LIES

So Farage is banging on about lawless Britain – this appeals to the weak and poor, who need someone to blame for their plight. He claims that 1 in 3 people in London have been victims of phone theft – that equates to abot 3 million people – the Met Police put the figure at 80000 phone thefts last year. Obviously this is too high, but also if people did not walk around with their phones in hand the rate would be much lower; and people would be happier! He also claims that Britain is broken – Brits love a sob story and negativity. That is why the tabloid and trash papers are full of cheating and divorce, marital breakups and family squabbles (e.g. Beckhams). Personally I do not care whether someone who I have never met finds their life in disarray. Maybe I am fortunate in living is a remarkably safe area.

So Farage will get more prisons built and have a 3 strikes and life imprisonment policy. He ignores the fact that imprisonment actually increases crime – reoffending rates are about 80%. Reducing poverty would be better and have community service fully established for petty crime. The need for punishment is strong with bullies and the ignorant. Prison should be saved for those who need society to be protected from them.

I hate the fucking ignorant bastaard. And all who vote for the wanker. Using false statistics to keep his hate agenda running is absolutely obnoxious. Labour should counter his sick beliefs with the truth and a positive spin. SHIT – I just had a thought that most people in the UK want to be fucking miserable; spend their life moaning; and not just about the weather (On which I would say we have the most perfect weather in the world. Extremes of temperature or precipitation are rare (despite the shite papers reporting like everyday is a nightmare! Basically we live in Goldilocks land – and people hate the concept of not being able to moan.

So could the British population concentrate on giving shit, where shit is due. Israel and Gaza and West Bank, Putin and Ukraine, even Sudan; NHS (definitely needs sorting after 12 years of calamity), migration which needs honest comments, water supply which needs nationalisation, the care home problem, climate change which also needs honesty. There that is enough to keep anyone miserable without resorting to lies.

On the positives – weather, NHS, migration, – basically Britain is a wonderful place to live despite some rich twat trying to talk it down! If he does not like it he should fuck off and live somewhere else – oh he has!

HACKERS

Twice in the last week hackers have tried – both times immitating government departments. Firstly DWP said I needed to register by last Wednesday to ensure I could receive a winter fuel payment of £300 – then an email from DVLA stating that my monthly payment for car tax was refused and asking me to send upto date info. Baastaards all. They did not quote my reg number so def a scam. I guess I was identified via the Co-op hack? £2.3 billion have been scammed in the uk in 2024. Time to employ some of the computer gamers ?

£27 billion cost to NHS of poor maternity care in legal claims. And Jermey Hunt, former Health Secretary has the gaul to blame the current government. Labour now needs to drain the swamp and inject whatever money is needed and raise a specific tax to pay for it. It is irrelevant how much they are spending at present – any failure is one two many.

Good news for the BBC – ‘Bluey’ helped the income from commercial sales to top £2.2 billion. Now it is up to Labour to appoint a new board to be independent. The same goes for the water industry. Making cosmetic changes will not do. Announcement today by Government is likely to be walls and mirrors. 13 years of Tory rule allowed the gross negiligence by OFWAT in allowing the pollution of our water.

VOTING AGE

So 16 year olds will be able to vote. This move in the national elections of Scotland and Wales did not result in much comment. The Conservatives and Ridiculous Parties have pointed out that a 16 year cannot marry, go to war or stand in an election. All actually reasonable comments! I was married at 23 and think that in terms of maturity that was 30 years too soon! Going to war – the universal age should be raised to 80! And regarding the age of election, immature twerks have been elected in the past – physical age does not equal intelligence and maturity. as a teacher I came across many people whom I would consider unfit to vote – and not exclusively students, or their parents but staff as well. The likely turnout of students is low – some predict as low as 5%. Labour will also expand voter recognition – why not just abolish it? The amount of voter fraud is less than negligible. Oh no – my brain has just had another ridiculous thought!

Here goes – why not have a fairly simple form that has to be filled in by candidates. This would be fairly comprehensive and ensure that we know what we are voting for. Say there were 25 questions (could be more or less), covering everything from health, education, policing, defence, pot holes, housing, migration, climate change, whatever.. Candidates would have to give a grade 1-10 (10 highest) – but would onlybe allowed 3 10’s and would have a maximum of e.g. 150 (I have not thought this bit through- maybe an average of 5 per question to avoid jerks saying they care equally about everything) points to allocate. A similar form would be available for voters to see who most represents their views. Voters would still have the ability to chose a different candidate.

EPPING

Naked agression towards the police should result in harsh penalties. Social media is probably a culprit in spreading the words of a demo. Shut them down for 24 hours and doubling? The police have 200+ clear images of the violent perpetrators – prosecute them. If they were campaigning against the Jewish genocide in Gaza or against the climate crisis which threatens us all they would now be in jail.

The one law for one and another for the rest also applies to water. Water companies have built up debts of over £60 billion whilst paying huge bonus payments and dividends, whilst at the same time dumping sewage in our rivers and seas. Senior Whitehall figures (bullshit speak for rich white publicly educated males) have said that pollutin fines may put firms off from investing. They can fuck off! nationalise them – no compensation. If foreign companies do not wish to invest in companies unless the economics are weighed in there favour – well then they can FO too.

Andrea Jenkyn state that climate change did not exist and was just a money making racket. Obviously appealing to knuckle draggers. Obviously thick as shit, but how many due brains voted for her? In teaching climate change I never once was questioned about the safety of my results as I presented. TBH there is no doubt.

LOVIN’ IT

So Trump is suing Murdoch and Wall Street Journal for $10billion over an alleged note sent by Trump to Epstein. This has legs as the lawyers will be making $millions. Trump must be confident that there is no more smut to come out, or he is confident that his MAGA basic does not care. Presumably he will use government lawyers and legal departments. Trump has suggested that 4 years of Democratic control would have seen the, detailed information sealed by a judge, revealed. i so hope he is wrong in every way. However I should not gloat – Murdoch’s criticism is fuelled by the right wing, not a craving for democracy or honesty.

In the UK we have ‘superinjunctions’ like the one repealed recently by a judge revealing a leak of data regarding Afghan applicants for asylum and British spies in Afghanistan. More will be revealed regarding this. Charlotte Kathryn Tranter Owen, Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (born 10 May 1993) was appointed to the HoL by Boris Johnson -presumably there is a superinjunction in place (The law is clear that even the existance of a superinjunction is denied! She is not known to have contributed anything to society – so her appointment remains a mystery. Is she a love child of BJ or was she very proficient at BJ’s? I guess we will never know!

GRIP

The Guardian says Starmer is trying to get a grip on his back benchers. What the fuck is that about – I am god and I am right bollocks. Do away with the whips and make leaders make thier policies as correct as possible. Dianne Abbot is probably (I am not black or Jewish) correct. A black person cannot change colour, Jewish people, travellers and the Irish are not immediately apparent. So she said a truth as she saw it. Who complained? Irish people is not likely (My Siri is Irish!), travellers will be victimised whatever and Jews. Well Jews have a choice of how much to promote their faith – and they do so with gusto. A black person is black. Voting – when I vote I do so for the person most likely to have my philosophy and values. I do not expect them to be 100% in line with me. But neither do I expect them to to be the opposite to my views. Parliament is a micronyism of this. Starmer should accept a diversity of views. When he suspends MP’s for having socialist views he needs to consider his future. He is already ignoring public opinion whilst maintaining resistence to rejoining the EU and most damagingly failing to condemn Israel for infanticide. Rejoin EU, commit to green power, condemn Israel unreservedly. Easy

VOTING AGE

Finally a positive policy. Votes for 16 + year olds will happen! I am happy with this – I have heard more old people spout ignorant bollocks than I ever heard from 16/17 year olds.

RAIN BOMB

The papers usually wait until August to resort to fantasy in the headlines. But we are here already – Conservative incompetence and corruption have come to the forefront with news about the evacuation of Afghan corroborators at a cost of millions of £’s and use of a superinjunction to ensure it was hushed up. The RW Press is not happy criticising RW Governments, so will need something else to grab the headlines. The really desperate editors will conjor up something about the Windsor’s. Israel attacking yet another country in their pursuit of perpetual war will conveniently be forgotten, as will the war in Ukraine, whilst the chaos in Sudan is ignored too. Doctors strikes is a boring topic so they have to resort to a classic British topic – the weather.

I taught meteorology for 20 years and had never come up with the term ‘rain bomb’. TBH I do not think there is such a thing. Certainly what is expected over the UK over the next week cannot be described as anything unusual. There may be some thunderstorms with associated heavy rain – but nothing unusual with that. There is a yellow warning across central and eastern uk. So we can be assured that the sensationalist wording of ‘rain bomb’ is just that – sensationalist nonsense. This area is forecast to have some rain, but nothing to write about! Just enough to water the garden and fill my butts!

So what will the next few weeks bring us as headline news? BBC scandals might have been aired fully by now. Royal family shite will reappear at regular intervals, as will the Beckhams and other celebrity figures – most of whom I would not recognise by face of name! Small boats will continue to get a high profile if the weather is kind to them. BBC will continue to promote Farage and the Obnoxious Party. Maybe there will be a murder mystery (like the disappearance of Nicola Bulley in Lancashire 2 years ago). Sport offers slim pickings this summer. The Lioness’s could become cult heroes by winning the Euro, but otherwise the minority sports are becoming more minority. Golf could provide some interest if MAGA behaviour can be escalated in NY this year (state not city). Athletics continues to provide lovely people but no controversy or personalities Keely Hodgkingson exempted. Cricket, despite the attributes of Stones, et al. is a minority sport watched by the aged on pensions, and public school boys on cider! Rugby – the Lions are down south – but who really gives a shit?

BBC

The BBC used to be respected and impartial. Johnson started the rot by making political appointments. But then the criticised Gary Lineker for making a statement of blatant truth – and then suspended him. From that point on the BBC lost it -appointing LK as political editor, once they took sides (and they did so in the past with much greater ability), they lost basically everything! The farcical attempt to staunch the flow of RW venom over Glastonbury was laughable. If they had not had an Israeli bias the Glastonbury thing would have withered and died. The BBC is controlled by the right wing, pro-Isreal anti left wing (I cannot say Labour anymore).

INFLATION

Inflation up due to fuel and food prices. On both counts the BBC fails to give the full picture. Fuel prices fluctuate with the international market. Until we have Net Zero or near we will continue to suffer from surges in price. Food prices are subject to the vagaries of climate change. Cocoa and coffee have been particularly affected. The impact of the war in Ukraine is also hitting many foods such as grains. In yesterdays Guardian Simon Jenkins was banging on about wind turbines on the Pennines – whilst I agree that the impact should be kept as low as possible there are consequences to our ever increasing demand for energy and consumer goods. the poor working for minimum wage do not have the luxury of the landscape of the Pennines – also the area was polluted during the industrial revolution and “the dark satanic mills”! Wind farms are not particularly ugly and may have a limited impact on wildlife – but are cleaner than the emissions from fossil fuel burning.

If we went to war tomorrow, whatever the reason, factories across the land would start producing weapons of destruction – the money to fund them would be found instantly. I suggest something similar for the climate emergency. Factories making solar panels should be started, wind turbines located in all coastal and upland regions where appropriate. Also – why the huge wind turbines – how about garden ones, and water turbines where appropriate. Insulation provided free or at low cost.

But more importantly is the mind set. Products should be made to last. begining to ramble now! Yesterday a European politician said that tariffs would mean the end to transAtlantic trade. I am sure he was refrring to the USA as Canada is a source of flour and maple syrup! But that would be a good thing generally? I doubt there is much produced in the USA that could not be made in Europe. Unhealthy breakfast cereals would be the first to go. Right I am going to make cheese straws – cheddar cheese, local flour, homegrown basil and dried tomatoes.