LET’S BE HONEST – our interest in politics is at an all-time low, which is reflected in increasingly poor turn-outs at the polls. In contrast, France has just elected a new president with a poll of 85 per cent. This is largely due to the clear alternative policies of the main candidates. And ironically, the winner was not the most popular politician, but the one that offered strong leadership qualities and tough measures to deal with the increasing problems of immigration and the ‘work shy’. The one who intends to reward hard-working patriots and will not hesitate to wheel out the water canon to quell rioting youngsters who promote social unrest and anarchy.
This man is obviously no ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ and undoubtedly faces a difficult task ahead if he is to force through his reforms, but the election result giving him 53 per cent of the vote from such a high turn-out clearly shows he has the backing of the majority of the electorate.. Only time will tell of course if he has the ability to follow up his rhetoric with firm actions and we this side of the Channel will observe events with interest.
If only we here had the opportunity to differentiate between our own politicians, then perhaps we would see a revival in our own political system and take more of an interest in who leads us. Above all else, we need someone who will have the courage and conviction to put the interests of the British people first and foremost. Vive la France – long live Britannia.
I HAVE RAISED THIS QUESTION BEFORE. Why in these racially sensitive times should there be a separate Black Police Association? More importantly, why should the Home Office fund it with an annual grant which so far has amounted to £673,000 of taxpayers money? Any other trade union – for that’s what it is – has to rely on its members subscriptions and private donations for financial support. So this surely has to be a case of positive discrimination and does little to foster good relations and the morale of their rank and file white colleagues. Or for that matter, the long-suffering taxpayer.
I’M JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY. Once again Prince Harry is seen leaving a London nightclub in the early hours, the worse for too many ‘Crack Baby’ cocktails. I’ve always had some sympathy for him, mainly for the way he and his brother William lost their mother in tragic circumstances at such a young age. But he’s a Sandhurst trained army officer now and should behave in a way that sets an example to his men. At the moment he is a very bad one. How can he possibly discipline his subordinates for their behaviour, when his own is so questionable?
And his brother Prince William, whose own drinking sessions appear to be increasingly boisterous, is reported to have spent an evening at a Bournemouth nightery, that ended with him inviting a female companion and her friends back to his officers mess at three in the morning. I have to ask if this is the way things are in today’s army, because it is a far cry from the disciplined regime of the 50’s. If you then arrived back at barracks in the early hours, in a state of intoxication and a lady on each arm, you would have had to run the gauntlet of the sentries, the guard commander, the provost sergeant and the duty officer, before reaching the Mess. And the following morning you would be facing the commanding officer – after receiving some ‘friendly advice’ from the feared RSM.
Come on Harry (and William); show us you are really serious about holding the Queen’s Commission and get a grip on your social activities and personal behaviour. Had you been an officer in the 50’s you would not have had the stamina to club-it until 3 am, then take Muster Parade at 6.30 am, as well as taking your turn on the night duty roster. I am genuinely concerned about standards in the armed services and question if the high casualty rates in Iraq and Afghanistan have anything to do with poor training and leadership? Hopefully this is not the case..
ANOTHER BANDWAGON has been devised to give the work-shy yet another excuse not to work. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), has called for employers to allow people time off to attend anti-smoking courses.
I suggest the slogan for the campaign should be ‘Stop Smoking – Stop Working’.
Hopefully this ridiculous idea will soon go up in smoke and the acronym NICE is changed to STUPID!
IN 1875 Disraeli introduced the Public Health Act, giving householders the right to have their refuse collected at least once a week. It has to be admitted that local authorities are under increasing pressure from central government, which imposes punishing landfill taxes that eventually impacts on council tax payers – and this raised £786 million for the Treasury last year. All in the interest of combating Global Warming they say!
How rotting vegetation in householders bins rather than buried in the ground can improve the climate, is beyond most rational thinking I suspect. Surely not another government lie – like Iraq? It’s not enough that our hospitals are now breeding grounds for deadly viruses – we now face the prospect of the return of the Plague in our own homes. How long before black crosses are painted on front doors and the once familiar cry from the Middle Ages “Bring Out Your Dead” returns to haunt us in the 21st century?
THE FAT HEADS ARE OUT OF CONTROL. When the Reverend W. Awdry published his childrens’ stories in 1945, he would have no idea that one of the central characters would become a controversial figure some sixty years later.
A zoo park in East Sussex installed a Thomas The Tank Engine train and wishing to make it authentic in every detail to the original books, they advertised the position of the Fat Controller. Now you can’t actually do that without using the word FAT, so I think you can guess what happens next. The zoo park owners were advised this would be illegal under our ridiculous politically-correct laws. They would only avoid accusation of discrimination if they advertised at the same time for a THIN Controller – even though thousands of young fans would not recognise such a character.
The only way we are going to defeat this utterly unacceptable nonsense whenever it arises, is to defy it and ignore it. If this does nothing else, it will expose the small-minded, under-employed ‘jobsworths’ who will have to attend court to prosecute their case and risk becoming a public laughing-stock as they scurry away shielding their faces from the flashbulbs and rotten tomatoes they so richly deserve.
PEACE IN OUR TIME. I never thought I’d see the day when Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness would be side-by-side sharing a joke. And I have to admit to feeling somewhat uncomfortable about such a scene. My thoughts were with the many innocent victims who have lost their lives through the stubborn intransigence of these politicians, who could have reached agreement many years earlier. Even now, I am sceptical that the IRA continues to refuse to hand over its illegally held weapons, though they have declared a permanent cease-fire. If this is genuine, why do they need to retain their weapons? But like all conflicts, this one had to eventually be brought to a conclusion and we must be magnanimous in wishing the new Provincial Assembly every success.
And how clever of Tony Blair to time this historic event to coincide with his resignation announcement and therefore claim the glory by making it his personal swan-song. He never misses a trick, even to the last.
MORE SILLY NONSENSE from the ‘experts’. Scientists claim we are walking ten per cent faster than ten years ago, with the average pedestrian moving at 3.5 mph. It now takes one second less to travel sixty feet than it did in 1997. And they warn that those who walk the quickest have a higher risk of a heart attack, which completely contradicts the universal advice given to heart patients, where cardiologists insist on a brisk daily walk to aid recovery.
Professor Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire measured the walking speed of pedestrians in 34 cities around the world in reaching his mind-boggling conclusion. Little wonder that many people are taking the ‘experts’ dire warnings on climate change with a pinch of proverbial salt. We must dispel the myth that any ‘expert’, particularly one called Wiseman, must surely be right about everything and I suggest a trip to the Job Centre to find alternative useful employment would be of greater benefit to mankind. Perhaps a walk-on part in a revival of John Cleese’s Ministry of Silly Walks!
REMEMBER HOW THIS PAPER again criticised local schools for causing parents a dilemma by suddenly deciding to close because of one day of mild snow in February? Well now the National Union of Teachers’ has warned that staff will walk out if temperatures go above 26˚C. I hope teachers don’t demean their profession further and cause parents more problems by such selfish action. We don’t have to look very far to understand why discipline in the classroom has broken down – and it’s not every parent who is to blame. Workers in foundries, repairing roads and baking the daily loaf will quite rightly have very little sympathy for these wimps.
FOOTNOTE: Does this mean they will be cancelling their extensive summer holidays in Benidorm, in case they become overheated?
THIS IS A SCENARIO that would be fitting for a mystery story by Agatha Christie and would engage the little grey cells of her celebrated Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The game of cricket has been shattered by recent events; first the alleged ball-tampering scandal by the Pakistan national team, leading to the dismissal of one of our top umpires; then the fall from grace of one of England’s best all-rounders’ after being drunk in charge of a pedalo; and much more seriously, the murder of the Pakistan team coach whilst on tour in the West Indies. “It is, how you say mon ami – a great tragedy”. How anyone can suggest cricket is boring after this, is beyond me.
THE MOST ICONIC STEAMSHIP IN HISTORY – the Titanic, took around three hours to sink. HMS Great Britain has taken considerably longer – ten years to be precise. Wherever you look; education, law and disorder, the NHS, roads and transport, the police, school discipline, manufacturing industry, the prison service, immigration – we are all paying a heavy price for the demise of what were once our national treasures.
Shouldn’t our captain emulate the heroic behaviour of the Titanic’s Captain Smith and remain with his sinking ship? Or is this the fate reserved only for the rest of us, whilst the senior officer takes to a lifeboat and escapes to a lucrative happy ever after future?
THE NHS remains in crisis, despite an estimated £92 billion being spent on it in the coming year. Not surprising when you learn that around half of the extra money pumped into it in 2005/06 went into salaries. This of course should satisfy the campaigners who have lobbied for many years for better pay for hospital employees, but I suspect that they will not be satisfied that the lion’s share of this additional money has gone to the top earners. What about the patients you may well ask? Well the BMA, representing the highest paid recipients of our cash has the nerve to warn us that rationing of services in the NHS will be inevitable.
It’s not only the utility companies that have ‘fat cats’. We can now apply this soubriquet to those at the top of the medical profession, who whilst being better paid than ever before, offer us less service. If you don’t believe this, try calling out your GP on a Saturday night.
The NHS is appointing a Head of Diversity, Equality and Human Rights, on a grand salary of £75,000. I wonder if his or her remit will include patients’ rights, such as the right to be protected from deadly bugs whilst in hospital?
HOW MANY TIMES do I need to remind our politicians and media commentators that inflation only goes in one direction – UP. The opposite is DEFLATION.