Challenging the System

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The story of Edward Snowden, the American who leaked details of his government’s  surveillance, specifically computer hacking, makes interesting reading. He is now in hiding, having fled to Hong Kong, where he made his revelations public. Consequently, the FBI have evidently put him at the top of their “most wanted” list. Surely, nobody can be surprised at what the US Government has been up to, nor any other government for that matter. This is what governments do. Power and control are comfortable bed-fellows and it was ever thus.

Without government there is anarchy and clearly, to govern effectively, there has to be some measure of control. There also has to be, in a democracy at least, proper safeguard of individual liberty. The difficulty, as all governing bodies have discovered since primitive man began forming organised tribes, is getting the right balance between the need to control and the freedom of the individual.
As members of a civilised democracy we can only hope that the state protects and safeguards the interests of all law-abiding citizens equally, free from oppression and prejudice. If the line is crossed and the balance falls too firmly in favour of the state we must ensure that, through all lawful means (including court action) the balance is reset and government is reminded of its duties and responsibilities. That is the beauty of democracy.
Edward Snowden may well have another agenda but I hope not. The fact that he felt able to stand up to the US Government and expose what he felt was wrong and corrupt is to his great credit. We are not quite yet into the 1984 scenario described by George Orwell in his prescient masterpiece where the little man, Winston Smith, stood up to the system before it eventually crushed him. We must do all we can to ensure that we never are.

Caring for the Planet

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What is it with people and litter? What makes a person drop newspapers, food wrappers, beverage cans or plastic bags on the ground or throw them out of car windows as they drive along the street? What gives some people the idea, if indeed they are capable of forming ideas, that they can just discard their rubbish wherever they want to?

It’s bad enough seeing garbage blowing around the countryside and perhaps even worse in  towns and cities, where rubbish bins, placed on most street corners for that very purpose, are simply ignored – try working that one out. It’s bad enough too to see the mess that responsible, decent  people have to contend with but what is far worse, for me, is witnessing the effect on our planet and the other animals with whom we share it.
Two things prompted this blog.  Firstly, whilst sharing an ocean side picnic with my girlfriend on a lovely sunny day over the weekend, I heard a clattering sound and looked up to see a large lizard shaking a Fanta orange can around. At first I thought that he was having a bit of fun but then quickly realised that he’d got his head stuck and was trying to shake it free. He was suffocating. I tried to gently remove his head  but it wouldn’t budge and his efforts became more frantic.
I rushed back to my car to grab my diver’s knife to at least puncture the can and give him some air hoping that I wouldn’t be too late to save him. Fortunately, whilst I was gone he managed to extricate himself and survived. Not so the little lizard in another can dumped nearby. He had fallen or climbed into the can and had drowned in the remnants of somebody’s drink.
The second thing was watching two beautiful turtles swimming in the ocean yesterday, having read an earlier account of how they, like so many creatures in our oceans, suffer from our disgraceful habits. The story I read told of how a turtle had been washed up on a local beach, close to death and of how, when the local vet carried out an emergency operation, he found a plastic bag in the poor creature’s stomach. The story had a happy ending since this turtle survived, unlike the thousands of turtles, dolphins, small whales and other creatures who die agonising deaths each year as they mistake our discarded plastic bags for jelly fish and other food.
There are so many more examples of our selfish and wanton behaviour both on land and sea and it all makes sad reading. When are we going to learn how lucky we are to inhabit this truly beautiful and wonderful planet? A planet that we share with millions of other creatures, all with an equal right of occupancy. We are only here for a short period of time and surely it isn’t too much to ask that, in that time, we look after our world? Not just  for the sake of the oceans, rain forests, deserts and jungles and all the creatures that inhabit them but for the sake also of succeeding generations of our fellow man.

More Euro Madness

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Earlier this week it was announced that Latvia, which joined the European Union in 2004, has successfully applied to join the Eurozone meaning that, as of January 1st 2014 the Euro will become that country’s new currency. They will thus become the 18th member of the Eurozone and one cannot help but wonder why. Why would they want to adopt a currency that has been plagued by controversy and chaos throughout its relatively short life and is seemingly doomed to end in disaster?

Actually, “they” does not mean Latvia as a whole since only 38% of the country voted in favour of the Euro. Still, as we all know, the European Union is no friend of democracy and once European bureaucrats decide to do something they usually get their way no matter what the electorate may think or desire. So no surprises there.
The big concern however is that many international economic experts doubt whether Latvia has actually fulfilled all the relevant criteria for membership of the Eurozone (shades of Greece here) so what on earth are they thinking of? Are they not inviting further trouble?
If I were one of the 62% of Latvians opposed to the Euro I would be pretty miffed to put it lightly. I wouldn’t for the life of me be able to understand why my Prime Minister wholeheartedly and enthusiastically voted to be part of a club whose members are suffering from record unemployment and national debt. I would wonder why my country would want to join the other lemmings as they hurtle towards the cliff’s edge.

No, this European madness shows no sign of abating, and even though the United Kingdom will undoubtedly suffer when the Euro and ultimately the Union itself collapses, I still thank our former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, for refusing to allow the UK to adopt the Euro back in the late 1990s.

The British Lions

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For rugby union fans there are few better sights than the British Lions taking on one of the southern hemisphere giants every four years. This week sees the start of the Lions’ tour of Australia, which they last toured twelve years ago. For the players this represents the pinnacle of their careers and the anticipation will reach a climax when the first team steps out to meet the Australian national team for the first of three tests later this month. Yes, this is rugby union at its finest. It’s such a pity that it’s tainted by political correctness.

You will have noticed how I made reference to the British Lions rather than the modern “British and Irish Lions”. This is no disrespect to Ireland, who consistently produce some of the finest players in the world despite their relatively small population. The British Lions were, and are still, chosen from the best rugby union players in the British Isles, a geographical term as opposed to political or nationalist. The British Isles comprise Great Britain, Ireland, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands and many others. In total there are well over 6,000 individual  isles. 
However, it was decided in 2001 that this was unfair to the independent and sovereign Republic of Ireland and so the British Lions became the British and Irish Lions. This was nothing more than political correctness and an example of bored liberal bureaucrats sticking their oar in something that neither concerned them nor seemed to bother anyone else. Certainly, I personally have never met any Irishmen who objected to the name British Lions since they were fully aware that the word “British” was simply a geographical and factual reference to the islands which we all share rather than a slight on their own nation. It is for this reason that many people will continue to refer to the Lions as the British Lions.
Taking the politically correct argument further, shouldn’t the Lions’ title be extended to embrace the other nations who take part? Why should the term British be used to cover Wales, Scotland and England and nobody else? Shouldn’t they correctly be called the Welsh, Irish, Scots and English Lions (the W.I.S.E. Lions, now there’s a thought!). And what if the tour party includes players of Manx or Channel Islands extraction? Shouldn’t the title be extended to include them as well? Clearly this is ludicrous but no more so than the current name.
Rugby union like all sport should be a joyous celebration of skill, strength, athletic prowess and the exuberance of life itself. It has and never should have anything to do with politics and should certainly not be corrupted by political correctness. So come on you Irish, Welsh, Scots and English, come on you Lions, come on you British Lions! Have a great tour and make us all proud to be a part of the British Isles!

Chinese Dating

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According to news reports earlier this week, there’s evidently something of a crisis in China at the moment. The problem is that Chinese youngsters are struggling to form relationships and have even forgotten how to ask somebody out on a date. In response, dating classes have been set up where youngsters attend, sometimes accompanied by their parents, in the hope of finding romance. I know, it’s pretty hard to believe. Boy meets girl and, summoning up a bit of nerve, asks her if she would like to accompany him to the cinema, concert, pub, football match. Anything would do, it’s just a case of using your imagination.

Try as many lines as you can with as many girls as you can, nine may turn you down but the tenth time could be lucky and you’ve pulled! Well, that’s how I remember it anyway.  Who knows nowadays though? Things have changed so much and the art of conversation seems to be dying, so obsessed are kids with texting, playing with their smart-phones, laptops, ipods, ipads, x-boxes and goodness knows what else. Frankly, they haven’t got the time to bother with practicing and developing their social skills, hence the rise of internet dating, I suppose.
In China, I suspect it’s something rather different. Seventy years of stifling Communist rule and propaganda, the universal wearing of brown overalls, classroom worship of the Party and the showing of obeisance to some chubby little bald-headed bloke with a red star on his smock have undoubtedly had a detrimental effect on the normal development of Chinese children.
I wonder though, can it really be as bad as all that. Have the Chinese somehow lost the ability to love? Have they lost the natural and normal attraction that exists and has always existed between the sexes? Well, according to the last world census, there are now over one billion Chinese world-wide so the little blighters must be doing something right!

Dog Food

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In spite of a worldwide moratorium on the hunting of great whale species Iceland is evidently set to resume commercial whaling next month. The target catch is the fin whale, the second largest mammal on the planet after the blue whale. The fin whale is listed as an endangered species and is stated by many experts as being close to extinction, though that is clearly of no consequence to either the Icelandic government or their main customer, Japan.

In the absence of any alternative human food source perhaps the hunting of whales would be understandable. Perhaps, though that is certainly not the case here. I may be mistaken, but I cannot recall any headlines relating to starving multitudes in either Iceland or Japan, can you?
The most sickening part of this story is the fact that the leading buyer of the whale meat is a company called Michinoku Farms, a Japanese company which specialises in the production of dog snacks. Apparently, affluent Japanese like to demonstrate their wealth by buying unusual and exotic foodstuffs for their pets and, in Japan, whale meat fits the bill perfectly.
We may be the most intelligent species on the planet but our intelligence is more than matched by our vanity and vacuity.

Paying the Price

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The brutal and savage hacking to death of a non-uniformed soldier in broad daylight on a London high street  has sickened and shocked all of us. Viewing Wednesday’s news coverage was like watching something from a grotesque horror film. The fact that one of the two murderers, literally dripping with the blood of his victim, spoke clearly and calmly into the smart phone camera of a witness made it all the more surreal and chilling.

The fact that he went on to state that none of us are safe firmly rammed home the threat of Islamic terrorism far more than any amount of televised footage of atrocities in Afghanistan or Iraq could ever do. This was far more shocking than the anonymous planting of bombs in the London attacks of July 7th, 2005. This demonstrated, for all to see, just  how far those who hate our country and our way of life are prepared to go.
The welfare of its citizens is the top priority of any civilised state and our Prime Minister must surely be aware of that. He must abandon his brazen attempts to court popularity and win voters, such as his recent promotion of gay marriage, and concentrate his mind instead on dealing with the real issues  facing the country.
For too long the United Kingdom has been too tolerant of alien cultures, welcoming into our midst religious bigots and fanatics who have no place in a civilised society. Our liberal rulers have told us to accept and even embrace cultures and religions that, in truth, are a throwback to the Dark Ages. Cultures, for example, where women have no rights and are treated as mere chattels. If we have raised any objection we have been dismissed as reactionary or intolerant. Well, we are now paying the price of that foolish and misguided tolerance. Now the chickens have come home to roost.
We are threatened by an enemy blinded by fanaticism, devoid of morality and unhindered by the restraints that are an integral part of decent normal human beings. We must confront and eradicate that enemy or, like a latter day decadent Rome with the Barbarians at the gate, we will suffer the consequences of our neglect. 

Syria – Leave Well Alone.

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As the Syrian rebellion continues to worsen and reports of atrocities dominate our news bulletins, the temptation for the West to intervene grows stronger by the day. They must not.  No matter how disturbing the news from Syria, and it doesn’t get much worse than the footage of a rebel cutting out and apparently eating the heart and liver of a Syrian army soldier, the West must look at all and any alternatives to military intervention.

In truth, the West should do nothing, since the struggle is quite clearly a matter for the United Nations. It was for crises such as this that the UN was set up but its continued prevarication and impotence are there for all to see. All eyes therefore turn towards the world’s leading power, the USA, since, as the strongest country on the planet, it naturally falls upon them to be the world’s policeman as it did the British in the 19thcentury.
On this occasion President Obama’s caution is a good thing since a hasty American intervention in yet another struggle between an Arab government and hard line Islamic fundamentalists would have extremely dangerous repercussions for the West. The West has enough on its plate in the war against terror without throwing more fuel on the fire.
The Syrian President Assad may well be a wicked dictator but maybe it’s a case of better the devil you know. If the rebels were to succeed and the West made attempts to introduce democracy the chances are that those attempts would fail, as they nearly always do in Middle East and other places where democratic government is a totally alien concept. The chances are that the void would then be filled by organised and fanatical Muslim zealots. The West cannot afford another hostile Middle Eastern Islamic state so the sensible approach has to be to leave well alone. Iraq and Afghanistan have surely demonstrated the wisdom in that.

Prejudice or Political Correctness?

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If there’s one thing that rankles more than most in these days of excessive liberalism and political correctness it’s the rank hypocrisy and double standards of those in positions of power, whether it be politicians, trades union bosses or leaders of our professions.

Last month the Law Society Gazette reported that leaders of six of the solicitors’ “black, Asian and minority ethnic groups” have written to the Justice Secretary demanding an immediate investigation into the “continuing number of disproportionate investigations into solicitors from minority backgrounds”. Basically, they feel that their members, non-whites, are being victimised.
As a regular reader of the Law society Gazette I can confirm that there often do seem to be a large and indeed “disproportionate” number of non traditional English names listed among those disciplined for fraud, money-laundering, stealing clients’ money, dipping their fingers in the till or whatever.  In fact, sometimes you’d be forgiven for thinking that ethnic minorities comprised the majority of the legal profession so prominent and numerous are their names in the disciplinary lists.
My understanding is that the guilty are either exposed by the complaints of their victims or by random Law Society checks. However, just to ensure that the system is fair to all, I agree that there should be a full and open independent investigation into the problem. Following the conclusion of that  investigation the results should be published without censor or doctoring so that the truth is there for all to see.
The investigation of crime should always be free from prejudice and the duty of the police or any investigative body,  must simply be to find the guilty and bring him or her to justice. Race, nationality, sex or skin-colour are irrelevant and in a democratic society all must be dealt with equally. Where there is crime deal with it and bring the perpetrators to justice whoever they may be. Sometimes crime statistics may well prove to be unpalatable but denial and allegations based on politically correct thinking are not going to change the facts.

Another Rip-0ff

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I sold my car recently and naturally rang up my insurers, Performance Direct, to request that the insurance cover be ended forthwith. In response they kindly informed me that they were not going to request any further money from me for cancellation. What? I thought, of course you’re not! I’m cancelling the policy and you are required to do nothing further since you are no longer at risk! I don’t expect to make a payment to my local supermarket simply because I decide I no longer wish to buy my fruit and vegetables from them. However, it doesn’t work like that, does it?

No, these days, where stifling bureaucracy and incompetence reign and common sense takes a back seat, it’s not a simple case of putting a line through the policy or noting that it is cancelled. It has to be far more elaborate than that. They told me that there is a standard £50 cancellation fee – just for making a note that cover is no longer required!  Surely just one word written on the policy would do –“Cancelled”!
When they sent me written confirmation they indicated that there was a refund due of £64 but of that, £50 was a cancellation fee and the remaining £14, referred to as “insurance return premium” was retained as “clawback commission”. I could have kicked up a fuss but I have no doubt that the small print covers it perfectly in their favour. Besides, why waste energy banging my head against a brick wall.
I sold my motorbike recently too and the response of the nationally based brokers, Bennetts, was similar. I was made to feel grateful that instead of receiving a refund of £40, or whatever it would be, I should be grateful that I’m not going to be charged – for cancelling my own policy! It really does take the breath away!
Of course, I can understand their reluctance to make refunds, in the same way that I can understand why insurance premiums are on the rise year after year. Honest folk are simply paying the price for the culture of cheating and dishonesty where, each year, hundreds of thousands of policy holders make false or inflated claims against their policies. I understand it but it still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.