Category Archives: Current Affairs

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

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Only the most cynical or curmudgeonly could fail to be moved by the celebrations marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this weekend. The outburst of genuine love and affection from the vast majority of her people, the riot of colour of the red, white and blue flags, bunting and Union Flag outfits have taken us back to a more innocent time and have served to remind us that this country has a history, heritage and tradition that is the envy of most of the world.

Whatever your views on the monarchy, it has to be said that our Queen has been a wonderful servant to her country and to her Commonwealth. In 60 years of unbroken and dedicated service she has witnessed some of the most significant events ever witnessed by mankind. Man has landed on the moon, has made vast leaps in medicine and technology and has created the internet which perhaps more than any other invention or discovery has quite simply revolutionised our lives.

She has witnessed too the sad decline of her country and the break-up of the once all-powerful British Empire. She has seen incredible social change and a total revolution in the way we now live our lives. There are still some (a small minority it has to be said) who would prefer a republic and a leader elected democratically by the people, a politician with all the bias and prejudice that that would entail, a vote winner anxious to cling to power at whatever cost. Can you imagine a President Blair or Brown? No, monarchy may have its faults (and I have never agreed with inherited privilege) but it is the best system we could have and is far better than the alternative.

Eight of ten Britons were born during her reign and still she is there with us, the one constant, comfort even, in all our lives. The fact that she is held with such obvious love and affection by her people is a huge tribute to her dedication and service to us all. Her reign should be celebrated and treasured because we will never see her like again.

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? 

Blame Anybody but Yourself.

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Last week we were treated to the unedifying and undignified sight of people queuing up outside petrol stations filling their cars and vans up with fuel, bringing garages to a standstill, creating traffic jams and generally causing chaos on the surrounding roads. By the end of the week apparently one fifth of petrol stations nationwide had completely sold out of fuel and this was all due to the threat of a national strike by tanker drivers. Just the threat of a strike, mind; so what on earth is it going to be like if and when they actually do go on strike?

There were all sorts of tales in the national press of people filling cans full of diesel and petrol,  plastic bottles, squeezy washing up bottles and even some little old lady filling up dozens of jam jars! It’s almost unbelievable isn’t it? Well, only almost because we should never underestimate the stupidity of some members of the public. Unfortunately, there was one very sad and near tragic incident where one lady decided to transfer some petrol from a petrol can to a jug. That in itself might not have been too problematical but the transfer took place in a kitchen near to a lit oven. Just read that last sentence again and pause for a moment.

Inevitably, the fuel exploded and the lady suffered 40% burns. It must have been horrible but whose fault was it? According to many of the Sunday newspapers the person to blame is Francis Maude, the cabinet minister who announced the threat of the strike and advised people to fill their spare “jerry can” with fuel and keep it in the garage. Not a bad piece of advice you’d think although, being strictly logical, storing fuel is going to create a risk particularly if your garage catches fire. That’s the official and sensible line of the Fire Service but tell that to the thousands of people who keep spare cans of fuel in their garages and sheds for use when the lawn mower needs topping up.

If it really is so dangerous to store fuel than why is it that petrol stations, motor shops and DIY stores sell those green plastic gallon containers manufactured specifically with fuel storage in mind? As for blaming a third party for the foolish actions of an independent and free thinking individual then may the Lord help us; is there really no such thing as individual responsibility anymore?

Spring is here!

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What a wonderful time of year this is. The clocks go forward over the weekend – spring forward, fall back as the Americans say – and suddenly the grey, drab, cold days of winter are just a memory. The days are longer, the light nights have arrived and spring is in the air.

If winter represents death then spring represents birth or rebirth when life begins to awaken and assert itself once more. The birds sing with a greater urgency as they look for their mates, the flowers, already showing since February now begin to spread and the colours brighten up our world filling us full of optimism and positive thoughts of the warmer days ahead.
We have a lot to look forward to in Britain this year, what with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June and the Olympic games in the summer and whilst these events should be occasions of joy and exuberance we must guard against complacency. The events in France this week, when an Al Qaeda operative murdered innocent men, women and children, should help us keep our focus and remind us (if we needed reminding) that there are those who would deny us our peace and happiness.
The French security and intelligence forces have come under scrutiny and have been criticised for letting the killer slip off their radar, having correctly identified him some time ago as being a security risk. We mustn’t think for one moment that our own security and intelligence services are any more efficient or competent for they are probably not. We in the West are facing a determined, cunning and unscrupulous enemy and if we are to enjoy the freedoms provided by our democratic way of life then we must, collectively as a nation and as individuals, remain vigilant at all times. 

Maths and Ale

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I was going to post a blog about the news last week that nearly half of all adults in this country have the numeracy skills or maths ability of an 11 year old. I was then going to comment that that is only part of the story and that a significant proportion of the populace can barely read, compose a letter with any grammatical accuracy and have difficulty in communicating with their fellows save by text.

I was going to say that the idiots responsible for our education system (those in charge of the curriculum rather than the poor teachers who have no choice but to teach it) have failed at least the last two generations, ignoring completely the lessons of their predecessors who knew only too well the value of teaching the three Rs (reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic). Then I thought, it’s too depressing and we know all this anyway; so why waste my time and yours by blogging about it?!

So, I decided to comment instead on the wonderful news contained in yesterday’s Sunday Times concerning the micropub revolution. Well, it’s not quite a revolution yet but it is at least a movement in the right direction and a real hope that pubs can become pubs once again. In micropubs only proper (real) ale will be sold, lager will certainly not and conversation amongst customers will be encouraged.

Certain micropub owners have apparently banned all sorts of entertainment, proscribed fruit machines and other noisy distractions and have made clear to all customers that the use of mobile phones will not be tolerated. One owner imposes fines on mobile phone users, the proceeds going to charity, and another has even gone so far as to confiscate the phones and nail them to the wall. How good is that?

Imagine going to a pub where they only sell traditional English bitter and people actually converse with (rather than shout at) one another. Goodness me, whatever next, honest politicians? Now I am being silly!

World Service

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This week the BBC World Service celebrated its 80th birthday, having started out life as the British Empire Service way back in 1932. A lot has happened in those 80 years, not least the fact that there is, of course, no longer an empire for it to serve!

During the Second World War the BBC Overseas Service, as it was then known, provided a vital service both in supplying news of the outside world and moral support to those struggling in Nazi-occupied Europe. Those years were probably the finest in the history of the BBC World Service (its name was changed in 1965) though in the long years since the end of the war its broadcasts have been heard and relished by many people around the world lacking the freedoms that we, in the free world, take for granted.

There is a natural tendency, now that the UK is no longer a major player on the world stage, to regard the BBC World Service as something of an anachronism and to an extent that may well be true. However, according to figures released this week, some 7 million Iranians regularly tune into the BBC World Service. That would seem to indicate that the Service is alive and kicking and if it can provide information and hope to those suffering under that cruel regime then clearly, it still has a vital role to play.

The Dangers of Motorcycling

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Only one percent of the UK’s road users are motorcyclists but that tiny percentage accounts for a staggering twenty percent plus of all fatalities on our roads. Put another way, motorcyclists represent a mere one out of a hundred road users yet they account for over one fifth of road traffic deaths. There have been various campaigns to increase awareness of motorcyclists (for example, the “Think Bike!” advertisements) but at the moment there are no compulsory motorcyclist related questions in the Department of Transport driving theory test. Meanwhile the casualties continue to mount.
There are, of course, questions in the test relating to motorcyclists but the questions are selected at random so therefore many people pass their tests and are let loose on the roads without having answered any motorcycle related questions. There is therefore no guarantee that they have any awareness at all of motorcyclist related safety. As a biker myself I have to say that a sizeable proportion of road users seem to drive without any thought or awareness of motorcyclists, whether it be driving too close to a motorcycle or pulling out of side streets totally oblivious of the motorcycle heading towards them on the major road.

I’m sure that all motorcylists will agree with this and will confirm that it is only their defensive riding that prevents the occurrence of even more accidents. I personally have lost count of the number of times that a car has pulled out directly in front of me so much so that I don’t even bother to remonstrate with the car driver any more. The dangers to young and/or inexperienced motorcyclists cannot be over estimated.

Now, leading UK motorcycle insurance specialist, Bennetts, are campaigning to ensure that motorcycle related questions are made compulsory in all driving theory tests. When you consider a statistic quoted by them that the motorcyclists casualty rate is 61 times greater than that of other road users you can understand why. If you agree then log on to http://www.bennetts.co.uk and sign their online petition to be presented to the Department of Transport in order that the format of the driving theory test is altered without delay.

The Falklands

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It seems that the Falkland Islands are never far from the news with Argentina’s refusal to keep the islands out of the international spotlight. In spite of, and maybe because of, their defeat in 1982 Argentina continues to lay claim to the islands that they refer to as Las Malvinas and has recently stepped up those claims. As far as international law is concerned the Falklands, despite their physical proximity to Argentina, remain a sovereign territory and a part of the British Commonwealth. The population, small though it is, remains English-speaking and 100% committed to maintaining its links to the UK. That really should be an end to the matter but, of course, things are never that simple.

The latest flare-up has arisen through two matters, I suspect, namely the potentially rich oil and gas deposits off the islands and political  opportunism by an Argentine president, anxious to cling on to political power. The UK has responded, though it may be coincidence, by sending to the islands a Royal Prince as well as a state of the art warship from our dwindling navy. Today the Argentines have stated that we also have a nuclear submarine in the area or at least on its way there.

So what does all this mean? Is it mere rhetoric by the Argentine president or is it something more sinister? Are the islands at risk once more and is there a danger that Argentina, aware of the fact that we have weakened considerably since 1982, may be prepared to have another go. If they are, then are we capable of successfully defending the islands once more and will there be the political will and public support to see it through? Difficult questions and none of them are easy to answer, though I feel the public would most probably support a defence of British sovereign territory and I’m sure that the Prime Minister would be equally supportive.

However, the problem remains that it is a conflict that we could lose and clearly we should do everything we could to avoid any escalation towards that conflict. We are no longer the force that we were. On the world stage we have considerably declined economically, militarily and politically and 19th century style gunboat diplomacy is no longer an option for us. In 1982 we successfully defended the islands through the political will of Margaret Thatcher and a well organised and equipped task force backed fully by public opinion. We were also fortunate to have American support and luckier still to face a poorly equipped enemy, half of whose bombs and shells failed to explode even when they hit the target.

This time, I doubt we’ll get the same support from President Obama as we got from the anglophile President Reagan and I don’t think we should rely on faulty Argentine weaponry either. If relations continue to deteriorate between Argentina and the UK we may well have no option but to place the whole issue in the lap of the United Nations; a bitter pill to swallow but better than military humiliation.

The Welfare State

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There are many who believe that it is the duty of the state to look after the needs of its less fortunate citizens. A belief that the strong should protect the weak and that the wealthy should use their wealth to help the poor. These are not just the views of socialists but views that many of us feel should be at the very core of any civilised state. They are views, surely, that anyone with a conscience and a clear set of moral values would find hard to contradict.

Even at the height of Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was a huge gap between the means of the wealthy and the poor in this country and it wasn’t until 1909 that Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, began to redress the balance with his radical and bold People’s Budget. By the late 1940s the Welfare State was well and truly established with the setting up of the National Health Service and other welfare organisations by Clement Attlee’s Labour government. All these advances were surely for the better, establishing, as they did, the rights of everybody to free education, free healthcare, benefits for the unemployed and allowances for those who were sick or disabled.

However, as so often happens in this country, the pendulum has swung too far. Now, nationally, we have whole families who have no incentive whatever to work because they would earn less than they would receive in State handouts. This isn’t even a recent phenomenon since some families can boast (if that’s the right word) several generations who have never worked. Add to this the fact that this country regularly allows people from all over the world, with no ties or links to the UK, to enter the country and claim the full range of benefits including housing and unemployment and it becomes clear why the system is collapsing and on the verge of bankruptcy.

This week the government, very sensibly, announced that it intended to cap the maximum benefits payable. A figure of £26,000 was announced which to many seemed incredibly generous, equating as it does to a full time  worker grossing £35,000 or so per year. Even then, incredibly, certain politicians declared their opposition stating that it was unfair. Unfair? How on earth can that be unfair? Turn the question on its head and ask is it fair that working citizens should earn less than those who, whether through choice or otherwise, do not work?

We are in the middle of a terrible worldwide recession and unless and until we get to grips with these problems we will continue to slide even further down the slope to economic oblivion.

Happy Children

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The results of a survey into the happiness of the nation’s children were published yesterday revealing that a sizeable proportion of our children are unhappy. Of course, some sections of the media seized upon this as yet another example of our collapsing society but is it really? Shouldn’t we just pause for breath, take a step back and see what the survey was actually about. For example, what questions were asked of those taking part and what were their replies? What were the ages of those questioned?

In the midst of all the angst and browbeating there was a calming voice of reason and common sense in the form of an inner city secondary school headmaster who said that children, particularly those under 10 years rarely concern themselves with the long term so it is not fair to ask them about long term happiness. A child will often say he is unhappy if he has been denied an ice cream or has been prevented from using his computer because he was rude to his mother. That is short term unhappiness and it soon blows over.  
The person best qualified to comment on a child’s long term happiness is someone close to the child whether it be a parent or teacher. Adults have the advantage of experience and we should use this to help our children. Children need guidance and structure in their lives. They need rules and regulations, set boundaries and most of all they need leadership. They need to feel appreciated, they need to feel safe and secure and at home they need to feel loved. If they have all that then, of course, they will feel happy irrespective of the number of ice creams they consume!
Is there really a need to analyse our children and to burden them with the travails of modern life? Talking of burdens, is there really a need for schools to give  homework to infants? Childhood can and should be a joyous time and children should be encouraged to express themselves, to play and to have fun with their friends. Put simply, they should be allowed to be children, adulthood will arrive soon enough.