Category Archives: Crazy World

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!

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.

Breathtaking Corruption

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Earlier this week the European Union Home Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstroem,  a Swede, said that the widespread corruption in the European Union was “breathtaking”. Crikey,  who would ever have thought that?

This corruption costs the European taxpayer (people like you and me) somewhere in the region of 120 billion euros each year (that’s £99 billion in real money) although Malmstroem said the figure is probably even higher. Breathtaking doesn’t even come close. What single word does?

Still, at least it’s now official and a member of the European hierarchy has finally admitted publicly what many of us have known or suspected for years. The question is though, what are we and the British Government going to do about it? More pertinently, what can we do about it?

 

Winning

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You’d think that English rugby’s governing body,  the Rugby Football Union (RFU),  would be keen to develop youngsters and provide the national team with a constant supply of top class talent.

If so, they are going about it in a funny way since they have just announced to schools and clubs that  there will be no more trophies for successful under-11 sides and if any game appears to be too one-sided players will be swapped around at half time to balance things up. The emphasis is to be on developing skills rather than the result of the game.

What kind of a lesson is that to give to kids on sport, or on life for that matter? Of course the result matters and a determination to win the game is surely the biggest factor in the development of game-winning skills in any sport. This just smacks, once again, of political correctness and a desire to tell children how life should be rather than how it really is.

Whether our politicians, teachers and sports administrators like it or not, the fact is, life is a competition. From the lowliest single-cell organism to mankind life is a competition resulting in success or failure, victory or defeat and sometimes life or death.

As  Vince Lombardi, the legendary and hugely successful American Football player and coach once said  “Winning isn’t  everything, it’s the only thing”.

 

Adopt an Animal

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On Tuesday the BBC published an article on its website about the disappearance of the West African Lion. Evidently there are now estimated to be as few as 250 West African lions of breeding age and they compete for a mere 1.1% of the areas they used to call home, the rest of their former territory having been taken, inevitably,  by man. Instead of just repeating the comments I made in my last blog I wish, instead, to make a suggestion.

As a member of the World Wildlife Fund I am familiar with their adoption programme where people pay to adopt an animal of their choice whether it be a panda, a lion, a leopard or whatever for as little as £3 per month (check it out on https://support.wwf.org.uk). I have always thought that this is both a clever way of raising revenue and also an excellent means of making people aware of the plight of the world’s wildlife. Parents often make a gift of animal adoption to their small children so that they too can learn about what is happening in the natural world.

At the moment, following the excesses of Christmas, the shops are bombarding us with ideas for the next commercial rip-off namely Valentine’s Day. Typical advertisements urge us to treat the woman/man in our lives (in some cases maybe both, who knows?) to something special this Valentine’s Day. We are urged to do the predictable stuff, like treat her to a romantic five course meal in an exclusive restaurant, whisk her off for a night of passion in a luxury spa, buy her three dozen beautiful red roses plus all the other yawn-inducing, cliché-ridden unimaginative tosh.

My suggestion is this, instead of making some fat capitalist fatter still why not give your true love a year’s adoption of her favourite animal, courtesy of the WWF? You could adopt something personal to her such as a tiger cub, a cuddly panda, or a cute little polar bear.  Indeed any creature that takes your fancy and reminds you of your her although, be careful , adopting an elephant or hippo on her behalf might not be such a smart idea!

Playing God

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A recent report into the numbers of the world’s large predators, published in the Science journal, emphasises yet again what a dangerous game mankind is playing with nature and the world’s eco systems. Staggeringly, the report reveals that over three quarters of the world’s large carnivores, such as lions, tigers, wolves and bears, are in decline.

In Yellowstone Park, USA studies have shown that a reduction, through hunting and culling, in the numbers of the top predators, the wolf and the cougar, has resulted in an increase in the number of elk. This has led to a widespread destruction and loss of vegetation leading in turn to a reduction in the numbers of birds and small mammals living there.

In large parts of Africa the eradication of lions and leopards, again through man’s hunting and culling, has led to a huge increase in the number of olive baboons, resulting in large scale damage to crops and livestock, putting small farmers out of business and adding to food shortages.

We have to stop playing God, listen to these experts and learn from what they are telling us. It’s no use relying solely on governments and big business since they have other priorities, many of which are diametrically opposed to conservation.

It all comes down therefore to charitable institutions (and by implication, us) to actually try to do something about it. We have to do more than wring our hands in frustration or shake our heads in disbelief at these tales of destruction. If we really do care about our planet and care about the state it will be in when we hand it down to succeeding generations we have to put our hands in our pockets.

There are plenty of worthy charities out there, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund to name but two, and I’m sure we can all find at least one that fits our own particular bill.

If Not Now

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Yesterday I noticed a boy aged about 5 or 6 wearing a T shirt emblazoned with the logo “If not now, when?” I’m sure many of us are familiar with that question, valid and pertinent as it can often be in this oh-too-short life. It is a question that virtually all of us will have to answer at least once and if answered correctly can change and enrich our lives.

It got me thinking about a silver haired gentleman I encountered outside the splendid Church of St George in Madaba, Jordan a few years back. He was a cheerful fellow, stood proudly next to his majestic but tired looking BMW motorcycle and we struck up a conversation. He turned out to be a 69 year old Australian who, a few years back, on the day after he retired, was told by his wife of 30 years that she no longer loved him and wanted a new life for herself.

Fair enough, he thought, and two weeks later was on his way on a solo motor cycle journey around the world. When I met him, he’d already ridden through China, India, Russia and the Middle East. He was now contemplating the next stage of his journey through Africa, thence to Europe, the Americas and home. I think about him every now and again and the lesson that he demonstrates to all of us. I hope that his courage met with its true reward.

If opportunity presents itself, seize it with both hands. The little boy was right, if not now, when?

Lucky People

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Sometimes I don’t think we realise how lucky we are living in the west and in particular the UK. We have free health care, the protection afforded by a democratic system of government, justice provided by an ancient and time proven legal system and free education for our children.

If we fall on hard times the state will pay us welfare benefits and provide us with housing, yet still some complain that they have a hard time of it.

A reality check is clearly required for some and the easiest method is the simple act of turning on the news to learn about yet another country racked by civil war and strife, its towns and villages laid to waste, their occupants slaughtered and orphaned children starving to death whilst the survivors can anticipate nothing better than a life of constant struggle and suffering.

That should do it. Try it tonight whist enjoying your third meal of the day.

Six Wishes for the New Year

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  1. That the commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War – a war that cost the lives of nearly 1 million British and Empire soldiers, sailors and airmen and spelt the beginning of the end of the British Empire – are balanced, truthful and free of political correctness and spin. Though Germany is now our friend and ally it must never be forgotten that the war was a direct result of that country’s aggression and the desire of its leader, Kaiser Wilhelm II, to conquer and rule the whole of Europe and who invaded neutral and peaceful Belgium to begin that process.
  2. That Scotland votes to remain a part of the United Kingdom preserving what little is left of our former great Empire.
  3. That English team sport performs somewhat better than it did in 2013 – and that the English cricket team in particular recovers from its recent humiliation in Australia!
  4. That the corrupt, incompetent and anti-democratic European Union does what it has been threatening to do for years and finally implodes.
  5. That we start to treat our beautiful and wonderful Mother Earth with the love, respect and care that she deserves.
  6. That somehow we all manage to rub along together in peace and harmony. A vain hope, I know, but one that most of us will wish for above all else.

A Happy New Year to us all!

 

 

Peace and Goodwill

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Christmas is with us once more, a time of peace and goodwill for all mankind. Here in the West much of that goodwill is artificially induced as friends cement their relationships with yet another bottle of booze. But there’s nothing wrong with that, the end can often justify the means.

In other parts of the world, however, goodwill, along with its bedfellow peace, is in short supply. In the last week alone we have learned that Sudan is in grave danger of slipping into a brutal and savage civil war and Japan is arming itself in retaliation against territorial threats made by its near-neighbour China. Add to this the murderous conflict in Syria and the troubles of Zimbabwe, Kurdistan, Palestine and Iraq, to name but a few, it is clear that the world is still a troubled place.

Whether you are Christian, Muslim, Jew or atheist is of no consequence. Surely every reasonable and right thinking person wishes for peace and goodwill. The fact that it is Christmas merely makes that wish more poignant.