An A1, prize clusterfuck of the first water! My apologies for the bad language but how else can one summarise the mega-shambles that was last week's budget? According to the Sunday 'prints', the blame game is in full swing but as far as I can judge no-one in Whitehall spotted the shit-storm that was to engulf them all. Whilst 'Skipper' Hammond was at the tiller and blindly steering his government onto the rocks, nevertheless, 'Admiral' May was in overall command and she should take the incoming shot and shell. Nobody seems to know for sure what the lady is about, least of all me, but I have always had my doubts. Perhaps the worst result of this shambles is that Mrs. May's Tory cabinet have made 'Jezza' and his team of 'tonks' actually look competent by comparison.
Mottisfont Abbey: After a birthday lunch yesterday with SoD and partner, we went up the road to Mottisfont Abbey.
Normally, I am fairly resistant to visiting 'grand houses' nearly all of whom are now 'owned' by what I call the National (Socialist) Trust. Frequently they are dead boring and filled with ghastly paintings and I resent the fact that the families who used to own them have been, in effect, disinherited. However, this one is a bit different. It began 'life' in the 13th century as an Augustinian priory traces of which can still be seen. The last true owners in the 1930s were the Russell family and Maud Russell was a patroness of the arts and the house was constantly filled with artists, musicians, actors and writers, including the late Ian Fleming who became her lover. Another regular was the artist 'Rex' Whistler whose works remain on display. Anyway, it was an excellent day out and I think that another visit will be required later in the year when the gardens will be in full bloom.
I just can't get the hang of this 'mwah-mwah' thing: Dammit, whatever happened to the good, old, British handshake when greeting or bidding farewell? All very proper, completely neutral and incapable of misunderstanding. Somehow, over the last few decades this 'mwah-mwah' habit has taken over and thus opened a nightmare of misapplications and misunderstandings. Should it be one 'mwah' or two? There is even a move, I gather, to make it three - quelle horreure! Also, I have noticed a tendency amongst some people towards a lip-on-lip 'mwah' and that I find totally disgusting. Bring back the handshake, I say!
An open invitation to Russian hackers: Please, tovarichs (er, if that's the correct plural), feel free to hack my internet presence but I will accept no responsibility if you die of boredom!
Those 'good ol' Texas boys' give 'Mrs. McWhinge' a kicking: Quite disgraceful, Gentlemen, but can I hold your coats whilst you're at it? I refer, again, to those shale oil producers 'over there' who have now reduced oil prices below $50 a barrel. Even the high pitched whines from the minarets of Arabia are as nothing compared to what is emanating from 'Mrs. McWhinge' up in Edinburgh. As Jeremy Warner points out in The Telegraph, the whole concept of an independent Scotland hangs on the price of (the fast disappearing anyway) North Sea oil. At today's price an independent Scotland would resemble Greece and the Euro-scallywags wouldn't touch it with a barge-pole!
More good news from 'down under there': Seriously, I may have to move to Australia because it seems to be the Land of Good News. Making one of my increasingly rare visits to WUWT - yes, I know I should keep up but I sense that the, er, heat is out of the global warming racket - and I read a sort of confirmation in that the Australian Climate Institution is closing down due to a lack of funds. Get the Fosters out, Cobbers, and let's party!
So farewell then, Joni Sledge, whoever you were: Sometimes I wonder if I inhabit a parallel universe! All day the ticker tape on my TV news channel has been full of the news that Ms. Joni Sledge has died at the relatively early age of 60. Alas and alack, I have never heard of the lady and indeed, I have never heard her or her sisters sing. Where have I been? I don't know but I think I should be told! Anyway, R.I.P.
No more rumbles today
Duffers - I too am no great admirer of the National Trust but you are mistaken to talk about the families having been disinherited.
AFAIK the gouses are transferred to NT ownership when families run out of money and the last resort, which enables the patriarch to remain in residence in one wing, is to bequeath to the NT.
I would not have taken you for the sort of snob to resent the passage of hordes of middle class people visiting respectfully these places. My m&d have been long term enthusiasts.
Without getting too marxian lets face it that especially the older grander fortunes which built these places were extorted by violence and dishonesty, often involving religion and the productive people who really built the country were usually on the receiving end.
Many of the unfortunate stories leading to families having to hand over their houses are probably due to death duties, by any standard a squalid and immoral imposition, I would agree. But many are also stupidity and greed, bad luck, gambling debts a lack of decent heirs - in other words just the usual rotation of the great wheel.
But what a fantasitc looking place!
Posted by: Cuffleyburgers | Sunday, 12 March 2017 at 12:10
It's the Death Duty taxes that stick in my craw, Cuffers, especially those that after two world wars hit families twice or even thrice in fairly quick succession. But yes, you're right, personal weaknesses were also a factor.
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 12 March 2017 at 13:01
The barmy woman now at the head of the NT - Helen Ghosht or whatever her name is - is doing a lot of harm to the NT. Eco freakery and all the rest of it. I am reading The Long Weekend by Adrian Tinniswood which is an interesting account of the English Country House between the wars. Part of the problem then was that the sons who would have inherited the properties had been killed in WWI. But it also gives information on how so many of these properties were acquired or developed.
Posted by: mike fowle | Sunday, 12 March 2017 at 13:15
What an impressive structure! I felt like I needed to take out a mortgage just to read the write up. If I were to ever tour the property, I know a mortgage would be required just to breathe the air.
As for "Death Duty" or "death tax" as we say over here, I believe the thing is immoral.
Posted by: Whitewall | Sunday, 12 March 2017 at 13:31
My first trip over to WUWT. Very eye opening. If we just leave the poor climate alone, it and we will be fine. If these phony do gooders want to help the very poor in the third world, help them draw clean water from deep under ground, teach them proper farming techniques so they can feed themselves instead of being dependent on food aid from the West. It they live on non life supporting land, teach them to move...nearby- not to Europe.
Posted by: Whitewall | Sunday, 12 March 2017 at 14:37
Whiters, I first came across WUWT several years ago when its 'onlie begetter', Anthony Watts, conducted personal inspections of the temperature recording sites in the USA on which the 'experts' based their analyses and conclusion that AGW was all too real. Well, it was, but not quite in the way that the 'Greenies' thought. Watts, followed later by a volunteer group of 'inspectors' all over the States, quickly established that many of the sites may have started life in rural settings but after WWII many of them were swamped by urban development. Thus, they were surrounded by concrete and reflective windows, air conditioning plants and so forth. To use such results to 'prove' that global temps were increasing was an absolute con trick. A good man who deserves a top scientific award for doing proper science.
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 12 March 2017 at 16:55
Ah Whitewall,
"If we just leave the poor climate alone, it and we will be fine. If these phony do gooders want to help ... If they live on non life supporting land, teach them to move."
Science to the rescue!
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-greenland-vikings-vanished-180962119/
Posted by: JK | Sunday, 12 March 2017 at 22:00
David
The Sister Sledge. Enjoy.
https://youtu.be/oMVe_HcyP9Y
Posted by: Hank | Monday, 13 March 2017 at 11:21
JK, In the past I read about those disappeared Vikings. There was even a NatGeo program or BBC program about those settlements. It seems they simply got stuck there because at one time Greenland was just that in places anyway. Many peoples relocated in the past only to become lost forever. That is how North Carolina got started...The Lost Colony, a full 20 years before Jamestown, Va.
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 13 March 2017 at 12:16
Whitewall, history is about settlements although some who settled seem to have problems with others who have settled, like the Irish and Scots! Who think it was alright for them to settle elsewhere but not the English. Only kiddin.
Posted by: jimmy glesga | Monday, 13 March 2017 at 22:33
Jimmy, you shoulda been around here in the early and mid 1700s when the land was thick with English, Scots, Irish and even Welsh! Next thing you know, Germans-Moravians- began settling just before and up to the disturbance with King George 3rd. All around here we have olde grave yards with interesting spelling on many tombstones. Most everyone got along okay it seemed...even the Irish!
Posted by: Whitewall | Tuesday, 14 March 2017 at 00:28