DUFF & NONSENSE!

The Sunday morning/afternoon/evening (delete as appropriate) Rumble!

Yes, I know, I know but it has taken me a while to engage the brain today - not of course because I was wrestling with the square root of -1, absolutely no chance of that, but merely because I am suffering with acute langour!  OK, OK, the fact is that I have been feeling dead idle all day - sorry!

 

Dear Meghan, just bugger 'orf'!   That is my message to the Lady who is currently playing the role of Duchess of Sussex.  It is clear beyond doubt that she is part of that 'yuuuuuuuuuuge' majority of people who do not like us Brits in general and our Royal family in particular.  That's OK but you've made your point, Darling, so please don't go on and on and on about it, just go back to Hollywood where you can mix with, er, real Ladies and Gentlemen!

 

Poor Harry!  I do realise that he is not 'the sharpest knife in the block' but he really has hit crass bottom with this marriage to Meghan.  Mind you, he will keep the ladies glued to their favourite tabloids so Fleet Street is happy.  The future, of course, is that the pair of them will end up like a re-run of the Windsors - two sad, old 'has-beens' that nobody cares much about.

 

Corbyn may well destroy the Labour Party utterly:  According to Nick Cohen at The Spectator, and he is a long-term, pro-Labour supporter, the virulence of the anti-Semitic virus that is racing the veins of the Party is now at truly dangerous levels.

On Thursday the supposedly resurgent Labour party lost control of Brighton and Hove, one of its few centres of power in southern England, because of the endemic anti-Semitism on the left. The fate of the local Labour group shows in microcosm the problem facing the Labour leadership nationally as it struggles to pull the party away from being the natural home for creeps and conspiracy theorists.

That's the problem for the fanatical Left in a Democracy, sooner or later they have to face the 'dreaded Peeps', at which point, they get a good, hard slap!  I wonder how they deal with the fact that Karl Marx was Jewish?

 

 

 

No more Rumbles

 

 

 

I defend your right to hate

Apparently the Jocks, under the leadership of Mrs. 'MacWhinge' - whom I hate! - are getting set to pass new laws banning hate speech either written or spoken.  What's wrong with that, you may ask, but as is usual in the hateful game of politics, it is not intended to ban all 'hate speech', just the 'hate speech' of which Leftie nitwits do not approve.  As part of this, er, crusade, all blasphemy laws are to be removed from the legal system so the Christian community can look forward to a non-stop pounding which will not observe any courtesies.

If you think that this will open the doors to real freedom of speech you are dim beyond belief because, of course, the, er, 'freedom lovers' of Scotland have a long list of topics about which you must never - ever! - cast any criticism.  As Ms. Melanie MacDonagh explains in The Spectator:

How about these positions? That gender is not a social construct but a biological genetic reality. Taking issue with aspects of Islam relating to the life of the prophet of Islam. Expressing the view that abortion is immoral because it involves taking a human life (it’s forbidden to demonstrate outside clinics in many cities). Suggesting that the best model of parenthood is the heterosexual married couple. Pointing out that a man accused of predatory sexual behaviour isn’t guilty simply because women say so. Refusing to accept that all alleged victims of abuse must be believed, regardless of the evidence.

Personally, I am all in favour of permitting, or even encouraging, 'hate speech' - it says so much about you!  

 

 

 

Your Easter Rumble: 2020

That God-bloke's 'avin' a larf!   Well, really, we've had three months of non-stop drizzle, rain, drizzle, rain until we (alright then, me!) nearly went mad and then the most gloriously warm and sunny Easter arrives just as that bloody virus goes mad and keeps us all locked up indoors!

Meanwhile, 'over there' the Dems have gone mad!   It is difficult for an Englishman to discuss President Trump.  To us, he appears to be from Mars!  Not, mind you, that he appears to have done anything 'yuuuuuugely' wrong, indeed, just the opposite, no wars have been declared and, prior to this 'virus-thingie', the American economy seemed to be doing rather well.  Also, we Brits need to remind our insular selves that Trump's eccentricities are considered not in the least eccentric 'over there'.  In fact, just the opposite, they are much admired by zillions of his "fellow Americans" which means that the Democrats have an exceedingly tough job in trying to remove him from office next Autumn.  What do they do?  They pick a very decent, old 'codger' to whom you would offer your seat in a crowded train.  A 'good ol' boy' who shuffles along but has difficulty remembering what happened an hour ago - oh boy, do I know that feeling!  He has zero appeal to the zillions of young 'Lefties' to whom he should appeal if he is to stand any chance.  All he can rely on is Trump putting his (in)famous words into practice and 'grabbing some lady by the pussy'.  I think - I hope! - he knows not to do that!

The 'Hefferlump' on Hitler's biography:   Of course, I am referring to Simon Heffer who has a review of "Hitler Vol II: Downfall 1939-45" by Volker Ullrich about which I wrote with some enthusiasm a week or two back.  It is, of course, a total irony that I have paused in my reading of Herr Ullrich's book in order to read the 'Hefferlump's' superb history of the opening of WWI.  Even so, Herr Ullrich should not despair because despite my nausea in reading anything about that dolt and madman, I will return to it eventually. 

Pity the poor politician - oh go on, try!   One of them, either Boris or Raab, will have to take the decision as to when the 'lockdown' is to be lifted. The economic shambles that will follow this gross interruption to normal life will be 'yuuuuuuge' and the government will be blamed.  Equally, if the lifted lockdown results in a second outbreak of 'lurgi' then - guess what! - the government will be blamed!  Do I feel sorry for them?  Not in the slightest - they fought tooth and nail for the job so let them take the consequences!

For my e-pal, 'Whiters', a tale from Tom Stoppard:   'Whiters', as I am sure my regular readers will know, is a keen fanatical angler so I thought Stoppard's essay in The Spectator might amuse him:

The trout season opened on 1 April. I was given my first fly rod 70 years ago. Since moving to Dorset, my fishing has been on a chalk stream so small and so tricky that the only way to fish it is to walk up the middle in chest-waders with a seven-foot rod. The last time I was on the water I slipped and went under, since when I haven’t been sure whether I’m still fishing. Lockdown shelves the question for the time being. I wait for further instructions from the government.

 

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Your Easter Sunday Rumble

 

Americans really are nuts!   Or, to translate that into English English, 'Americans really are eccentric'!  This morning, idly flicking through the TV stations to avoid any mention of the dreaded 'c'-word, I came across a programme devoted to American cowboys indulging in bare-back riding on bulls!  And, I should add, these bulls had enormous, terrifying and exceedingly sharp horns!  The 'rides' only lasted on average approximately 5-secs but it surely must have been the longest and most uncomfortable 'ride' for any of the nutters brave young men who undertook it.  Apart from the dangers of a maddened, 20-ton bull leaping around like a Dervish, consider for a moment that there are no saddles!  Yeeeeees, quite!  As I said, they're all nuts - or perhaps, thinking about it, they lack any 'nuts' at all!

Sorry, JK, I can only give you "E for Effort":  I read somewhere this morning, although I'm blessed if I can remember where, that Arkansas only finished 4th in the gun ownership tables amongst the States of America!  Whatever, you do, JK, don't move to another State because your absence, along with your armoury, would drop Arkansas to 18th!

The 'chequered flag' falls on Sir Stirling Moss:  Truly one of the greats of motor racing. Alas, I never saw him race but his reputation will live on and on  . . .

 

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Your Easter Monday Rumble

 

What happens next?   I am tempted to reply "Who knows and his brother 'Fuck'!" but that, of course, would be crude and rude and unsuitable for a distinguished blog such as this - and I heard that!  Even so, attempting to work out how the world will be after this cataclysm is exceedingly tricky.  Obviously, there are going to be 'yuuuuuuuge' financial ramifications both on a national and personal level and the largest of them will be debt.  Happily, we can rely, to a certain extent, on 'greedy' capitalism re-asserting itself to the benefit of most of us in the long-term.  However, national and international debt, as always, will act as a dampener and when you throw in the priority of perceived national political interest as a priority over all else, then the difficulties of reaching recovery increase enormously.  What will be required from the international political leadership is wisdom and patience - 'yeeeeeeeeeeeeees', quite!

 

Non, Monsieur, do not pull that handle!    Amidst the 'doom 'n' gloom' this will provide a chuckle.  According to The Telegraph, a 64-year old, French pensioner was given a surprise flight in a French fighter plane.  It was arranged, secretly, by his, er, 'bon amis' and he felt impelled to accept it.  The Air Force pilot put the aircraft through some tight manouvres and the old man in the back reached for something to hang on to.  Alas, it was the trigger for the ejector seat which promptly blasted him out of the aircraft.  Quelle surprise!

 

Spare a thought for the 'luvvies':  Oh, go on, try!  I refer, of course, to all those actors and actresses who are now out of work and with absolutely minimal chances of employment in the near future.  Mind you, it's all happened before.  Poor old Will was forced to forsake London and retreat to Stratford during the plague.  Mind you, it gave him some respite and time to dream up some more inventions - so not all bad, then!

 

More Rumbles over the Easter period . . .

 

 

"Australia’s Dreyfus case"

It is, of course, totally daft to step into anyone else's dispute but especially so, an Aussie one!  Even so, Australia has much to mull over in the Cardinal Pell case which has finally ended with his complete exoneration from charges of a sexual act with a choir boy.  I cannot pretend to any detailed, or even much general, knowledge of the case.  Today I am depending on the report by Damian Thompson, a practicing Roman Catholic, in The Spectator.

He describes the RC background in Victoria, thus:

There has always been a strong strain of anti-Catholicism in Victoria, which was traditionally tribally divided between the descendants of Protestant Britons and Catholic Irish. In recent years, many Catholics have, understandably, turned against the Australian Church, which has often responded by parroting the politically fashionable views aired by the ABC network.

Deep waters, methinks!

 

 

That Rebecca Long-Bailey ain't all bad!

Of course, her political and economic opinions are dafter than a really daft thing but she has her good points, too.  I like her frowning disapproval of our totally lax laws on abortion, of which Dominic Lawson writes approvingly in today's Daily Mail:

He informs us that:

She pointed out that while abortions could not be carried out beyond the 24th week of a ‘normal’ pregnancy, it was allowed right up to full term if the unborn child was found to have a ‘disability’. Long-Bailey said: ‘I personally do not agree with this position.’

 

Good for her!  As Lawson goes on to inform us:

 

I am not a Catholic. Nor do I share Long-Bailey’s political views, which are what you might expect from someone who even after the election gave Jeremy Corbyn ‘ten out of ten’ for his leadership. But for personal reasons, I am grateful for her criticism of the way unborn children with disabilities are regarded as suitable for eradication at any time in the womb, unlike those designated ‘normal’. [My emphasis]

 

Politically, the girl might be nuts - but she's got guts!

 

 

"How long until there are no Jews left in France?"

My shocking - well, I was totally 'gob-smacked'! - title is copied from the heading to an article at The Coffee House by Gavin Mortimer.  

Anti-Semitic attacks in 2018 soared by 74 per cent on the previous year and the figures for the beginning of 2019 have revealed a 78 per cent increase on the same period in 2018.

In 2017 an elderly Jewish lady who had undergone constant verbal assaults from her Muslim neighbours was battered to death by a Muslim man, Kobili Traoré.  The French, er, judicial system, er, sprang into action by showing the killer mercy and NOT charging him for murder:

Last month a court showed compassion to Traoré, declaring that he was ‘criminally irresponsible’ for his actions because he ‘was not aware’ of the adverse effects of regular cannabis smoking.

Yeeeeeeeeeees, quite, si tu le dis, if you say so!  Alfred Dreyfus, you are not forgotten!  

According to Mr. Mortimer:

There are 460,000 Jews left in France, and they desperately need more than just the occasional facile tweet from their president about how ‘Jews are and make France’. It happens after every new anti-Semitic outrage but virtue signalling is of no value.

The truth is that the French establishment is in denial, and has adopted the ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ approach. Yet evil there is. As one of the Halimi’s family’s lawyers put it this week, the leniency shown to Sarah’s killer ‘is a warning that society is becoming sick’. If this sickness isn’t treated then there will come a day in the not-too-distant future when there won’t be a Jew left in France.

There is something rotten in the State of France!

 

 

It woz 'Ollie' wot dunnit!

See, he wasn't all bad, that Oliver Cromwell.  Yes, perhaps he did decapitate rather too many of the dreaded 'Peeps', as well as kick off a civil war but in 1644 he stood up tall for all grumpy, old men and banned Christmas!  This, of course, caused lots of 'likkle kiddie-winkies' to burst into tears, so well done 'Ollie', me old mate! 

 

 

I am obliged to the witty and wise, and excellent actor, Mr. Simon Callow, who writes in today's Mail providing a history of the exceedingly dodgy passage of Christmas through the ages.  Of course, whilst I might come across as a grumpy, old, anti-Christmas curmudgeon, the fact is that, on the whole, I approve even if its worst excesses  do irritate enormously.  Even so, and particularly in this snapping, snarling era, any event that promotes goodwill and friendliness, albeit in a shortest of short truces, is to be welcomed.

 

 

Kanye West, er, well, what can one say . . .

You must forgive my hesitation and confusion but I have only just 'met' Mr. Kanye West, a black man who is, so I am informed by Wiki, "an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer".  You will understand my hesitation because of my almost total ignorance of all those occupations.  Mr. West is married to Ms. Kim Kardashian, again, not a lady I am familiar with although I understand she is exceptionally beautiful and very, er,  voluptuous.  They have been married for five years and have produced four children.

Already in that potted history you can begin to see some, er, well, eccentricities, shall we call them?  Two mega-rich members of the 'show business' fraternity, both black, both moving constantly in a star-blazed firmament never far from constant publicity and yet … and yet … he is a self-proclaimed and practicing Christian!  Mr. Andrew T. Walker informs us via the excellent offices of The National Review that:

[T]he news of the release of Kanye West’s newest album, Jesus Is King. It comes after months of news stories about West’s very public conversion to Christianity, a Christianity that bears no resemblance to the vague spiritualism of Moral Therapeutic Deism that is often associated with celebrity conversions.

The lyrics to each song in Jesus Is King are shockingly Christian. It is not an album of feel-good Christian spirituality aimed primarily as a message of uplift. West co-wrote and sang the hit “Jesus Walks” on his debut album The College Dropout (2004), but Jesus Is King is different. Throughout the whole of the new album, West is in many respects deeply critical of modernity and cultural progressivism. There are calls for a focus more on the family than on individual glory. He seems to applaud Chick-fil-A, which in our age is tantamount to endorsing bigotry. Social-media obsession should be exchanged for family prayer. Fatherhood is characterized as a virtue. Materialism is pilloried. Calls for worshiping Christ redound to such effect that West’s first Christian album is arguably more Christian than what most contemporary Christian artists could similarly muster.

Well, 'HOODATHUNKIT'? 

Obviously, Mr. West is a man capable of thinking for himself and thinking outside the glitzy box in which he spends so much of his life.  I wish him well along with his gorgeous wife and children.  He will be sorely tested but, hey, that's the fate of all true Christians.  In the meantime, I, too, can only pray that I get through the rest of my life without hearing his music because I fear I would not enjoy it!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 15.9.19

I just don't get it!   I am referring to this 'religion thing'!  Every Sunday morning the bells peal from the Church outside my front door and in ones and twos but rarely more, the worshippers stroll past on their way to the service.  And every Sunday morning I wonder why?  Well, of course, it's because they believe but, alas and alack, I do not.  Even worse (I suppose), neither do I want to believe!  I should hasten to add that even so, I am, on the whole, exceedingly grateful to the moral code laid down by Jesus Christ (allegedly) which I think is as fine a guide to life as anyone could wish for but beyond that, I cannot go.

 

I want a sort of "Beam me up, Scotty" device:   Not that I wish to go anywhere - although a flash trip to the 'Arkie' mountains would be good! - no, what I want is a sort of 'Fast Forward' button that will whizz me past all this hideously shameful (and 'sham full') Parliamentary pantomime.  Actually, it would be even better if it could whizz forward twenty years so that the true nature of the European monster will began to show its hideous nature even to the dim, dumb Troglodytes who worship at its feet!

 

Why do I 'lurve' Victoria Beckham?   No, no, it's not because she is a mega-rich, attractive lady, at least, not entirely!  I think it is because, above and beyond all else, she generally keeps a low profile and (so far!) has avoided the sewers of depravity which swirl past all 'slebs'.  She appears to be a hard-working Mum who runs her own business and, by and large, minds her own business!  Yes, I wish that she would smile a little more often, particularly when she receives yet another proposal from me, but even so, I do still 'lurve' her!

 

 

At least there's a laugh on the 'telly' tonight:   On one of the film Channels they are re-running that 'Jack Reacher' film with that well-known midget, Mr. Tom Cruise, playing the lead!  How he ever got the part I do not know because 'Jack Reacher' he was not!  Mind you, writing that reminds me of an exceedingly tough guy called 'Tony' Fleming' I met years ago in the army who was born and raised in an exceedingly rough part of Liverpool.  When it came to street/pub fighting he knew where-of he spoke having been at it since he was 14 years old!  When I once asked him if he was scared of anyone, he replied in the negative but added the warning that you always had to be careful of the little guys!

 

So what happened to the Trump mega-disaster?   I remember being warned by sundry media sources, well, most media sources, actually, that the inauguration of Donald Trump as President inevitably meant the end of the world.  To be fair, even without the, er, assistance of those wailers 'n' moaners, I must confess that 'back in the day' I was fairly nervous of the prospect.  Even so, here we are nearly three years on and I'm still waiting!  The only outstanding question is, if 'HillBilly' had won would I have had to wait so long?  Don't bother replying, I think I know the answer.

 

Damn right!   There is a story - alright, a 'flyer' - in The Sunday Mail today indicating that there are moves afoot to earmark the hitherto empty plinth in Trafalgar Square for a statue of Prince Phillip.  Actually, they rather wittily describe him as "Plinth Phillip"!  Off hand, I cannot think of anyone more deserving of the honour.

 

 

No more Rumbles

 

The Sunday Rumble: 1.9.19

Dammit, I lost - again!   The Memsahib and I have a little game, er, well, actually it is so ruthless and deadly it comes close to warfare, in which on the first day of each month we both try to be the first to deliver, before midday, mind, the ancient line, "Pinch, punch, first day of the month, no return, white rabbit".  Yet again she cheated today because I came downstairs and was sitting on the patio enjoying my usual glass of orange juice when the bedroom window flew open and out she popped, like Punch's wife, and shouted out the winning words.  God knows what the neighbours think!

 

I'm glad Dan Hodges is back:   He has been on holiday/skiving (you decide) from the Mail on Sunday for weeks.  Happily, he does not seem to have lost his commonsense:

It was Parliament that voted to grant the British people a referendum on our membership of the EU. It was Parliament that voted to trigger Article 50 when a majority of those people voted to leave. Five hundred and sixty-eight of our 650 current MPs were elected on manifestos pledging to respect the referendum result.

It was Parliament that voted on three separate occasions to prevent Britain leaving the European Union with a deal. And it was Parliament that voted on March 26, 2019, to take control of the Brexit process, held a succession of votes on its preferred Brexit model and spectacularly failed to find a majority for any of them.

All the haughty expressions of democratic outrage we have heard over the past few days ignore a single, simple fact. The people of Britain voted to leave the European Union in the biggest expression of popular will ever seen in this country since the introduction of the universal franchise. And, more than three years later, our politicians persistently and pig-headedly refuse to respect and implement that democratic instruction.  [My emphasese]

 

 

Perhaps he's only half a tit:   As opposed to being a 'total tit' which is where I consigned the Archbishop of Canterbury until this morning.  Much to my surprise, he is reported in Her Maj's Daily Telegraph today as saying:

In remarks reported by the Church Times, he added: “We have to take seriously the fact that the majority voted Leave. We may not like it, but that is democracy; and that means we have to stop whingeing about it and do something about reuniting the country.” 

Jolly well said, 'Bish', old boy!  Next time I pass the collecting box at St. John's church, just outside my front door, I must remember to drop a few 'bob' in!

 

Control yourselves, ladies, this do be Dorset man:

My word, you would not want to mix it with the Cerne Abbas giant!  According to the Telegraph, he is getting a 'make-over' because that damned grass will keep on growing.  According to the delightfully named Ms. Boudica Fox-Leonard who is one of many volunteers helping to give him a 'make-over', "The left nipple on the Cerne Abbas Giant is looking a bit grassy!"  Well, we can't have that, can we?

Even so, I trust dear Boudica will keep well clear of his naughty bits!

 

Not quite as sexy as the Cerne Abbas giant:   Same technique though, this time just outside Salisbury where there is a collection of Regimental badges carved into the chalk hillside.

Known as the Fovant Badges, most of them were done during WWI by troops waiting to go over to France.  They include the Australian Forces badge, second from left, because many of the men involved were from Australia.

 

Alan Dershowitz tells it the way it is:   Beware, America, it is not China or Russia, let alone Iran, who are your greatest threat; it is your very own, internal, hard Left who are the real danger to everything you hold dear:

I make the controversial claim that today the "woke" hard-left is more dangerous to civil liberties than the right. To be sure there are hard right extremists who would use — and have used — violence to silence those with whom they disagree. They are indeed dangerous. But they have far less influence on our future leaders than their counterparts on the hard-left. They are not teaching our college age children and grandchildren. They are marginalized academically, politically and in the media. The opposite is true of hard-left Stalinists. Many have no idea who Stalin even was, but they are emulating his disdain for free speech and due process in the interests of achieving the unrealizable utopia they both sought. They also have in common the attitude that noble ends justify ignoble means.

I cannot speak for Americans but in my trembling British opinion the next Presidential election is absolutely crucial.  If the Dems win then the fabled 'city upon a hill' will be shaken to its foundations.

 

The winds, or slipstreams, of change are blowing in F1:   The new kid on the Ferrari block, Charles Leclerc, beat his team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, into 4th place as he took the chequered flag at the Belgium Grand Prix today.  (Sir) Lewis Hamilton chased him down but could only finish second.  The other 'new kid on the block', (mad)Max Verstappen lived up (or down!) to his reputation by hitting another car in an audacious over-taking manouvre and thus wrecking his car.  Things are hotting up in F1 racing!

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 21.7.19

Well, it is Sunday today!   So that makes it right, fitting and proper for me to introduce a bit of Christian news.  Regular readers will have noticed that religion, by which I mean a belief in God - any God! - does not figure heavily in these unholy columns for the simple reason that I do not believe in a God.  Even so, I have some sympathy towards Christianity if only because I think Jesus Christ, if he ever existed, had some sensible suggestions on how to conduct one's life.  Thus, it has been painful over recent years, particularly those years in which that total prat, Justin Welby, has been running the Church of England, to see it decline and fall into a slough of useless inanity.  Obviously, I am not qualified to offer knowledgeable insight into its failings but I 'know' a man who does.  He is Mr. Dennis Lennox over at The Coffee House who spells out the miserable details.

 

Now the 'peacenik' doves are coming home to roost:   The Iranians have ripped the gossamer cloaks of duplicity off the shivering weakling that is the British armed forces.  Decade after decade, irrespective of which government was in power, all three services have been put on 'starvation rations' as their ranking in the political list of priorities has fallen steadily lower and lower.  Of course, none of that has stopped our politicians 'strutting their stuff' on the world stage as though we were still in possession of an empire.  Today, the Iranians have well and truly humiliated us.  It can only be a matter of time before the Argentinians do the same!

 

Dammit!  Peter Hitchens had already pulled the trigger:   And, of course, his aim was infinitely better than mine!  No sooner had I scribbled the 'rumble' above than I clicked on to his article in today's Mail on Sunday:

Having wrecked the schools, the police, the courts and the Civil Service, destroyed the married family and debauched the economy, the slow-motion British Revolution now plans to ruin the Armed Forces, the last truly conservative institutions left standing after 60 years of upheaval.
At the end of this process, the Army, Navy and Air Force will still exist in outward form, but they will be useless for the purpose for which we have them – fighting the enemy.
Instead, they will produce plenty of annual reports showing how sexually equal and inclusive they are.

Yes, that about sums it up!

 

Yes, it stuck in my craw, too:   In the past week I have waxed lyrical on the subject of the 'American' effort to put a man on the moon.  It was an epic effort but whilst watching the old newsreels showing the Apollo teams pursuing their mission, there was one constant irritation - the fat, smug face of Wernher von Braun who, by rights, should have been strung up as a war criminal, as should most of the other despicable Nazi engineers who were smuggled out of Germany to help the Americans in their determination to design and build rockets to reach space.  As usual, the indefatigable Tom Bower tells the whole sordid story in The Mail on Sunday. 

 

Not all bad, that Phillip Hammond:   Of course, he deserves an eternity in Hell or Liverpool, whichever is worst, for his pro-EU views but he has earned a 'merit badge' for doing what few Chancellors ever do, that is, reducing both debt and the deficit and thus making the Brit economy fitter for the purpose of getting out of Europe.  Not that he intended it for that purpose, of course!

 

This is disgraceful, where are the diversity police?   Below, courtesy of The American Thinker site, I give you a photo of the American team at the International Mathematical Olympiad which shared top place with China:

Yes, indeed, five of them are of Asian stock and so it's obvious that the white guy is a 'stat whitey' only inserted to provide a veneer of racial fairness!  This racial inequality must be corrected and more 'Whiteys' plus, of course, the odd 'stat black', along with a Native American, must be included in the next team of mathematical wizards.  Of course, that might result in America finishing equal 75th in the competition alongside Somalia but - dammit! - we must have racial equality!  To be serious you can read more about this competition if you click on this link.  I didn't dare ask where Britain came!

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

Who would be a baker 'over there'?

I ask because it seems that the, er, 'LGBT' ( I am not absolutely sure what the correct initials are and, frankly, I can't be arsed to look then up) community are determined to put bakers out of business.  Not, apparently, because American cake-makers are crap but because several of then refuse to write loving sentences in favour of homosexual activities on their cakes.  If I were a baker, of course, I would take the money and give the, er, groom a kiss but that's because I 'luuuurve' money more than I dislike homosexual practices.  However, some bakers, particularly those in the rural hinterland of America, have strong religious objections and, whilst they would bake the cake, they refuse to adorn it with messages in praise of homosexual practices.  At that point, of course, the real 'dirty rats' enter the scene by which I mean the lawyers!  It appears that the lower courts, infused with political correctness, tend to act in favour of the complainants and dish out 'yuuuuuge' fines and damages which, thankfully, the Supreme Court tends to overturn.

I don't wish to be bogged down in the pros and cons of homosexuality which, by and large, is a subject of zero interest to me, but I am intrigued by the notion, which appears to be rampant these days, that we must, absolutely must, all 'luuuuurve' one another.  This appears to be something of a Left-wing 'schtick' but, of course, the Left-wingers always feel free to express not just their dislike of Right-wingers but their deep and abiding hatred of them.  Personally, I believe that people should be free to hate who they like (if you get my meaning!) but it is what they actually do about it that matters.

Now, about that Jeremy Corbyn . . .

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 9.6.19

Poor Thomas, his end is approaching:   I refer, of course, to Thomas Cromwell; a man, I am finally learning, who was a truly great Englishman.  My sincere thanks are due to John Schofield, the historian, who wrote the book I am reading: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant.  He lived in dangerously tricky times as Lutherism gathered strength from the dissatisfaction with 'Popery' but his 'murderous' boss, Henry VIII, never quite committed himself one way or another.  Given the nature of the religious dispute, I can understand that opinions on Cromwell have divided historians, however, Mr. Schofield is an admirer of whom I approve because, by and large, I am not an admirer of 'Popery'!

 

Politicians are lying, hypocritical ratbags!   So nothing new there, then!  I can't say I was too surprised to see Michael Gove 'outed' as a coke-sniffing lying-liar given his despicable 'stabbing' of Boris at the last Tory party leadership election.  As so often on drug-related matters, I take my lead from the estimable Peter Hitchens: 

Mr Gove was Secretary of State for Justice from 2015 to 2016. If proposals for proper enforcement of drug laws had come before the Cabinet he would have known as he studied them that he had, as an adult, committed the offence of possession of a Class A drug. For this crime he would have been open to a sentence of up to seven years in one of the prisons for which he was responsible. Knowing that, how could he have enthusiastically supported any initiative that would have genuinely made it more likely that drug abusers would go to prison?

In addition, 'Guido' chucks in another handgrenade with my emphasis:

The hypocrisy charge is already hitting Gove over his writing of an article for The Times arguing against the hypocrisy of journalists using cocaine and arguing for drug liberalisation. An article written during the period he was using cocaine. The hypocrisy charge will be turbo-charged when it hits the headlines tomorrow that when he was Secretary of State for Education he brought in legislation that bans teachers for life from teaching if they are convicted of cocaine possession. 

 

We're in trouble but so are the 'Cousins':   I have watched with increasing dismay the deepening and widening gulf opening up inside America.  Yes, of course, there have always been political and social divisions in their society but during most of my lifetime they have been contained within, so to speak, a 'large tent' providing room for manoeuvre in which relatively moderate people can agree to disagree and await their turn on the tiller.  From way 'over here' that seems to be disappearing and subsumed by vitriolic hatred and detestation which will bode no compromise.  I confess that one of my thermometers on American politics is the blog of Mr. 'Phil' Carpenter which I still follow even when, in a typical spat, he threw me out!  He claims to abhor what he considers to be the extremism of the ultra-Lefties in the Democratic party but in doing so he comes across as froth-foamed as the 'ranters and ravers' he abhors.  Needless to say, when it comes to Donald Trump, he and his commenters go into full on frenzy!  And he and they consider themselves to be, er, 'moderates!

 

Why don't 'skools' just teach maths, English and history?   Instead, I gather from the current 'kerfuffle' outside a 'skool' in Birmingham, they are finding the time to teach our 'likkle kiddie-winkies' the finer points of homosexuality, lesbianism and, er, well, anything else you might fancy in the sexual stable!  Needless to say, the local Muslims have kicked off in protest and now they are seeing the hard face of all those 'Leftie-poseurs' who assured them that their religious and social rights would be protected.  Well, they would be just so long as the 'Lefties' approve!  Frankly, I went through 'skool' without a single sex lesson of any kind and finding out the, er, hard way was quite good fun!

 

I knew it would be depressing but . . .    My Kindle needed recharging and so I have given Master Cromwell a rest and instead I started to get into Antony Beevor's history of "Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges 1944".  It was a very British 'cock-up' and Montgomery stands accused of blind, obstinate stupidity of the sort he detested from his Generals during WWI.  I haven't even reached the airborne landings but already you can forsee the disaster approaching.  Deeply depressing!

 

If Boris wins, he should 'nick' some of Goves' ideas:   Everyone, by which I mean the journalistic 'know-alls', seems to think that Michael Gove is a very intelligent fellow, apart from his earlier drug taking, and he seems to have some good ideas on changing our antique tax system.  Perhaps, if Boris wins, he should forget old slights and get Gove on board.  The Tory party desperately needs some intelligent and original thinking to catch the imagination of the dreaded 'Peeps'!

 

Another book recommendation:  God I'm good to y'all!  I refer to:

The Europe Illusion: Britain, France, Germany and the Long History of European Integration by Stuart Sweeney

I have a copy, courtesy of 'SoD' because the author, Stuart Sweeney, is the brother of one of SoD's old university friends from way back.  I haven't read it yet because I am otherwise engaged with Master Cromwell and Gen. Montgomery but I have just received an 'e-advert' for it from the publisher and it jogged me into giving it a punt.

 

(Sir) Lewis wins, er, on a technicality:  Sorry, Herr Vettel, but rules are rules and you would be demanding their application if the roles were reversed. Anyway, (Sir) Lewis was only 2 secs behind you when you finished 'first' but, alas, you were carrying a 5 second penalty from an earlier error.  What's the German for 'ohdearwhatapitynevermind'?

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

 

In politics, never work for a 'nutter'!

I am still progressing through a biography of Thomas Cromwell, the, er, 'bagman' for Henry VIII.  I am enjoying it immensely not least because it is opening my eyes to yet another era of English history about which I am woefully ignorant.  For a start, I had not realised how enormously influential Thomas Cromwell was in laying the foundations of English Protestantism, or to be precise, 'Lutherism'.  He, more than anyone, assisted in the birth of a different Christian Church in England which was able, eventually, to shrug off the corrupt, cloying cloak of Catholicism and Popery which had seeped into every nook and cranny of the Kingdom.  More to the point, he did it carefully and intelligently so that it lasted despite the inevitable setbacks.  Alas, however, this highly intelligent man worked for a 'nutter', Henry VIII, who, in the end, chopped his head off!  Ah well, some you win, some you lose!

I was reminded of all this when news broke that the current 'nutter' running North Korea, let it be known that he had executed not one but four members of his Foreign Affairs Ministry because, allegedly, the talks with President Trump had ended in failure.  Bit harsh, one thinks, but on the other hand, were I to be made Prime Minister this month, I can't help thinking that one or two - oh alright then, dozens! - of executions of top-ranking civil servants might work wonders in the sclerotic, moribund world of Whitehall.

In a sense, of course, Thomas Cromwell was the first Brexiteer!

 

 

'Liberal Islam' - an oxymoron, surely!

Well, no, actually because there is a liberal Islam in existence although you will need to visit Rwanda to find it!  Of course, as you may recall there was a time not so long ago when Rwanda plumbed the depths of depravity in a civil war which resulted in millions of people being slaughtered by their own people.  Perhaps it takes mass butchery to nudge people towards a liberal, live and let live society.  A high price but at least such an outcome helps heal the wounds.

I am grateful - yet again! - to 'The Speccie' for pointing up this rarity in human affairs and introducing me to a truly extra-ordinary man, Sheikh Salim Hitimana.  He is the Mufti of Rwanda and thus the leader of the country's Islam-worshippers.  Not only is he a wise religious leader but also a shrewd operator.

‘Before the genocide, there were perhaps 200,000 Muslims in the country, and no Rwandans wanted to enter Islam,’ he says. During the genocide, Muslims stood out for refusing to take sides and for risking their lives to shelter those under attack. ‘People started to think: who are those people? Why don’t those people commit genocide like us? People became attracted to join us.’ The country’s Islamic population has grown fivefold, he says, to more than a million.

Also, he has recognised the two great defects that lace through the two contrary practitioners of Islamism:

The Mufti wants to preserve an Islam that adheres to scripture, without the new politicised elements of sartorial — and therefore social — control. ‘I introduced a religious fatwa against the niqab in 2016,’ he says proudly. ‘We saw that niqab abroad, but in Rwanda we have stopped it. Everything you have to practice here must be mentioned in the Quran.’ There’s nothing Islamic, he says, about the niqab — and Rwandan Muslims, he believes, do not have to look radically different from the rest of the population.

Rwandan Islam has followed the Shafi’i school of Islamic thought, which differs greatly from the harsher Hanafi, found in Pakistan, and Hanbali, found in Saudi Arabia. To understand Islam, it’s crucial to understand these distinctions.

He is, I would suggest, a good man and a wise man and perhaps eventually he might be one of those rarities, a recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize who really deserves it!

 

 

'Hoonoo'? Well, not me!

In mooching gently through various reports engendered by the breaking story that Martin Luther King was, in 'Pythonesque' terms, "a very naughty boy" I discovered a new fact which, of course, is hardly surprising given my general ignorance.  'Hoonoo', for example that MLK has a statue in Westminster Abbey?  Well, I didn't but even more surprising to me was that his statue is merely one amongst ten modern, er, 'saints' selected to have their statues placed in niches round the main entrance to the Abbey.  This occurred about twenty years ago.

What is even more embarrassing to an 'ignoramus' like me, is that MLK apart, I only recognised one of the names of the others - Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Even so, I am not exactly sure what he did but I seem to recall that he was one of the few who offered vocal opposition to Hitler and his treatment of Jews.  Anyway, here is the entire list, and as I am on shopping duties this morning, I leave it to you to find who they are and why they qualify as, so to speak, 'latter day' saints:

MLK, Maximillian Kolbe; Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Manche Masemola (South Africa); Wang Zhiming; Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia (killed by revolutionaries); Bishop Luwum of Uganda (murdered by Idi Amin); Oscar Romero; Esther John (Pakistan); and Lucian Tapiedi (New Guinea).

My thanks to Randolph Parrish at The American Spectator.

 

 

Why would anyone read The New York Times?

I meant to comment at the time, a few days ago, on this particular example of a rancid dog-pile dropped in the middle of a recent edition of The New York Times.  It shows a blind Donald Trump complete with yarmulke being pulled along by an Israeli dog with the face of Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

It is, of course, like most cartoons, an exaggerated lie but like the 'best' of cartoons it is immensely powerful.  In fact, Trump is no more being 'led' by Netanyahu than the Israeli Prime Minister is being 'led' by Trump.  They are both pursuing their political and strategic aims as they see them and as both of them face dangers from Arabic/Islamic enemies then there are bound to be areas of mutual self-interest.  As the old proverb has it, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend!"  Churchill said much the same thing when Russia was attacked by Germany.

Even so, given the lividity of the cartoon, it is obvious that there is more behind it than just strategic politics.  It plays to the very heart of the old anti-Semitic belief that Jews secretly pull the strings of everything of importance in world affairs.  Of course, Israelis do try and do that but then so does everyone else!  The USA doesn't so much 'pull strings' as yank (no pun intended!) on ropes, just as Great Britain used to do 'back in the day', and now the Chinese do with increasing effect.  However, in this particular case, it is obvious that the main aim of the cartoonist was to ram home his own personal Jew-hatred based, no doubt, on all the old anti-Semitic tropes which never seem to die.  That The New York Times gave it space, tells you all you need to know about that particularly disgusting organisation.

None of that, of course, should inhibit anyone from criticising Israeli policy!

 

 

The ten most evil people of all time

I take my title from an article at The American Spectator by Larry Alex Taunton.  His choice, in reverse order, is as follows:

10. (tie) The Kims: Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong-un

9. The Sanhedrin of Jesus’ Day

8. Ivan Grozny (ie: the Terrible)

7. Vladimir Lenin

6. Muhammad

5. Adolf Hitler

4. Josef Stalin

3. Mao Zedong

2. Margaret Sanger

1. Karl Marx

I can't say that I go along with all of his list although he certainly nets a few culprits.  For example, Karl Marx never killed anyone, all he did was write an exceedingly stupid book which sundry mass murderers then took up and used an excuse for their inhuman behaviour.  Also, I'm not too sure about the Sanhedrin of Jesus' day, not least because I have never heard of them!  Alas, bible studies were not high on my list.

Mind you, I am pleased that he put Mao higher on his list than Joe Stalin.  When it came to the killing game, Mao outscored Joe all the way!  Equally, I congratulate him on his decision to place the late - and I hope she is rotting in hell - Margaret Sanger, the founder of another murderous organisation, Planned Parenthood. 

Of course, having crossed two off his list, I suppose I am duty bound to add a new pair and that is not easy.  I suppose Lord Edward Lytton, the Viceroy of India in 1876 'deserves' his place having governed over a famine that killed millions but then again, there's always Lord George Curzon, British Viceroy of India in 1899, who did much the same.  Equally, Winston Churchill deserves a mention for refusing point-blank in 1943 to divert at least some ships to India to help alleviate a famine that killed 3 million - despite the fact that Indian soldiers were fighting and dying for Britain!  And talking of Churchill, he also deserves castigation for encouraging Air Marshal Arthur 'Bomber' Harris to even greater efforts in his massive, and mostly useless, bombing campaign against German cities.

And those 'candidates' are just from Britian, so God only knows how many more 'candidates' exist in other countries!

 

 

Why don't we just ban ALL religions?

I frequently pose dumb questions on this blog but the one contained in my title above takes the prize!  Mind you, as the body-count, in the name of religion, rises all around the world it is tempting.  Of course, the dreaded 'Peeps', being the way they are, would soon find other reasons to slaughter each other.  Perhaps rival football fans would erupt onto the pitch at the end of each match and fight to the death in support of the Rovers or the Rangers!

Mind you, the various religions have much to answer for.  How can they continue to prate and preachify to the effect that there is, somewhere, a Supreme, All-powerful God who watches over all of us?  If so, He, She or It are pretty ineffectual 'Masters of the Universe' given the oceans of blood that has been spilled through the aeons.  Equally, the 'Peeps' themselves - that means you, and you and you over there trying to avoid my pointing finger - all of you who try to avoid the responsibility of thinking for yourselves and simply swallow whole the prating of the preachers.  Is it not obvious by now that religion is simply politics under another name?

Well, obviously it is not obvious to the vast number of my fellow 'Peeps'!

ADDITIONAL:  

Not, perhaps, the most thoughtful post I have made on this blog but I was in 'Grump Mode: Factor 10' when I wrote it!  Actually, it is not God who is infuriating me, it's people!

 

 

 

'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'

And, of course, we all inhabit the land of the blind because we are all at the mercy of the mass media, including so-called 'social' media, which for a variety of reasons picks and chooses what to tell and show us.  I am obliged to Professor Peter G. Riddell of Melbourne School of Theology who reminds us in The American Spectator, that whilst we stagger under the sheer weight of news coverage offered on the disgusting Christchurch attack, none of us are aware that:

On the morning of March 4, Christian communities in three villages in Benue State in northern Nigeria were attacked by Muslim Fulani militants. Some 23 people were killed by gunshot and machete blows as the Fulani attackers moved unchecked through the villages. Three days later, a further attack on other nearby villages resulted in the deaths of another three people. Such attacks are by no means unusual; during the month of January, a further 70 Christian villagers were murdered in other Fulani attacks.

As the 'Prof' points out, it is very much easier for the media to cover a slaughter in New Zealand than it is in Africa.  Even so, I have never heard so much as a squeak of horror and protest from, er, 'peace-loving' Muslims over the decade- long slaughter of Christians in Nigeria by Islamists.

Jes' sayin'!

 

 

From the "courageous and shrewd" to the stupid and evil

The first part of my title refers to the young woman featured in the post below.  No sooner written than up pops another young woman of such immense stupidity and innate evil as to defy description.  I refer to Ms. Shamima Begum who was one of three south London schoolgirls who defected to Syria in order to join ISIS.  Needless to say, she was married off within ten days to an ISIS fighter who quickly helped her to produce two children, both of whom died fairly quickly.  Ms. Begum proudly tells us that she saw decapitated heads and that "they did not faze her".

Now she is pregnant again and her husband is missing so she has decided that she wants to return to the hated UK.  There is more than a hint of entitlement in her demand!  I can only urge the wretched woman not to hold her breath!  Of course, it is only a matter of time before some feminist 'Leftie' starts a campaign to assist her return.  However, were it to succeed, Ms. Begum could well face several years in the 'slammer' for her various misdeeds.

Yes, she was young but at the time she would have told you in no uncertain terms that she knew what she was doing, so let her now bear the consequences!

 

 

A couragious and shrewd 16-year old girl

So, as per usual, I slump here before my computer screen still in my jim-jams and dressing gown and 'crooze' through the 'nooze' which, of course, remains as tedious and repetitive as ever, when suddenly I strike gold!  Needless to say, I find it in the best magazine in the world, The Spectator!

It is an article written by a 16-year old Iranian girl who, luckily for her, has relocated to Britain from her previous home in Iran.  In it she rails against the dictatorship of the hijab and the nasty, bullying activities of the 'modesty' police who infest the streets of her home country.  Honesty compels me to admit that part of me yearns for a 'modesty' police force here in the UK to stop silly young women dressing like prostitutes as they stagger round our city centres dead drunk and inviting the attentions of any male rapist who is around.  However, that is a very small part of my thought processes and I would never insist on it as public policy.

Miss Soutiam Goodarzi, the author of the article, describes her life in Iran and the dictatorship of men under which she lived.  Also, she takes a shot at those 'sillies' who bend over backwards to forgive foreign cultures:

I have found my life in Britain to be a liberation, but it staggers me to see so much nonsense spoken about the hijab and the regime I escaped. There are brave women imprisoned in Iran for various infractions of the modesty code; there are women who have been treated appallingly for wearing a hijab that is too loose or transparent. More recently, there have been women punished for not wearing a hijab. And yet the hijab is now celebrated in the West. ‘It’s OK to be modest,’ say the hijab’s apologists. Well of course, but there is nothing modest about brushing over the suffering of the women and girls of Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Well said, Miss Goodazi, and keep saying it loud and clear!

 

 

'The unkindest cut of all'

At last!  Like an aching tooth that gives you a painful jab every so often, I have been forced to grit my teeth and mutter my obscenities under my breath as yet another report pops up in the media - but rarely on the BBC! - telling of yet another suspected case of female genital mutilation (FGM) taking place in this country amongst the immigrant, and usually Muslim, community.  Needless to say, legal action is never, or virtually never, taken against the perps!

However, today both The Telegraph and The Mail report that finally a Police investigation has resulted in court action and a woman, the mother of the child concerned, has been found guilty and been warned that she faces a prison sentence.  It is widely believed that FGM is regularly practiced amongst African and Muslim communities in Britain but the 'authorities', ie, social services, the NHS and the police are reluctant to take action.  That must end!  The practice of FGM, apart from being vile, is against the law and anyone who knows or suspects that it is happening and does nothing is, in my view, an accomplice to the crime and should be charged.

It must be ended!

 

 

Thank the Lord that's all over for another year!

As I have indicated elsewhere, I am not a lover of Christmas.  I don't mind the religious aspect of it, if Christians wish to celebrate the alleged birth of their iconic leader then good luck to them so long as they don't go bonkers on the bell-ringing given that the nearest church to me is about a hundred yards away!  No, it's the commercial part of it that I detest not least because over the years it has more or less engulfed the serious side of it.  Most Europeans, I believe, simply concentrate on the religious aspects and the rest of what we Brits call 'Christmas' is over and done with in a day.  Very civilised and infinitely less tacky!

All of that, of course, leads me to the 'man' himself, Jesus Christ, and the central question - did he ever exist?  Every year I ask myself that question and promise that I will undertake a serious enquiry into the truth or rumour of it all.  Alas, I never get round to it.  The few pathetic attempts I have made always lead me into a maze of 'maybes', 'possiblys', 'he said', 'she said' and so on, ad infinitum!  Not that it matters, to me at any rate, because it is not the man himself that really matters but the message and there can be no doubt that the message is supremely intelligent. 

You can take all the other philosophical meanderings from the, er, 'greatest minds in the history of the world', and stick 'em where the sun don't shine because the essential message (allegedly) preached by Jesus Christ is both superb and sublime as a guide in how to conduct your all too brief life on this earth.  Alas, the words themselves were not considered enough by the creeps and crooks who quickly decided to enfold them into a corporate body.  Needless to say, as with most 'corporations', it was not long before they split and divided and then determined to put the other lot out of business!

And yet … and yet … the message lives on.  Like most good advice it is mostly ignored but there it stands as a constant reminder.  I don't know if you ever existed, Jesus, me old mate, but if you did then I owe you one!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 2.12.18

I can't take much more!   I have grimly soldiered on through the shot and shell of Brexit which seems to be nearing some sort of decision but which 'as any fule do no' will only lead to Round 2 and then to Round 3 and so on ad infinitum!  However, at least we are about to see the premiere of yet another but very different 'story-without-end' - the Trump vs. Mueller contest.  I can hardly wait, er, to catch the boat to St. Helena, that is!

 

As usual, Dershowitz is spot on:   I have long been an admirer of Alan Dershowitz, a truly Liberal lawyer in the best sense of 'Liberal' as opposed to the fakers who label themselves 'liberal' despite their tyrannical leanings.  He summarises his thoughts on the Mueller 'investigation' and it is worth a read to help clear your mind before the mass hysteria erupts.  Courtesy of Zero Hedge:

His mandate was to uncover crimes committed by the Trump campaign with regard to Russia's attempts to influence the election. It was always an uphill struggle for Mueller, since collusion itself is not a crime. In other words, even if he could show that individuals in the Trump campaign had colluded with Russian agents to help elect Trump, that would be a serious political sin, but not a federal crime. Even if Mueller could prove that members of the Trump team had colluded with Julian Assange to use material that Assange had unlawfully obtained, that, too, would not be a crime. What would be a crime is something that no one claims happened: namely, that members of the Trump campaign told Assange to hack the Democratic National Committee before Assange did so. Merely using the product of an already committed theft of information is not a crime. If you don't believe me, ask the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and other newspapers that used material illegally obtained by Assange with full knowledge that it was illegally obtained.[My emphasis]  Not only did they use information from Assange, but also from Chelsea Manning and from the stolen Pentagon Papers. The First Amendment protects publication by the media of stolen information. It also protects use of such information by a political campaign, since political campaigns are also covered by the First Amendment.

 

Vive La France!   No, really, I mean it.  Yes, of course, they are a constant irritant but, dammit, I do like their country and - on the whole - their people, too.  Thus, it is distressing to see what is beginning to look like a breakdown in their civic structure and reports that their army might have to be brought in to control the streets is worrying.  Also, of course, there is a warning for us because exactly the same sort of evil sub-strata exists in our society and is merely waiting its opportunity.  So go for it, France! 

 

So that Bill Shakespeare was really a 'left-footer'! 'HOONOO?'  So says Clare Asquith, the Countess of Oxford and Asquith and who am I to argue with her?  Actually, I have no wish to do so not least because, according to The Telegraph, she bases her opinion on a deep reading of his poem The Rape Of Lucretia which I have never read!  Also, to be honest, I would not be surprised if it was so because Shakespeare was born into a Catholic society until Henry VIII put his boot in and stopped it!  The poor old 'Peeps' were then in a dilemma particularly as the rules were chopped and changed as his various children took over until 'good ol' Lizzie' put her beautifully styled and be-jewelled shoe down and said that from now we are 'Proddies' - get used to it!  One thing is as certain as you can ever be about that mysterious man from Stratford, he was definitely a small 'c' conservative, so the possibility that he retained strong Catholic sympathies does not surprise me.

 

I'm still in love with 'The Little Dancer':   It was decades ago that I first saw her, 'in the flesh', so to speak in Paris  although it was probably bronze, but anyway, it was love at first sight, er, even though she was only '14 years old'!

That's the thing about art, we may try to justify our likes and dislikes intellectually after the event but mostly the reaction is visceral.  Thus it was for me and Miss Marie von Goethem who was the model for Edgar Degas.  Don't ask me to analyse why, it was just a sort of 'je ne sais pas' moment.  I even have a small tourist copy of her.  Anyway, all that soppiness is by way of telling you all that there is a very good article on her in The Telegraph.

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 18.11.18

"The Secret in their Eyes":  Some of you old-time regulars will recognise that film title because, crashing old bore that I am, it comes up for discussion as regularly as clockwork.  Last night, the 'Memsahib' went to bed early and in an idle moment I flicked through the recordings I have made over time on my TV 'do-flicker-recording-thingie'.  And there it was, so I watched it again for the 'umpteenth' time.  It truly is a great love and horror story and film which once seen can never be forgotten - quite literally, it haunts.  It covers a 25-year period and the action switches forward and back.  It is set in Argentina when their quasi-legal, police and justice system was subject to corrupt political influence.  However, that is merely the background but what strikes you to the heart is the story line.  Once seen, you can never forget these all too human - and inhuman - characters and their multiple tragedies.  If you try it, do not attempt to make sense of everything immediately, simply watch it, leave it and return to it again later.  Gradually, layer after layer of deeper meaning will be revealed.  I have never been so moved by a film.

 

'Who will rid me of this wretched woman?'  With all due acknowledgment to Henry II whose words I have not only 'nicked' but altered as well!  I am not suggesting that Mrs. May is a wicked woman but it is now clear that she is one of those unfortunate possessors of power whose very own 'virtues' - courage, tenacity, stubbornness - are bringing down the entire country.  She must go - and go quickly!

 

'Jonestown' - a name that haunts:   Every so often the name 'Jonestown' crops up, or to be precise, 'the Jonestown massacre' and every time it does, I wonder what it was all about.  As a slight excuse for my ignorant laziness, the sad fact is that there are so many 'massacres' in America that they tend to blend into each other.  Anyway, coming across the name today made me decide to look it up.  Now I wish I hadn't!  Nearly a thousand people, men, women and children, slaughtered, willingly or unwillingly, under the mesmeric leadership of a total 'nut job' called Jim Jones.  There are no words . . .

 

Dan Hodges lets me down:   As regular readers know, I have been something of a fan of Dan Hodges since I first discovered him writing in The Sunday Mail.  He is, I suspect, either 'a jolly decent chap' or 'an alright bloke', depending on your background, which probably explains his soppy commentary on Mrs. May and her predicament today.  According to Mr. Hodges, she is the epitome of decent, British virtue as she sticks bravely to her (non)Brexit policy.  Meanwhile, all those rats who grimly oppose her are cruel, malevolent rotters of the worst kind.  Possibly, Mr. Hodges, but with respect you do not know for sure.  It could be that she is a frightful, vainglorious and ruthless defender, not of this country, but of her own deeply-held and very personal ambitions.  And it may be that the 'rotters' are actually decent men and women desperately trying to stop a disaster hitting this country.  What is the truth of the matter?  I do not know and I will only find out, bit by bit, when those bloody "events, dear boy, events" play out and the history books begin to be written.  All I do know for sure, is that her solution to our Brexit problem is a stinker but that does not necessarily make her an evil woman - although she may be!

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

Oh dear, another lady steals my heart - MDQA

I refer, of course, to 'My Darling Quanta Ahmed (MDQA)' and no, I had never heard of her until today when she appeared - where else? - at The Coffee House.  She is not only brainy, being a qualified doctor, but she is also highly intelligent.  Needless to say, she is also exceedingly attractive!  I would display a photo of her if I could work out how copying and pasting photos actually works!

Anyway, she has written a tremendously good article for The Coffee House and I urge you all to read it.  It provides one of those very rare glimpses into Muslim life and thought which offers a gleam of hope for the future.

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 28.10.18

Needless to say, on this morning in which some looney turned the clocks back an hour, I am all over the place.  Even so, I will endeavour to keep all my faithful readers supplied with the wit and wisdom of Cpl. Duff - don't say it!

 

Brexit - the 'clincher'!   For all those who still cling to their soppy-soft love for the EU - and yes, that includes you, 'SoD'! - the tin-pot dictators of Brussels have shown the mailed fists that hide beneath their soft kid gloves.  The European Court of Human Rights (no sniggering because that's probably an offence as well!) have now proclaimed that critical comments aimed at Islam and/or Islamists are verboten!  An Austrian lady who gave two seminars on Islam including the information, as written in the Koran, that Mohammed married a 6-year old girl and consummated it when she was 9-years old, was fined.  The ECHR has now extended that decision and it has forbidden any critical Islamic commentary whether it is true or false. You can read all about it at The National Review.

 

We'd be better off with Dogberry and his pals:   Or, to put it another way, the Police Force should be locked up!  As always, Peter Hitchens says it all so much better than I ever could:

Many of us who have had dealings of one kind or another with the modern police suspect that, if we go to them, they will probably manage to mess up the case, ably assisted by the CPS, while also giving our full personal details to the suspect.
Even if they get it right, the criminal will be ‘spared jail’ by a feeble judge. Simpler to let it go.

And by coincidence, The Mail reports today that three police officers involved in the Stephen Lawrence case of 25-years ago are to be interviewed under caution for possible misconduct in public office.  It carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment but I strongly advise you not to hold your breath!

 

More Mohammed:   Dammit, I have only just stumbled on Douglas Murray's article on the 'Cocklecarrots' who sit on the ECHR who have forbidden us all from being rude about Mohammed and his 'religion'.  His final paragraph says it all and I, for one, endorse it:

For my own part I don’t care a jot for the ruling of the ECHR and will continue to say what I like when I like. I trust that across Europe many other people will respectfully reserve the right to do the same.

 

Ok, I surrender!   Well, I have just read the latest review of Max Hastings' monumental history of the Vietnam wars - and yes, there was more than just one of them.  I have resisted buying it, despite the 'rave reviews', because I am still plodding my way through The Story of England by Sir Roy Strong and I have only just reached the Georgian period, er, not that it isn't a terrific read but there's a lot of it!  Anyway, I have just read the review of Hastings' book in The American Spectator by Roger Kaplan and I have decided to give it a go.  I will have to buy a hard-back edition because I suspect there is will be several maps and whilst I worship my Kindle it's just not very good with maps.  Of course, if my ever-lovin' son reads this perhaps he will save his dear, old Dad a few quid by buying me a copy for Christmas!  

 

Alas and alack:   I lunched not wisely but too well!  A short break will be required to allow me to rise up to the seventh level of inner awareness.  When I descend, I will re-join you.

 

We're doomed, I tell you, doomed!   According to WUWT, 'The Graun' is cutting back on its global warming blog spots mainly run by Dana Nuccitelli, a West Coast nutjob prophet of 'The End is Nigh' because of AGW.  'Little Georgie Moonbat' was unavailable for comment - so not all bad then!

 

Sorry, had to pop over to Mexico:   Thank God for my private jet that whisked me across the Atlantic to Mexico so that I could cheer (Sir) Lewis Hamilton on to his World Championship victory!  (Well, dammit, a man may dream, may he not?)  Jolly good show, (Sir) Lewis!

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

Now, about that nice, kindly, tolerant and democratic Mr. Khashoggi

As usual, it takes PJMedia to set matters in context and ask a few tricky questions.  Perhaps the trickiest comes down to this: "Why Would the Washington Post Hire Someone Like Jamal Khashoggi?"  It's a fair question given that the Left-wing, up-market 'WaPo' which caters mainly to the 'metro-political' elites in Washington and constantly demands, in 'Lady Bracknell' style, decency and fairness and yet they hired a man well known for being a keen supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood which, as an organisation, would urge the slaughter of the entire non-Muslim world and a great many Muslims as well if they belonged to the wrong sect.

Khashoggi actually wrote this in the 'WaPo' just this year:

The United States’s aversion to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is more apparent in the current Trump administration, is the root of a predicament across the entire Arab world. The eradication of the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing less than an abolition of democracy and a guarantee that Arabs will continue living under authoritarian and corrupt regimes. 

Meanwhile, in 2012 Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate in Egypt wrote this:

The Qur’an is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, jihad is our path [my emphasis] and death in the name of Allah is our goal …

Today we can establish Sharia law because our nation will acquire well-being only with Islam and Sharia. The Muslim Brothers and the Freedom and Justice Party will be the conductors of these goals.

That doesn't sound too kind and cuddly, does it?  And nor does this:

Sharia law, once established, allows for the beating of disobedient women (Qur’an 4:34), the devaluation of women’s testimony (Qur’an 2:282), the devaluation of women’s inheritance rights (Qur’an 4:3), the taking of sex slaves (Qur’an 4:3, 4:24, 23:1-6, 33:50, and 70:30), the death penalty for leaving Islam (Qur’an 4:89), and much more that hardly provides for a “free society tolerant of all viewpoints.”

But the late and not very great Mr. Khashoggi thought it was 'right on' and presumably so did the gormless editorial board of the Washington Post.  Did any of that justify Mr. Khashoggi's brutal murder?  No, but it does mean that I will not waste any Kleenex tissues weeping for him!

 

 

I wish I'd never started!

So there I was, minding my own business and pondering on the outlines of a post on the subject of the incoming 'missile' which the Catholic hierarchy have loosed off in the direction of, er, well, the Catholic hierarchy, actually, when a question popped into my ignorant brain - did Jesus really exist?  Of course, from time to time during my life I had asked the question before but the means of discovering an answer, apart from taking a degree course in ancient history, were not available.  But today, of course, we have this wonderful 'internet-thingie' which means that I can sit slump here before my screen and pick the brains of every distinguished history swot there ever was!

So I began but immediately hit a problem because, of course, this is religious history and you have to assume that most of the swots concerned have an axe to grind with which, depending on their opinion, they hope (or pray) may be used to chop off the heads of either believers or non-believers according to taste.  Dammit, I thought, that means I am going to have to plough through both sides of what is bound to be a ferociously technical  argument - and I know where-of I whinge because I have spent many an hour ploughing through the intricate, detailed arguments of Shakespearean scholars!

Well, I will make a start and let you know how I get along.  In the meantime, and returning to the unholy row that is going to engulf the Catholic Church, I can only hope that the creepy Pope Francis is (so to speak) burned at the stake of public opinion, although Mr. Damian Thompson at The Coffee House warns that the conflagration could destroy the entire movement.  One thing history has taught me is that in inter-Christian wars no mercy is shown!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 26.8.18

The dear old 'Duke of Boot' will not be amused!   When it comes to the battle of Waterloo, according to Dr. Matthew Genge, a swot at the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College London, 'it woz Mount Tambora wot wunnit'!  Apparently, this little known volcano in Indonesia blew its top, so to speak, and sent zillions of tons of electrically charged ash into the ionosphere which short-circuited the earth's atmosphere and caused huge downfalls of rain in Europe including the field at Waterloo.  Because of the soaking conditions, 'Boney' delayed his attack on the British lines until late in the morning which gave time for all those plucky Prussians to arrive.  What's the German for 'jolly good show'?

 

Senator John McCain R.I.P.:   I will immediately admit my ignorance of the minutiae of Sen. McCain's life which, like everybody's life, contains the usual mix of faults and virtues.  Even so, his conduct during five years of cruel imprisonment in North Vietnam marks him out as an exceedingly brave man.  His subsequent political life is best described as 'maverick' which means, in effect, he never automatically toed the party line, no doubt sometimes for good and sometimes for ill.  National politics needs independent thinkers like him and so I salute his memory.

 

Everybody should have a Peter Hitchens:  It is such a relief on a Sunday morning to click on to The Mail and enjoy a fierce slug of Peter Hitchens.  Today he leads on the state of Britain's (non)prisons!  This follows the forced governmental take-over of Birmingham jail which, under useless private management, had ended up, in effect, being run by the prisoners.

Common sense has been banished from our country, but nobody connects this with its results.  The liberals themselves drivel that prisons are full because we send too many people to them. I will come to that in a moment.

Others claim that the squalor, drugs and violence of the verminous Birmingham Prison, revealed last week, are the result of privatisation.  Well, I oppose private prisons because I do not think the punishment of wrongdoers is a business. It is the moral duty of the state. But it is not the issue here. It is easy to find state-run prisons that are just as bad as Birmingham.

The truth is astonishingly simple. In the 1960s, our ruling elite decided that they knew better than any generation before them.

 Do yourselves a favour and read the whole thing.

 

Hey, Donald, better watch the stock market!   Thus sayeth Liam Halligan, a financial expert, in The Telegraph today.  Mr. Halligan points to a steady rise in the market due to some very smart tax cuts and various other measures but, "as any fule do no", what goes up eventually comes down and that is when the brown stuff hits the fan!

 

Sorry, sorry, I went a.w.o.l. - again:   Well, it was out to lunch with friends and then back home to watch a recording of the Belgian Grand Prix.  Thank God I had recorded it because it was the most eye-stabbingly tedious race I have seen in yonks!  I kept fast-forwarding hoping that (Sir) Lewis would get his finger out and beat that damned Hun but it was not to be.

 

The Pope is in the poop!   And I'm glad because I have never liked the cut of his jib - he smiles too much!  Damian Thompson has the less than Holy details and the stench is already rising following the exposure of the homosexual child abuse covered up in the America church.

 

In Australian, 'all change' means 'no change':   According to WUWT, the new Aussie PM who came in with the expectation of getting Australia out of the ridiculous and hugely expensive Paris Agreement, is now expected to stick with it.  One of his cabinet ministers has already resigned.  So, in effect, it's back to the ever-Green, Malcolm Turnbull!  I wonder what my Aussie e-pals think of that?

 

 

            No more rumbles today

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 12.8.18

Apologies for my absence yesterday.  'SoD' descended but to be fair, he brought his 'dahlinkie' with him and also took us out to dinner at our local fish restaurant, so he's a good lad, really!

No news, I suppose, is good news:   Even so, I get a tad uneasy when everything is fairly quiet.  Of course, 'Mother Nature' can always be relied on to create mayhem and so there has been a plethora of floods and fires and earthquakes but somehow, unless you are involved, of course, they are the warp and woof of everyday life and death on this truly extraordinary planet.  But it is the man-made stuff that worries me.  History teaches us that our, er, 'glorious' leaders are, by and large, stupid beyond belief and more than capable of stumbling into catastrophe.  Well, they are 'representatives of 'The Peeps' and "as any fule do no" there is nothing more stupid than 'The Peeps', er, with one or two exceptions, of course, many of whom are to be found on this blog - natch!

 

Obama's Monstrous Ego Monument:   And you're paying for it, suckers!  Well, you are if you are an Illinois tax-payer, according to Mr. Lifson at The American Thinker.  He reminds us that this ghastly mausoleum was supposed to be paid for by private donations but guess what, according to the WSJ quoted by Mr. Lifson:

Illinois taxpayers will put up at least $174 million for roadway and transit reconfigurations needed to accommodate the Obama Center. If you don’t live in Illinois, you may be smirking—but you’ll be footing the bill, too. Eighty percent of such spending is generally reimbursed by the federal government, and Illinois officials confirmed to me that they expect to receive $139 million from Washington if they request it.

Of course, originally it was touted as a home for the Obama Presidential Library which allowed them a lease on the land in perpetuity for, er, 1$!  Now we learn that there will be no library, instead, it will become an agit-prop centre for Left-wingers.  Such fun!

 

Humbuggery, then and now:   I am grateful to Mr. Gavin Mortimer over at The Coffee House for, in effect, proposing Mrs. May and Baroness Warsi for the title of 'Hypocritical Humbugs of the Year'.  As he points out in comparing their attitudes at the time of the Charlie Hebdo slaughter this is what they said then:

Mrs May:  "It was a very moving experience to be part of the march in Paris on Sunday…because of the reaction of the people alongside the march, who constantly expressed their support for all those who were standing for freedom of the press and the freedoms of our democracy."

Baroness Warsi:  "As a person of faith and as a Muslim, I know the values and reputation of my faith – any faith – cannot be diminished by a cartoon, by anyone poking fun in a magazine….We live in a liberal democracy, where giving and taking offence is part and parcel of everyday life.”

That of course, was 'then' but here is what they had to say following 'Boing-Boing' Boris's recent tease about women in burkas looking like letter-boxes:

Mrs. May, after the Islamist attack on London Bridge: 'Britain and Islam needed to have “difficult, and often embarrassing, conversations” in order to counter the spread of a divisive and intolerant ideology'.

Baroness Warsi:  Describing Johnson’s remarks as “indefensible”, Warsi said: “Language is so crucial. Politicians and policymakers particularly have a responsibility to help make the space of belonging bigger, to ease that path towards integration.”

The stench of humbug is overwhelming!

 

It's the 'Chinks' not the 'Rooskies' we need to keep an eye on:  So sayeth the mighty Peter Hitchens  over at The Mail.  He has spotted a very strange incident concerning Mr. Benedict Rogers, a Christian journalist and human rights activist.  Amongst his many targets, China looms large so it was probably no surprise that when recently he landed in Hong Kong he was refused entry and escorted to another aircraft and expelled.  So far, so normal but just recently, as Mr. Hitchens reports:

His Surrey neighbours (the entire street) have been sent anonymous letters telling lies about him and denouncing him, trying to soften the impact with fake humour. They include a photograph of him and the words ‘Watch him’. The nameless correspondent has even sent a letter to Mr Rogers’s mother, in rural Dorset (how did they find her?) saying: ‘We, as a Chinese race… care not to be lectured, watched or bullied by your son.’ 

'Me no likee' that sort of thing!

 

Blimey and with a .50 machine gun, too!   According to The Mail, a member of the SAS operating in Afghanistan shot dead an Islamic State fighter over a distance of 1.5 miles as he was standing before his fighters giving them a pep talk or a briefing or something.  One minute he was standing there, no doubt waving his arms about, when suddenly his arm and shoulder disappeared in a shower of blood.  He was probably dead before his body hit the ground.  This reminds me, of course, of my own experience on the firing range when I was unable to hit a target at 200 yards and my instructor snarled, "Duff, you couldn't hit a fucking barn, even if you were inside it!"

 

Good grief, Mark Steyn actually gets court time:   And, hoorah, he won big-time!  I may well die before the Mark Steyn vs. Michael E. Mann case ever gets to court, in fact, Steyn himself might also die before the judicial event which has been hanging around for 6-7 years finally goes before a judge.  However, I am delighted to report that in another case between him and CRTV which went before a main judge and then before an appeals judge, he won outright!  Mind you, how long he will have to wait before he receives a cent of his $4 million award is anyone's guess!

 

Dammit, this is so un-British!   We have just won a Test Match - again!  And that puts us 2-0 up against the Indians.  Heavens to Betsy, what next?

 

 

No more rumbles today

 

'Boing-boing' Boris biffs the burka!

And quite right, too!  Mind you, as I have mentioned before, given the ghastly sight of some of the huge, fat, lady 'lardies' I see waddling about in my local High Street dressed in the mini-est of mini-skirts, the long, black dress part of it might be preferable.  However, when it comes to face coverings then I'm with Boris when he describes them as making women look like letter-boxes!  It is difficult to 'hear' it over the shocked hullabaloo that has arisen following his words but Boris is actually in favour of allowing Muslim women to wear them if they wish to do so.  I am not!  There is something sinister in a form of dress that hides the face almost totally.  It is, of course, a truly delicious irony that many of the shrieking anti-Boris chorus are actually proud to call themselves 'feminists' as they squawk their support for a practice that is the perfect example of male dominance over women.  You couldn't make it up!  

Alison Pearson at The Telegraph puts it so much better than me - give it a read!

 

Now, about those "creepie-coincidence-thingies" of mine

As regular readers will be aware, I am plagued by a whole series of what I call, and please excuse my technical language, 'creepie-coincidence-thingies'!  So I was delighted to read an article over at the Aeon site by Mr. Cody Delistraty on the subject and significance, if any, of coincidence.  Of course, coincidence is real and occurs constantly but the real problem is whether or not there is any deeper significance in it.  Apparently, that well-known 'psycho-babbler, Carl Jung, believed there was.  Why am I not surprised?!

Of course, any discussion of the significance of coincidence rapidly moves into the subject of statistics and that turns out to be even more 'creepie'!

Or, take ‘the birthday problem’, which simply asks: how many people would you need to get into the same room in order to statistically assure that at least two share the exact birth month and day? Given that there are 365 days in a non-leap year, and that most people you know probably don’t have the same birthday, you might reasonably suppose that you’d need quite a high number to find an exact match. Hundreds, perhaps, and even then you’d be lucky to find two people with the same birth month and day. Statistically, however, you need only 23 people in the room for a greater than 50 per cent (hence ‘statistically probable’) chance of finding two people with the exact same birth month and day. For a 99.9 per cent chance, you need only 70 people.

Now, I find that very hard to believe but, as I have told you all on many occasions, I am absolutely no maths swot!  Mind you, my lack of expertise in statistics probably explains my youthful but brief and disastrous relationship with my local 'Bookie' back in the day!  The significance one attaches to coincidence is somewhat similar to religious belief - you've either got it or you ain't!  Anyway I recommend Mr. Delistraty's article which is fascinating.

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 10.6.18

'The personal is political':   Well, it is in Donald Trump's world, judging by his hissy-fit against that drip who is Prime Minister of Canada.  Of course, ripping away the diplomatic obfuscations that veil the realities of diplomacy allows us all a quick glimpse of the 'naughty bits' which add so much to 'the gaiety of nations'!  Even so, 'yuuuuuuge', 180 degree, policy changes made off the cuff in response to perceived insults and/or hurt feelings is hardly the stuff of strategic diplomacy.  The whole subject of international trade tariffs is fraught with both complexity and, in a tense world, considerable danger.  Personally, I tend to the view that real free trade is infinitely preferable to a system in which governments use their tax powers to bend the rules.

 

The Archbishop of Canterbury is a total tit!   I may pop over to St. John's church this morning and offer up a prayer to God that he send down a thunderbolt and turn Justin Welby into stone!  This, at least, would put a stop to the endless stream of total idiocy that pours forth from his ever-open mouth.  His latest 'sermon' was to the effect that the EU was the greatest creation in Europe for 1,500 years - yeeeeeeees, quite!

 

And here's something useful he could do:   Yes, it's Welby I'm referring to!  I actually went to church the other day - no, no, I haven't been converted - it was to attend the funeral of a neighbour.  All I can say is that church pews would have been useful back in the day when I was an Army interrogator.  Forcing a prisoner to sit on one of those for an hour might be construed as 'cruel and unusual punishment' but they would have sung like canaries!  So, Welby, old chap, try providing your congregations with comfortable seats, it might improve your 'box-office' numbers!

 

Am I a Yankee-doodle or a true blue Brit?   That was a question faced by the inhabitants of America in and around 1776.  I put it in childish terms but actually to those concerned it was a matter of life and death.  Love of country is a powerful feeling but many of the settlers in the 'new England' of that period were severely tested in choosing precisely which country they loved - or detested!  As you can guess, I have started reading the biography of Benedict Arnold which I mentioned a few days ago.  I am utterly hooked already and, at shamefully long last, I am beginning to learn some American history.

 

Did the earth move for you?   I ask because according to the news there was an earthquake somewhere 'ooooooop north' last night.  Rumours to the effect that sales of Newcastle Brown Ale reached record heights are not to be believed!  Several city centres were reduced to rubble but nobody noticed!

 

Put that man on a charge!   Field Marshall Guthrie, former Chief of the General Staff, fell off his horse during the Queen's birthday parade. 

 Mind you, he's 79-years old, my age, and I don't think I could sit on a horse for that long on a warm day wearing all that paraphernalia and a helmet!  He was rushed to hospital but all is well.  Back in the day, he commanded the SAS so he's a tough old bird!  It reminded me of when my best mate in the army fainted on a guard of honour outside a church in Aldershot.  He told me that flat on his back he opened his eyes and there was the very red, angry face of the RSM inches from his.  "What did he say", I asked?  "He just hissed at me that I had fucked up his parade", he replied.  "So what did you do", I asked.  "I just shut my eyes", he said!

 

'The times, they are a-changin':   Another photo from Trooping the Colour.  Can you spot the odd man out?

Heavens to Betsy!  A turban and a full set of whiskers!  Mind you, he's a Sikh and given their ferocious fighting reputation I would not advise making with the jokes.  Well done, Guardsman Charanpreet Singh Lall, your people have played a large part in British history and you deserve your place amongst Her Majesty's Guards.

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble 3.6.18

Post Script to my Hollywood grumble:   In the post below I moaned and groaned at the historical errors that Hollywood (and others!) make in their war films.  However, what they do it right, they often do it brilliantly.  For example, the old MGM musicals.  Last night the 'Memsahib' and I watched a recording of "That's Entertainment", a compilation of the best scenes from the best musicals.  I simply cannot even begin to work out how they made those films, some of which feature over a hundred dancers, with the camera moving in and out and around.  The expertise and discipline of the dancers is simply superb.  And the stars, well, they really are stars!  In my opinion, some of those musicals are works of art of the very highest calibre.

 

Hamlet: ignored or derided:   So the loonies now running The Globe Theatre, led by Ms. Michelle Terry, who insist that casts are split evenly between male and females, irrespective of what Shakespeare indicated, finally produced their version of Hamlet, er, with Ms. Terry playing the lead.  Well, natch!, I mean what's the point of being the Chief Honcho if you can't nick all the best roles?  I have searched, mostly in vain, for some reviews but it seems that mostly the farrago has been ignored.

 

What an absolute bounder and rotter!   I am very grateful to my e-pal, AussieD, who in an exchange on another post, introduced me to Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, CBE, DSO.  AussieD assured me that despite the Germanic surname, Col. Meinertzhagen was a proper British gent!  Well, I have just read his Wiki entry which reads like one of those old adventure yarns I used to read in comics like the Hotspur and the Wizard.  Or, he could be the real life equivalent of 'Harry Flashman' as portrayed in those wonderful books by George MacDonald Fraser.  I urge you all to read Meinertzhagen's Wiki entry, it's priceless!

 

The 'Duke of Boot' might have smiled:   The dear old 'Duke of Boot' of Waterloo fame was not well known for his good humour but I think he would have appreciated this story in The Mail.

 

Here is his successor, Lord Frederick Wellesley, who has just volunteered for Airborne Forces and therefor had to undergo 'P' Company testing which includes going onto the mats in the gym and, standing toe to toe, slugging it out with an opponent.  Ducking and diving and back pedalling is frowned upon!  I am reminded of when 'SoD' came home after his 'P' Company test with a fat lip and beauty of a black eye!  Mind you, back in the day, I didn't look much better after my session!

 

Water, water, er, well, nowhere actually!   That very naughty boy who runs the I Hate the Media site is exceedingly grumpy over the dimwits who run California and allowed mounting water shortages.  Now, they have sprung into action but he has some better ideas:

California becomes first state to pass water law limiting toilet flushes, showers. Here we go with the Imperial Libtard Forces imposing their silly whims upon the citizens of California. We have some solutions on how the public can deal with this silliness.

1: Go to San Francisco to take a poop on the sidewalk, no one will notice.

2: Move to Berkeley and shower once a week. Again, no one will notice.

3: If it’s brown flush it down. As in go to Sacramento, find Jerry Brown, stick his head in an unflushed toilet and flush.

4: Find a public park with a pond and start bathing there.

 

A sinner repenteth:   I refer to Jonathan Aitken, former toff, Tory party grandee, cabinet minister and all round Grand Panjandrum, er, well, he was, until he was caught being a naughty boy with some Saudi 'dosh' which he denied, sued for libel and failed to prove his version, then ended up with an 18 month sentence in the 'slammer' where he served 7 months. 

Whilst in prison, he discovered God, or rather, I suspect, he rediscovered his Christian heritage.  Anyway, Charles Moore, an old friend and the distinguished editor of The Spectator, wishes him well in his decision to take Holy Orders.  Aitken has spent the past 14 years doing good works, mostly on behalf of prisoners in British jails.  I know virtually nothing about the man but I, too, wish him well - with my fingers firmly crossed behind my back! 

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

A book ramble

This is not one of my carefully crafted and elegantly composed posts - sorry, were you trying to say something? - instead it is a bit of a ramble on the subject of 'books wot I red', or I am trying to read, or I intend to read, or in one case I definitely will not read!  I am only inflicting it on you because I am off to the seaside tomorrow, Sunday, for lunch with some very old and dear friends and the chances are I will not be in a fit state to scribble anything when I get home.

Anyway, back to the books.  As you know, just recently I gave a rave review to The Crusades: The War of the Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge.  And it is good, honestly it is, and I am sure the historiography is of the highest quality, but the fact is that it is also deeply depressing.  It is a chronicle of the very worst aspects of human nature.  After a ferocious campaign conducted with maximum cruelty, within a few months of the Christians capturing the city of Jerusalem they fell out with each other and turned their cruelty on their former comrades and co-religionists.  I am persevering with the book but it is so depressing that I open it with reluctance.

Happily, a friend gave me a book I would never have bought for myself by a lady writer whose name I know well but whose books I have never tried.  I refer to Ms. Margaret Atwood and her book Hag-Seed.  I have only read the first few pages because I really wasn't sure what it was about but within minutes I was chuckling, then laughing out loud.  It is based on a loony, egotistical director of Shakespeare who runs a theatrical arts festival somewhere in Canada.  Being a nutter, he obviously runs the enterprise on the Fuhrer princip and he is shocked and outraged when his deputy manoeuvres him out of the job and takes over.  I can't wait to get further into it, and by the way, any resemblance between me and the leading character is entirely co-incidental!

Finally, a book I definitely will not be reading is the latest WWII history from that superb historian, Antony Beevor.  I have copies of many of his other books and cannot fault them for either fact or judgment but his latest is on the topic of the Arnhem campaign.  That, if you will excuse the allusion, 'is a topic too far'!  By and large, Montgomery was a superb fighting general but he made his fair share of mistakes and Arnhem was a colossal failure and what made it worse was that the fault lines were perfectly clear beforehand.  Alas, it was 'Monty's equally colossal ego that blinded him to the obvious.  I still admire the man and I really don't think I can bear to read about this tragic disaster again.

Anyway, happy reading to you all and if you have any recommendations let me know.

 

Conscience is worse than a nagging wife

Regular readers will know of my abiding admiration for the Jewish race.  Of course, like all of us, they have their faults and weaknesses but, dammit, it is impossible not to admire their intelligence which has been honed, I guess, by the desire to exist despite several thousand years of persecution and a world-wide enforced diaspora.  It is entirely understandable, with that history, that the Jews yearned for a return to what they consider to be their homeland in Palestine.  It is also understandable that a considerable number of non-Jews, many of them in high positions of political power, and all troubled by their consciences given the never-ending, historical cruelty meted out to Jews, threw their weight behind the idea of a Jewish homeland.

It was worthy but was it wise?

This irritating question has niggled away at the back of what passes for my mind for several years because whilst it may have brought joy to Jews, equally it brought extreme distress to Palestinians.  This morning, Melanie McDonagh at The Coffee House, sums up the moral and political dilemma:

[W]hen it comes to the founding of the state of Israel 70 years ago, the inescapable fact is that it was founded on the expulsion or displacement of over 700,000 people, Palestinians who had next to no involvement with the persecution of the Jews in the Holocaust which gave urgency to the question of a Jewish state. They did not intend to vacate their homes for the founders of the new state; they left terrified, but, by and large, fully intending to return. Three, four, generations on, they are still refugees, and the consequences for neighbouring states like Lebanon has been nothing short of catastrophic.

Needless to say, the world has spun on its axis a zillion times since the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and the situation we, and the Jews and the Palestinians face is now unrecognisable to how it looked in 1948 when the state of Israel was founded.

(I am under orders from 'you know who' so I will return to this complex subject on my return later this afternoon.)

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 6.5.18

WARNING my temper may deteriorate!   For some unknown reason - well, unknown to me! - my smoke alarms keep going off.  Needless to say, under the auspices of 'Old Sod's Law', it is a Sunday and no-one is available to fix the fault and even more needless to say I haven't a clue!  Nor may I add, do I feel like climbing up a step-ladder to investigate because a) I would probably fall off and/or b) I would start them screeching permanently!

 

Thank God for my committee of wise men:   You may have realised that I don't 'do' original thinking - and I heard that! - instead I rely on my top class advisors to not only tell me what to think but why.  Thus, when a retired Labour minister suggested the other day that national identity cards should be introduced my instant re-action was 'blx' but I didn't have time to work out why.  Happily, this morning Mr. Peter Hitchens in The Mail explains all.

 

Then there is Mr. Dan Hodges:   He raises a question which has been hovering around in the empty spaces of my brain cavity recently - what are we to make of Mrs. May?  My feelings towards her vary from impatient dislike to a sort of admiring respect.  Also, it is tinged with pity because the poor woman is surrounded by some of the biggest prats in British politics!  What can one say to her except possibly to repeat Winston's famous phrase, "Just keep buggering on!"

 

Hollywood humbug:   Well, there's never any shortage of that but this is a juicy morsel, courtesy of that rascal Drudge, from The American Mirror which reports that a Hollywood protest against the NRA and in favour of banning guns was attended by Ms. Alyssa Milano (actress, singer, dancer, model, you choose because I've never heard of her!) who was fervent in her opposition to gun-ownership.  Happily, she was very safe at the rally because she had an armed bodyguard with her!

 

Oh God, you couldn't make it up!   I have just been sitting on my patio frying gently in this unbelievably hot sunshine and reading the details of the Christian attack on Jerusalem during the first Crusade in 1099.  Smaller numbers, of course, but it makes the battle of the Somme look like a doddle!  Needless to say and absolutely true to form, these Holy Christian soldiers having forced the Muslim army out, then set about on a massive, two day slaughter of men, women and children.  Poor old Jesus, how he must have wept up in heaven!

 

Cackle fodder for my Yankee friends:   'HillBilly' continues her wailing and moaning at the 'stoopidity' of the American people for failing to anoint her President in '16.  According to the latest report, it was 'the socialists wot dunnit'!

“It’s hard to know, but I mean if you’re in the Iowa caucuses and 41 percent of Democrats are socialists or self-described socialists, and I’m asked ‘Are you a capitalist?’ and I say, ‘Yes, but with appropriate regulation and appropriate accountability.’ You know, that probably gets lost in the ‘Oh my gosh, she’s a capitalist!’” Clinton said during a conversation with Alan Murray, the Chief Content Officer at Time Inc.

To paraphrase dear Oscar, such a sweetie, 'you would need a heart of stone not to burst out laughing'!

 

Some pet, or petty, dislikes:   Well, I mean, if I'm going to be a grumpy, old geezer running a blog then at least I'm entitled to enjoy a good old grump every now and then.  So here are a few of my pet dislikes and needless to say it is not exclusive:

1:  Tattoos, particularly on young girls whose skin is beautiful beyond description.

2:  That wretched man who insists on chanting out the names of boxers prior to a fight and elongating the vowel sounds for so long that it sounds like a ship coming up the Mersey on a foggy night.

3.  Speaker Bercow of parliament.

4.  Wood pidgeons who regularly waddle across my patio crapping at every other step.

5.  My computer whenever it glitches and in an instant turns from being a modern miracle to a box of total crap!

And yes, thank you for asking, that does feel much better!

 

Some good news for my 'Yankee-doodle' buddies:   According to Zero Hedge, Michelle Obama has ruled out running for the Presidency.  Needless to say, I haven't the slightest idea whether or not she would be a good President but I do know for a certainty that there would be an immediate and sickly flood of dim-witted sycophancy from all quarters.  It was bad enough when her husband ran, just imagine what it would be like if she did the same!  Mind you, ladies and politicians share the habit of changing their minds, so don't think this is her last word!

 

 

No more rumbles 

 

"Suffer little children to come unto me"

Alfie Evans cuddling his mother Kate James at Alder Hey Hospital Credit: PA 

I enter this particular moral and legal minefield with considerable nervousness.  To everyone concerned it is, alas, a human tragedy of the utmost cruelty.  Little Alfie Evans has a degenerative neurological disease that is, in effect, 'eating' his brain.  He cannot communicate and it is impossible to ascertain with any certainty whether he is in pain or not.  So far he has been kept alive by the high-tech machines at Alder Hey Hospital where he is confined.  The doctors, in effect, agreed that there is no cure and that the best practice would be to withdraw life support and allow the child to die.  Needless to say, his parents resolutely disagreed and in their distress have sought medical advice and offers of help from overseas.  The matter is further complicated by the fact that the parents are Catholics and now the Pope has intervened.   It all brings back memories of the Charlie Gard case which dominated the headlines last year.

Eleanor Steaful in The Telegraph has a detached summary of the Alfie Evans case but, alas, it merely adds to the complexities as outsiders (like me!) struggle to work out what, in this case is right or wrong.  Part of the problem, of course, stems from the fact that many of us (like me!) find it hard to get past our inherent prejudices and our unconscious acceptance of stereotypes.  For example, regular readers will be well aware of my low opinion of that group of men and women I normally refer to as "Cocklecarrots" who, with the might of the law supporting them, sit in judgment on the rest of us.  Then there is that other collection of 'High and Mighties' who also, on occasions, wield enormous power over us and whom I usually dismiss as 'Quacks'! 

Both the legal and the medical professions share one characteristic, they are enormously hierarchical.  Somewhat like the Armed Forces, it is not done to disagree with your 'superior' officers!  Some (but not all, I agree!) of the senior ranks of lawyers and doctors are imbued with total belief in the expression, "I'm right, you're wrong, just do as you're told!"  Needless to say, the opposite of that state of affairs is to invite a state of anarchy in which every practitioner 'does his or her own thing'!

Then there are the motivations of the non-expert 'outsiders', starting with the parents - and, yes, I realise that in no sense can they be described as 'outsiders' but even so they are certainly not expert and their motivation is obviously skewed.  Even so, their parenthood endows them with 'rights' and their wants and desires must be given due consideration.  Perhaps I am wrong, I frequently am, but I sometimes gain the distinct impression that consideration of 'expert' opinions far outweighs the human feelings of love that imbue most parents.

Alas and alack, all of the above throws not even a glimmer of light on the complexities surrounding little Alfie Evans.  As in so many other situations, it all comes down to 'The Peeps', that is the people, the all too frail, human beings who must bear the responsibility for the outcome.  As usual, they are a mixture of 'the good, the bad and the ugly' and for what it is worth I wish them all the strength they need to make the right decisions.  Above all, I wish young Alfie the best of outcomes in what seems to be a 'lose-lose situation'.

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 22.4.18

Is the ground shifting under your feet, 'Jezza'?   I only ask because according to that shrewd, Labour observer, Dan Hodges in The Mail, there is a rising mood of dis-enchantment in the 'Momentum' ranks who hitherto have been your biggest supporters.  They are, by definition, as big a collection of 'planks' as you, yourself, but even with their limited intelligence, they are beginning to realise that they might not win an election under a leader with the political foresight of 'Mr. Magoo' and the practical political ability of 'Stan Laurel'!  As so often in these situations, the other problem is choosing who to take your place.  Apparently, the obvious contender, John McDonnell, has health problems - oh dear, what a pity, never mind! - and so that leaves the likes of either the fat, black clown, Diane Abbott, or the fat, white clown, Emily Thornberry.  Bring it on!

 

 

If the Dems win - "Oh, the horror, the horror":   An exceedingly salutary warning from Mr. Lloyd Marcus in The American Thinker who asks what is likely to happen if the Dems win the Congress?  He lists some of the likely outcomes including an attempt on their part to impeach President Trump.  This may be unnecessary because faced with a hostile Congress blocking his every move, I suspect that 'The Donald' will lose interest and return to his favourite golf courses.  Even so, my fellow (well, in spirit, that is) Americans, you have been warned!

 

OK, OK, I get the message!   I have only been sitting slumping here for an hour or so but already I have read two recommendations for a film called "The Quiet Place".  The first, rather surprisingly, was from that archetypal 'Mr. Grump', Peter Hitchens who describes it as "a quiet masterpiece".  Then, blow me down, over at The American Thinker, Mr. Tim Jones - no, me neither! - who describes it as "A subversive conservative and Christian movie".  Now, is that original or what?

 

Barbara Bush R.I.P.   As you all do know, this lady died a few days ago but I failed to mention it because, frankly, I knew nothing about her.  My bad because Mr. Tim Jones (see immediately above), in his appreciation of the film "The Quiet Place" tells us that it is film which quietly extols the virtues of family which was at the very heart of the late Barbara Bush.  He offers this quote from her commencement address at Wellesley College in 1990:

Fathers and mothers, if you have children, they must come first. You must read to your children, and you must hug your children, and you must love your children. Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your house.

Wise words!

 

What's the Spanish for 'total twaddle'?   But also, I should add, totally unmissable!  Regular readers will have noted my habit of not watching any TV at all and then watching it avidly for hours/days at a time.  Thus it has proved with "Sé quién eres" ("I know who you are"), a Catalonian TV series which, with the help of my trusty (most of the time!) 'do-flicker-thingie', I recorded back in the mists of 2017.  There it has remained, undisturbed for a year, until my curiosity was piqued during a recent browse through my recording history.  Suffice to say that I have not watched anything else for 'yonks' and I am now almost fluent in Spanish!  Not, mind you, that I managed to understand the plot which had so many twists and turns that I was lost after episode 3 but, the fact is that I became utterly hooked on the damned thing!  I was really looking forward to episode 10 when, I assumed, all would be revealed.  Imagine my fury when I discovered that that there were a further 6 episodes which, for some reason the BBC had not played and therefor my 'do-flicker-thingie' had not recorded - bloody-bloody BBC!  Now I have the problem of finding out where I can find the rest of the series because although it was total hokum it absolutely hooked me!

 

Lord Rigby R.I.P.   It do be a good idea, down 'ere in Zummerzet/Dorset country, to remember to touch the tip of your cap if you come across any of the local gentry.  On reading the obit of Lord Rigby in The Telegraph, I shall go one better and remove my cap entirely.  The Rigby family, which has been around since the first Elizabeth, own approximately 75% of Zummerzet/Dorset and if it is actually less than that then I can only say that it feels like it!  Amongst his late Lordship's properties is Sherborne Castle which was originally owned by Sir Walter Raleigh.  Actually, there are two castles in the park, one of which is literally "One of the ruins that Cromwell knocked about a bit"!  I used to walk regularly in the parkland but, lovely as it is, there came a time when I needed the entrance money more than his Lordship, so I stopped.  That's probably why I haven't had a Xmas card from him recently.

 

No more rumbles today

 

The Sunday Rumble: 15.4.18

Dammit, are those Aussies cheating again?   Well, I mean, they were caught out roughing up the ball in their last cricket match and I wouldn't put it past that Ricciardo fella' to sneak into (Sir) Lewis Hamilton's garage and carve up his tyres prior to the race!  Only kidding, mate, you won a good race and best of all you helped push that damned Hun further down the points which means that (Sir) Lewis is only 9 points off the lead - have a pint of Fosters on me!

 

Sorry for my lateness:   It was all the fault of the international F1 circus which, for reasons beyond my ken, they insist on staging all over the world instead of remaining in Europe.  Today it was in China and thus I was forced - forced, I tell you! - to remain in bed with my radio plugged into my ear to listen to the commentary.  The TV version, thanks to my ex-best friend, 'Rupe' (another bloody Aussie!), is not on until this afternoon.  

 

First the war then the war of words:  Well, actually, in terms of the body count it has been a skirmish in Syria rather than a war but even so this morning all the 'news' channels are full of talking heads simply re-ejaculating the opinions they had when this particular event kicked off.  In some cases, of course, it provided an opportunity for some people to honk 'n' hoot the opinions they have held since they were five years old, for example, J. Corbyn MP, who detests anything that his own country does whilst admiring the actions of tyrants who hate this country.

 

Nikki Sievwright (nee Ross ) R.I.P:   Once again I can only express my gratitude to the dear, old 'Speccie' which digs out these obscure but sometimes extraordinary stories.  This concerns Nikki Sievwright (nee Ross), a former fashion model who married a British army cavalry officer.  He was posted to Ulster and she followed him but, determined to do her bit, she volunteered for the female section of the Ulster Defence Regiment, known at the time as the 'Greenfinches'.  On one occasion she helped capture a terrorist at a checkpoint by finding his real passport hidden inside the knickers of the lady accompanying him!

 

Farewell Milos Forman R.I.P:   Oh dear, sorry to be so gloomy but I could not let the death of Milos Forman pass without mention.  He created two movies (amongst many others) which are up there in my Top Ten and, of course, as I never stop reminding you, there are 40+ films in my Top Ten!  However, Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are simply superb and unforgettable.

 

M***** M***** is banned!    I refer, of course, to the exceedingly attractive lady who has positioned herself on the arm of Prince Harry of England.  Not, I hasten to add, that I have anything against her, just the opposite, in fact, because if she showed the slightest interest in an elderly Brit gent of my vintage, I'd be 'in like Flynn'!  No, the problem is that she is absolutely dominating my daily paper of choice, The Mail, such that each morning I have to turn over at least six pages filled with her comings and goings before I reach any actual news!  Enough is enough, my life already!

 

Beyond belief #7,324,867:   Sometimes, well fairly often, actually, oh alright then, constantly, you come across stories that leave you shaking your head and muttering, "I don't believe it!"  For example, this story in The Mail telling us of a young Jewish man who had volunteered to work at the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam but who was told that he could not wear his 'yarmulke' skull cap in case it threatened "the neutrality of the foundation running the museum!"

 

It took the committee six months to decide that he could wear it after all.  File under: You couldn't make it up!

 

Is he 'Maggie' Macron?   Interesting piece in The Telegraph today spelling out the massive battle facing Pres. Macron in France as train drivers, airport staff, court officials et al, walk out in protest against his efforts to prise the grip of the unions off the French economy.  Bonne chance with that one, Mr. President, and what a pity 'that woman' is no longer with us to offer you some good advice.  Anyway, I wish him well because, despite it all, I like France and would prefer it to be prosperous rather than being slowly strangled to death by avaricious trade unions.

 

In which I was hit by a Shakespeare troll:   He had an absolutely cast iron theory on the identity of the man who really - you know, really and truly - wrote Shakespeare's sonnets - yeeeeeeees, quite, one of those!  Anyway, I replied politely but doubtfully and - natch! - almost by return I received an obscenity-loaded reply.  Such fun!

 

Some of those Holy Fathers have much to answer for!   You may have noticed that a short while back I was very enthusiastic for a book I purchased on the subject of the crusades but I haven't mentioned it since.  This was due to domestic 'bits 'n' pieces' interrupting the flow.  However, I'm back on it now and it is increasingly clear that Pope Urban II was "a very naughty boy" and has much to answer for, in fact, he's probably still answering!  In the great history of political-religious cons, this is one of the biggest and it is absolutely fascinating and illuminating on the nature of 'the Peeps' and just how stupid they can be!  So no change there, then!  "The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land" by Thomas Asbridge.

 

 No more rumbles today

 

 

And lo, the god-destroyers were come, and they were Christians!

All this Easter lark has put me in to a (sort of!) religious mode.  I think I have mentioned before my wonderment at the incredible speed with which Christianity swept across the ancient world carrying all before it.  Mr. Tom Holland puts it very well in the course of a book revue in The Spectator:

Today, the question of how and why a crucified criminal from an obscure corner of the Roman empire had come to be enshrined, within a bare four centuries, not just as a divine patron of the empire, but as one who had decisively routed all his rivals for the title, toppling gods from their ancient thrones and terminating their priesthoods, is one that — understandably — continues to preoccupy historians.

The book he is reviewing is The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World by Bert Ehrman.  Of course, those of a religious persuasion would simply put it down to the 'Will of God' but for those of us who lack religiosity we need a more, shall we say, down to earth explanation.  Ehrman emphasises the fact that the Christian movement, once under way, was not satisfied with merely replacing the ancient cult-like worship of the gods but was intent on utterly destroying them!

Another writer on the subject of the amazing success of Christianity suggests that it may have been the appeal of Christianity to the poor, the sick, the lame and the halt who were, according to this new-fangled religion to be accorded the same importance in the great scheme of things as the rich and the powerful.  Suddenly, 'Joe Bloggs' was as 'entitled' as any nobleman!  You can instantly see the attraction of that to the lower orders who would have seized it with enthusiasm.

Oh dear, another book has been added to the waiting list!

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 25.2.18

 

So, farewell then, Billy Graham, er, who were you?   His name is very familiar, of course, but 'over here' he never made that much of an impact.  The whole notion of free-lance preachers 'hoopin' 'n' hollerin' fur Jesus' was simply too, too American!  As far as I know, which isn't far, he was never involved in anything horrendous and if he became a tad too 'palsy-walsy' with sundry politicos and presidents, well, that's the American way.  Also, I do admire his intelligence in deciding decades ago never to allow himself to be alone with a woman not of his family - shrewd fella'!

 

Naughty 'Winnie'!   So apparently Winston Churchill was "a very naughty boy" after all!  In so far as I have ever thought about it - not much! - it has always struck me as slightly odd that 'Winnie' never seemed to put himself about a bit with the ladies.  Mind you, given that 99% of his life was immersed in politics, most of it of the highest seriousness, I suppose it's not that surprising.  However, today I learn that he did have a little fling with the rather elegant Lady Castlerosse.

It didn't last that long and it's slightly interesting that he indulged in his naughtiness in the early '30s when his political career was somewhat in the doldrums.  [But see additional below]

 

Pheeeeew, another "fine run thing":   I hardly slept last night because yesterday evening my Kindle started playing up.  Don't you just hate it when 'techie-thingies' go wrong, you know, like the lead breaking at the end of your pencil, that sort of thing?  But when they are really, really 'techie-thingies' I am distraught and helpless and, yes, you're right, hopeless, as well!  I know that if I don't get lucky after I have pressed every button on the 'techie-thingie' I will have no choice but to ring 'SoD' - yes, I know, I know, 'the horror, the horror'!  He, of course, will get all grumpy and shout down the 'phone that he told me how to do all that last time!  However, in proof that old Billy Graham was right after all when he assured us all that there is a God, Amazon sent me yet another advert for something or other but I noticed in the small print that there was a "Contact Us" button, so I clicked it more in desperation than hope.  Well, heavens to Betsy and all that sort of thing, I followed their suggestions and - lo, my Kindle is working again!  So, now I can look forward to pressing on with Richard Lamb's book "Churchill as War Leader".

 

Dumb or dumber?   I refer to the students of Oberlin High School in Oberlin, La, who, according to The Miami Herald, saw that one of their fellow pupils had written the symbol for a square root in his exercise book and they took it for a diagram of a

gun and called the police who then searched the student's home.  What can one say, except "Duh!"

 

'Me no go no where'!   Perhaps the least surprising news so far this year is that Mr. Xi Ping Pong, or whatever his name is, is determined to be 'Luler of the Universe' forever and ever, so help me Mao Tse Tung!

 

And no, he is definitely not waving goodbye, not for at least another 25 years.  To know him is to love him and you better believe him when he says he has ways of making you love him!  And to think that I once had slight hopes for his leadership of China, ah well, no fool like an old fool!

 

Happy anniversary, Matt:   The very best cartoonist of them all, 'Matt' from The Daily Telegraph, is celebrating 30 years of 'chuckle production' at the newspaper.  The main thing about his cartoons is that they are deadly accurate but above all, funny!  Here is a prime example from the days when, God help us, 'Cleggy' was deputy prime minister.

 

 

Gillard's gone and Australia regains its common-sense:   Julia Gillard, of course, was the incomprehensible PM of Australia, a defect  which, in a way, was a relief because it meant that grumpy old Brits like me couldn't understand most of the balderdash she used to spout.  Amongst it, I now learn, was a decision to cut all contacts between Australia and the Israeli intelligence services.  Apparently, they had been "very naughty boys and girls" and used fake Australian passports in a plan to bump off a Hamas thug.  Happily, sanity has returned to the Aussie government who have publicly thanked and praised the Israelis for an intelligence tip-off last year that saved hundreds of lives in a foiled plot to bring down an Airbus A380 due to take off from Sydney.  Aussie/Israeli relationships are back in the groove.  Hat tip to The American Thinker.

 

No, no, 'Winnie' was a proper gent!   The story up above which I lifted from the 'Sunday prints' has been roundly slapped down by Andrew Roberts who has been engaged for the last four years in writing a biography - another one?! - of the great man.  You can read it at The Coffee House.

 

I must be a masochist:   Why do I do it?  It was only a few weeks ago that I finished a book detailing the utterly disastrous and unbelievably stupid campaigns, in Gallipoli and then later in Norway, rammed through by the late, not-quite-so-great, Winston Churchill.  Now I am reading something of the shambles he organised in France on the outbreak of war, and in the Med whilst trying to deal with the French fleet.  Yes, I kind of knew about it but not in so much detail.  When I become PM I may have to dig him up and have him shot for gross incompetence! 

 

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

Oh God, I'm really depressed!

"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat", er, to quote a phrase from a somewhat better writer than me!  I am still plodding, nay, slogging, my way through "The White King" by Ms. Leanda de Lisle which tells not so much the rise and fall of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland but more like the rise and then the total smash-crash that destroyed him and almost the entire nation.  Dammit, when we Brits produce a leader we have an innate knack of getting the wrong one.  That is, perhaps, a little unfair on poor old Charlie because the problems he faced would have given Machiavelli a headache!

The 'three nations' set-up, of course, was inherently unstable but then when you add in an almost infinite variety of differing Christian sects, all of whom resolutely ignored any of that "love thy neighbour" stuff and instead much preferred all that "put them to the sword" stuff, then you can see that Charles had some considerable problems.  So it was doubly unfortunate that he was not, by any means, the brightest of rulers.  And it was trebly unfortunate, I suppose, that nor was he the most ruthless of rulers.  I need to read some more history of this period to be sure but I sense that a recidivist head-chopper like Henry VIII would have done rather better!

Also, the further I hack my way with bloodied sword into Ms. de Lisle's book, the more my admiration mounts for Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of doomed Charles.

She was not only exceedingly lovely but she was also unbelievably brave and determined.  Alas and alack, she suffered one unrepairable defect- she was Catholic - and also French which didn't help! - and it is a sign of Charles' inherent dimness that he married a woman with those irreparable fault lines.  Even so, in a veritable stew of shitty, stupid, untrustworthy, corrupt, fanatical men, she stands out as a woman of real character and considerable intelligence.

In the meantime, back in the three kingdoms the blood began to trickle, then to pour and then to gush into a torrent until, inevitably, Charles was dethroned and then beheaded!  There is a tendency, and I share it, to blame religion, in particular Christianity, but the fact is, as always, it is the people who are to blame.  Not just the common folk who, as ever, follow their instincts and the orders of their leaders, but also and mainly, it was those very leaders who in pursuit of personal gain and ambition drove the country to the edge of self-destruction.

I can only shake my head and mutter Othello's distraught line, "the pity of it, Iago! O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!"

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 11.2.18

Peter Hitchens is a national treasure:   There is nothing like waking up on a Sunday morning and enjoying a spicy serving of his Sunday Mail column.  Today, in typical fashion, he pulls on his 'bovver boots' and gives those stupid, dangerous, old harridans, the suffragettes, a right good kicking! For reasons beyond me, and him, they have achieved almost saint-like status since they first kicked off their murderously stupid campaign which was not only dangerous to innocent people but which actually delayed the granting of votes to women.

 

And then there is Dan Hodges:   Also in the Sunday Mail and well worth a read not least because despite his Labour party background - he resigned recently - he offers as close to a detached view of our politics as it is possible to find.  Today he highlights the fact that recent polls indicate that 'Jezza's' momentum (no pun intended!) is running out of puff.  People are pissed off with the Tories but gradually the true nature of the MLP (the Marxist Labour/Looney Party - you choose!) is becoming clear.  Suddenly, the awkward, stilted 'St. Theresa of May' doesn't seem quite so bad after all.

 

Did the 'Warmers' get anything right?   I ask because for years now I have been waiting to sing my special song, 'Tootle-oo, Tuvalu', as that tiny Pacific atoll disappeared beneath the waves, a fate which the 'Warmers' had predicted with certainty.  Now however, some New Zealand university spoilsports have pointed out that whilst sea levels may be rising, so also are atoll heights increasing!  Ain't gonna happen, folks!  Why am I not surprised?

 

Thank God Christianity is in its dotage:   I have started reading my latest book purchase, The White King: Charles I, Traitor, Murderer, Martyr by Leanda de Lisle and so far my first reaction is relief that Christianity seems to have got over itself and slumped into harmless old age and inertia.  Well, of course, it's not Christianity's fault that so many 'zillions' of people perished in its name because, as always, it was the dreaded 'Peeps' who were to blame with their ferocious squabbles over what, exactly and precisely, constituted true Christianity.  The end result was that Europe ended up knee deep in blood.  I have a vision of God sitting 'upstairs' on his throne, holding his head and groaning, "No, no, I didn't mean that  . . ."

 

Talking of books, I have a 'retro read':   During part of our recent winter break we found ourselves in a rather odd book shop which sold paperbacks at three for a fiver!  The 'Memsahib' was 'in like Flynn' and instantly picked a couple of bodice-ripping yarns whilst I stumbled over a copy of one of Scott Turow's legal thrillers which, to my surprise, I had not read.  I really enjoyed his books and I can't quite think why I haven't read any for 'yonks'.  Anyway, it's back to 'Judge Mason at Kindle County courthouse' which, at least, will give me a break from the non-stop savagery of reformation Christianity! 

 

'Oxfam' should be starved!   I have always detested Oxfam as a charity ever since it became increasingly political over recent decades.  Many years ago I determined never to contribute to it in any way.  Thus, I am not particularly surprised that it has been caught out indulging in the worst sort of sexual depravities in various disaster areas around the world.  Let us hope that our normally feeble government follows up with some 'stern disciplinaries'!

 

Who's the dumbest critter in this photo? 

Tanner Broadwell holds his dog with Nikki Walsh at Madeira Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, Feb. 7,

Clue: it ain't the pug!  According to AJC News, this couple sold everything they possessed in order to buy a sailing boat and do, well, do whatever it is you do on a sailing boat, you know, like throw up, get lost or, in their case, sink!  After only two days at sea and in only 8' of water!  You couldn't make it up!

 

That dauber, Rubens - what an operator!   I am only part way in to Leanda de Lisle's history of Charles I but one character keeps making an entrance.  I refer to Sir Peter Paul Rubens, he was knighted by both the king of England and the king of Spain, and he was the dauber-of-choice to the royal heads of Europe and their gentry.  He churned out portraits faster than my printing machine and he was paid enormous amounts of money for doing so.

To be honest, most of his work is not to my taste.  Click on my link and scroll down for a selection of the incredible number of paintings he produced and then decide for yourself. Personally, I am not too keen on exceedingly plump ladies with thighs like rugby players!

 

Maybe I cheered too soon:   Well, I'm not a deep thinker - waddya mean, ya noo already? - so my immediate re-action to Trump's recent 'yuuuuuuge' tax cut was to throw my hat in the air.  Alas, now I have received several reminders concerning America's national debt which, apparently, Trump's tax cut will increase by several '$zillion'.  Then, of course, there is our very own national debt which absolutely no-one seems to concern themselves with and which continues to inflate inexorably.  God and Karl Marx are the only people who know what will happen if 'Jezza' and his comrades take over!

 

No more rumbles today

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 21.1.18

Having relieved myself, so to speak, of my fear and loathing of 'Jezza' and his mob in the post below, I will now revert to my usual boring-snoring Sunday rumble.

Put this lad in charge of GCHQ:  Yes, yes, I know he has been a very naughty boy and all that but, according to The Telegraph, young Kane Gamble (15) who lives at home with his Mum managed to fool the top honchoes in the American intelligence community that he was actually John Brennan, then the head of the CIA, and thus entered into some fascinating e-mail exchanges.

He's due for sentencing in the next few days but actually they should give him a medal for showing up the security weaknesses 'over there'!

 

Welby is a wanker!   Sorry for my crudity but sometimes the so-called 'Great and the Good' are so insufferable that even my easy going, good natured patience (and I heard that!) is tested to destruction.  I refer, of course, to the utterly weasel words of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who faced with a report that more or less completely cleared the late Bishop Bell of Chichester from the absurd accusation, made 37 years after his death, of child molestation, insisted that "a cloud still hung over his head".  Should Welby appear in public he should be pelted with rotten veg until he withdraws and apologises for his stupid, un-Christian behaviour.  My fury is stoked by the historical fact that during the war Bishop Bell was the only man with the moral courage to criticise the allied bombing campaign against Germany.   Peter Hitchens provides greater detail.

 

I would have paid money to be there!   Courtesy of the ever-excellent National Review I have just learned of the most cringingly, toe-curlingly, sweat-trickling-down-your-back, embarrassing social gathering in living memory.  For this simply too, too delicious social disaster we must thank Ms. Samantha Power, the former US ambassador at the UN courtesy of the inept 'Obamarama'.  Apparently, on election night in 2016 she organised a celebration party with a feminist touch by inviting every other female UN ambassador, all 37 of them, to hail the new age of, er, well, 'Hillaryism', I suppose.  Not satisfied with that she compounded her hideous social disaster by inviting HBO to film the whole thing!  OK, obviously I can't be there but, dammit, I would pay good money to see that film especially as news of the result trickled in like escaping sewage to all those refined noses!

 

The (really) good German:   As opposed to the fictional one featured in Joseph Kanon's book and subsequent film.  I refer to the late Friedrich Kellner, the very personification of 'an ordinary man' who had the bad luck to live through extraordinary times!

 He fought for Germany through WWI and was wounded for his troubles.  After that war he plodded his way through the minor bureaucracy of the German civil service up to and including the advent of Hitler and WWII.  He had the excellent good sense to see right through Hitler and his evil Nazi party but rather than indulging in useless gestures he confined his perceptive thoughts to a very private diary, which has now been published.  According to The Telegraph, he came close to disaster but just managed to avoid arrest.  Not a hero, not a statesman, not an intellectual, just an ordinary man who clung to greater truths and I salute him!

 

At last 'Mutti' can breathe again:   Just in time before 'Mutti' Merkel burst her corset as she held her breath, the German socialists have instructed their leaders to continue negotiating a government-sharing coalition.  Mind you, it was hardly overwhelming, the vote was 362 for and 279 against, and if and when a deal is announced it has to go back for another vote.

 

Who is Jordan Peterson and why is he following me?   In the last few days I have been repeatedly hit with articles concerned with some obscure Canadian 'psycho-babbler' called Jordan Peterson.  It was at The Coffee House that via two articles by Douglas Murray I first heard of this 'new guru on the block', so to speak.  In the first, Mr. Murray trashes Cathy Newman of Channel4 News for an apparently disastrous interview with the man.  In the second, following sundry criticism all round, he describes the follow-up in which, in typical Left-wing style, Ms. Newman's blinkered stupidity is turned on its head by Channel4 News in order to make her the victim.  Then, lo and behold, up pops an exceedingly long-winded piece in the Chronicle for Higher Education attempting to explain Peterson's persona but which was so long I gave up halfway through.  Suffice to say that the one fact I did glean was that Mr. Peterson dismisses all the ridiculous contortions of sundry idiots who insist on new rules ordering the 'correct' way to address people who claim to be trans-gender.  So, he can't be all bad in my book!

 

 

No more rumbles today

 

And, lo, I bring thee glad tidings and all that sort of thing!

A tiring day yesterday involving four hours of driving broken by the most tedious funeral I have ever attended.  I think, by and large, and on the whole, Christianity is "A Good Thing" but their services are utterly 'boring-snoring'!  Of course, I suffer with a handicap when it comes to church services because I don't believe a word of it, starting with God and working down!  The official practitioners, from 'Archtit' Welby (see below) downwards seem to have forgotten that ceremonies are basically show business.  They need some pizzazz!  All that yesterday's effort did was to absolutely confirm that when my name is picked out of the Holy hat, I do not want a funeral of any sort. 

For the last couple of years I have been meaning to make arrangements to donate my old carcass to a teaching hospital where the trainee 'quacks' might not learn much but at least they might get a laugh!  I have told the 'Memsahib' and 'SoD' that I absolutely do not want a funeral service, instead, I would like them to invite my friends to an open-house party where numerous glasses can be raised and a (hopefully) fond farewell may be bid.

Mind you, it wasn't all doom and gloom yesterday because we had dinner with 'SoD' and his delicious 'bouncing Czech' - dammit, she's such a pretty girl, what she sees in him I do not know!  We managed to get through dinner without the 'B'-word being mentioned, so it was an exceedingly pleasant evening.  And no, all that talk above of my death was not "the glad tidings" to which I referred in my title.  Instead I would remind you all that today is the first day of Spring - hurrah!   Yes, yes, I know that technically it is not yet Spring but from now on the days get longer and longer, so cheer up, all of you!

 

Not one, not two but five tits in a row

In a previous post I pointed out that the craven stupidity and mendacity of Archbishop Welby on the utterly disgraceful behaviour of the C of E to the late Bishop Bell of Chichester qualified him as a total tit.  Today, at The Coffee House, there is a photo of him with a pair of female priestesses, the one on the right being the new Bishop of London - yeeeeeees, quite!  Apparently, when asked, the new Bishop, no doubt a woman of sterling truth-telling virtue, was unable to say what her view was of homosexual marriage, or even homosexual practices.  The best answer she could provide was:

‘I don’t know. Sorry, but I don’t know what line the Church should take on gay marriage, or the ordination of homosexuals. I reject the secular assumption that everyone ought to have a firm opinion on every issue. So I affirm the Church’s teaching on the issue. And I trust that the Church will make the right decision as to whether to change its teaching in due course.’

Got that, have you?  All clear on C of E doctrine?  Waddya mean ya dunno?!  Just ask a Bishop!

 

 

 

He looks like a total tit because he is a total tit!

I refer, of course, to the Archbishop of Canterbury who has just been exposed not only as an A1 dimwit but as a thoroughly nasty dimwit, too.  At long last an independent report into the C of E's cruel and stupid decision to blacken the name of one of its bravest and most intelligent bishops has been published.  The real victim, Bishop Bell of Chichester, was condemned some years ago on the word of a woman who complained that decades ago as a child she was sexually abused by Bishop Bell.  According to Charles Moore, former editor of The Spectator, and confirmed by Lord Carlisle's just published enquiry into how the accusation was treated, virtually no effort was made by the C of E 'investigating' committee to test the complaint.  Thus, the holy 'Poobahs' just swallowed the whole story hook, line and sinker.

Lord Carlisle's more 'forensic' investigation makes clear that there is not a shred of evidence from anyone else to support the complainant's accusation and absolutely no corroborative evidence was ever found.  Lord Carlisle's report is utterly damning of the church's non-legal procedures.  The conclusion was clear, the C of E had colluded in trashing a noble man's reputation without a shred of evidence.  At this point, enter our 'total tit', aka: the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Asked to exonerate the reputation of the late Bishop Bell, he said this:

‘We realise that a significant cloud is left over his name … He is also accused of great wickedness. Good acts do not diminish evil ones, nor do evil ones make it right to forget the good. Whatever is thought about the accusations, the whole person and the whole life should be kept in mind.”

And he did not say sorry!  I do hope the fires of hell are well and truly stoked when Archbishop Justin Welby faces his Maker!