19 indiscriminate deaths on Bondi Beach – all Jewish. 46000 deaths in Gaza – all Palestinian and a large number were children. Which gets the biggest headlines in the UK. Every death is regretable whatever their nationality, race, religion,age or sex.
RANDOM STUFF
Firstly the ‘flu epidemic? Stats show that it is mainly children. Most of us oldun’s have has the stab! My wonderful grandchildren came up yesterday and we went to the park where they spent an hour playing on a pirate boat. I was sad not to see any other children there. there are a variety of activities from traditional swings, a basketball hoop, to a mini zip wire and unquatifyable others! It made me think how everything available for children is monetised or non-existent. The football field in the village is surrounded by a high fence and locked (supposedly to keep out dogs! The local swimming pool has closed, tennis is only available via a club. The old “Strawberry Line Railway Line’ is paved and suitable for cycling and surrounded by scrubland and woods for most of its path between the local villages – but it is rare to see a child! No wonder they get obese and stuck in rooms with their phones and online games. My generation has overseen the deprivation of childhood from our young. Hey government – do not increase benefits for the young, just give them free access to meaningful activities and free bus passes to get there.
Nothing much else to report! I might make some lemon curd as I have just had a delivery from https://www.crowdfarming.com/en – a brilliant company that supports organic farmers and cuts out the supermarkets. I get lemons, avocados, clementines, garlic, olive oil and more from them – highly recommended.
SORRY
I am English so therefore say sorry; for you bumping into me when you did not look where you were going; for being white skinned when so many like me are absolute arseholes; and so many things! However I will not apologise for our wonderful weather. I love it, rain, shine, snow, drizzle, fog, cloudy and whatever.
I am not sorry for being a nice person, for not slagging people off without knowing their circumstances, for looking for positives, for hating racisim and misogyny, homophobia and and any form of sexism. So if you disagree, debate with me of delete me!
BONKERS
£3120 for the CHEAPEST ticket for the FIFA World Cup Final. If England get to the final it will cost £5137 in total for the cheapest tickets. No doubt the streaming companies will hike their subs as well. Football is a game for the people – not te elite. No average fan is going to have £5137 in spare cash, let alone the cost of air travel (and between grounds in different countries), hotel costs and if lucky the occassional meal and drink! Infantino is being infantine. I recall a friends brother returning from the World Cup in France with tails of multinational games between fans in squares in France. Peaceful and friendly with exchange of addresses. And the profits will go to FIFA headquarters, Trump will glow ever brighter orange and the sponsor companies will grant selected board members admission to privideged seats. I will be interested to see how many tickets are granted to “fans’ who can afford the exorbitant fees. I hope the BBC has the guts to ignore the coming auction of broadcasters. TBH group matches have as much interest as group matches in the European Cup. Maybe the quarter finals onwards might be interesting, but less so than Barcelona of Real Madrid against Liverpool or Manchester City. Think more like Port Vale vs Exeter as an alternative in the early rounds – and even the excitement of the FA Cup is diminished by the ‘group’ stages. I should stop now! But why stop when on a rant!
Infantino gives Trump a peace prize so the C*** goes out and attacks Venezuela – I am sure they were threatening world peace! And has a rant against European Countries – which British Politicians with a few exceptions were too scared to respond too.
MAN OF PEACE
celebrates his FIFA award with an act of terrorism. Whilst tankers ply their trade with Russian oil and contraband against international law, with impunity, Venezuela seems to me on Trump’s hit list. Their offence – having a left wing leadership. I am not saying that Venezuela is a paragon of virtue – far from it, but in terms of evil I doubt that it is in the top 10 – but it does have the advantage of being militarily weak – ideal for a bully like the orange peril. The idiot was boasting that the tanker was one of the biggest in the world – with a crew of unarmed sailors. It appears that the boat may have visited Iran recently, thus breaching an embargo. However the raid appears to be targeted rather than a part of a co-ordinated attack on embargo breaching trade. This also follows armed attacks on Venezuelan boats – allegedly plying the drugs trade. This too seems to be an attack of a bully rather than a country enforcing world peace and stopping drugs. Whatever the facts – this has not made the world a safer place. This all begs the question “Has Trump lost it? If he ever had’it'”! Will Starmer call him out? Not a chance – having just stitched up the taxpayer ‘again’ with a deal that benefits ‘Big Pharma’, and failing to condemn DT’s rant about Europe, and then failing to develop strong ties with the EU.
We need another referendum on the EU – the last was obviously orchestrated to some degree by Russia and the right wing. We need Europe and Europe needs us! The rise of populism is not inevitable with a government that shows balls! 5 countries are now boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest – objecting to the genocide carried out by a non-European country! Oh to be Spanish, Dutch, Irish or even Polish! As for the world gurning champion – he has still not apologised for his racist comments as a teenager (does not apologising for being a racist twat as a young man – earn respect? Does not lying and saying sorry earn respect – No – he is a c**t.
WOMEN
The stats are horrific. All statistics are suspect but between 25% and 30% seems average for what a woman receives as annual income compared to men. And also the top 50 richest individuals received 8.51%. Fucking madness! Who does most of child rearing – our future – women.
USA
The USA, or at least Trump and MAGA seem very hostile to the EU. I guess this is to be expected as at least western Europe tends to be centre-right wing most of the time with liberal social tendencies. The EU is twice the size of the USA population wise and has a far greater diversity of people and environments. The USA has forever used migrant labour to increase its power. However Europe has the brains, manpower and market to compete. Europe will eventually compete with US companies and will stop the drain of profits. Maybe we should encourage more links with China and India and the Arab World, and also South America and the hispanic world. America was great at exporting democracy – until it wasn’t. I think that many have realised that the USA was a dormant malicious tumour for some time. Trumps bromance with Putin comes and goes – but Russias impact on Europe is what Trump encourages. Paying our own way on NATO is fine – especially if we can tax the techno firms. Why does Trump lust after Putin? – to undermine the EU. China is too large for Trump to cosy upto to get any benefits; the EU too diverse; India is a possibility with Modri: Africa is too late and Trump’s brmance with Musk has soared the continents pallette.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
I have noticed that many people see things differently, whether it is Aaron who is colour blind or relatives. Take a football match – Chelmsford City played W-s-M and the away team won 2-0. I saw the highlights and thought City were a bit unlucky – someone else said City were “awful”. Footballers are increasingly being measured in many different ways. Mo Salah is castigated after not scoring for a few games. Not everything can be measured – confidence, luck for instance. And this is where my thoughts on AI come in. Many things in life occur due to unforseen circumstances, luck and confidence. Historically I think of Agincourt and the defeat of the Armarda, both relied on the luck of the weather, as have many things in history. AI could now factor in weather forecasts, but in the real world not everything can be assessed and quantified. As a teacher I was very aware of the attempts to set targets and ignore unquantifiable aspects. How did Covid affect students education? No statistical method is foolproof. Mark Twain popularized statistical analysis in his 1907 autobiography, writing that while he found arranging figures difficult, the remark “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” was often relevant.
So my point (eventually!) is this. AI can only analysise what is there on the worlds computers. Can it identify sarcasm or ‘winding up statements’, Proponents of AI laud the defeat of humans in games with multiple opportunities – but can it cope with infinite opportunities?
NOT READ YET
The papers – was preparing a list of the most important (or do I mean influential) womaen in history! Suggestions please.
Then I opened the paper and Starmer was there! His headline was hypocritical crap – Greens are anti-NATO and think it is all right to sell drugs. Thats nuts”. Forstt off the drugs – the governenment makes millions from a tax on alcohol and tobacco; and probably more from unpublicised drugs. So the pseudo-honest man talks bollox. Second – Nato has blood on its hands. It has been used as a political tool by many a POTUS. Now Trump is using it to try and control the narrative in Europe. Polanski is correct in the statement that Europe needs its own non-nuclear force. We do not need the USA to be our paternalistic patrons. Have we paid off the last war yet? And tec companies are repatriating billions $ every year.
I guess I need to read the second line!
I have and it is all OK – just looks a bit spin doctor’ish! Walks in the countryside and family events.
It made me think of the demographics of voters. Die hard old on all 3 traditional parties. Then those concerned about their finances will possibly lean to the right. The bigots are all for Reform whatever the facts and reality. I feel that everyone else is a floating voter now! The last government were so awful that the traditions of the past are gone. Reform offers an angry response for the – basically angry! and those who feel dispossessed due to their own incompetence. The Greens who I would love to support in a coalition (where their more outlandish views are brought to account) appeal to the young – especially since Zac Polanski has taken the argument to the front line. The Lib.Dems – I think Ed. Davey is a lovely man, but with aggresive postering dominating politics his lovely persona, he will need his full team of local activists to maintain his position. Last comment was interesting – local activists will I think win the next election. Who will go door to door saying “I am a bigoted racist and misogynist – vote for me’! I think the greens could become a significant force – and if a three way coalition arises, then we will have PR – at long last.
Now to read the rest of the paper!
EMBARRASSING
Not me – although my children might disagree! No, the World Cup Draw. The obnoxious obsequiousness (2 long words in a row!!! YES!) by Gianni Infantino towards the Orange Man Baby who wore a medal like a 4 year old at play school who got a sticker for not poohing themselves. 2 hours of nonsense, and often no translators when the speaker was speaking using Portuguese. The we had stars from other sports doing the draw itself (eventually) – who thought that a good idea? All in all it makes the FIFA World Cup much less attractive. i also love the FA Cup for allowing teams like Chelmsford City their day in the limelight – but a World Cup with Curacao and Cabo Verdi is ridiculous, as is playing games in dangerous heat, and also 7 games in 21 days at top level?
Also most fans in England, Spain and Germany would probably rather watch the Champions League final and leave support of the national team to drunken, racist, nationalistic bigots!
Whilst enjoying schadenfreude at others expense – Farage made a fool of himself and his gurning face. He kept saying “Bernard Manning” as some obscure excuse for his racist and nasty comments. He has denied saying them but we do not believe him (and his supporters will love him for it!). I too was brought up in the same era and earlier (and worse). As a teenager I may have made racist comments with the bravado and confidence and ignorance of a teen, but I was also aware of it being offensive – and Ireally cannot remember any instance, and I would certainly not have insulted anyone in their hearing – but then I was brought up properly! Gurning Farage has obviously not advanced mentally since puberty – bad mouthing less fortunate people is the territory of the bully and pervert – please can he just go away.