Friday 6 November 2009

Perhaps Gavin is the best messenger to portray what would appear to be a programme aimed at promoting ten bob fat cat propaganda concerning the war in Afghanistan. Of course the ex-defence chiefs are going to call for increased involvement in the war. More helicopters, more equipment, more troops equals a bigger welfare state for the stock market parasites.

On the brighter side at least it looks like an alleged climate deal at Copenhagen is off for at least a year. Copenhagen is just an excuse for one massive stock market parasite investment scam robbing from the relatively poor to give to the rich eco-fascist promoters, no chance of any sustainable alleged " green jobs " apart from a few wealthy parasites fraudulently carbon trading. Eco-fascism is a greater threat to our relative basic human rights, ( to keep warm, dry and have a full belly ) the right to " free movement " within the UK than alleged Muslim fundamentalism and the terrorist threat will ever be. Climate Change is probably almost all down to Sun Spot activity, CO2 is a minor detail, perhaps only " man's fingerprint ". The earth has got cooler overall more recently, look what a crap summer we had this year, worst winter in living memory in NZ, ice storms on the north coast of the north island.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

THE LABOUR GOVT's NEGLIGENT DEFENCE SPENDING & PLANNING PRACTICES DURING THE LAST 12-YEARS HAS BADLY DAMAGED ALL OF THE UK's ARMED FORCES BRANCHES-

PART 2:

DUE TO HIGHLY DANGEROUS LABOUR GOVT ECONOMIZING & DESIGN INTERFERENCE, THE PLANNED NEW AIRCRAFT CARRIERS FOR THE ROYAL NAVY ARE AT RISK OF BEING INTERNATIONAL JOKES!!:

In another of what is over-a-one-decade-long pattern of Labour govt attempts to very dangerously economize on Defence-spending, the planned new aircraft carriers- each intended to be more than 3 times as large as the RN's current 20,000 tonne carriers- are to be constructed without 'outer layer' airborne threat defensive weapons and without armour:

https://www.naval-technology.com/projects/cvf/ -

".... A number of protective measures such as side armour and armoured bulkheads proposed by industrial bid teams have been deleted from the design in order to comply with cost limitations...."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1100714/The-4billion-Airfix-Kit-Behind-scenes-Britains-biggest-warships.html :

"... Money has also been saved in side armour protection, though (Simon Knight, the project's Platform Design Director) insists this was a strategic** rather than a budgetary issue...

(**what kind of responsible 'strategy' would support building warships without armour??)

"(Simon Knight stated) 'The CVF’s first line of defence is the frigates and the new Type 45 destroyers around us,' he adds....

"'Our only self-defence is close-in weapons systems (IE: 25-year old 'inner layer' Phalanx machine guns- rvl) and small guns...

"'Instead, what you have on the ship is 36 of the most lethal aircraft ever made.'..."

(... aircraft whose designed-capabilities DO NOT include protecting warships from incoming anti-ship missiles...)

Is the value*** of a sunk aircraft carrier or two less than the finanacial cost of properly constructing & competently equipping these warships??

(*** in pounds, lives-lost and the UK's diminished national stature on the world stage)

If warship armour and inner layer as well as outer layer airborne threat defensive weapons weren't vitally important and necessary for modern aircraft carriers to have, again, why would other first world countries'- such as the US, Japan, S. Korea, France, and even Italy- be investing many, many millions of pounds in armour and airborne threat defences for their navies' aircraft carriers??

https://www.military-today.com/navy/improved_nimitz_class.htm :

"... These (US Navy 'Improved Nimitz' class supercarriers) were completed with Kevlar armour over their vital areas and have improved hull protection arrangements..."

"The Kevlar armour has been retrofitted to the earlier carriers, as have many of the advanced systems built into the newer ships..."

https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/uss-theodore-roosevelt-headed-into-midlife-overhaul-02810/ :

Note the text-

"... Under this order, the USS Theodore Roosevelt will receive 2 MK29 MOD 4 ESSM ORDALT Kits, and 4 Solid State Transmitter (SSTX) MK73 MOD 3 ORDALT Kits. ORDnance ALTeration kits allow ships to swap out their older RIM-7 Sea Sparrow air defense missile systems for the RIM-162 ESSM, which is designed to deal with modern anti-ship missiles...."

"... This particular order also includes 2 more MK29 MOD 4 ESSM ORDALT Kits for use on LHD ships****..."

(**** the US Navy's 'medium-sized', 43,000-48,000 tonne aircraft carriers:

https://www.news.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=400&ct=4

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/lhd-8.htm - RVL )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_George_H.W._Bush_%28CVN-77%29 :

Note the text-

".... Armament:

"... 2 × Mk 29 ESSM launcher & 2 × RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile..."

https://www.naval-technology.com/projects/cvn-21/ :

Note the text-

"... Weapons:

"... The carrier will be armed with the Raytheon evolved Sea Sparrow missile (ESSM), which defends against high-speed, highly manoeuvrable anti-ship missiles. The close-in weapon system is the rolling airframe missile (RAM) from Raytheon and Ramsys GmbH...."

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/cvn-78-specs.htm :

Note the text-

"... Armament:

"•Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile
•Rolling Airframe Missile
•CIWS ..."

https://www.naval-technology.com/projects/cvn-21/cvn-213.html

https://www.naval-technology.com/projects/cvn-21/cvn-214.html :

"... (The G Ford class supercarrier) CVN 21 will be armed with the Raytheon Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM), which defends against high-speed, highly manoeuvrable anti-ship missiles...."

In addition to not being nuclear powered, having no fixed-wing aircraft launch catapults*****, close to non-existant damage-control systems- IE: no armour, and not being fitted with airborne threat ship self-defense weapons needed to deal with modern, widely marketed Anti Ship Cruise Missiles (ASCM's), such as the Russian "sizzler" SS-N-27... it's been reported recently that 1 of the 2 planned 'mega-carriers' planned for delivery to the RN will not be able to be utilized for any aircraft types except for helicopters:

"Latest Defence Fiasco: I See No (Warships)":

https://www.spectator.co.uk/alexmassie/5473496/latest-defence-fiasco-i-see-no-ships.thtml

"Royal Navy to get two carriers - but only one air group?":

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/26/carriers_but_no_aircraft_plan/

"Royal Navy could be forced to build aircraft carrier which doesn't carry planes":

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1222879/Royal-Navy-forced-build-aircraft-carrier-doesnt-carry-planes.html

"Navy surrenders one new aircraft carrier in budget battle":

https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6888962.ece

(***** Why do catapults matter?

(Catapults are necessary for Aircraft Carriers to be able to embark, launch & recover a variety of the most versatile & capable types of fixed-wing aircraft, such as Airborne Early Warning & Control (AWACS) types:

(E-2D Hawkeye: The (U.S.) Navy’s New AWACS-

https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/e-2d-hawkeye-the-navys-new-awacs-03443/

(The RN's new carriers- as currently planned- will be restricted to Harrier type (short/vertical take off & land ) fixed-wing aircraft & helicopters- that can not duplicate even remotely the function of modern, fixed-wing AWACS...

(Without AWACS planes flying high above the respective carrier & its battle group- scanning OVER THE HORIZON for potential threats & theatre data- carriers & their support/escort ships are enormously vulnerable to low-flying (sea-skimming) incoming airborne threats such as supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM's) & aircraft...)

A 65,000 tonne 'Helicopter Carrier' planned for the Royal Navy, that, if one compares its atrociously deficient weapons and damage-control-systems and consequential impotent capabilities with that of a properly designed and built 'helicopter carrier' 1/4 of its size- Japan's recently commissioned 14,000 tonne "Hyuga" .... and then asks "which of these two warships would win in a one on one battle?"... it becomes obvious that Labour is again selling out the country and its future for a few votes in Scottish Ministers' constituency seats...

"Japan Launches (Aircraft) Carrier... Sorta":

https://www.defensetech.org/archives/003686.html -

"... The Hyuga... will carry an Aegis-type air defense system, with the U.S.-developed AN/SPY-1 multi-function radar; her principal "weapons" armament will be 64 advanced ESSM-type Sparrow missiles... "

"... She will also be fitted with two 20-mm Phalanx "Gatling" guns for close-in defense against anti-ship missiles, and she will have six tubes for anti-submarine torpedoes...."

https://www.janes.com/news/defence/naval/jni/jni090424_1_n.shtml

https://defense-update.com/products/h/hyuga_250409.html -

"... Hyuga is equipped with 16 Mk41 VLS (Vertical Launch System) cells (each cell carries and can launch 4 ESSM-type Sparrow missiles- rvl) for anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles and accommodates two 20mm Phalanx anti-missile cannon and two triple 12.75-inch torpedo mounts for self defense...."

https://ukdf.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html :

"... Arguably the strongest indication that the JMSDF is seeking to increase blue-water capabilities is the Hyuga programme...

The UK's half-baked Aircraft Carrier project should, at the minimum be put on hold until the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) is finished its first stage...

As part of the SDR, the carrier project ought to be examined in-depth to at the least determine if a functional redesign is warrented...

Considering that for over 12-years, the UK Labour govt has refused to authorize funding for the basic maintenance AND VITAL NECESSARY WEAPONS UPGRADES of the Royal Navy's front line warships and has not directed that sufficient resources be provided for the RN- and in particular, its Air Arm- to continue conducting basic operations...

... and considering the RN's substantial capabilities' degradation during 1998-2009, is it sensible for the Labour govt to be attempting to replace the RN's comparatively small 20,000 tonne aircraft carriers- HMS Ark Royal and HMS Illustrious- with enormous 65,000 tonne mega-carriers that are, due to Labour govt cost-cutting strategies- intended to be constructed without basic ship self-defense weapons, without armour and that won't have fixed-wing fighters to embark and deploy??

Whatever party forms govt next and whoever is Minister of Defence or responsible for armed services funding and strategies/policies- they will be faced with a stark choice of:

1) allowing the continued severe degradation of the UK's military capabilities- in particular the Royal Navy; or

2) fixing today's disastrous, highly dangerous situation by reversing Labour's willfully-blind-to-consequences defence-expenditure policies 1998-2009...

In the near future, the RN and other UK armed forces branches don't just require reasonable increases in annualized funding- they also need objectively-set, responsible capability benchmarks to aim at (and updated at a minimum every 2-years)... both of which have not been provided and/or facilitated by the Labour govt during the last 12-years!!

Today, in addition to its new Type-45 Destroyers being equipped- at commissioning******- with the weapons and defensive systems required so that they can legitimately function as 'multi-mission/multi-role' Destroyers, capable of prosecuting actions and defending against threats in ALL 3 naval warfare spheres, IE: sub-surface, surface and airborne, the RN urgently requires the expedited construction of at least 14- 16 of these warships- not 6 as Labour has begrudgingly agreed to....

(****** instead of being commissioned as dangerously stripped-down models, as is currently occurring due to Labour govt economizing...)

Additionally, the RN needs- at the minimum- either:

1) its 2 operational aircraft carriers' weapons and defensive systems updated to 21st century standards- starting immediately!!;

or

2) the immediate lend-lease of 2 or 3 up-to-date, fully equipped-with aircraft/weaponry/etc replacement carriers from the US...

https://www.defense-update.com/products/l/lhd8_makin_island_200409.html

https://www.news.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=400&ct=4

These ships' serving in the RN at least until the UK commissions- with a full compliment of fixed-wing and other aircraft- UK-built aircraft carriers*******...

(******* designed with 21st century military-capabilities as a first priority, instead of cost effectiveness and 'make-work-project' political objectives dominating design decisions...)


_________________
Roderick V. Louis,
Vancouver, BC,
Canada

Théâtre du Grand-Guignol

Perhaps the most interesting feature of this artistic excess was why it died out. Was it not because after the First World War the horrors of the trenches were all so widely known and understood that the fake horrors of the small Paris Théâtre were so tame as to make then no more than a circus freak show is a World inhabited by gorgons.

I also don't really thing that the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol was just or even about laughs it is a far more complex and deeply human thing than just laughs! Throughout history drama had been used to depict the unspeakable - see Aeschylus etc. It seems that these ideas spring up again just before real life takes a turn for the worse!

I can't help thinking that are broad similarities between the tragic known actions of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, and Corporal Klinger in M.A.S.H., or Captain Blackadder in 'Goes Forth'.

Conspiracy theories will abound.
Tens of thousands if not millions of dollars will be spent on 'investigations' and expert reports.

Will the prerpetrator himself live to answer the question?
Will that answer make one iota of difference to the outcome?
Will anything change?

(BBC 'either ignorant or lazy' CENSORS:

(none of my submitted comment above (posted as "# 2. At 9:01pm on 06 Nov 2009, MrRLouis wrote... ") that 'has been referred to the moderators', ... contains copyrighted material or property which is not authorized to be posted on this web site- so rather than act to obstruct information from those that could benefit from it- do a fact check before lazily attempting to block my above comment from posting)

"... the (UK) armed forces... never really believed the prime minister was 'on their side'"....

No wonder, considering the often astonishingly evasive AND NEGATIVELY BIASED testimony from MoD officials and bureaucrats regarding defence-projects/acquisition programmes to Parliamentary oversight committees...

Such can be found in the January 15-2001 testimony of Sir Robert Walmsley and Vice Admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham to the Commons' Public Accounts committee:

https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmpubacc/136/1011503.htm

Testimony shows that there were indeed plans within the MoD to commission new Type-45 Destroyers without any sonar fitted (in addition to their many other egregious weapons deficiencies & flaws)...

Testimony also shows how dangerously outmoded the STILL IN SERVICE Sea Dart anti airborne threat system was in 2001...

One would expect that members of the MoD that were aware of hugely serious equipment capability shortfalls would have been testifying loudly for immediate rectification- not attempting to double talk committee members and improperly attempting to avoid admitting how dangerous the equipment capability shortfalls were...

Parliamentary committees ought to be receiving their defence-acquisition issue briefs from impartial bodies such as what the US uses: its Congressional Research Service:

https://www.opencrs.com

(type in a few search words like "aircraft carrier" or "navy" or "weapons progams" or "fighter aircraft"...

... and compare the wealth and scope of comparatively unbiased information being provided to US govt Congressmen & Senators about their country's defence-programmes and armed forces' capability requirements to the often drivelish, dangerously incomplete and inexcusably vague information provided to UK Parliamentary Committee MP's and Lords.... )

Sure, the armed forces don't trust the current govt... but appropriate structures that could take steps to rectify this- such as Parliamentary Committees- don't...

This, in part due to Parliamentary Committees' shoddy and far from objective sources of armed forces' related information...

Without the provision to Parliamentary Committees of unvarnished, objective and in-depth information about armed forces issues/acquisition programmes/etc- these Committees will remain at best, impotent chair warming exercises- and unable to affect blatantly improper policy decisions of a sitting govt...



__________________
Roderick V. Louis,
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Verity Murphy.

"[Gordon Brown] warned the Kabul [sic] government that he will not put UK troops "in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption", but again staunchly defended the mission, saying it is vital for UK security."

you couldn't make it up!

I don't think that the PM is in any position to moralise, 'corrupt' is the exact word that comes to mind when examining the behaviour of our MPs (regarding expenses).

#5 from mimpromptu
Brightyangthing
You've said it. What's the point of all those investigations if the thing is not stopped in the first place? The way they should go about it is precisely stopping the cause in its tracks and then concentrate on how to proceed with the perpatrator in terms of punishment, etc.
I have yet to watch Richard Watson's report and may have further things to say on the subject afterwards.

continuation of #8 from mimpromptu
but also FAO: brossen99, roger thomas and newfazermk2 = jj

Brightyangthing, it is now sixteen past six
And I'm now in less of a fix
As I've managed to finally sleep well
And am not feeling as if in hell.

Although the game has not finished yet
With the perpetrator still casting his net
I know his days are now well numbered
And he'll soon find himself lumbered

Accused of abominable crimes
And thrown into jail for a very long time
It is not only the world leaders who are now well aware
But also the streetwalkers, it is all perfectly clear.

STUFF and nonsense!
Picking up late yesterday on #29/30 from Thursdays blog, the phrases CHOICES and NATURE got me thinking. More maybe later on the NATURAL STRUCTURES as I understand the suggestion by Barriesingleton #30. Not an altogether unsympathetic hypothesis in theory at least.
But for now, CHOICES strikes me as a key aspect of some of the best and worst of modern life and its ensuing problems. Quite simply, increasingly since the late 1940’s the CHOICES first of all VISIBLE (mass media?) and then increasingly AVAILABLE (Mass manufacture/marketing) to ordinary people have increased unchecked.
Our value system (moral compass if you like) has been corrupted. We judge people on WHAT they are (what they do/have) rather than WHO they are (what they stand for – which is frequently NOTHING). Value is placed on STUFF above SUBSTANCE. I find that ineffably sad.
We SEE more STUFF. We WANT more (STUFF). We buy more (STUFF). We borrow (Credit/debt) more MONEY to buy more STUFF. We WORK more HOURS to service that DEBT. We get STRESSED by our busy lifestyles so we WANT more (STUFF). We feel guilty due to lack of FAMILY/FRIEND/PERSONAL time so we spend more MONEY on STUFF.
The environment, family life, and the course of true contentment can all be seen as casualties to some extent of this sparkly but vicious cycle.
Apparently, the Economy thrives on this cycle, but I do not believe the human spirit does. A little unfulfilled longing is, I believe, healthier than unchecked instant gratification
That wonderful TW3 sketch ‘I know my place’ comes to mind. Because increasingly, we don’t! Everything SEEMS possible but nothing is without a price. But the price is often something that only begins to be paid after you’ve handed over the MONEY and taken the STUFF home.
Beware upmarket fashion emporiums, car showrooms, holiday brochures where the price is not visible in the window. If you have to ask, chances are you cannot (SHOULD NOT) afford it.

#10 brightyangthing
Brilliant!

Afganababble

if the uk is 'not safe' from merely the 'potential' of afghanistan are we also 'not safe' from anywhere in the world where that similar potential exists [somalia, yemen etc]? If so then that is a global war without end?

long wars are wrong wars.

the guardian class is deluded by false beliefs.

is it not amazing how a few thousand people can have the majority of nation states in the world so hysterical they keep making irrational decisons?

That is what this war is. A hysteria.

from mimpromptu
I said last night that I'd write again after seeing Richard Watson's report on the Fort Hood killing. As not all the facts are quite yet known about the motivation behind the massacre, I can only make a few observations around the event.
The most obvious conclusion from this is that one can't rely on psychiatrists being in any way 'normal' people. In the medical profession as a whole they often talk about psychiatrists being mad and doing the job only to try and understand their own deep seated problems. I wouldn't go as far as that and am sure that there are normal people among psychiatrists though am not sure about the proportion of the mad as against normal within the profession.
Back in Poland I personally knew a psychiatrist who, although a wonderful friend, etc, showed signs of instability which eventually led to her premature death. I'm not sure about the exact age at which she died but she may have been only in her early sixties.
So what hope is there if delusional 'grandeurs' /i.e. semi-professed psychiatric/psychological/scientific advisers/ try and run this country? Well, we can see the results.
The other thing about the killing is that the psychiatrist did seem to have a degree of admiration for extremism whereby he would have had a lowered sense of respect for human life. And he was disturbed personally, not wanting to be transferred to Iraq. The killing doesn't help ordinary, normal, peace loving muslims and it would be useful for them and everybody else if they could start defending their own position for the world to see and hear.

from mimpromptu
I would also like to mention that the new proposals about making the Police more accountable to the UK citizens look interesting and ought to be discussed not only at Westminster but also with the society at large.

#12
you are a clever clogs, aren't you, jauntycyclist, and full of promise

#14 addendum from mimpromptu
I would suggest a similar reconsideration of the accountability of the MI6 though realise that the general public couldn't possibly get involved in direct elections, etc, of the MI6 officers.

#3

It is an issue of great national shame that we send young lads out to risk their lives with a penny pinching approach to their equipment while sytematically wasting billions on red tape and the creation of futile civil service jobs.

I am sick to death of the whole lot of the professional politician class. Real people used to be in parliament.

LABELLED WITH ?????
#13 Some interesting points.
‘.....not all the facts are quite yet known about the motivation’
It seems to me, it is increasingly part of the modern human condition to need to append a convenient label to everything; to give every activity/accident/incident some sort of value. In doing so, we give it life, breath, wings! Out of that comes a wealth of ‘expert’ analysis and understanding??? or perceived wisdom that is a seldom an answer to anything. Life/humanity is, in my limited view, both simpler and more complicated by far than something we can deconstruct to the nth degree and wrap up into convenient parcels.
In short, do we try too hard to understand the unfathomable. To attempt to unravel and analyse every minute incident that makes up an event or incident. Do we ever actually learn anything that can and will be applied to prevent future such tragedies?
We are overwhelmed by ‘isms and ologies’ (you got an ology, you’re a scientist!), by theorem and ideologies that are clung to by those practicing them, most of whom spend far too much of their intellect in over simplifying the complex, and complicating the simple. They have to in order to validate their status.
‘.... is that the psychiatrist did seem to have a degree of admiration for extremism’
A case in point here. How easy it is to see the title/label! The WHAT someone is, not who someone is. How relevant is it really what job the man did, how he was qualified? It may have bearing but by taking this as a starting point, I fear that mega bucks will be spent on ‘protecting the public’ from American Muslim psychiatrists or whatever other ‘factor’ is deemed most relevant.
Experts can be highly dangerous. We have currently debate between a variety of experts on drug dangers. We gain nothing but greater confusion and lack of clarity. The more experts we have, the more it seems we wait to be told what we should or should not do in all aspects of our lives – then promptly rail against it – smoking, alcohol, green issues, diet etc. You only have to read a new ‘expert’ report to find a raft of message boards or newspaper inches full of people decrying being told something unpalatable that we do not want to hear and less still follow, despite evidence to the good.
Then we are surprised when government ministers do the same. Pay for the advice then throw it out of the window and follow instinct/or power/vote chasing depending on your view of politics.
More on ‘experts’ perhaps later. The sun is shining, the frost has lifted. A run up the glen is in order.

#18 Brightyangthing

"The sun is shining, the frost has lifted. A run up the glen is in order."

Well thats what I'm about to do. Not run only got the all clear from the hospital last week so starting to run can wait till next week. Going to walk into town along the river though some Scottish autumn/winter woods.

#13 #18

As I posted earlier I was tortured by english police. The prosecution case was a right cheap lash up, though it didn't matter as the court wouldn't allow cross examination of the proseution or defence to give evidence.

The prosecution case was so cheap they got someone to pretend they had a medical qualification to give evidence as an independent expert. The person who the prosecution got to make up both their qualification and evidence had a history of mental illness, at the time was under treatment from their own doctor for depression, had a history of making false claims of rape and assault against men. The prosecution knew they were abusing a child, but as they were female to charge them would not be PC, so a deal was they would overlook that if they made false statements and lied in court.

The system is a joke.

#19
Not in St Andrews are you RT? Preparing to throw eggs?
Not sure how much I will be running either. More limp/lurch with a recovering torn thigh muscle. But after all the rain of recent weeks (NE Scotland) its a chance worth taking.

Expert witnesses. Another oxymoron!

Expertise - important I think to differentiate between 'science', including social science i.e. statistics, and expert opinion.

Science presents 'findings', which can be debated, especially 'social science' findings that, whilst being numeric, are ultimately derived through decisions about the numerical model/data used. But also in relation to natural science, as Celtic has pointed out, there can be differeing interpretations of the relative importance of different natural scientifc phenomena/emprical findings and their cummulative effects.

Throwing out the concept of 'an expert' has led to a culture in which all opinions are equal. This can be extremely annoying when talking to people who clearly have very little data or experience to base an opinion, on but indignantly suggest that their opinion is eqaully deserving of this 21st century lurgy we call 'risspeck'.

So, in the Nutt job case, what Nutt was presenting were emirical findings. However, the government, I believe, is entitled to argue that policy should be based on social desirability rather than toxicity if they choose to do so - of course this needs to be justified transparently to the electorate, and whether or not it is the right course of action/policy remains to be seen.

Scientific findings are quite often distorted by financial/political interests, as is the research process itself since researchers are dependent on policy-makers for their funding. This situation is set to worsen rapidly with the increasing commercialisation of universities and the insidious/corporate-driven trend to value personality over intellect (e.g. see Mandehlson's recent suggestion).

To all Scots out in the Glen, wounds and all; you lucky devils!!! :)

Celtic, I've been meaning to catch up with you. I was v. sad to hear about your twins, how tragic for you. Didn't your much loved doggy die some months ago also, or have I mistaken you for another poster? And now you say you have an injury? And what about your post above, I couldn't quite follow it, are you saying you were wrongly accused of rape?? This is awful! And all this on top of the political shenanigans over climate change! I particularly appreciated your post yesterday in which you gave details of the climate change research debacle. It is indeed a privilege to hear about the ground level goings on. Some years ago I concluded that history is made through these micro interactions (the Watson-crick syndrome one might say). That is why, as Go1 seems unable to grasp, social truths are deeply hidden in microcosmic interactions between 'actors' in corridors (and on boats). If I had not experienced a similar theft of my research (not quite on such a high level as you, but I am reasonably persuaded that 6 years of my research is being used as a basis for government policy, closely guarded by the OBN), I would have thought your post paranoid. But when strange things started happening in my colleagiate environment I began to feel as if I were starring in the movie Coma, and ever since I have had a passion for films in which the hero/ine has to negotiate reality/duplicity.

nuff said, enjoy the sun/frost while we still have it (I'm a bit confused as to whether we are warming or cooling :)

Barrie et al. police corruption, yes I believe it exists but I still believe that claiming that western democracies are 'no better than elsewhere' is a dangerous road to go down - we have made considerable reforms to legal systems over the past couple of centuries and we continue to need to make justice available to everyone not just the wealthy, and to defend and preserve common law, but western democratic legal systems are still a different ball game than those in many, many countries - have a look at the Amnesty site. Spoil Party Games maybe but Spoilt Gatecrashers too perhaps, no offence meant, just, let's build from here not knock it all down.

#18 & #21
You are bright, Brightyangthing. I shall have to reread your posts later as I'm considerably delayed with my plans for today which have somwhat changed from last night but with some elements still to happen hopefully.

#22
'....Throwing out the concept of 'an expert' has led to a culture in which all opinions are equal.'
You're right I think in as much as the term has been so loosely applied to encompass anyone with an opinion, a statistic a big mouth and a popular following.
I might suggest that what we have done systematically over recent years is more a 'dilution' rather than a throwing out.
I agree with your premise about the Nutt case and the government's perogative to reject or amend... but as you so clearly point out it requires to be clearly stated to the electorate as such. Or does it???? There's a very big question in my mind about how much justification we should demand of our elected representatives. Another topic entirely. Let's say that I agree that the populace expects, possibly led by the media, to be told ecerything that led up to decisions being made. Most of which will not be remotely understood by a large percentage of said populace.
'....This situation is set to worsen rapidly with the increasing commercialisation of universities and the insidious/corporate-driven trend to value personality over intellect'
Hmmm. Yep. Another topic again. The first I could live with to a degree (pun intended) if the numbers were tenable and the right leadership/course suitability provided. The second is a society wide malais. When the likes of Simon Cowell and Len Goodman are touted as 'experts' we are sunk.

#24
Not at all Mim. Just possess an opinionated, aging enquiring mind and a big gob! With my fledglings now desserted the nest, a little more time to indulge in debate. I know very little, but think a lot, especially with regards to the world my sons will inherit.
I also noted RT/CKL (one and the same) thought provoking comments on twins and police actions.
I know these blogs/boards are not the place for exchanges of personal information but when one hurts it bodes well for humanity that others feel empathy.
Now, having fed and watered the OH and assisted in some DIY, I SHALL undertake a lurch round the glen before darkness (and possibly more rain) descends. I am indeed lucky - though an Englishwoman (Londoner) domiciled in rural Scotland some 20 years.

#26 from mimpromptu
It's fascinating getting to know people at closer range exchanging/sharing views and emotions without the fear of threat and anything obnoxious to come one's way should they differ about this or that. It reminds of the idea of democracy although at the purely human level is just, as far as I am concerned, the basic and obvious humanity I keep banging about.

25 agreed, the distinction of dilution is correct (and actually crucial cf. the idea of a creeping influence on culture that is/was one of JJ's themes).

I'd agree that the majority of the electorate are not interested nor have the wherewithall to understand the subtleties of how policy is made or what research-led policy means. However, society is composed of a number of different sectors/communities, and policy makers have a duty to serve the needs of the whole of society not just the uneducated/unthinking majority. Thus the scientific community have the right to understand the variance between empirical findings and related policies. I agree also that this transparency need not be published in full at every juncture - rather, as in many industries, there needs to be a documented audit trail of decisions taken that is available for scrutiny should the demand arise. Election is not a free ticket to carte-blanche, to use a horribly awkard mixed metaphor :)

#27 addendum from mimpromptu
Just to explain, Brightyangthing, that although I love sharing ideas and emotions with bright people, some of them well known celebs, be they English, Polish, French or American, I frequently enjoy simple exchanges of the same with the so-called 'ordinary' not all that well educated people, usually not to their own fault, i.e. due to circumstances which they were born into, as long as they do not try to impose themselves on me in any shape or form.
I would also ask to add thta I do not mind sharp criticism as long as I am given the chance to defend myself and, if necessary, enough time to mull things over and adapt or even change my ideas, etc.

Back from a delightful walk/run/jog. Managed 3 x half mile jogs in just under 3 miles of Glen. Still lots of water lying, slippery remnants of the overnight frost in pockets the sun hasn't found. Now the sun is already sinking in a soft golden haze behind the hills.
Mim
You must move in interesting circles. I understand entirely where you are coming from and largely share your view on communication and exchanges.
I take as I find and if I find not to my liking I can put back and step away. Though my experience of mb's and blogs sadly seem to show that they can be a hunting ground for many delusional and downright unpleasant bullies, I find it best to give such people a wide berth. Doubtless they are struggling with their own demons.
It is not too difficult to allow all we share this space with the basic human courtesy of a right to their opinion.
Was it Thumper in the film Bambi who said 'if you can't say nuttin nice to no-one - don't say nuttin at all!

THERE WAS A CHAP ON THE WIRELESS (#23)

who explained, in some detail, the SCREENING of bomb disposal blokes. He said they needed to be types who 'get something' from pitting themselves, in a situation of calculated risk controlled by skill; not base jumpers and not scared over-cautious types.

Were we a more mature society, such screening could be done for ALL the professions that impinge directly on peoples lives and wellbeing. As things stand, of course, the VERY WEIRD would get into vetting the weird, and we would get nowhere. We all know of Shipman. I have known quite a few weird GPs and, more recently, our family were shafted by a VERY WEIRD social worker. (No - more weird than you are thinking - I promise you.)

It is not unlike politics (another interfering profession) - where the very weird select and distil the weird, in a chamber-pot in Westminster.
It's not going to improve in the foreseeable future . . .

CREDO (#23) (For the avoidance of doubt)

I see no way to a stable, mechanised, 'globalised' planet, unless enough of the 6+ billion are mature and philosophical. Such people do not NEED nor SEEK power, hence they can HANDLE power dextrously, if called on so to do.

Right now, those who desperately need power - achieve it. Our foul governance is so constructed as to SEEK OUT these individuals, as they are tractable and - at best - amoral. Any one session of Question Time (TV) proves my point.

To build on what we currently have, is not so much a house on sand, more a nation on dung. Is my wish to see off this mess, and to build a better life on the sound foundations of integrity and maturity, so reprehensible?

Parties sap the energy of governance (and the cash). No mature group of people, charged with governance (management) 'from scratch' would, as their first act, split into factions. Hence I say the initial step to a better Britain is to SPOIL PARTY GAMES.

THE LITTLE RED HOT BOOK OF STARE-MAN BALLS

Balls has made it clear, that marriage = civil partnership. Children are to be educated in this Truth. He has decreed sex education, starting at 5 and getting into a mandatory frenzy at 15. I suspect that this is simply a ploy to increase jobs in the toy factories of the Balls' constituency, as educational toys will need to be redesigned, offering a full range of coupling options.

Oh what a tangled Balls we weave when first we practice Jim and Steve.

#30 (6 Nov – BS)

NATURAL CHOICES
‘....I am convinced cultures only prosper if they reinforce Nature. Stereotyping might be tough on the extremities but it maintains the centre in good heart. Taboos that reinforce 'natural truths' likewise. Perversely, modern man - drastically 'aided' by modern 'man-woman' - has smashed all structure. And here we are. This had me musing in the early hours. Female with a high Yang nature I may be, ladette culture has never appealed. Another post yesterday referred to choices – see my musings #10. In the early hours I saw these two debates - Nature and Choices, intertwined
So, would that be the nature that suggests big strong masculine types hunts, fishes and shoots whilst soft fluffy giggly types stir the venison en daube (actually it’s pheasant tonight) , stitch skins into loincloths with gut and pine needles and drop appropriate number of bairns unobtrusively to follow the stereo types? (tongue firmly in cheek!)
Interesting thought and perhaps some value (awaits stoning by a group of the more radical progressive of my own tribe). I shall resist at this stage to enter into a sexual morality debate save to say that how shameful I think it is that anyone wishing to uphold peacefully and lovingly a heterosexual, 2 parent family lifestyle as perhaps the ideal is harangued as homophobic.
As for Balls, I wouldn’t be so quick to damn one man for this. The erosion of the value of the natural order in favour of a pick and mix an anything goes (CHOICES) society has been ongoing for a long time. NO politician, even the uber Conservatives with back to basics/family values are prepared to stand against the tide of opinion, as stated above. All run scared of the body of public (media/arts led??) opinion. None prepared to hold the biblical ‘hate the action, love the activist’ model up to the light.
On another angle of the debate, an interesting series on the age of glamour’ on BBC4 recently exposed the very unglamorous if one likes, turn of feminine society in the 20’s/30’s which saw the fairer sex get and like a taste of boys toys. Restricted largely in its infancy to the rich and famous, they wore boyish type clothes that freed the female form, smoked, drank and enjoyed certain activities in a way previously largely the doyen of the male of the species. It was not necessarily attractive or glamorous but has in certain quarters been portrayed as such ever since. Divisions have become blurred, species unsure of their place, all vie for the same limited resources and status.
The issue for western Christian??? Society is that it is impossible to unlearn what has been learned, restrain the liberated, cage the uncaged beast, uneducated the educated. And it is not far off impossible to encourage those who have found something they like, to step back to a time when it was not within their grasp. The wheel has been invented, fire has been tamed, the atom has been split and the boardroom and bedroom conquered by the female of the species. Vive la difference.
Perhaps us girls, whilst never truly understanding the gold standard or exchange rate mechanism(ok maybe Stephanie Flanders does)do so love kittens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS37SNYjg8w
Scoops up swishy pointy red tail and scurries back off to black lead the grate!
However, to return to the gold standard for a moment......
Some of the injustices we have our armed forces fighting against in Afghanistan are injustices that we in the west have been slowly sweeping away since the middle ages. The persona non grata of women; a man’s goods and chattels to do with as he saw fit; silenced, covered up, uneducated. Like allowing the tiger economies to grow exponentially and ‘trade’ carbon, the global implications of going back hardly bare contemplating.

The POWER of love.............. vs ............... the LOVE of Power #32
The corrupting power of power has been well documented through the ages, so I find the word ‘influence’ useful especially in my business life when ‘getting the right thing done’ is the most important outcome.
I struggle with self appointed committees and management teams who have lost sight of any objectivity and replaced it with personal status (I have said this before)
In one small (8 – 10 active members) voluntary group committed to bringing about much needed resources for a town (£5 – 7m cost) all in a voluntary capacity, our affirmation, that forms part of the objectives of the group is ‘the best way to get something done, is to NOT care who gets the credit’.
In three years we have overcome a number of hurdles, raised substantial sums of money, gained credible local business sponsors and as yet have refused to become a constituted group or business. We sit happily as a voluntary group under an umbrella local development team (who do not have such clear outcomes) and none of us wish to become exec directors, chair people or anything else once (all appendages crossed) everything is in place for the sport and social centre the community desperately needs. We do not want our names on it, to manage it or to take dividends from it. We just want to SEE it! Even if not for the benefit of our own usage or offspring.
In a variety of other small to medium voluntary organisations slowly but steadily change is being effected from ‘any volunteer is a good volunteer’ to ensuring that the right person is in the right position for the right reason. Better a vacancy or minimum committee than a top heavy power crazed theocracy.
So, in short, it IS possible to find those with the ability to remove 'self' from the desired outcome and look in from the outside objectively. They exist. But does the system to allow them to operate this way. Certainly not once an organisation grows beyond a certain size.
Currently we (personal business) are fighting councils desires (understandable in financial terms) to rationalise funding by amalgamating departments over a wide area. This has recently happened in schools also. Only to the detriment of the best practice and the customer/end user in my opinion.
Is what I am looking for, more influence for local governemnt, local elected representatives, smaller management/government bodies? perhaps. But then I am largely against the trend for devolution lest it go way too far and it's every village/street for themselves.

So, splinters in derriere it is then............

IF I COULD PUT THOSE TWO POSTS IN MY BATH, YOU'D NEVER GET ME OUT OF IT. (#34 #35)

What a pleasure to read such a 'positive tirade' (need a word there).

I think, of all the books that put 'vive' into 'vive la difference', 'Why Men Don't Iron' (also Channel 4) was probably the best.

Regarding the Harry Enfield clip - part two: I got the impression that the attractive young lady (often coupled with intelligence, for good genetic reasons) KNEW EXACTLY WHO WAS MANIPULATING WHOM. Further, not being dangerously full of testosterone (i.e. out of control) she could run the men (and any dim women) ragged. Obviously, Mrs Taliban might find it hard to influence her man's world, but Western woman has yielded to her male-wired Harriet-Harpy-Harridans, and gone all 'good-as-a-man-any-day', thereby falling between two stools of her own making.

Personally I would much rather be manipulated rotten, than alienated ragged. But then: 'I would say that wouldn't I'. (That's a clue.)

ERRATUM (my 36)

Three lines from bottom should read:

. . . THEREBY FALLING BETWEEN TWO STOOLS ON HER OWN DOORSTEP.

#35
Sorry. I thought, simple as they were, they were worthy of more than a good drowning!
What about articulation or oration or even effusion? (Thank God for Roget)
I recognise the reference to Ms Harmon – doyen of ‘all women candidate lists and the likes. I do not accept positive discrimination in any form. Manipulation in a negative way. Bad.
Makes me think of the recent US elections, when to my mind, far too much weight was placed upon the ‘first woman’ or ‘first black’ president. Surely the ONLY criteria should be the BEST president regardless of age, sex, gender, sexual preference, religion, etc...... Or am I being naive?
Parliament is not a female/feminine friendly place. That is NOT to say that women are less able than men to assimilate and process the business of government. There are those who would argue that wars would NOT happen if women ruled the world. I have, however, spent many years at various school gates. That is an opinion I do not share! In my not inconsequential experience, I have found the female of the specious to be the most vicious, thoughtless and unforgiving in nature. The wars may be different but they would NOT be fewer!
I have many female friends but engage with them on a one to one basis only. Though NOT a party animal in general I would be more than happy to reside in a moderate sized male dominated group.
OK, so the question is, WHY? Why have women taken this move and papered themselves into a hole. Not all of us are stupid and shallow.
And..........How does one instil in individuals an acceptance and indeed a glorification of said individuals strengths and weaknesses. And the fact that different is GOOD, NOT wrong. It’s about the parts making the whole. Complimentary not contradictory or confrontational. Indeed, manipulation has its place. So long as all participants understand at the basic level what they are laying themselves open to.
Was it chuck Heston who said the secret to a happy marriage was 4 words (not 3!) “Yes dear, you’re right!” Having jusy clocked up 25 years this week, ( my mother gave us a silver letter opener – I guess about 23 years too late for me to be on parole for good behaviour!) I might suggest the 3, in Nulabour style to be Compromise, compromise, compromise...........
Had never really thought about alienation as the antithesis opf manipulation. Nice one.
I also recognise the key ‘clue’ phrase, but admit to having to google and came up with the Mandy ( Rice Davis) quote from the Profumo affair. If my simple mind is missing something here you may have to spell it out.

Where are you JJ?!!! I've got a question for you! If 13 per cent i.e. 8 million out of 61 million are of third world descent in Britain. 50 years ago there were 180,000 thousand. The indigenous TFR is I believe 1.6 and others around 3, how long before the indigenous people become a minority? I've read 20 years, but that seems a very short time.

#30 from mimpromptu to brightyangthing
I know what you're trying to say but feel I just have to deal with things as I feel or think is right at a particular moment, sometimes stating clearly my opposition but mostly trying to ignore the people we've been writing about. I can't just let them walk all over my life dictating their conditions to me but as far as them writing on these pages I don't really care and most skip reading them anyway as I don't find them in anyway contributory to the enrichment of my intellectual or artistic universe.

#40 I made a mistake in the penultimate line, it should read: 'mostly skip'

from mimpromptu
brightyangthing
Vive la difference! In my case it's not a prethought, predeliberated theory or artistic programme. It just happens spontaneously. With ice dancing for example, it is very different because I don't think there is anybody else in the world who does it the way I do but in terms of floor dancing there are men and women who do absolutely amazing things much better than mine, etc, although perhaps there is something 'unique' the way I combine different elements of drama and humour together, especially when it just happens almost out of nowhere. I did a dance yesterday to some music by a French saxophonist, Jerome, while having some yoghurt with bits in it and started to twirl, with a cup in one hand and a tablespoon in the other. I don't know if people would have enjoyed watching me do it had they had the chance but it felt really good to me. The main thing it was not in any way premeditated, it just happened.
Last night I went to see a film called 'Inferno' based on an unfinished film by Georges-Henri Clouzot about an out of his rocker guy obsessively jealous about his wife. They are still showing it at the French Institute until the end of next week, I think. It really is worth seeing it, especially that the outstandingly beautiful Romy Schneider is in it.
And here I'll mention my dislike of rigid theories which so frequently 'intellectuals' try to impose on others. That's what happened with the French Nouvelle Vague. They invented it artificially and anybody who stepped out of line was put under enormous pressure to conform with some film careers put to real tests. I abhore any form of dictatorship, be they in the arts world, male/female spheres, political or whatever else.

from mimpromptu
I understand that the new Head of the MI6, Mr John Sawers, is a good dancer and wonder whether one day I might have the privilege of dancing a waltz with him. Probably not, but it's a pleasant thought.

from mimpromptu
Another pleasant thought that sometimes crosses my mind is having a bop with the President of the USA, Mr Barack Obama, but then again it may just remain as a thought.

#34 from mimpromptu
A brilliant link, Brightyangthing! I've always liked watching those comedians and perhaps should try and watch them again on the telly.
#35 It looks like, Brightyangthing, you're engaged in a very interesting local development project. All the very best with that!
#36 I would agree with you regarding women. They are not necessarily less vicious than men once it comes to holding on to 'power' or just acting on plain jealousy. However, with most of them I personally find that sooner or later things get sorted out and become friendly by me trying to make sure that in no way I'm into undermining them in any way. But when it does get to very personal attachments, then things can get and do get very complex for me to deal with and I'm fully aware a solution is difficult to achieve. But then c'est la vie, however harsh it may sound.
My biggest issue is with the 'dictators'.
Looking forward to reading more of your musings, Brightyangthing
mim

AHA!!!! WE DON'T 'GET' AFGHANISTAN BECAUSE IT ISN'T EXPLAINED PROPERLY!

And it's the same with Westminster 'honour' and Brown and Mandelson and Dave and EU treaties and and and . . . (Deja vu anyone?)

Perhaps Brown will go on YouTube (top hat and cane this time?) and 'explain'? Better still: get Tony to do it - he is a GREAT COMMUNICATOR (especially if you want to hide the truth).

Meanwhile, Magic Obama has declared his latest triumph 'HISTORIC', but is that the RIGHT SIDE of 'historic' I wonder? It would not do to triumph on THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY now - would it!

#23 wappaho

If you just Google:

celtic how UK flooded

You will find some of the background.

BROWN NOW HAS A CHAIN OF TERROR TO PUT WITH THE AXIS OF EVIL AND HIS MORAL COMPASS.

The inside of his head is beginning to look like a scrap yard. However, knowing Wee Jimmie's 'ironcast' thought processes, perhaps he believes that, with one good yank on the chain, he can flush all his troubles away.

I hear he has taken to running. That will be training for running away - just like Tony did.

Bonkers Brown Idea Beaten Down

thank goodness everyone else sees a tax on transactions rather than profits is an insane idea. Not every transaction yields a profit.

one would think gordon and his advisers have never worked in the real world. life is a bit different outside the state sector which is the largest employment sector in the uk.

only about 25 million people work in the non state sector which means anyone who takes risk has to support all the rest.

i think the banks should be taxed at 70% of PROFITS. To want to tax transaction demonstrates a complete failure at understanding how real wealth is made.

#46
'....AHA!!!! WE DON'T 'GET' AFGHANISTAN BECAUSE IT ISN'T EXPLAINED PROPERLY!'
Like we didn't understand why we were in Iraq.
Problem 1 here is, that we (the GBP) EXPECT the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But the truth is so often: a) vague, b) subjective and c) unpalatable at best.
Problem 2 is, we fear MOST that which we do NOT understand. And we do not trust our elected representatives (this is much older and wider a problem than some recent minor misdemeanours in handling personal finances) to decide and act on our behalf. Not sure here if the ‘information super highway’, and general availability of WAY TOO MUCH information via mass media that is ALWAYS tainted by a party line of sorts, are responsible for this state, perhaps in growing capacity since the end of WWII.
Perhaps what is required here, and in all political debates (projects) is to engage like all good private and public organisations by, by having a business plan that begins with a clear, concise with and simple mission statement or no more than 4 or 5 sentences (2 or 3 are best) which summarise: 1) What we are trying to achieve, 2) How we are trying to achieve it and 3) How we measure if we are achieving it?
Believe me, I spend much of my time trying to do this with groups of between 8 and 16 people all supposedly with the same objectives and desires. ‘On a hiding to nothing’ is a phrase that readily springs to mind. This statement (once agreed) should be kept clearly in the public domain and public mind and that is the yardstick by which the GBP can understand and judge. Those who wish to, have the ability and desire to know more can find the full Business plan publicly available and enter into the debate.
Then you have to ensure that those who decide the aims and objectives, and those who are going to be affected by them, revisit them and report frequently to ensure that they are still right and achievable.
The other criterion that is not being acknowledged is the reporting of progress. What company would only tell you the bad news? (OK, our recent economic history is littered with companies publishing poor results and low and behold, most of them go down shortly afterwards. No one loves a failure). Day after day we get news of British, American and Afghan service and civilian casualties. One assumes there are good and sound reasons why the media cannot report casualties on the enemy side, or counter insurgency successes. Perhaps these could be explained. Perhaps if we heard more of the positive outcomes (even during a bad period of IED’s and new ways of enemy attack there must be some) public feeling would at least be better informed. In a proper war (WWII) we could cheer at the sinking of the Bismark. What can we cheer in the fight in Afghanistan

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE (#50)

If I have read you right, BYT (and I had to admit, before, that I am very bad at extracting meaning from the printed word) you have touched on the lack of good management of Great Britain PLC (hate the term, but relevant here). 'Politics' like 'diplomacy' is one of those 'givens' that everyone seems to accept, unchallenged. I remember Good-Ship-Lollypop Blears used to say: "You have to have parties" - but she never expanded (perhaps she just wanted to dance?). Politics, as defined (by implication) by politicians, is a license to be amoral/imoral with impunity. War is primitive. Politics-driven war is all to often devious exploitation of the primitive. Party-political supported war, entails potential loss of face - votes - and position on the Globopoly Board, it must be deviously circumvented - a fine mess to have gotten ourselves into. All summed up by: "Living within the lie."

So many unchallenged givens, that the BBC, being also 'inside the lie', will not confront for us. For example: the squaddies make it clear, time and time again, the are 'doing the job they love'. However, it is all too apparent that THEIR definition of 'the job' does not include defence of Britain; while politicians see it as almost totally such. This DOUBLE-THINK intrudes on all discussion of these 'distant wars of aggresion and invasion. Was it Voltair who said: "First define your terms'? My definition is: EXTREME PAINTBALLING, and I have heard (and inferred) much to support this.

We need, so badly, a public service broadcaster who tells it like it is and can probe reality without the ghost of Alastair Campbell, loudly demanding contrition, for some totally phoney misdemeanour. The current BBC ethos (even without the edgyfying of gravitas, beyond the Schwarzschild Radius) is a disaster for the management of this country and the sanity of its people (those who care).

AS IF WE NEEDED FUTHER PROOF OF 'THE LIE'

Blair at the Cenotaph. A blasphemy of obscene proportion.

No lightning - no God. A vignette to encapsulate the Age.

The media were saying there were "powerful forces" encouraging Simon Mann to "keep quiet".

Does that make him the prefect guest for Newsnight in their search for the reality of the "Wonga coup"?

#51
‘.....the lack of good management of Great Britain PLC’
Yes. And No. More a frustration at management/Governance of ANY massive corporation, especially where that governance strives to meet the needs of such a wide demographic range. In my view, whether its banks, supermarkets, governments (political parties) voluntary groups (third sector) international oil companies or all points in between, I feel sure that a seed change in management structures is needed.
I don’t think the colour of any political party makes a difference. In the age of information dissemination/manipulation it is a no brainer that the harder any group tries to please or be fair to EVERYONE in its widest remit, the further it will fall from pleasing or being fair to ANYONE.
Sadly, I struggle to see a viable alternative model. Autocracy, Communism and heaven forbid (pun intended) Theocracy have all failed miserably or never even got off the ground. In my younger (much) days, studying A level Economic History I became fascinated by the theory (if not the practice) of Enlightened Despotism. “How far did enlightened Despotism improve the lot of the common people” was the essay question I recall. It took about 1500 words I recall to come up with ‘Not a Lot’ I think (1973) before Paul Daniels made it his catch phrase.
https://wapedia.mobi/en/Enlightened_absolutism
I see the phrase ‘Benevolent despot’ is being used as an interchangeable option nowadays. Der what??????????????
I consider myself to be a solution led thinker. So my own frustration merely grows when I struggle to see how and where any change to the system can commence.
I have no direct gripe with Messrs Brown, Cameron, Clegg, Salmond, Blair, or whoever. ALL I am sure on some level believe that they can make a difference for the better to the lives of the majority of their subjects.
Perhaps I am not yet so jaundiced/cynical about the overall premise of governance and those who seek high office. I suppose if I put on my cynical head, there must be something seriously wrong with the hard wiring of anyone (at least in a western democracy) who seeks the highest office. To a man (and occasionally woman) they all age severely from day one in office and whatever one thinks of their motives or outcome, there can be no question that the sheer hours and stress of the job is probably greater than most of us could comprehend. Not for the world............... (Cue Harry Secombe....)
The BBC/Public service broadcasting is another issue and since I have had to ‘work’ most of today on a damage limitation issue (wouldn’t this world be a beautiful place if God had stopped at day 5!) will have to wait for another day. I am perhaps a little more forgiving or perhaps more naive?.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

#51 barriesingleton

"The current BBC ethos (even without the edgyfying of gravitas, beyond the Schwarzschild Radius) is a disaster for the management of this country and the sanity of its people (those who care)."

They had the BNP on and the BNP have a fine field in Derbyshire where they can have their bouncey castle once a year.

They should be glad for what they have.

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH - A PERSONAL VIEW (#54)

I do not believe it is possible for the female-wired female to comprehend the most male functionality of the male. (I suspect the opposite is equally true.) When I describe, to my female-female friends, the most extreme, nihilistic banality of the male, THEY SIMPLY REFUSE TO BELIEVE ME.

When the dung-or-bust drive of the male, links up with childhood inadequacy-angst, and a need to 'be someone', the forces unleashed lead to a 24 hour striving of an intensity that kills empathy and humanity - turning hair white at the rate observed.

I venture to suggest NEED was writ large on Major (hence Private Eye twinning him with Adrian Mole) a Jekyll/Hyde split mediates Brown (Hyde twinned with Stalin, in The Eye) and Blair opted for a messianic escape (Vicar of Albion - never more perfidious). Belief, they have - but (to my mind) it is born out of desperation rather than quiet confidence. The blame lies with the immaturity of HomSap such that we fall for height, oratory, rhetoric, gall and every damned lie they throw us.

Your 5-day 'solution' I applaud.

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DEFINE: "CHAIN OF TERROR" (J Gordon Brown)

A chain made up of iron-cast links, made in 'Dave's Foundry'.

A chain that would send a letter threatening doom if not forwarded.

A chain leading up to a very loose Victorian cistern.

A chain connecting a prisoner to 'The Nutter on the Gang'.

Still unable to see how it has anything to do with UK - Afghanistan. Might that muddle-head of Brown's, be mixed up with the Age of Chainge?

Anyone?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Okey:...............
................................
................................
................................

Is that any better for you mr/mrs mod.

when you consider the rants that one particular poster puts up...Jesus!

'.....When I describe, to my female-female friends, the most extreme, nihilistic banality of the male, THEY SIMPLY REFUSE TO BELIEVE ME. '

As do I. And I am, as hopefully my nickname and posts may indicate, a feminine (but NOT girly) female with a LOT OF Yang in my chemistry.

Perhaps it is the romantic poetic heart, perhaps the eternal optimist in me that CANNOT and WILL NOT accept that mankind is doomed by his own hand.

Faith is an interesting word. All faith, must surely be BLIND, otherwise it would be FACT?????

'.... When the dung-or-bust drive of the male, links up with childhood inadequacy-angst, and a need to 'be someone', the forces unleashed lead to a 24 hour striving of an intensity that kills empathy and humanity - turning hair white at the rate observed.'

So, where does MrsT fit into that scenario?

What pray, that is good, DO you believe in?

Now I am going to indulge in some Scottish history in the company of Neil Oliver. The Covenanters - a fascinating period/group.

53

has the FO suddenly lost its appetite to bringing suspected international terrorists to justice? and prefers to tell key witnesses to 'keep silent' and lead 'a quiet life'?

what has rattled the neocon castle?

#50 from mimpromptu
Brightyangthing
Before proceeding to a more careful analysis of your posts, I have one observation and one question for you:
- I have evidence that there are ideas thieves around, i.e. at least one of your ideas was unscrupulously stolen from one of your yesterday's posts
- Have you and your business associates made any progress with the private/public projects today? I'm not asking for any details at the moment, I'd like to add.

from mimpromptu
I have now read all your posts. They are so good and up to the point, Brightyangthing, that they'll be queuing up now to steal from you and use you, and then to claim everything as their own while leaving you frustrated though still too forgiving.
Personally, I have come to the conclusion that not everybody deserves forgiveness, I'm afraid. If granted, it could lead to some temporary short term relief of pressure but they are so unkeen on seeing the light and instead prefer to dig and drag everybody down into their black holes with or without forgiveness that one has to look for other solutions, which I am sure we are capable of finding.

#53 from mimpromptu
It would indeed be helpful, Brightyangthing, if your lady lady friends understood what their male male friends are up to and in so doing clearly undermining their beautiful lady lady admirers which boils down to aesthetic/superficial admiration on the part of the aforementioned males while energy wise, well their obsession lies elsewhere.
Personally I don't mind being confronted by real female beauty and am very happy to see loving couples cuddling together in front of me. I much prefer to see this than crying and desperate inviduals, be they female or male, roaming the streets in frustration. And this kind of thing can happen just about to almost anyone, even if they are smartly dressed wearing a light blue or beige scarf.
All I know, I have to pursue my own path, whatever it takes, although I do feel I do have a few real and true empathisers, which does help, quite a bit in fact.

#65 Mim
'...one of your ideas was unscrupulously stolen from one of your yesterday's posts'

How sweet of you to worry. I won't. Ideas are like air - free and unencumbered. Though I did recently joke with a legal friend who admitted using a throwaway line I had shared in the court room a few days later. I may yet invoice him!!

It is said 'there is nothing new under the sun' and I am sure my musings have floated through the ether from combinations of other's thoughts and discussions down the years.

#66
Forgiveness is a virtue (some may say failing) that I choose to apply in broad measure. It frees the spirit. I am human. I get angry, sad, frustrated but try and channel those emotions into more positive outcomes. If unable to forgive, resentment builds up and eats away at the goodness within. I would rather have dreams than nightmares, though to paraphrase William Butler Yeats, one of my favourite poets, I do wish that 'the world would tread a little more softly on everyone's dreams'.

As for projects and progress, by their very nature, the development projects I am involved in are slow burners' (getting it done right is more important than just getting it done) though I have a personal action list for later this morning, when the rest of the world is awake which requires some tact and diplomacy on my part. NOT always my strongest suits! Some man made 'obstacles' to steer round gently. Getting access to £4 or £5 million for Phase 1a is the least of our worries.

#67
I am not totally sure of your meaning here but take warmth from your heartfelt messages. Sleep well! I shall now try.

from mimpromptu
Brightyangthing
When I was /and still am/ falling out with 'friends', not in my wildest dreams did I think I would be making FRIENDS with the GREAT AND THE GOOD, whether in THIS COUNTRY or ABROAD.
The above does not in any way mean that I do not consider some people I have known in the past but with whom I've lost touch, as FRIENDS. To some of them I used to be close /in a human way/ while quite a few others were what I would call pleasant acquaintances but whose presence I always valued.

from mimpromptu

Tough Time

Time may be a healer but it can be rough
On lovers and children making it all tough
To love and to share while keeping their hearts
Unscathed by erosion of mammoth proportions
Of vile perpetrators 'dishing out' their potions
Designed to kill and designed to maim
All those who dare to stand in their way.

But time can be tough on those playing rough
And sooner or later they will learn their path
To new pastures though not all that green
Paying a high price for being so mean.

Time will be tough on the very mean
While lovers and children will be very keen
To love and to share and to praise the Queen.

#68 from mimpromptu
Brightyangthing
#65 I would agree with you that once an idea goes out into the ether it's likely to be snatched by somebody else out there and used in their own musings at best or for their own selfish short term benefit at worst. I was talking of something very specific but do not wish what exactly it was that they had stolen.
#66 Again, I would agree with you that getting it right outweighs just getting it done like on those T-shirts 'Just do it', have you seen any?
But I'm afraid such vile men who consistently and regularly rape a woman with carefully planned premeditation cannot be forgiven, not in my books anyway. Otherwise, yes, I also prefer humane ways of sorting out problems rather than eye for eye solutions. It all depends on circumstances of a given situation.
Good news about 1a.
I shall try and find Yeats' poem you're talking about and read it in its entirety. Thank you for that.
#67 To be discussed at a later date in the future.
There are some more clues in my posts and my ditty of this morning.
Hoping that tact and diplomacy will play the predominant part in the fulfillment of your projects today, have a good day, Brightyangthing
mim

from mimpromptu
Brightyangthing
I have now read the poem and bits from a few others, as well Yeats' biography on Wikipedia. He looks to me like a typical torn between extremities Gemini, as much as I'm trying to be very cautious in classifying people by the date of their birth. Yeats was obviously exceptionally talented with words and rhymes having been even awarded the Nobel prize for literature but he didn't seem like a stable character at all, neither at the intellectual nor personal level. His life looks like a complete mess to me.
mim

the govt sponsored carbon trading scam of taxing existence to make a few people rich goes on.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/carbon/6527970/Everyone-in-Britain-could-be-given-a-personal-carbon-allowance.html

From the telegraph report #73

'....He said: "A lot of people who cycle will get money back. It will probably only be bankers and those with extravagant lifestyles who would lose out."
Right, those would be the one able and willing to cough up the dosh then. Doh!
At the expense say of those living in dying rural communities but forced to work in cities 30 miles away ( a bit too far to cycle I suspect!)
Or nurses, firemen or teachers NEEDED in central LONDON but only able to afford accomodation 80 miles away.
Surely those who use more carbon PAY for it anyway. Petrol, flights, electric bills, oil ...............

Where do I apply for the job where you get paid for expounding this sort of carp?

from mimpromptu
Brightyangthing
It's interesting that there are only a couple of days difference between the Queen and Shakespeare's dates of birth. It is indeed unfortunate that Adolf Hitler was born one day before the Queen but then those freaks of nature do happen and it is up to the mankind not let such freaks come into power ever again.
Now, with me having been born on the 20th of March, in terms of the Zodiac I am the eldest of the above mentioned duo, though not necessarily the wisest, and one of the eldest currently alive or passed away as a matter of fact.
On the day of my birth it was BRIGHT, VERY BRIGHT. The Sun was pelting down on Warsaw like nobody's business, apparently. But it was very frosty so it took quite a long time for me to finally agree to leave my Mum's warm womb and to finally pop out.
Despite everything vile that has been and is being done to me, I do not regret having been born. Quite the contrary! Though obviously the time has come to.......
mim

#74 from mimpromptu
May I suggest a few places where such jobs are obtainable, Brightyangthing?
1. with the BBC under the current dg
2. by Gordon's and Pete's sides
3. with the MI5
Though I must stress that I do not believe that all of the people currently working for those organisations are as stupid as the one who wrote #73

Mim

I may come back later on the nature of Forgiveness (or Grace maybe a better word) and why I see it as held separate from any sort of excusing or condoning of vile acts and their outcomes.

Also, you raise the question of the nature of 'great art and great artists' in the broadest sense. A chicken and egg question. Does being artistically gifted make one more likely to instability and excesses, or do excesses and instability make one more likely to be a gifted artist? One only has to look at the lives of many 'greats' (Byron, Blake, Coleridge for example) to see where the Amy Winehouses and Pete Docherty's of the modern era take their lead.

I shall not lose too much sleep about stolen ideas. No-one can steal my integrity. The acts of others that impact on our lives, in the most cases, are best worn as a loose garment. (Some philosopher/thinker once used similar words so I am now the thief?)

Anyway, not sure that these are Newsnight Topics - so may if I get a moment later look for a more suitable site for such musings.

Outside all is sparkling and white still with -8 deg of frost so work before walk.

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING? (#77)

Breaker one four (good buddy).

"Anyway, not sure that these are Newsnight Topics - so may if I get a moment later look for a more suitable site for such musings."

If you find a philosophical/psychological site, BYT (thoughts, not quotes and 'Names') that is on an even keel, and aspires to gravitas, I will be delighted to purge caprice and comedy from my positng (that keep me 'sane' on this blog/forum) and contribute diligently.

It might even allow a fair reply to your query: "What pray, that is good, DO you believe in?" (:o)

When I 'went looking', I found a display of 'human function' (best I can do) that made this blog/forum look like an Open University lecture. I sincerely wish you luck. I have a feeling you are about to tackle 'the job that couldn't be done' . . .

#77 from mimpromptu
Brightyangthing
I think that Newsnight is the perfect place for airing our views although if you come up with another site I'd be happy to correspond with you there. Why do I think Newsnight is the perfect site? Well, it's because those who think they are Byrons, Hitlers, Yeats's, Mussolinis, Shakespeares, Chekhovs, Gorkys, Stalins pointing out their right fingers, Churchills and whoever else of those long departed do try and run Newsnight and thus trying to make themselves 'important' while evidently lacking in integrity, unlike yourself, and respect for human dignity, unlike yourself again.
I've always been a firm believer that one does get born with this or that talent but not many of us get the opportunity not only to develop them but also to discover them within oneself in the first place. But then I'm quite convinced that some people are just lucky to be born with extraordinary talents while not necessarily having had any talented predecessors.
I may have a few unique talents but then I also lack in talents of other sorts.
As my family history gets more and more documented and understood it is clear that we did have talented dancers, musicians/singers, actors, teachers, doctors, dreamers, poets, drawers, sculptors, business people, churchmen, heroes, etc., so it is possible that I'm just a link in a long line of artistic talents but I was never good at the nitty gritty of science even if I do like to contemplate and explore some of its discoveries since childhood in fact.
But then you get the lad born out of an Iranian family who won the Off By Heart competition that Jeremy presented on the BBC a few months ago. He may be just a one off in the history of his family tree or maybe he did have predecessors who 'endowed' him with this particular gift.
It is interesting to know one's family tree but it is not as important as being encouraged as a child to explore all walks of life and artistic, in the broadest sense, scientific or whatever other areas for them to be able to tap in and see for themselves what they are drawn to and what they are good at while at the same time making sure that they grow up as fully fledged independent and yet responsible and socially aware individuals. Well, that's how I see it. First a human being with the rest to follow, in that order.
Vultures will always try to exploit the talented for dosh and status but as long as many as possible talented people are aware of that and remain on guard against most savage exploitation they may be able to avoid being killed or maimed, etc.
Michael Jackson's film is making a fortune now. It's just possible that it had been decided that it was time for him to depart this world, with him being weak psychologically anyway and quite clearly not being able to keep to the schedule of his world tour. It is not that I see this particular Michael Jackson /not the British General/ as blameless in his own downfall.
mim

from mimpromptu
Perhaps one more thing, Brightyangthing
It's a well known fact that the English bard, William Shakespeare, borrowed ideas and characters from right, left and centre but I'm not aware of him needing to destroy the ones he borrowed from in order to make himself look great. Am I wrong or am I right?
mim

#78
I KNOW MY PLACE!

'....When I 'went looking', I found a display of 'human function' (best I can do) that made this blog/forum look like an Open University lecture. I sincerely wish you luck. I have a feeling you are about to tackle 'the job that couldn't be done' . . . '

Been there, done that, got a drawer full of t shirts! MOST I have never bothered to cross the threshold of and it took me a while to decide to dip a toe in here. I have enough 'work' to keep me busy (MUST get up at 02:30 more often - NOT!) for the rest of the noughties at least. I do NOT need any more 'unwinable' projects. Still waiting for replies to 'business' emails sent at 03:00 this morning.

Thanks for the reminder on OU. Must talk to an adviser about their access/openings courses. It may NEVER be too late!

'...It might even allow a fair reply to your query: "What pray, that is good, DO you believe in?" (:o)'

Sorry. Smacked my own wrist for that. But as an eternal optimist (with a vicious streak of realism) I try to see something positive in everything and everyone. Hopefully there is mmuch to be positive about in your life.

I am reminded of a saying, I think from an American PoW in Vietnam (though it brings to mind Terry Waite, John McCarthy and Brian Keenan) "There is no such thing as a bad day when there is a handle on the INSIDE of your door." OOh, and that leads me to the Holman Hunt picture of Christ knocking on a door.

Back to work. This could become a bad habit so must ration time here to reward for achievement.

Brightyangthing
Once I get going, I can't stop. It's the same with twirling and used to be with food, for example.
Well, I just want to say that one of my predecessors, i.e. one of my Grandma's /who was both talented mathematically and poetically/ brothers although a Vet loved painting, sculpting and photo snapping. He never had the chance to really develop his artistic talents but carried on happily engaging in these activities and then giving them away as presents to friends and family. He's made a few things for me as well and kept sending me his snaps that he'd taken of various sites in Warsaw, especially of monuments dedicated to children, among them a photo of a very young lad for the task who had a monument built in his memory for taking part in the Warsaw Uprising during WWII.
My Great Uncle, Jerzy /George in English/ was lucky to have been able to work on the hobbies he was quite good at once he'd retired from his job as a Vet.
He was quite a tall and strong man and would pick up his female friends and squeeze them so tight they squeaked.

#59. barrie
'I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DEFINE: "CHAIN OF TERROR" (J Gordon Brown)

Still unable to see how it has anything to do with UK - Afghanistan. Might that muddle-head of Brown's, be mixed up with the Age of Chainge?
Anyone?'

Could it be that wee Jimmy is trying another approach to embed the idea that our troops waging war in distant lands is justified in order to protect us in our homeland? The chain of terror is in fact the chain of random brain-synapses firing IN that muddled head, desperately trying to convince himself that we must 'go forward'. Perhaps an attempt to copy Winston Churchill's stirring analogy 'An Iron Curtain has descended across Europe'? But then Churchill was a statesman with the gifts of leadership, oratory and inspiration, whereas Brown…...

Yesterday I attended the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the cenotaph, and was both moved and confused by the honouring of The Glorious Dead, and was tempted to be cynical about the politicians laying their wreaths (later watching a Video recording, which I ran in reverse, to witness them all removing them again)!

My attendance was in respect for my two uncles, both killed at age 19 in WWI. This was the first year in which there were no survivors present from that ‘war to end all wars.’ It was a rare opportunity to indulge in some pride in our nation, with hordes of old comrades proudly bearing their medals. Later there were many of them at The Union Jack Club, and I bought a few rounds at the bar.

Perhaps unlike many who blog here, although I don’t glory in warfare, I regret not being able to claim active service, being rather adventurous by nature; I appreciate the socialising aspects of moderate indulgence in alcohol; and, although no Royalist, I love the displays of pomp and pageantry, in which this nation excels. No need to justify these traits, it’s just enjoying my heritage, before it is overwhelmed.

#83 from mimpromptu
Very movingly and aptly put, Indignantindegene

#81 from mimpromptu
Brightyangthing
I've just browsed through some of Hunt's paintings and understand what you're trying to say by pointing out the one about Christ knocking on a door with one hand while holding a light burning warmly in the other.
I have also seen before a reproduction of his Lady of Shallot but this time it struck me as almost having some Art Deco qualities to it.
On the whole, from what paintings I have seen so far, I love Holm Hunt's use of shapes, colours and topics.
mim

VOLUNTEERS AND PRESSED MEN (#83)

I watched the Cenotaph ceremony simply because i was visiting my Home-bound brother, and it was on. Our family have a jaundiced view of heroics and war and god; a legacy of my Dad, who was at Loos (and N Africa) but not in a trench.

Your reverse-tape ploy brilliant. Especially as poor Brown - trying SOOOO hard to out-solemn other party leaders, lost the plot (again) and looked UP instead of down (head-bow). (Is that some sort of aphasia - kin to 'iron-cast'?)

Anyway - here's my take on it all:

UNHALLOWED GROUND
(Lest we forget reality)

Before God left he gifted land
To each and every Chosen One
But then without another word
To others he gave up his son.
The Chosen Ones, they lost the land;
Both factions lost their way,
Now to the glory of One God
They live - to fight another day.

And Dad joined up for Kitchener;
But-half a vague ideal.
He didn’t die a hero
He returned to subtle Hell.

The Chosen Ones know God is theirs
The Christians have his Son by right.
None seem to ponder why God went
As, justly, in His names - they fight.
Made-in-His-image body parts
Fly up to Heaven then, Hell-bent,
They rain like Manna all about;
Each sutured soul departs - 'content'.

And Dad joined up for Kitchener
De facto C of E.
He didn't die a hero
He came back - created me.

And now they fight on Muslim sand
While Chosen Ones, concerned, look on;
Those Muslim's have Mohammed's word
In Allah's name: God's will be done!
Across the world where faith endures
The faithful spill their brother's blood,
They strop machete - load their gun
And kill again to: 'God is Good'.

And Dad joined up for Kitchener -
In war bereft of God.
He didn't die a hero
And I'm a godless sod.

'The energy secretary will give details of a list of sites judged suitable for new developments and say how planning reforms will speed up the process.

Nuclear is a safe, low-carbon option to help tackle climate change, he said. '

Was this the result we were always going to get?

Labour allowed the Tory town councils to sink 60% of planning applications for wind farms and for nuclear they streamline the process.

Almost everybody knows that the hidden costs (waste disposal and dismantling) of nuclear are too great and guarantees in the past on PFI have not always been met.

Big new bills to go with our big public debt due to the failure of Labour to fairly manage large corporations brought in like Lisbon against the wishes of the majority and some months before they leave office at the general election.

A "glowing" legacy of debt left by the great leaders?

What have the Tories said on this?

RESPECT (#81)

Rare - precious - appreciated - thanks.

My tee-shirt says: PERSEVERING PESSIMIST: ULTIMATE OPTIMIST.

I used to be a TOG. I emailed Wogan in the Name 'Blind Pugh'. My slogan was: 'Ever Vigilant'. Very un-PC - and yet, and yet . . .

#87 from mimpromptu
Brightyangthing
Having said what I said at #84, I'm afraid I cannot see myself being as forgiving as you're trying to be. A few individuals, precisely 3 of them in particular, have dug themselves a hole in the dunk so deep that whatever their claims to 'silence' supposedly imposed on others, that they can possibly get out of it on their own volition and need to be dragged out of it by force and face the music which, in fact, they are facing at this precise moment while I'm typing these words.
We all make mistakes but there is a limit to how many of them any human being is entitled to. Otherwise, I'm as forgiving, or almost, as you are. Apart from the obnoxious trio there are still a few who one way or another will have to face the music with them and those include last night's voices of fun and brain washing nature. It saddens me no end that it has got as far as that but one can only warn people so many times before they are prepared to see the light.
Nuffin, absolutely nuffin, seems to speak to those blockheads, not even the likelihood of them being brought to justice. They are so enamoured by their own 'foxy', teddy bear, sausage and coockie/biscuit full of laughs game that they can see, recognise and distinguish the difference between light and black holes.
I better go and see the world outside and leave you in peace now to carry on with your work.
mim

#83 indignatindegene

"Perhaps unlike many who blog here, although I don’t glory in warfare, I regret not being able to claim active service, being rather adventurous by nature; I appreciate the socialising aspects of moderate indulgence in alcohol; and, although no Royalist, I love the displays of pomp and pageantry, in which this nation excels. No need to justify these traits, it’s just enjoying my heritage, before it is overwhelmed."

When you claim your "heritage" is going to be overwhelmed by whom and when?

British people of a different race? People of a different race like the Ghurkas who have have fought bravely by our side in many wars and have justly been allowed to settle here?

I can't quite see the significance of "I regret not being able to claim active service" - do you mean that your political views bar you from political service?

That would be like the BNP who can't enlist but have claimed Winston Churchill as a symbol on their Euro literature in an act that is intentionally provocative and misleading giving Churchill fought the Nazis.

They are too cowardly to demonstrate their true National Socialist beliefs.

In fact the far right has always been cowardly with Lewington recently being convicted in possession of his tennis ball bombs and the incident in Belfast where a Roma woman with a four day old child was beaten by incited youths.

and one more thing from mimpromptu
During the American elections last year Jeremy Paxman once said to one of Hilary Clinton's advisers that they may have underestimated some person. I'm just wondering whether he was referring to myself?
Having said that, I am not expecting an answer from him when he is on tonight but wish him a free from too much manipulation by outside forces programme, although I do realise it may be wishful thinking on my part.
mim
P.S. I shall do my upmost to go and listen to what Jeremy has to say on art at the Tate this Wednesday and let no one think they can stop me from trying. It's time for the jealous and the vicious to stop interfering in my life. I am not theirs! I am an independent individual following my own path and have the right to meet or see anybody I choose as long as it's not suffocating to those that I do want to meet or see.

SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH.....

Is it lunchtime?

Mim. #82. I have awaiting bedside, to start reading a book written by the father (polish) of a very good friend of mine called 'For Your Freedom and Ours' about growing up in the Warsaw Ghettos, fighting for the cause and escaping to the UK to join the Air Force.

Forgiveness frees the victim I think, whilst NOT condoning or excusing the behaviour of the perpetrator. I practice as often as I can but it is a process, not a single act. And perhaps I am lucky that I have not suffered too greatly, personally at any individuals hands. Everyone must find their own levels of forgiveness according to their heart and the wrong done to them and those they love.

Perhaps one of my greatest prayers in life is to never be so tested. Or never have to make life or death decisions for another.

Surely Mim you are not suggesting that you were born the same Year as the queen and my FiL (1926)?

I am sure we all make sweeping assumptions (making an Ass out of U and ME as my sons are fond of saying!) as to things like age of posters but these sorts of mb’s and blogs can be very dangerous places. In truth we have absolutely NO idea who we are talking to and what they are doing with our ramblings. It would be very easy to dupe people.

I too find it hard to stop when I start. Food (and cooking) is one of my passions. Thankfully I learned early how to exercise restraint, so try to be a gourmet without being a glutton.

Art in all its forms image, poetry, music etc, is something I am exloring more and more. I had 24 hours in London recently and managed to get to see the new Turner and the Masters exhibition at Tate Britain before heading for the plane home, the very morning it opened.

Very enlightening. My husband and I are still discussing our preferences. I'll get the philistine to listen to Bach with me yet.

BS #88
I still treasure an old T shirt bearing the 'Gobi Desert Canoe Club', that's the level of my optimism I possess! My latest, had a dozen made for family for a specific reason, reads '.... So long, and thanks for all the fish'. Get that?

I shall miss El Tel, though seldom tune in much these days. Are you still a TOG?

I return too to #73 and the telegraph report. I guess to be fair it is merely a soundbite, possibly misquoted, selectively edited or at least taken out of context from a much larger report with possibly a more balanced view. When you take the TEXT of CON TEXT you are left with a CON a practice much beloved of journalists everywhere. A judicial cropping or moving of a word or two can change everything.

Why is the American media playing down the fort hood murders, any suggestion that it was a terrorist anti-American attack is quickly rubbished by the media (mostly lefty wefties) apparently the Gunman is a victim too. Would it be because the gunman was a Muslim convert - he who shouted allah ackbar whilst pumping bullets into anybody who came into his path. Are the Democrins and republicrats one and the same. And when the telepromter marionette presedent addressed the nation he spent the first 2 minutes thanking everyone, waffled about healthcare and almost highfived the front row before mentioning the worst murder rate in the largest military base in the US.

P:S
Is it off bounds to suggest that Al gor-leone is untrustworthy?
Is it off bounds to suggest that Man made global warming might be an incorrect science?

NOT SO MUCH A TOG - MORE A LONG-JOHN WEARER. 9#920

I gave up on Wogan when 'The Posse' became preferred over random contributions. The whole thing got a bit self indulgent - I felt. It was best with Wogan alone, wittering on about Elvers and Leverets and 'raising the bicycle from Carshalton Ponds' (well know to me.

Like your CON TEXT. (:o) Have you sampled my: DE MOCK CRASS Y? The only word that combines 'mock' and 'crass' and leaves you wondering 'Y?'

I have abandoned meals (except ritual) and snack all day. Just about holding my own, while not having to hold my own, while mobile. The snacks mean you don't miss the meals. Meals, of course, mean you have to miss (out) the snacks, and then you miss them.

KEEP SHARPENING THAT STICK, COOKIEDUCKER (#93)

Poor Magic OB, he must know by now that all the wars are based on the false flag 9/11 (deluded is not necessarily stupid). Now he finds out that the Lucifer Effect (Zimbardo) mixed with multiculturalism, goes 'bang' without warning. This is especially so when you go to war on a pan-globe group-identity, with one of 'them' in your army. He'll be doing a lot of thinking right now - I guess.

Born in interesting times or what?

#92 Brightyangthing
No forgiveness - Justice!
It's love that's sharpening my mind, my soul, my pen and my feet, not the pathetic cookieducker.
Bubble bubble, dunk and rabble.

#73 Jauntycyclist

Carbon Nonsense

With reference to the carbon allowance. For various reason me and the dog were made homeless. Had my business and job taken off me, couldn't teach or do any of the jobs I'd done before.

All I could get was a new career labouring on building sites. One site after another. Always found civil engineering more interesting. Didn't have a recognised trade to gravitated towards groundworks-foundations, drains, kerbs, roads etc.

Then by chance on one site there was a problem. At a water treatment works a very large water tank had arrived, the plinth was in the wrong place. The shuttering joiners were on another job, without the tank in place, they couldn't put the roof on etc. So I said I could do the shuttering joining and cast the new plinth. Bingo.

What I found was a new career groundworker/shuttering joiner. Because of ecological principles and knowledge of environmental audits I wouldn't do shopping centres, airports/ runways etc.

But as a construction worker you would only work in one place for a short while so would have to travel each day. I just liked doing water treatment works. They were out in the country so me and the dog could spend brew and dinner times going for a walk.

Most importantly what I did reduced pollution, it cleaned up rivers and ultimately the coastline. Now if i worked on shopping centres that would increase consumption and resource use and the pollution that went with it.

So the 80 miles I would have to travel a day contributed to reducing overall pollution in an environmental audit, what I built would reduce pollution over the next 25-30 years or whatever the design life of the plant was. If I worked on water treatment plants.

If I had worked on shopping centres that would increase pollution. So it is not the carbon you use it is what you do with the carbon which contributes to your overall ecological footprint on the planet.

You can travel 80 mile a day building water treatment plants or shopping centres. Only one makes a positive contribution to the sustainable evolution of the planet or looking the other way, has a negative ecological impact in terms of personal environmental audit.

It is not the carbon, but what you do with your life as a contribution to the planet which is important.

RT #97
Assume I accept that man’s activities on the planet are harming the planet, though without fully understanding the science. And frankly, even if it could not be proven, I am prepared to apply the ‘would you risk it’ approach and attempt to curtail the worst excesses that make the most difference.

With close connections to the oil industry we KNOW that resources such as oil and gas are finite. So too coal. Yet we are constantly demanding more and more energy and, since we can all be nimbies when it’s our own back yards in the firing line, the way forward (or backwards?) in simple terms would be?

On a recent post I am sure someone raised an issue (generalisation) that I find interesting. That is, if we cannot do what is perfect, surely we should do something that goes some way towards redressing the balance.

So I am interested in this hypothesis and wonder if it’s possible for someone with your stated background to give a league table of worthwhile personal /domestic scale economies. I find the potential rise of sea levels over the coming 50 years as predicted the most frightening on a global scale.

I am sure whatever we do, individually, nationally and globally there will always be a trade off. I suspect that few governments are prepared to countenance the voting public's reaction to the broadest suggestions. Hence perhaps a certain futility in Climate Change conferences.

The big ones like cutting (overall) consumption hits the economy; rstricitng development could fuel global warfare (they all want what we have had! Then thre are the smaller questions like washing terry nappies or filling landfill or burning disposables; running an efficient small car or using ancient inefficient diesel buses etc.

Hard Choices indeed. And let’s be honest, I am sure we all, however ‘Green’ we may like to think we are, have our price, our achilles heel. The consumption we consider our 'divine' right.

Do we have to take ourselves back to the 'dark' ages by choice before we are plunged back into them by accident?

#94 BS
I still wake up to R2 at around 5:45 (definite lark) catch the headlines on the dreadful 'Breakfast' tv, then depending on schedule and nature of work, have R4 in mornings, R3 in afternoons, or nuttin if I am trying to concentrate on detail or new work.

As for fodder, I have never been much of snacker - usually preferring three moderate well balanced meals (8:30, 1:30 and 7:00 pm ish) Recently I find two meals works quite well, plus two HSB's between rising and noon, seems to suit me best.

Don't do pastry, cakes, biscuits, choccie, fries very much. If I did I'd never maintain my girlish figure complexion. If it weren't for the injuries, I'd still be a finely honed athlete (No, that's NOT Sumo wrestler)





OK, pick yourself up off the floor now!!!!!!!!!!!

Mim #96
Justice is everyone's right, though I sometimes question what constitutes justice.

Are the injustices done to you deeply personal, those in direct contact with you; or people on here, or politicians/leaders/celebrities you speak of? No names no pack drill.

Self preservation is a strong motivator.

As for posters on mb's/blogs. Best ignored in my opinion when you don't connect/agree. Who knows who anyone really is. I find some comments distinctly off kilter but will either fight my corner or keep out of the way of obvious WUM's.