingeing.

Very interesting eh? Does any of this remind you of somewhere else, somewhere a little closer to home, a place about three hundred miles north of London?

Acknowledgement

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Today is the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. On September 3rd, 1939 the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, made a radio announcement that in view of the fact that Adolf Hitler had ignored the ultimatum for Germany to withdraw from Poland, which it had invaded two days previously, our country was now at war with Germany.

The war was to last for nearly six years costing the lives of millions and causing the unprecedented destruction of cities and towns throughout the world including, of course, virtually every city and many towns in our own country.
Will there be any commemoration of this date? I doubt it. Some of the broadsheets may make some reference but probably not the tabloid press and mainstream television, obsessed as they are, by footballers and the antics of so-called “celebrities”.
 I know that we should try to forget the past, forgive our enemies and get on with the future but the Second World War is still recent history and there are millions of people in this country, living still, who were affected by that war. Some may be surviving servicemen and women and others may have been children during the war years. Some will have suffered greatly and others not so but the point is, for as long as there are those who remember should we not, as a matter of simple respect, make some form of acknowledgement?

Dogs and their Owners

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In today’s news was a report that the owner of two out of control dogs was jailed for 12 months after the dogs savaged ten people in an “horrific and nightmarish” street attack. The owner of the two Staffordshire Bull Terrier crosses, an unemployed father of one aged 22 years (says it all really), had a string of previous convictions for various offences and the dogs had already attacked another person several weeks earlier as they “marauded around the area” of St Leonards on Sea, Sussex.

It’s good that such an objectionable example of our underclass has been jailed and good too that the Government has recently put in place stronger punishments for crimes committed by owners of dangerous dogs though in my view it is nearly always the fault of the owner rather than the dog – Staffordshire Bull Terriers, if well trained and looked after, are no more dangerous than most domestic dogs. However, the Government has not, in my opinion, gone far enough and has missed an obvious opportunity to limit this kind of incident.
Years ago dog owners were required to have licences to own their pets. The licence cost a nominal amount and had the effect of registering ownership and creating some sort of responsibility for dog ownership. Now, I’m not normally one to advocate an increase in bureaucracy but dog licensing is an exception and should be brought back immediately. A fee of say £50 (with certain exemptions for the elderly and disabled for example) would encourage responsible dog  ownership and would also act as a deterrent to some of the more undesirable members of society.

So What!

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So Prince Harry has been photographed naked at a private party in a private hotel room in Las Vegas. So what, is it really a newsworthy event of relevance to our lives?

I personally couldn’t care less what happens in a private place between consenting adults. It’s frankly none of my business and the only time for concern would be if children were involved or if an adult was forced to do something against his or her wishes.

Prince Harry is a young man, exuberant, yes and possibly immature, but he is entitled to enjoy himself just as we common folk are. He may be third in line to the throne, but again, so what?

It really doesn’t matter and besides, he’s simply carrying on a royal tradition of excess and debauchery promoted throughout history by such ancestors as Henry VIII, Charles II and Edward VII to name but three! For goodness sake, can’t we just leave him alone?

Regardless of the British predilection for titillation and smut there really are far more important things happening in the world.

Healthy Eating

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There was a report on the BBC News yesterday that Italians are reverting to traditional recipes and homemade food in order to counter the effects of the recession. It makes sense because, if times are hard and you are strapped for cash how can you afford to spend money on dining out or creating exotic dishes at home? The town of Gioninazzo is evidently a step ahead of the rest of the country and holds an annual festival of food, set up 17 years ago by teenagers anxious to preserve traditional recipes which were in danger of being eclipsed by fast food and pre-prepared supermarket meals. The emphasis is on simpler eating and a greater use of local produce. What a great idea!

It seems to me that in this country too we have become so overly dependent upon fast food, takeaways and supermarket meals that many people have simply forgotten how to cook, even if they knew in the first place. Apart from the fact that regular consumption of fast food is clearly bad for you, full as it is of fat and salt, it is also expensive. Good healthy food is not expensive and all that is required is some imagination and failing that some education.

All state schools should feature cookery, or Domestic Science as it used to be called, in the school curriculum so that children of both sexes have the opportunity to at least learn the fundamentals of cookery. Evening classes for adults provided by the local authority would be a good idea too. It’s quite appalling that so many people are unable to even make an omelette let alone bake a loaf of bread. These basics were second nature to our grandparents and we need to bring them back (the cookery skills that is, not the grandparents!)

We need to open our eyes and as I said earlier to use our imagination. For example, last month I noticed some wild raspberries growing not far from my house. I picked the equivalent of about a dozen supermarket punnets and not only did I enjoy some delicious fruit but I also saved about £20! The amazing thing is that nobody else could be bothered to pick them whereas thirty years ago you’d be competing with about half a dozen rivals!

It is now the blackberry season but just count how few people actually pick them and how many blackberries simply die on the bushes. The same is true of apples. How many people harvest the apples in their gardens and how many people will pick the mushrooms that begin to fill our fields in September? How lazy and foolish we have become and how blind we are to the world around us.

Fly The Flag

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I don’t suppose the mix up over the North and South Korea flags on Wednesday evening  was the kind of start to the Games the Olympic organisers were looking for.  To place an image of the wrong country’s flag next to a sportsman’s image is embarrassing at best but to place an image of the flag of that sportsman’s country’s bitter enemy next to his or her face is unforgiveable. To put it in a context closer to home can you imagine the outrage that would emanate from the placing of the Union flag next to the image of a sportsman from the Irish Republic?

Still, we shouldn’t be surprised because, according to the results of a survey commissioned by the Panasonic corporation released last week, the Japanese flag is more recognizable to most British people than their own flag (that’s astounding if it’s true). In addition the survey of 2,000 adults (adults mind you, not infants!) discovered the following gems –

– 1 in 12 thought the Union flag (Union Jack) was the flag of England.
– 1 in 10 thought the St George’s flag was the flag of Wales.
– 1 in 3 thought the Australian flag was the flag of the USA.

Lord help us; to think we once had an empire! Can we really be that stupid? (I ask this rhetorically!)

A spokesman for Panasonic  said –  “With the influx of flags set to come into the UK for the Olympic Games I’m sure fans will enjoy the opportunity to learn them all”.  Presumably he was also referring to the Olympic organisers! The only saving grace was that the Korean cock-up happened before an Olympic football match in Edinburgh and not London. Perhaps it was an attempt by jealous Scottish Nationalists to sabotage the Games!

On a serious note, the Olympic Games officially open tonight and, as with the recent Jubilee celebrations, I’m sure we can all, bar the usual whingeing curmudgeons of course, take great pride in another marvellous showcase for our country. Thousands of people, most of them volunteers, have devoted huge swathes of their time and effort into creating these Games and they deserve our profound gratitude. I don’t doubt that the Games will be a great success and a further source of pride for the whole of our country.

Security Bungle

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The furore surrounding the G4S security company’s London Olympics debacle shows no sign of abating. The fact that G4S screwed up spectacularly in providing less than a third of the 10,000 plus security guards, for which it was contracted, is bad enough but to then learn that the hapless yet grasping Chief Executive, Nick Buckles, still intends to collect the company’s £57 million management fee leaves one almost lost for words. Surely to claim a management fee you have to have managed something and preferably in a positive sense rather than a negative, as in managed to make a complete cock-up of the security arrangements for the biggest sporting event on the planet for which, incidentally, you had 2 years to prepare.

If this story has shown us one thing it is that there is no government or public sector monopoly on incompetence. In the past we have been told, sometimes with justification, that the private sector (favoured by the Conservatives and New Labour) with its healthy culture of free market competition  will always serve the country best. In contrast the public sector (favoured by socialist Labour) is perceived, again sometimes with justification, to be slow, pedantic and overly bureaucratic.

The ineptitude of G4S should make us reconsider these perceptions, because this isn’t the first time that the company, either in its present carnation or its previous persona of Group 4, has made headlines for its bungling. The company also looks after security at HM Prisons and the transportation of  prisoners to and from court and has hardly covered itself in glory in the performance of either of those tasks either. Surprisingly, or so you would think, the company still gets work from the Government and receives millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money for its “services”. The question needs to be asked who keeps giving G4S all this business and why? The person or persons responsible should be made to explain themselves.

When the dust has settled on this sorry affair the whole question of public v private needs to be carefully considered and acted upon. It seems to me that some things are just too important and sensitive to be farmed out to the private sector and areas such as security, transport, the NHS and education should remain the sole responsibility of the Government, accountable as it is to the electorate.

The G4S case is a perfect illustration of this point. Our armed forces and Police are largely well trained and good at the jobs they do, both are experts in armed security and they are being laid off by the thousand. The Government needs security for the Olympic Games and instead of saving money (and jobs) by relying upon the readymade expertise at its fingertips it calls in, at great expense to the public purse, a private company many of whose employees are not even British. Lord help us!

Froth and Dregs

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Newspaper revelations of the banking scandal have clearly opened a can of worms (an apposite analogy if ever there was one) exposing the murky world of high finance for all to see. For many years successive governments  have ignored the fact that many of our top (as in earnings – nothing else) bankers, financiers and other assorted rapacious capitalists were abusing the system to feather their nests. Of course, many of these parasites ostentatiously made financial donations to our major political parties and, mindful of the doctrine “never bite the hand that feeds”, our democratically elected rulers turned a blind eye to their misdemeanours.

In times of recession however the spotlight tends to shine a little brighter and the light reveals all sorts of grubby little creatures lurking in hitherto unseen crevices. This is what is happening now and the sense of outrage felt by the vast majority of decent British people is palpable. There must be no hiding place for the guilty and it is surely only a matter of time before prison sentences are handed out as frequently as bankers’ bonuses.

At the other end of the spectrum the Government is, at long last, addressing the rampant abuses of our welfare system and measures are being put in place to end many of them. For many people in this country the State has become a limitless source of cash to fund lifestyles based purely on handouts. In some families there has been no history of employment for several generations yet they demand as of right things that most of us strive hard to acquire through honest hard work. For the workers in society there is no such thing as a free lunch but unfortunately they are the ones picking up the tab for those dining for free.

As a nation we are haemorrhaging money at both ends and the decent, hardworking, taxpaying majority in the middle of our society are the ones  keeping us going, preventing the country (for the time being) from going under. Their reward, as announced earlier this week, is to face further means testing in later life when they require care home treatment. What a reward for their honesty, frugality and responsibility.

It brought to mind the quotation of the 18th century French philosopher Voltaire about the British  – “They are like their own beer, froth at the top, dregs at the bottom, the middle excellent”. Three centuries on it seems his assessment is as accurate as ever.

Welfare Attacks

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There will, of course, be much controversy over the Prime Minister’s announcement of plans to scrap Housing Benefit for under-25s and to introduce measures to stem the flow of taxpayers’ money on various other welfare benefits. Whatever he proposes, he is bound to meet strong resistance from his Coalition partners and his parliamentary opposition who seem to regard the State’s funds as an unlimited resource.
The fact of the matter is that the State’s coffers are not unlimited. On the contrary, we are in the grip of a severe recession that shows no sign of abating in the foreseeable future and it makes sense that the State should do all it can to ensure that funds are collected from all available sources and, once in the possession of the State, be spent wisely or preserved to try to keep us out of further economic misery.

That is easier said than done but practically it means that the Government must ensure that those able to contribute do so by paying their taxes (see Friday’s blog) and then try hard to avoid frittering it away whether it be on pointless foreign adventures (Iraq and Afghanistan), by ill-conceived and inefficient domestic policies (too many examples to list) or by throwing it at citizens who have no intention of ever contributing to society. The latter has the Prime Minister’s attention at the moment and whilst there is undoubtedly a sickening culture of scrounging in this country, it must not be forgotten that, as a (relatively) civilized society we have a duty to protect the weak, infirm and severely disadvantaged.

The Prime Minister is right to address the problem of benefit fraud and the culture of getting something for nothing but there has to be a balance. By all means, prevent able-bodied citizens from claiming benefit when they are offered and decline reasonable offers of employment but don’t punish those without the choice or the chance of climbing out of the mire and advancing themselves. Restrictions on the granting of Housing Benefit should undoubtedly be put in place but whether it is right to deny a whole group, such as those under 25, is a matter for careful consideration and debate.

Charitable Government?

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It must be very difficult running a charity, especially when there are so many equally deserving charities competing for a slice of an ever-diminishing cake. Throw in the factor of worldwide recession and you wonder how some of them manage to survive at all. So what does the Government do? It decides to make it even harder by capping tax relief on charitable donations thus depriving charities of millions of pounds but raising more tax for Government coffers.

The reason given by the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer for this action is that many apparent philanthropists are anything but and they simply use the rules on tax relief for charitable donations for their personal gain and benefit. I’m sure that there are some unscrupulous donors who do indeed abuse the system but they are surely a minority. What about the genuine philanthropists, people who really do care about the world around them and who want to share some of their hard earned wealth with others not so fortunate? What a massive insult to these people and what a bitter blow to our charitable institutions.
If the Government are so concerned about fraud and corruption, and of course they should be, why don’t they just target the cases of clear abuse and weed out the crooks allowing the decent, honourable majority to carry on their good work. This is clearly a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, with very serious consequences for our charities, nearly all of whom have expressed their concerns to the Government.
I’m neither a politician nor an economist so what do I know about either running or funding a country? However, common sense would seem to indicate some areas where money can be saved. The following come to mind –

* End all foreign aid, we can’t afford it and anyway, charity begins at home. 
*Set up an elite investigative department to eliminate nationwide corruption whether it be small scale social  security scams or large scale corporate fraud. 
*End our foreign military adventures. 
*Close down the Health and Safety Executive (I’m only half joking!).


We are in the middle of a severe economic crisis and, of course, the Government needs to do all it can to keep the country afloat but is hammering charities the way forward?