This weekend, whilst enjoying a rare moment of repose on the sofa, circumstance had it that an episode of the ITV series Heartbeat appeared on the television; and having previously challenged a bottle of post dinner Pinot Grigio to a contest…and having lost, I sat back sleepily to enjoy the show.
Watching this nostalgic vignette of times past, I couldn’t help but reflect that even right up to my own pre-teen years, this was a fairly accurate portrayal of how policemen and policing used to be; I also started wondering as to how things had got so bad now, that the opposite picture of the Police is now true.
November 20th, 2007
Biz
Ah…democracy…that magical panacea for the worlds ills. Seldom does a day go by without someone using democracy to justify some sort of incursion into another persons or another nations business. “Don’t you believe in democracy?” they ask, whilst bringing some hapless democracy bereft primitive, a goodly dose of democracy at the barrel of an M16.
The truth is, that were we to stop mindlessly chanting this ridiculous mantra of blanket justification (for what cannot be, or is not currently justified by democracy?) and actually use our minds for a millisecond, then we would quickly realise that NO, we don’t really believe in democracy. Why? Well, the fact is that in a TRUE democracy, 51% of the people can do away with the rights and wishes of the other 49%.
November 19th, 2007
Biz
When I was a kid, it was a standing joke that old folk never wanted to go into hospital for anything because they thought that once there, they were never going to come out alive. The truth at that time was that the NHS was at its zenith and you could probably not receive better treatment anywhere else in the world. The old timers fears were just out of date recollections of life in the 1920’s and 30’s when this was probably true.
What a strange world we live in…fast forward to the 21st century and the converse is true; the NHS is at its nadir and if, in some misguided recollection of times past, you imagine that you will be treated successfully, you will probably end up discharged… in a hearse!
November 17th, 2007
Biz
Now I quite like Wales; it brings to mind women wearing long skirts and those funny tall hats with buckles. You can almost imagine them walking along with those wooden yokes carrying pails of water, clogs sparking upon the cobblestones as they wend their way up steep streets, until they finally reach their destination. Emptying their loads into a tin tub, they prepare a bath for their industrious husbands, whom upon arrival, divest themselves of their coal-dust laden jacket and flat cap and proceed to wash off the residue of the day’s hard toil.
November 16th, 2007
Biz
Am I in a minority of one, or has anyone else come to the conclusion that the Government’s publicity of the domestic terror threat is a complete load of bollo*ks designed to panic the general population into acquiescing to their ever expanding range of unprecedented and draconian laws…laws that are ostensibly aimed at Muslims, but will, no doubt, before too long be used against the rest of us?
Let’s look at some of the Government’s proclamations on the threat so far:
November 15th, 2007
Biz
I must admit to having been somewhat nauseated by the sight of Gordon Brown attending a ‘white tie’ dinner at London’s Guildhall yesterday. Now I do not bear Mr Brown any personal ill will; it is just that the sight of a British Prime Minister once again making grovelling speeches about our special relationship with the United States and generally ‘kissing American a*se’ was pitiful to watch.
November 13th, 2007
Biz
Death is good for you…well almost. At least that is what the CO of York Garrison seemed to be saying to us on a cold, dark, rainy and windy day back in 1988. I remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday; I had just volunteered to go on a ‘top rope and abseiling’ instructors course…which actually made little sense for me, as I have always been mortally afraid of heights.
November 12th, 2007
Biz
The time draws near for Remembrance Day; commemorated on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month…the exact moment of the armistice heralding the cessation of the Great War in 1918. At this time we, of course, remember all of our fallen servicemen whose lives were tragically ended.
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Lest we forget
. November 10th, 2007
Biz
I notice with great alarm, that for some reason, there is a real dearth of people wearing Remembrance Day Poppies this year. To me this is inexplicable …and unforgivable!
It would be bad enough if this despicable phenomenon were restricted to youngsters, but what seems outrageous to me, is that even the over 25’s have abandoned this simple mark of respect. Now anyone in this age bracket should have Poppy Day ingrained into their psyche. From the age of 4 until I left school, I could always be sure of two events; the annual Poppy Day collection and the annual Queen Alexandra Pink Rose collection. Although contributions were not compulsory, everyone seemed to automatically sense that it was the correct thing to do, to participate in these great traditions…and they were right!
November 9th, 2007
Biz
Recent events in the financial markets and, in fact, empirical evidence from the High Street, all point to a marked slowdown in the economy, if not an impending recession. The main trigger for this turn of events has been the fallout from the sub prime lending fiasco, but at a much deeper level is symptomatic of the buy today, pay tomorrow mentality that has become prevalent in the past two decades.
November 8th, 2007
Biz
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