DUFF & NONSENSE!

No more Scotland the brave, more like Scotland the bonkers!

During these cold, wet, boring days, thank God for the Salmond vs. Sturgeon claymore fight!  It's even better and bloodier than Celtic vs. Rangers!  I am unable to take sides because both participants strike me as ghastly people!  Alas, I do feel sorry for Scotland and the 'Jocks' who surely deserve better than this in the way of political leadership!  Perhaps, if this is the best that not-so-bonny Scotland can offer then maybe they should consider ditching their so-called 'independence' and return to full partnership with the Anglos.  At least they would then be able to agree on one thing - the Anglos are ghastly!

The Sunday Rumble: 21.2.21

Squabbles inside No. 10, so no change there then!  Turbulence in Downing Street as another Vote Leave aide departs | The Spectator.   It's 'handbags at dawn' inside No.10. as most of the PM's advisors are too busy bashing each other to waste any time actually advising Boris.  Not, I hasten to add, that advising Boris is likely to have much effect!  'Bozzer' does it his way, er, when he can be bothered!

 

Whatever happened to 'Wotsisname'?   Suddenly, there was no Trump!  No pics of his magnificently quaffed hair!  No close-ups of his childishly pouted lips.  How he must be hating anonymity!  Ohdearwhatapitynevermind!

 

Farewell, Meghan.   No reason to ever come back.  Nobody will miss you!

 

The ever-excellent Julie Burchill hits it on the head:   The headline to her latest piece in The Telegraph says it all:

   "When will Remainers admit they were wrong about Brexit?"

When hell, or the EU, freezes over, I suspect!

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Off tomorrow to attend a funeral of an old and very dear friend

 

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

 

There's always a good side to any crisis!

For example, this latest Covid pandemic has shown the almost utter uselessness of the EU as a governing body.  People will suffer as a result of their bumbling, and probably corrupt inefficiency but if it opens people's eyes to the true nature of the 'European dream', then it will be a price worth paying.  Most revealing of all was the almost instant decision of the French government to use the supply of vaccines as a weapon against the British - why am I not in the least surprised?

Surely it must be clear by now that they detest us!  I have known this for decades which is why I have always been against attempts by our dimwitted 'ruling classes' to join this flagrantly anti-British 'junta'!  I do not necessarily blame the continentals, they are free to judge us as they see fit, but it is almost criminal for our politicians not to see "the bleedin' obvious"!

God! How I hate the cold!

Well, of course I do!  Despite my Scottish blood, I am by upbringing and by nature a 'soppy Southerner', as my 'Yorkie' friends would put it!!  Consequently, I loathe cold weather, as I warned 'Her Maj' when I volunteered for the Army.  I actually dropped her a note - as you do! -  when I joined up to ensure that I would only be sent to warm climes.  Where was the first place she sent me?  Bloody Narvik in the Norwegian Arctic Circle!  Anyway, it's now nearly as cold as Narvik down here in so-called 'zunny Zummerzet' and I'm fed up with it!  The only good news is that so far there has been no snow BUT here is the headline from The Mail:

"Now for the Big Freeze: Met Office warns up to FOUR INCHES of snow will sweep UK from today, with temperatures set to plunge to -10C this weekend"

Such fun!

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 10.1.21

Some good news - for a change:   Courtesy of The Mail I bring you these glad tidings:

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will never return to social media after claiming to have dealt with an 'almost unsurvivable' amount of abuse, a source has claimed.

Ohdearwhatapitynevermind!  Don't worry about being missed - you won't be!

 

Three cheers for 'plucky little, er, Taiwan', actually:   'The Donald', in a last mischievous throw of his Presidential dice, has lifted all previous American restrictions on Taiwan - and about time, too!  'Xi Ping-a-ling' will not be amused!

 

The Scottish Play - no, not that one, the real one!  Yet more obscurity from me - sorry, sorry!  I refer to the current claymore fight going on in Edinburgh between the Sturgeon clan and the Salmond clan.  It is always amusing to learn, yet again, that the smaller the territory the more vicious is the fight.  Let us hope that neither party applies that favourite Scottish ploy and 'puts their heed in wi' their bonnet on!'

 

That Starmer fella' is beginning to impress me!   I am grateful - again! - to Guido for informing me of this:

Starmer Rejects FoM and Re Joining EU

Jolly good show, Keir, old chap - ooops, sorry, I mean 'Comrade'!

 

 

 

            More Rumbles later . . .

 

 

 

Will the EU break-up this year - or next?

Before you dismiss my title as wishful thinking - think about it!  There are hard times - no, seriously hard times! - approaching and the structure is not sound.  There are two main fault lines running through the structure, the north/south one which divides the 'Scandies' and the 'Meds', and the east/west one which divides the impoverished eastern bloc from the more affluent west.

John Keiger, at 'The Speccie' site spells it out:

By June 2020, according to EU statistics, Greece’s national debt to annual GDP ratio stood at 187.4 per cent, Italy 149.4 per cent, Portugal 126.1 per cent, France 114.1 per cent. The battle to mutualise a small part of the debt has again pushed to one side the fundamental structural problem with the EU, the Euro: undervalued for some (Germany and the northern states) and overvalued for others (Italy and the southern states).

Needless to say, the Germans and the Scandies just 'lurve' operating on world markets with a falsely lowered exchange rate.  Not sure what the Italians make of it because no-one asks them!

Thanks to the common-sense of the Brit 'peeps',  we're out of it!

 

 

 

George Blake R.I.H.

The "R.I.H." in my title stands for 'Rest In Hell'!  And I sincerely hope - alas, I don't 'do' praying! - that you share your space there with the late, and equally vile and treacherous, Kim Philby.  Did both of these despicable traitors truly believe that Soviet Russia was the idealistic heaven the world was waiting for?  That Stalin and his henchmen were the saviors of Mankind?  If so, they were both as stupid and ignorant as they were treacherous!

Like my first para jump, we teeter on the edge

Well done, Boris, you have led us to the very edge of true independence from the EU.  All you have to do now is step off the edge and pray the 'chute opens!  Needless to say, the Euro fanatics in Brussels will do all they can to ensure that it does not but we have faced off an intensely hostile Europe 'many a time and oft' in our history, so nothing new there!  If, as they probably will, things become a tad rough, just console yourselves with the thought that the insufferable, jumped-up midget who runs France will no longer have any direct say in our affairs.  

I never thought that we would escape but the door to freedom is about to open!

 

 

Farewell, Chuck, I salute you!

Alas, the death has been announced of one of my boyhood heroes, Chuck Yeager, the first man to 'break the sound barrier'.  As a 'nipper', I was fascinated by high speed planes and the race for one of them to travel faster than the speed of sound.  As The Telegraph puts it in its obit of this courageous man:

A B-29 bomber carried the X-1 26,000 feet (7,925 m) over California's Mojave Desert and let it go. Neither Yeager nor aviation engineers knew if the plane - or the pilot - would be able to handle the unprecedented speed without breaking up. But Yeager took the 31-foot X-1, powered by liquid oxygen and alcohol, to Mach 1.06, about 700 mph at 43,000 feet, as if it were a routine flight.

Later, I was 'gutted' to witness the death of another of my heroes, John Derry, the de Havilland test pilot, whose aircraft disintegrated after he broke the sound barrier at the Farnborough Air Show.  Truly brave men, all of them.

 

 

 

Alas for the mostly admirable Aussie army

The Australian army is a magnificent fighting force admired and respected world-wide.  It is, therefor, an even more bitter blow that their reputation has been besmirched by the activities of some out-of-control idiots - and criminals! - in a sub-section of their Special Forces.  Obviously, the main victims were those who were shot in cold blood but the subsidiary victims of those crimes are the honourable soldiers who took no part in the illegal killings but who have now been sullied by the incident.

We in Britain have suffered similar humiliations.  The reputation of my own Regiment, of which I am inordinately proud, has been similarly besmirched from time to time by the rash actions of some individuals in various scenarios.  Even so, those of us who were not there should hesitate before delivering judgments.  Members of both our Parachute Regiment and the Australian SAS are hand-picked for their natural (some might say 'un-natural'!) belligerence which in a war can be exceedingly useful.  Alas, so many of the operations required of them these days take place in civil situations falling short of outright war which leaves them subject to all and sundry to voice their opinions of the right and wrongs of their actions.

I hope and trust that the Australian authorities will act with care!

 

 

 

A Brexit deal? Don't hold your breath!

I have never quite believed that a Brexit deal would be struck and judging by today's headlines the chances are now vanishingly tiny.  Frankly, I will be delighted because I just know - don't ask me how?! - that any deal agreed to by mini-Macron and his ilk would be bad for Britain.  They always have been and always will be!  Assuming Boris doesn't 'lose his bottle' it could be all over by the New Year.  Yes, "there may be troubles ahead" but Boris should bear in mind that they will be nothing compared to the 'scheisse-feste' that will descend on his blonde head if he keeps us inside that European farrago!

Needless to say, as a lover of irony, I will be delighted to toast our escape with a glass or three of the finest French champagne!

 

 

 

 

Let's hear it for 'plucky, little Poland'!

Any nation existing for centuries between Russia and Germany is bound to develop an ingrained awkward streak.  Such a characteristic is essential lest it be 'squidged' into non-existence.  Poland is the perfect example, as the dim, dumb European hegemony is becoming aware as it tries to inflict its bullying ways on what it thinks are its vassal states.  Big mistake when it comes to 'plucky, little Poland'!  Apparently the Brussels mafia is attempting to claim the right to financially penalise any EU member state who fails to abide by EU standards.  Who decides what these 'standards' are, why, the Brussels apparat, of course!

Is there anyone in Britain who fails to be grateful to the majority of British 'Peeps' who had the intelligence and the guts to vote to walk out of that evil hegemony?  God knows, we have made some colossal errors in our history but from time to time we get things right.  Jolly good show! 

 

 

 

The imminent death of the European dis-Union

This damned 'Covid-thingie' is going to take a lot of nations to the edge of political and economic disaster!  Perhaps the biggest bloc of people at risk are those inside the European dis-Union.  This puffed-up farce of a 'Union' has never been convincing except to the idealistic dupes who dreamed it up and the blood-suckers who live off it.  It never was a true union, just a German racket and a French illusion!  Now, this pandemic, and the economic catastrophe that will accompany it, will be rather like one of those monstrous storms that hit islands in the Gulf of Mexico so regularly.  It will be doubly unfortunate that this will occur just as we British tip our hats and bid them adieu and auf wiederSehen!  They truly never believed that we Brits would leave which tells you all you need to know about their ignorance of British history.  In my 81 years of life, two events stand out for me as proud epitomes of the British character - declaring war against Hitler and leaving the EU.  Both were at the express behest of the British people, not just their leaders.

 

 

 

'Reports of my death are greatly exagerated'!

Sorry, sorry, sorry to have gone on 'the missing list' - again! - but the reason I have said nothing for so long is because I had nothing to say!  And yes, I do know that in certain quarters that situation will have been welcomed.  Also, by way of warning, I should make clear that I do not have that much to say now!  Well, I mean, what is there to say in this tedious, boring-snoring world?  The only light entertainment is to watch Boris and his gang emulate the clowns normally to be seen at the various travelling circuses that tour the country this time of the year.  Is there anyone outside of the Tory party who finds Boris even slightly credible as a national leader?  The man is a stuttering, stammering buffoon who makes Donald Trump look like a World Leader!

Alas, I must finish this monologue of doom 'n' gloom with an even more worrying thought - the worst is yet to come!  The damage inflicted on our economy, and eventually on our society, is going to be cataclysmic.  It will test our civic structures to the very limit.  Will we stand the test?  Alas, I can't pray, all I can do is hope!  If history is any guide then I think we will stagger through it but it could be tough going!

And, yes, I do know that 'it's being so cheerful as keeps me so young'!

 

 

 

Has Keir Starmer got what it is going to take?

For the benefit of my foreign readers who no doubt have enough problems of their own without being bothered by a Brit 'hoo-ha-ha', I should explain that the Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer MP, is the new leader of the Labour Party and yes, we should all send him our condolences!  Well, I mean, who in their right (or even Left) mind would want the job of leading that shambolic collection of twerps anywhere except, possibly, over Dover cliffs?!  I sense that Sir Keir's heart is in the right place but I am not sure that he realises that leading the Labour party is like herding chickens!

Well, actually, now he must realise it because having been bold enough to boot 'Jezza' Corbyn out of the leadership, elements of the Labour Party have promptly booted him back in!  It almost makes Boris look masterful!  Personally, I wish Sir Keir all the best in his endeavors because, as a nation, we have enough problems without Her Majesty's Loyal (well, sort of!) Opposition being controlled by a mixture of 'Bolshies', students and power-hungry Trades Unionists.

So, get a grip, Sir Keir, "No more Mr. Nice Guy!"

 

 

'To deal or not to deal, that is the question!'

As regular readers know, I have always taken a hard line on our departure from the EU.  I have loathed and detested it since first we entered the wretched conglomeration and I remain steadfast, er, sort of, in making our escape.  Even so, today at The Spectator, Mr. James Forsyth gives me pause for thought particularly if the end result is 'no deal'.

No deal would be acrimonious. The EU would probably take a hard-line approach to border checks to try to force Britain back to the table. Boris Johnson would, as the Internal Market Bill proposes, override parts of the withdrawal agreement that he himself signed. The EU would take legal action.

It is impossible to believe that these tensions wouldn’t bleed across into other issues such as foreign policy and defence cooperation. The arguments that would follow a no-deal Brexit could poison UK-EU relations for years – undermining the Western alliance.

All probably true but just how much faith do we really have in the so-called 'Western Alliance'?  Would France and Germany stand by us should we be threatened directly by Russia?  'Maybe, baby'!  Today, can we depend on 'good ol' Joe Biden if Russian push comes to shove?  Well, yes, probably ...  possibly.  Far and away the most critical thing for HMG to do is hang on to our A-bombs and the means to deliver them.  They concentrate minds like nothing else!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 15.11.20

Brexit is the true test of Boris:   God knows - and He's not too sure! -  what Boris will get up to now that he has disposed of his two leading advisors.  However, we 'the great unwashed' have one litmus test by which we may judge him - BREXIT!  Either it happens, boldly and clearly, or it does not and ends up as a hopeless Euro fudge in which, as we have learned over the years, we always come off worse!

 

Nazi Germany:   I stumbled upon a TV programme last night which touched on the early days of Nazi Germany.  Good God, those Germans were stupid beyond belief!  Exactly how evil they were is another question.  Even so, surely they did not need a degree in Political Philosophy to see 'the bleedin' obvious', that Adolph Hitler was a charlatan with galloping megalomania who would bring down disaster on their nation.  We were right to bomb them to bits and then invade them and thereby humiliate them.  The only ones I feel sorry for were the children!

 

And still 'The Ginger Ninja' continues with his clown act!    Alas, it was only ever funny for a few days but now, as the flecks of spittle fly from his little gooseberry lips, it has become tiresome and, given the high political temperature that pervades America, it is positively dangerous!  Just go!

 

Alas, this is all too true:  Nick Cohen, at The Spectator site, has Downing Street summed up in his first paragraph:

For all his Falstaffian swagger, Boris Johnson resembles no Shakespearian character so much as Henry VI. He is a weak and vacillating king at the mercy of palace factions. He thinks whatever the last adviser he spoke to told him to think. He has no policies that cannot be changed under pressure or principles that cannot be abandoned if the loudest voice in the room says they must go. He does not know his own mind. At times it appears he has no mind worth knowing.

And whilst we have two clowns operating in Washington and London, the Chinese quietly get on with their malicious business!

 

 

No more Rumbles 

 

 

 

'Quiet goes the Dom!'

Well, we'll see just how quietly Dominic Cummings goes!  Also, and more interestingly, as we watch the Boris pantomime run through its Winter programme, we will be able to judge the new Pantomime Dame as she takes centre stage.  Personally, I am sorry to see Dom go.  I suspect that he was a major pain in the arse to work with given his fanatical streak but the fact is that he was an enormous influence in getting us out of that wretched EU racket and somehow I doubt it would have happened without his driving force behind it.

He's gone now and as we contemplate his replacement, Ms. Carrie Symonds, we are forced to raise that old, Shakespearean question:

"Hence shall we see,

If power change purpose, what our seemers be".

I know next to nothing concerning Ms. Carrie Symonds but so far I can discern I see no indications that she is a great political wizard.  Perhaps she will prove me wrong and I hope that I am because the thought of four more years of undiluted Boris is frightening.

 

Boris! Please, just bugger off!

It has become increasingly obvious that Boris really is as useless as his shambolic appearance indicates.  This latest fracas in which a senior advisor is, in effect, forced out by Boris's girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, tells us all the nature of 'politics' (if you can call it that!) as conducted inside No. 10.  I would like to know exactly how many people voted for Ms. Symonds in the last election?  Somewhere between none and zero, I think!  The Tory party, once upon a time, had a reputation for ruthlessness in dealing with trouble-makers.  Not any more, now that Ms. Symonds has Boris's balls firmly clutched in her hand!

 

 

We bid, 'yuuuugely, a farewell to one president and greetings to another

I shall miss 'The Donald', his enormous, puffed-up ego provided a constant source of humour, not least when it was well and truly punctured by a man who is almost his exact opposite.  Not, I hasten to add, that 'good ol' Joe' doesn't have an equally large ego but he has the good sense to keep it hidden.  Without raking through the details of the last four years, it seem to me that the politics pushed through by 'The Donald' were not that bad.  He never attempted a coup, he never had his opponents executed (which in some instances is a pity!), he never started a serious war and, most important, he was quick to acknowledge and warn of the menace of China.

Now, the great question is how 'good ol' Joe' will make out?  Somehow, I doubt, just like his predecessor, that he has ever had a strategic thought pass through his mind.  What worries me is just how much influence his 'advisors' have over him?  And who are they, exactly?  Our newspapers are wringing their hands and suggesting that Britain's influence will simply melt away.  I wish they would tell us just how much influence we have ever had with a US government?

The big worry, of course, is not Joe Biden's politics but, at his age, Joe Biden's health!  I know precisely nothing about his vice-President but even so I sense some alarum bells ringing!  So, whatever else you do, Joe, keep taking your meds!

 

 

 

'Mrs. MacWhinge' is a menace to us all!

Any piece of legislation anywhere in the (dis)United Kingdom which is entitled  'The Hate Crimes and Public Order Bill' and which is intended to crush any expression of opinions which a government decides is illegitimate should be torn to shreds and the 'perps', in this case, 'Mrs. MacWhinge and her SNP poodles, should be pelted with dog-droppings at every opportunity.  Perhaps it is time for me to alter my nickname for that ghastly Nicola Sturgeon and refer to her as 'Mrs. MacHitler'.

For God's sake, Scotland, get a grip and boot that wretched woman out!

 

 

The (late) Sunday Rumble

God, life's boring!   Even so, as I have remarked before, many a time and oft (perhaps too oft!), sometimes boring is better than exciting!  Part of the problem for me in this 'Covid' era is that my scientific/medical knowledge is miniscule and even though, as my regular visitors will know, I am never averse to making a prat of myself on all sorts of subjects, virus behaviour, along with sub-atomic particle behaviour is way beyond my ken!  In these sorts of situations I simply dig in and keep my head down!

 

Next Tuesday's US election:  Yet another subject about which I have little to say - let alone forecast!  My sincere hope is that 'The Donald' will win, not because I am a great admirer of the buffoon but simply because an (un)Democrat regime would be a disaster!  Here's hoping!

 

I loathe and detest the National Trust!   'Back in the day', the 'Memsahib' was always eager to visit this or that stately, historic house most of which were run by the National Trust.  Not me!  I could only think of the families who had built them and lived in them for hundreds of years before being forced out by rapacious governments.  Today, The Mail reports that the jumped-up bureaucrat who runs the NT is determined to publicise any of the houses whose previous owners were associated in any way with the slave trade.  Well, I expect it gives the smug, stupid woman a warm glow of self-appreciation even if nobody but her and few Lefty twerps gives a toss!

 

Farewell, Sir Sean, and thank you:   I think that Sean Connery's performances as 'James Bond' were simply superlative!  There is no doubt that he looked the part of an exceedingly dangerous man and his growly, Scottish accent added to the menace.

 

No more rumbles

 

It's all SoD's fault!

Yes, today 'SoD' descended with his 'bouncing Czech' - no, that is not a fair description because she is actually petite and lovely and very gracious - and I am glad they made it down because tomorrow all over Britain the cell-doors slam shut and visits will end!  To be honest, apart from 'Sod's occasional visits it will not make much difference to me.  I am now a confirmed 'old grump' who hardly ever visits anyone else and consequently receives few visitors myself!  Suits me fine!

Even so, the ramifications of this 'lockdown' will be 'yuuuuuuuuuge' and regretfully, I suspect the worst is yet to come.  It's a bit like those enormous 'tabs'* we had to do in the army where you had to pile every bit of kit on your back and shoulders and then plod on for ever and ever!  Well, my Mum managed to get through five years of war and bombing and missile attacks whilst living and working in London so I think we will manage with what she would have dismissed as a mere inconvenience!

Remember - "Just keep buggering on!"

*TAB = Tactical Advance to Battle although I am delighted to say that in my day there was never any real battle at the end of it which is just as well because I was usually knackered!

 

 

 

Good-bye, 'Jezza', don't slam the door on your way out!

'Good riddance to bad rubbish' is a somewhat dated British saying but it is entirely appropriate as we bid farewell - or something beginning with 'F'! - to 'Jezza' and his cronies.  It has taken a long time - too long! - but to its credit the Labour party has eventually succeeded in beginning the cleaning of its 'Augean stables'.  I use the word "beginning" because there is still a festering rats' nest of anti-Semitic 'Lefties' who need to be cleared out. 

This is good for the country but perhaps not so good for Boris and the Tories.  They will no longer be able to 'rest easy' on the obvious Marxist infiltration of Labour.  The so-called 'soft Left' is more than capable of pressing forward with attractive policies to entice 'middle England' and thus elections will be that much harder to win.  Time to stop bumbling, Boris, and do some hard, analytical thinking!  Difficult for you, I know, but you could always make use of 'the Mogg-man', a.k.a. Jacob Rees-Mogg who is not only a proper 'brainiac' but is also an MP for a 'Zummerzet'  constituency.  What more could you ask for?

 

 

 

At last, the Labour Party is found out!

Before I start my furious polemic let me make clear that not everyone in the Labour Party is a raving, foam-flecked anti-semite!  There are plenty of sensible members who have been quietly ashamed over the years of their Party's failure to deal with the increasing accusations of anti-Semitism that have grown and grown under the Corbyn regime.  Mind you, their pathetic, political cowardice in doing nothing makes them equally guilty!

It is a catastrophe for what was once a pillar of the British political construct.  The fact that the Labour party never ceases to bleat and prate and moan about the evils of racism whilst sheltering a gang of rabid anti-Semites raises a disgusting odour.  Also, of course, just at a time when a lively and vigorous opposition is required to deal with a bumbling Tory government, Labour is shown up for 'humbuggery' of the most disgusting kind.  I have some small hopes for their new leader, Keir Starmer and wish him well as tries to clear the anti-Semitic offal from his Augean stables!

 

 

"Just keep buggering on!"

Good old, Winston, always ready with a neat turn of phrase for every situation!  Today, as I slump, dumbfounded, in my attic eyrie gazing in disbelief at a world gone quite mad, I cling to those very wise words.  Yes, I agree, they are not as inspiring as some of his more well-known, wartime pronouncements but - dammit! - they are spot on!  Not many of us can be wise but we can - if we try! - be sensible.  Don't go out in crowds, in fact, avoid them when you can.  Keep socialising to a minimum.  My adage that the greatest threats in life are the dreaded 'Peeps' is now more true than ever.  

Of course, that's fairly easy for me to say, being a miserable, old grump by nature.  Were I eighteen and not eighty it might be more difficult to abide by the rule.  Also, of course, my financial base, whilst not set in concrete, is fairly well-established and sound.  Should that collapse for any reason, I will, of course, throw myself into the arms of my dearly, beloved son, who I just know, will welcome me with open arms - er, you will, won't you, 'SoD'?

I make light of current conditions but I am all too well aware of the extremities that some people are suffering in these difficult times.  I remember being brought up by a single mother whose small, weekly wage barely covered rent and utilities.  To lose your job and with no other income available is a disaster.  I wish you all well in these troublesome times.

 

 

Well done, the SBS ( he wrote through gritted teeth!)

Well, yes, that handful of Nigerian 'wannabe' immigrants to Britain who attempted to take over an oil-tanker in the Channel were not exactly, heavily-armed, foam-flecked, Islamist terrorists but even so, the SBS dealt with them swiftly and efficiently - and mercifully!  It says much for their skill and training that no-one was hurt.  It irks me, an ex-Para, to praise Marines but 'sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do!'  

Words from on high - but worth reading!

They don't come much higher than Jonathan Sumption, author, medieval historian and former Supreme Court judge who is writing in this week's 'Speccie':

Italy is the only European country where Brexit is viewed with some sympathy and the British are not assumed to be off their heads. It is an odd state of affairs. The country benefited spectacularly from the EU. It transformed itself in a few years from a society of peasants and small craftsmen into an advanced, export-oriented economy based on engineering, cars, pharmaceuticals and consumer electrics, with an impressive standard of living. 

The Italians were insulted when Boris Johnson, then masquerading as a diplomat, cited prosecco as their emblematic export. Italy’s fatal mistake was to adopt the euro for reasons of prestige. It lumbered them with an artificially high implicit exchange rate, depressed growth and real earnings, and pushed them into a permanent recession. It is a warning of the danger of embarking on economic projects for political reasons. [My emphasis)  These days, you don’t hear much from knowledgeable Italians about the opportunities offered by Europe.

This article is an extract from Jonathan Sumption's Spectator diary, available in this week's magazine.

Once again, my pride in the wisdom and courage of the British 'Peeps' who decided to 'Brexit' against all the flannel from the  so-called 'clever Dicks' is increased.  Yes, we get plenty of things wrong but when we get it right, we're spot on!

 

 

 

Nothing like a pandemic for showing politicians at their worst!

I'm sure the home nations of my international readership - all ten of you! - have their own domestic examples of politicians jumping centre stage to capture the headlines as they inflict us all with their their 'boring-snoring' and mostly useless tales from the 'Covid Front'!  Perhaps the most sick-inducing one I have seen - and which I only saw because I couldn't find the 'do-flicker-thingie' to eradicate him - was the ghastly Andy Burnham MP, whose pontificating, smug, self-serving and utterly useless address to the Prime Minister was allowed on my TV screen despite the fact that it was intended entirely for the 'Mancs' who were daft enough to elect him and that sad collection of sub-normals who constitute today's Labour party!

If you watched his performance and failed to see the 'bleedin' obvious' chicanery of it, then you deserve a Labour government and all that it will bring forth!

 

 

 

No wonder I'm confused!

Two headlines in the same edition of the Daily Telegraph:

UK coronavirus deaths hit highest level since June

############################################################

'No sign of second wave' as ONS data shows normal level of deaths for time of year

'Yer pays yer money an' yer takes yer choice!'

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 18.10.20

We bid farewell to bonny Scotland!   Well, there's no way we can force them to remain!  Mind you, if that's "the high road" they are determined to take, then all we can do is shut the door firmly - very firmly! - behind them and wish them good luck in the 'welcoming arms' of the European Union, a.k.a. the German racket!  It is patently obvious that nothing is more important to  'Mrs. MacWhinge' than, er, well, 'Mrs. MacWhinge', actually, and her place in Scottish history.  The fact that eventually it will sink lower than the Loch Ness monster has not yet dawned on 'the wee lassie' but it will, eventually, and I hope I will still be around to attempt my version of a Highland fling!

 

Fascinating book review in The Spectator:  The title of the book written by Catherine Grace Katz sums it up -  The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War.  I might just treat myself to a copy, after all, you can always depend on the ladies to to go to the secret heart of a meeting between men and as meetings go, they do not get much more crucial than Yalta!

 

California - here I do NOT, under any circs, come!   Well, I have just read Douglas Murray's report on the, er, 'golden' state and it stinks - literally!  

Anyone who has visited San Francisco in recent years will have noticed that one of the world’s most beautifully positioned cities has turned into an American dystopia. Nowhere in the first world is actual inequality more pronounced. The proximity of Silicon Valley has made property unaffordable to anyone below the millionaire class. And when that class comes down from their towers or ventures into the centre of the city they encounter sights rarely seen outside of a zombie movie.

The incentivisation of homelessness, dire provisions for the mentally ill and easy access to legal and illegal drugs have meant that even the city’s boutique shopping streets are crowded with people who have made the streets their home. A portion of the responsibility for this lies with Mayor Gavin Newsom who, having made such a success of San Francisco, became Governor of California, to see if he could make his policies fail on a larger canvas.

Needless to say, California is ruled ruthlessly by Left-wing 'Democrats' whose crass stupidity and corruption is obvious to all - well, all except those who actually live there and vote, apparently!

 

What's the Norwegian for "Jolly good show, chaps!"   Well, for once, at least, the Nobel Peace Prize officers managed to reach the correct decision for granting a Nobel Peace Prize, although, to be accurate, it's not so much to whom they gave the prize - it was "the World Food Programme for its efforts to combat hunger and to prevent it being used as a weapon of war" - but whom they ignored".  Thus, the ineffably smug and stupid, Greta Thunberg was passed by!  What can one say, except perhaps, 'Ohdearwhatapitynevermind!'

 

More rumbles later . . .

 

 

 

Now Boris knows what I felt like on my first parachute jump!

Once again, multi-apologies for my absence in recent days but, honestly, what is there to discuss these days?  Life and politics is (almost) totally 'boring-snoring'!  Even so, tomorrow is the beginning of a major 'Crash-Bang-Wallop'!  Tomorrow sees the end of the endless Brexit 'yadda-yadda' and Boris, like me 60+ years ago, has to shuffle to the edge of a cage suspended at 800' and step out into fresh air with all his fingers crossed!  I really never believed we would reach this point, my faith in our so-called 'leaders' being minimal.  He deserves some praise for sticking to his policy against all the odds but most of all it is the British 'Peeps' who deserve it the most.  Truly, under all the pressure from all directions, internal as well as external, I never thought that they would vote to leave but, by God, they did it, they really, really did it.  Yes, there will be problems, there always are, and we will once again find ourselves on our own but - hey! - been there, done that, its our entire history.

 

For God's sake, America, get a grip!

I am happy - nay, delighted! -  to say that I have not viewed any of yesterday's 'shout-fest' between Trump and Biden.  However, from all reports I would suggest that the only thing the American people learned yesterday was that neither candidate is fit to be the mayor of 'Hicksville', let alone President of the United States!  Hitherto, despite my doubts, I have been sparing in my criticism of Trump.  Not any more!  The man is an ignorant and arrogant pig with an ego the size of Texas and a brain no bigger than his titchy, little 'willy'!  Alas and alack, Biden simply demonstrated his utter stupidity by falling in with Trump's gross game-plan.

God help America and, hopefully, us as well who depend on the USA for so much!

 

 

Now this is bonny news!

According to Stephen Daisley at The Spectator there are fissures appearing in the ranks of the Scottish National Party (SNP) - ohdearwhatapitynevermind'.  Daisely, I should add, has long been a shrewd observer of all things Scottish.  According to him:

The Sturgeon-Murrell reign has gone largely unchallenged in the ultra-disciplined SNP — but that is changing. The Sunday Timesreports that party activists are plotting a vote of no confidence in Murrell at the next SNP conference. The move stems from one of those intricate vendettas in which Scottish politics and the Sicilian mafia specialise. 

I should make clear that Mr. Murrel is the husband of 'Mrs. McWhinge' for which he surely deserves an enormous medal from 'Her Maj'!  Mr. Daisley provides this succinct summary of Scottish politics:

The four families of this drama are the Sturgeonistas, the Salmondites, the Wokes and the Sensibles, and although some belong to more than one outfit, all are soldiers in the two main feuds that divide the SNP today.

I will not attempt to summarise Mr. Daisley's analysis but if peripheral politics is your thing then I urge you to check it out.  Suffice to say that once again it is proven that the smaller the politics the more vicious they become!

 

 

A deal with the EU! Oh dear, that's not good news!

I trust our civil servants about as far as I could piss into a gale!  And as for 'Team Boris', with one or two exceptions, I rate them no higher.  Thus, rumours of a deal being struck with the autocrats in Brussels fill me with dread.  I wanted 'OUT' with no 'ifs, buts or maybes' - end of!  Yes, it might have been painful in the short term but long-term it would have concentrated minds in the business world and opened up prospects elsewhere.  "As any fule do no", except the 'fules' in our government and civil service, within minutes of any agreement being signed, the French, quietly assisted by 'Hausfrau' Merkel, will begin to pick holes in it and insist on interpretations never contemplated in Whitehall.

Once, I was looking forward to 'Brexit'.  Now all we have is faux-Brexit and an endless fart of hot air from Boris telling us 'it's all 'a jolly good show'!  Someone pass the sick-bag!

 

 

A Sunday Rumble

God and Donald move in mysterious ways their wonders to perform!   Yes, yes, of course there is a difference between God and Donald although the latter may doubt it!  Anyway, God, for reasons unknown to me, has unleashed the dreaded 'Covid-lurgi' on us all probably because we have all been very naughty boys and girls!  Donald, on the other hand (well, he sits on the right-hand of God!) has taken swift advantage of the death of that old 'Leftie' harridan who occupied a seat on the Supreme Court and swiftly appointed another lady to the post but this one comes with impeccable Right-wing views.  Apparently, this will clinch a Right-wing majority at the Supreme Court for years.  Jolly good show, Donald!

 

Labour lead in poll:  Not, I hasten to add, that I place that much confidence in political polls.  Even so, I would rather not read of a 3% Labour lead over the Tories!  Surely, the Tory 'grandees' must see that Boris is a dead loss as a leader and that Rishi is the man for the job.  So, just get on with it, chaps, and don't think that Boris will be hurt because, according to reports, he is feeling a severe financial pinch as PM and he would earn 'zillions' more in the private sector.

 

An apology to my American friends:  As I have reported some time ago, this bloody-bloody 'fatigue syndrome' with which I am plagued virtually destroyed my vociferous reading habit.  However, just as it occurred, I pulled an old, un-read, paper-back book from my shelf and placed it on my desk as a reminder!  It is a fairly slim volume but, I suspect, the subject is 'yuuuuuuuuuge'!  I'm not too sure how it will go down but I am determined to try!  It is a biography of Abraham Lincoln by Jan Morris about whom, I am ashamed to say, I know very little.  I will post reports as I go.

 

No more Rumbles 

 

 

 

I loathe the National Trust

Apologies for my absence this week but the simple fact of the matter is that I had nothing to say - who cheered? - however, today I do have some bile to extrude so take cover.  I have detested the National Trust for decades, even back in those halcyon days when the 'Memsahib' and sundry friends would suggest trips to various glorious properties steeped in history.  In my usual 'old grump' mode I would reluctantly tag along but I hated every minute of it.  In my opinion, those magnificent homes should have remained as the private property of their original owners, not ripped off them by a greedy, socialist State in lieu of outrageous taxes.  Most of them would have been opened to public view by their owners who would have been happy to have the money to keep their properties in good shape.  Needless to say, the State take-over of many of these fine buildings means they have degenerated into empty, dusty museums without soul or spirit.

God rot the National Trust!

 

I'm dying - of boredom!

God!  Life sure is tedious, ain't it?  And yes, yes, I know all about the dangers of 'living in exciting times' but even so, this current existence is truly 'boring-snoring'!  Mind you, I suspect that the eventual outcome of this 'covid-virus-thingie' may well prove to be cataclysmic.  Not so much the virus itself but the eventual knock-on effect on the economy and the social life.  Those effects, of course, will eventually reverberate in the political arena.  The one small advantage to us Brits, of course, is that there is at least four years to go before another election which gives Boris the chance not to panic but to act sensibly.  Alas, 'over there' the election race is off and running.  Even so, I think, I hope, I even pray that 'The Donald' and the 'Repubs' have enough support to hold off the mad 'Lefties'.

We shall see what we shall see, er, and all that sort of thing!

 

 

A Sunday Rumble: 20.9.20

Sorry, Donald, but Daniel Hannan has it about right:  I will not attempt to paraphrase his impeccable English, so instead I will take the lazy way out and just paste and quote from his piece in today's Telegraph:

If I were an American, I’m not sure I could bring myself to vote for Donald Trump. It’s not that he lacks achievements. His tax cuts and deregulation worked: the US economy was booming pre-Covid, and unemployment was at a record low. His judges have the humility to recognise that the Constitution is bigger than they are. His success in reconciling Israel with a number of Arab states would have had the global commentariat demanding a Nobel Peace Prize had it come from any other president.

But I keep coming back to his character flaws: the childish lies; the inability to distinguish between public office and private interests; the mafia-like expectation that his supporters should follow him on his own account, changing their views whenever he does.

Yeeeeees, I think that about sums it up!  Even so, Mr. Hannan reminds us:

I don’t think I could vote for Joe Biden, either. I remember watching him at a conference two years ago, and it already seemed painfully clear that, to deal plainly, he was no longer in his perfect mind. With the world in its worst-ever recession, can Americans afford to have him at the helm?

From a British point of view, though, things are far clearer. Trump is unquestionably the more Anglophile candidate. He identifies strongly with his Scottish mother, and sometimes describes himself as half-British. 

'Nuff said!  I think we'll keep him on!

 

The real test for Boris:   Will he have the balls to flog off the BBC to the highest bidder?  It is now a self-inflated balloon filled with rancid anti-British, pro-socialist opinions and a provider of programmes, sport excepted, that hardly anyone watches or listens to!  It's your final test, Boris, just 'man-up' and do it!

 

This day 80-years ago:   Was the height of the most crucial battle fought by Britain since the Armada.  As has been well-expressed in most of the media, it was fought with the essential assistance of sundry Poles and Czechs and others who took to the skies and helped us defeat the Luftwaffe.  At the same time, we must NEVER forget the likes of the late Sir Robert Watson-Watt who was the force behind the construction of the radar defence system which was to prove critical.  Let us salute all of them, pilots and 'swots' alike!

 

Or could Boris 'do a runner'?   Patrick O'Flynn at The Coffee House seems to think it is quite likely:

Few would suggest that Boris Johnson, for all his gifts, ever had a Wilsonian concentration span or a Stakhanovite work ethic. So it requires no great leap of imagination to suppose that the not easy, not spacious, not socially-orientated days he is enduring right now are not what he had in mind for his premiership.

Throw in divorce, fatherhood again at 56, an impending further marriage and a touch-and-go spell in intensive care that may have left its mark on his own capacity and it's easy to see why the gossip has been building that Johnson may do a Wilson early in 2021, once the main loose ends of Brexit have been tied up.

Apparently, Michael Gove is reckoned as a favourite to take over and that would be interesting not least because I have always detected some considerable intelligence behind those owl-like specs of his.

 

 

No more rumbles

 

 

Sorry, Boris, but your time is up!

There's no doubt about it, Boris has faced a fairly severe crisis with all this 'Covid-crap' but the fact is that he has been found wanting!  Let me make clear that I do not have any brilliant, fresh ideas on how it should be handled but the muddled response from Boris & Co. has been mostly desultory, occasionally heavy-handed and with hardly any of it looking very intelligent!  His own, personal re-action as Prime Minister makes Mrs. May look like 'Superwoman'!  At least Churchill made regular and public visits to the bombed ruins to show that he was involved.  At the very start, Boris's 'First Lieutenant', Cummings, 'did a runner' but apparently received no admonishments for it and remains in his job.  Early on in his 'reign', many of us quietly admired Boris for his bouncy, 'boing-boing' approach to public affairs but that disappeared faster than a Spring snowfall!

Do get a grip, Boris, you are making Keir Starmer look like 'Superman'!

 

 

"So, who's a naughty boy then?" Er, me, actually!

Yes, sorry, sorry for going a.w.o.l. for the past couple of days or so but frankly what is there to write about?  Even 'The Donald' seems to have faded from the headlines and Boris appears to have put away his clown outfit and is trying his best to appear restrained and sensible - 'E for Effort', Boris!  Even so, it's all very boring even if I keep reminding myself that it is a curse to live in interesting times!

Talking of 'interesting times', there is a fictional program on the 'telly' tonight based on Singapore as war broke out.  I shall watch it because I am something of 'an old Singapore hand, don'cha know'! Happily - mega-happily! - my tour of duty was well after the Japanese invasion and the only invaders we feared was a visit by the US Far East Fleet - sheer hell, I tell you, sheer hell!  Well, just imagine several hundred 'JKs' let loose on the town!  I was amused to read that they had to film it up in Malaysia because there was no part of modern Singapore that looked the part!  Mostly, that was due to the late - and exceedingly great! -  Mr. Lee Kuan Yew who was ruler of Singapore when it was granted independence.  He is one of the exceedingly tiny group of politicians I truly admire.  I lived there during his first years in power and his intelligence was awesome!

Meanwhile, America - yet again! - demonstrates the 'stoopidity' of me moaning about English weather!  The scenes from the western side are truly horrifying.  I can hardly believe the colossal dimensions of the fires ravaging California.  On the whole Americans are a sturdy bunch of people but I do hope 'The Donald' has some imaginative and useful assistance he can offer them in this catastrophe.

 

 

Ach aye the noo, or something like that!

As my surname indicates, I am actually half Scottish although my time spent up in, er, 'bonny Scotland' has been minimal.  The only exceptions were courtesy of the Ministry of Defence who sent me - and several hundred others - up there to play soldiers.  My abiding memory is that it was exceedingly hilly, cold, wet and windy!  So, just like Yorkshire and the Lake District, really!  Anyway, the Jocks, under the leadership of the mighty midget, Nicola Sturgeon, are poised to depart the so-called 'United Kingdom'.  Why do I feel a tiny bit relieved?

Actually, it is nothing to do with Scotland or the Scots whom I mostly admire but it is all to do with the scoundrels who infest the Scottish National Party, particularly the atrocious, wee Nicola!  She knows full well that any divorce from Britain would inflict enormous hardships and problems on the Scottish people but, of course, she 'disnae give a flying fig' for that because it will give her a platform to strut her stuff, not just in Edinburgh but, more importantly, in Brussels.

For God's sake, 'Jockland', get a grip and kick the silly woman off the stage and stick with the English whose history you share and who admire you immensely.  Do you seriously believe that Brussels is going to treat you better than London?

 

 

Boris is rubbish!

Read this opening line carefully.  Boris is a pricked balloon!  (See why I urged care in reading?)  He came into play like the bouncing balloon he resembles and I for one thought this was the beginning of "interesting times".  Instead it has been totally turgid times!  Boris appears to have no original thoughts about anything.  He could have indulged himself - and us! - by some original negativity, like calling a halt to that ridiculous HS2 project which will, allegedly, get us from London to Manchester ten minutes quicker than now even if it does bankrupt us!  Or he could have cheered us all up by sacking that total 'plonker', Gavin Williamson, who masquerades as the Minister for Education!  And what, if anything, is that supposed 'live-wire', Dominic Cummings, doing to earn his crust?  Sweet F.A., by the look of it!

Get a grip, Boris, or get lost!

 

 

 

That Shakespeare fella', very tricky, you know!

I have given 'old Bill' a bit of a rest in recent times, mostly because I have been taking a bit of a rest, too!  However, I am prodded into action by an interesting article by the highly intelligent Daniel Hannan in The Telegraph.  In it, he points to the probability, or in his opinion, the certainty, that Shakespeare was bisexual.  Well, that's OK with me.  Old Bill was, or at least, appears to be from his writings, all things to all Men.  I would not be so quick to accept his actual homosexuality because, dammit, of that "all things to all men" characteristic!  His imagination took him inside the minds of heroes, cowards, kings, murderers, rebels, refined ladies, tarts and so on and on.  However:

Harold Bloom, after a lifetime of studying and teaching the plays, concluded only that “by reading Shakespeare, I can gather that he did not like lawyers, preferred drinking to eating, and evidently lusted after both genders.” To that list, I would tentatively add that he distrusted crowds, had suffered a painful betrayal and hated hedgehogs.

You will need to read Mr. Hannan's original article for an explanation of Shakespeare's alleged dislike of hedgehogs!  As for me, I do not give a flying hedgehog whether he was queer or not.  I simply remain in awestruck gratitude for him writing those plays which added so much to my life.

 

 

 

Donald or Boris - who shall I start with?

Why give myself hard choices, I'll deal with both of them.  Mind you, that gives me a problem because I am wracking what passes for my brain to try and remember what either of them have actually done!  Needless to say, the fact that both of them have more or less 'gone with the flow' is actually praise-worthy.  Usually, whenever politicians decide to 'do things' the results are disastrous!  That is why it is imperative that both the Labour and Democratic party are kept well away from those damned 'levers of power' because they always have long lists of things to be done - aaaaaaaaargh!

Donald does nothing much but does it very well by providing some unintentional humour with it.  Most of all, apart from a few brown-skinned rascals in the Middle East, he has not bombed anyone.  Who was the last POTUS who never bombed anyone?  Similarly, Boris is surprisingly peaceful for a full-blooded Tory of the 'old school'!  Also, he has shown - so far! -  no inclination to kiss and make up with Michel Barnier, the EU apparatchik responsible for tricking/negotiating (you choose!) us back into that den of thieves aka the EU!

Well done, chaps, just keep on doing nothing much and we will 'lurve' you!

 

 

Yes, I'm back again - again!

It's not just that I am bone idle, although I am, as the 'Memsahib' will confirm, but the fact is that for perhaps the first time in my life I have nothing to say!  The so-called 'news' is now eye-stabbingly boring both at home and abroad.  I suppose that is really "A Good Thing" because exciting news is frequently bad news!  Even so, when both Boris and Donald fail to raise even a chuckle then matters have sunk to new lows of tedium.  And if I hear the 'C'-word - no, no, not that one, the medical one! - again I may hurl my TV and/or radio through the window.  The whole world now wander about like zombies in their masks,  The other day I actually saw one of my neighbours cross from his house to his lock-up store fully masked up!  I tell you, they walk amongst us!  Needless to say, our government is making a complete cock of it in their response.

I refuse to wear a mask over my face because it is uncomfortable.  However, in order to ensure entrance to various shops I wear one round my neck and that seems to gain me entrance.  Mind you, the other day in Sainsbury's supermarket some elderly lady admonished me and told me to pull it over my face.  Just in time, I stopped the automatic response which rose to my lips and instead, breathing heavily into her face, I simply said, "NO!"  Grumpy old men are best not admonished, even by grumpy old women!

Given my increasingly short temper in these irritating times, it can only be a matter of time before I am arrested!

ADDITIONAL:  By the way, I suspect that part of the reason for my recent inability to say anything is because I no longer seem to read anything!  I haven't read a book for 'yonks' and I skim the papers in seconds!  Memo to self: Start reading again!

 

 

 

Did 'Mrs. McWhinge' just say 'sorry'?

It is difficult to be certain because trying to decipher the words that actually emanate through those razor-thin lips in an accent that sounds as though it was bottled on the Isle of Skye is exceedingly tricky!  However, the press seem to think it was an apology over some total 'cock-up' in the Scottish education system which, of course, used to be held up, rightly, as an example to us English in how to properly educate our 'little Herberts and Henriettas'!

How she must have writhed in discomfort as she tried to force the word "sorry" through that slit of a mouth!  According to The Mail, the exam results of individual pupils were altered in order to fit in with a pre-planned, over-all outcome.  Sorry, Nicola Sturgeon, you have been down-graded to  'D-' and removed to the 'Remedial Class'!

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 9/8/20

Do get a grip, America!   I read today that 84,000 mail ballots have been disqualified in an election in 'Noo Yawk'.  Why am I not surprised and as it is, so to speak, 'bleedin' obvious' that postal votes are always and forever open to abuse and malpractice, why do Americans persist with the practice?  If as an American citizen you can't actually 'haul yo' ass' to a voting centre then you lose your vote - end of!

 

So Brexit wasn't quite the end of the world after all!   According to a Dutch writer at The Spectator:

An article in the Dutch, left-leaning newspaper Het Parool led with the headline ‘Despite Brexit, multinationals prefer London over Amsterdam or Paris’ this week. The piece reports that ‘the feared exit [of companies] from Great Britain is not happening’ as expected, and highlights the fact that Unilever decided to:

“Become fully British, scrapping its dual [Anglo-Dutch] structure [which has been in place for 90 years]. Its headquarters will be London and not Rotterdam, despite the avid attempts of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

'Hoodathunkit?'  Er, well, me, actually!

 

That Borodin fella is driving me nuts!   By pure coincidence, I seem to have come across his rightly famous composition "In the Steppes of Central Asia" at least three times in the past few weeks and now that damned theme is firmly lodged in my mind.  I'm not really complaining because it is gorgeous but, in the words of my old Jewish accountant, "Enough is enough, my life already!"

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

Not "a naughty Tory" but a stupid, arrogant one!

I refer, of course, to Mr. Charles Elphicke, the former Tory MP for Dover and about to be resident of Wormwood Scrubs!

My instant re-action to seeing a hitherto successful man, in effect, drive headlong into a concrete wall, not once but several times, is a tiny dash of pity.  Alas, reading of Mr. Elphicke's trail of self-inflicted injuries as he constantly followed his erect penis into even greater trials (literally!) and tribulations, such pity as I might have faded rapidly.  Did he really and truly believe he was so irresistible to so many women?  The jail-time he will serve will be a severe punishment but the loss of his career and political power will be crushing.  How much grief the loss of his wife will be can only be answered by him.

 

 

 

Yes, alright, alright, I HAVE been skiving!

Sorry for my absence - waddaya mean ya never noticed?! - and thanks to 'SoD' for 'filling in', as it were.  My reason for going a.w.o.l. is simple - I just felt dead lazy!  Also, the fact is that I couldn't think of a single thing to say to y'all - and I heard that!  At 81, my life is fairly boring but looking around me, so is the rest of the world!  A 'boring-snoring' world, of course, is not necessarily 'A Bad Thing' because compared to an, er, exciting world with all that that might entail it is much to be appreciated.  

The fact is that my, er, 'creative juices' (so to speak) appear to have dried up along with the minute amount of energy still hiding somewhere inside me!  To my amazement, the two prime sources of ludicrous behaviour on the world stage on whom I was relying for a steady stream of stories, Boris and 'The Donald', have turned out to be, on the whole, a pair of 'Steady Eddies' - hoodathunkit?  And, of course, the support act of 'Jezza the Clown' took early retirement and has been replaced by the most 'boring-snoring' politician in my lifetime, Keir Starmer!  

I haven't been doing nearly enough, or even any, reading just recently, particularly of my history books, so I think I need to get back to them and see if they will energise me.