Posts

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MUCKY POLITICS

Farage refuses to condemn his parties leader in Wales, who is accused of coersion and assault – no mention of the victim (presumably a woman). Most women in the UK have experienced, or theire mothers, sisters, daughters, friends have experienced behaviour that would be unacceptable to men. We live in a misonogynistic society, perhaps worse than when I was young, when wolf whistles were common but there was a measure of respect, in my experience anyway. How many girls would fear for their safety when walking home late at night? The women demonstrating at the silly little village in Oxfordshire should be more concerned about their male relatives and neighbours, than asylum seekers it is not the AS responsible for the deaaths of over 100 women by men in an average year, interestingly the number has dropped slightly despite the huge influx of migrants under the last government. Enough about the sleazy party. This governments imposition of rape courts should help reduce the problem, but society needs to change to stop women and girls being dominated by stupid men.

The United Nations big meeting is in New York this week – and Netmanyahu will speak although the Palestinian President was refused a visa to attend in person; very strange as the Iranin President will attend. Trump will meet several leaders including Andy Burnham and will have to put up with CNN and the others reporting his every word and then declaring that it is all FAKE NEWS!. The White House newsTV feed is suspended as other news channels withdraw.

The IPCC, the worlds leading scientific body on climate change has been infiltrated by Saudi Arabian employees – so the situation may be worse than we, the public were told! El Niño has breached previous records for ocean temperatures and is not finished yet! Will Somerset be affected? It will depend a lot on the jet stream and its location. At present the Atlantic storms are passing ofver the north of the UK, Spring tides are at their peak in Bristol at the weekend so I think we will escape floods related to the sea, for now.

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OFSTED

Grading a school is unessecary, parents of the children will know if they are engaged or not – and for the majority who are unaware of this, the children themselves will reveal the quality of the establishment themselves. Inspections are fine if done from a supportive stance – if there is an apparent problem then OFSTED should have powers and resources to help remedy the problem, not just give it a black mark and be self-satisfied. My last head, Dr.Horrible, applied to be an Ofsted Inspector more than once and was rejected as he was basically a bully who wanted to criticise others. Teachers in difficult situations need support, not some jumped up control freak, criticising them, but only offering their own version of how teaching should be done. We all learn in different ways, often by our mistakes – if we are not crushed because of them. Teaching changed during my career, from being an absolute delight, to being dominated by meaningless tables and targets. Where was the target of children enjoying school? Why do teachers want to become administrators? Do they hate children and teachers? Unjust criticism is easy, the support less easy.

Military matters – or does it? There seems to be a ramping up of the supposed threats from Russia. For fucks sake, Russia cannot even defend itself from Ukraine – as yesterdays attack on Moscow showed. Putin might try an incursion against Europe and NATO in an attempt to divert weapons away from Kiev. But a real threat seems very unlikely – so the papers and news channels ar just talking bollocks before a budget. The press are using words like threatens and could to describe possible budget tax increases – basically they have not got a clue.

Apples – my tree has only produced 20/30 apples this year! Maybe next year, or maybe my replacement apricot (the last one died)will do better.

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BULLSHIT

There is so much BS being bandied about regarding the Defence budget. This morning on R4 there was an expert explaining that the only defence we had against drones was a type of frigate, of which we have 6, 4 out of service and 1 in the Middle East. This is absolute bollocks. The Army has tested laser weapons (£10 per fire) called Dragon Fire; an weapon called Wolfhound and one referred to as RFDEW, the miserable old jerk was just scare mongering for political ends, he did not mantion any of these weapons. I guess they have not been fully tested yet, and not in a war situation, but saying we are defenceless is bollocks. The Battle of Britain was over 80 years ago, and warfare like society, has changed. Almost certainly any defence availabl at the moment will nt kill all drones, but what is the point of £billion air craft carriers and destroyers (even nuclear submarines?) when the enemy can fire off drones costing a grand£ or less? The Ukraine also showed overnight that we should not be overly concerned regarding Russia launching an offensive as per todays Sunday Telegraph headline – PM “fiddles as Putin threatens to burn Europe”. Russia has the ability to lash out but is already suffering from fuel and other shortages due to Ukrainiand drone attacks. Does anyone under the age of 80 actually buy the telegraph? No one in my village!

Lots of hype about El Niño – but is it really going to affect us with other than a bit more extreme weather than normal? The last strong El Niño was estimated to have resulted in agricultural losses of about $40billion. Chocolate and fruits, vegetables imported are the most likely to suffer. So stock up on dried fruit, prices of bananas is likely to be fairly constant.

First apple picked – the total harvest is not looking good!

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SELFISH TWAT

Manchester United stake holder Ratcliffe has bemoaned that the UK is on the slide due to high taxation and immigration – yet he did not shout out when immigration reached almost 1 million under the last government, and as for taxation – does he pay a fair dollop of his £15 billion piggy bank? Despite Trump and his wars, the UK seems to be doing OK thank you. Rathole is just another example of why we should tax the rich more, much more. I guess he is moaning due to the upcoming budget and the fact that ManU despite spending large amounts, are still mediocre at times, and despite Ratshits attempts at cutting perks for staff.

Denmark and USA have agreed a treaty regarding Greenland – no details yet, although Trump is claiming it as a major victory. When we see the details we will be able to assess the truth behind the deal – which also has to be ratified by respective governments,

US President Donald Trump has announced that he is “immediately” banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, the latest twist in his fraught relationship with media outlets. 

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said that the outlets “constantly write or report fiction or lies” about his administration, although he provided no examples. I think this is against the American Constitution! Facism in practice = shutting down any media outlet that fails to extol the virtues of the “Great Orange Manchild with dementia”.

Me, I have just made some bread and will start on a soup in a min.

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ZIONISM=RACISM

A debate that is splitting the Green Party. My first thought was ‘why the fuss?’ it is obviously true. My second thought was ‘ why are the Greens debating tis at all’. The Green Party can call out Netmanyahu and Israel and it will make not a jot of difference, but either way it falls it will cost it votes. They should just concentrate on issues where they can make a difference, other parties will take note if elections are held on green issues like climate change, pollution, water quality. I also realise that now the Greens have become a semi/mainstream party that they need policies on a wider agenda – Reform are faltering when they seemed to have power in their grasp, due to the vacuous nature of their economic and basically all non-racist policies.

Andy Burnham has come out and said that the UK must meet 2050 Net Zero targets. Again he is just stating the blindingly obvious. Reform and Conservatives are arguing for the target to be scrapped in a blatant bit of popularism, going green costs, but not long term. Plans already underway should ensure that UK businesses take a position at the front of new technology and processes. China is way ahead and is seemingly posing a real threat to traditional car manufactures who are acting like the Luddites of old. Yes I know that China is a leader of CO2 emissions but also a leader in green technology. America may find the gap in innovation too wide after 4 years of Trumps pollution filled regime.

Canada looks like it may become an associte member of the EU, Trump will become even more pissed off. And Britain should up the ante on forging better links with, or even rejoining the EU. However the EU would be stupid to allow full membership as probably, boy 48% of the UK voters are still skeptics. However a proposed deal for Scotland would speed up a likely devolution. Wales seems to be forever bound to England as it has been for the last 1000 years. Scotland is more volatile, and Burnham will have to make more consessions to maintain the United Kingdom; Northern Ireland could vote for a rejoin of Eire, but the bloodshed that would ensue woud be unacceptable.

Royal Family…blah….blah…..blah and then giggle!

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YEMEN

Hardly mentioned in the British Press new advances by Houti forces may force the price of oil up again. That these forces are well armed is not to be doubted – they shot down a Saudi Arabian fighter jet, and damaged a Saudi pipeline trying to beat the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Creating hassle in the Strait of Bab-al Mandab between Yemen and Djibouti would create major problems for the oil industry (or at least major profits as the price could spiral). Previous attacks by Israel, Saudi Arabia, USA and Britain seem to have had minimal impact on Houti ability to hit back. Meanwhile the US has approved a $2.8bn deal to supply Israel with weapons – this is surely related to the Iran War, Hamas and Hezbollah have largely been defeated so why does Israel need more than 40000 bombs? And the British public are paying the cost of Trump’s madness.

The press will create a furure over inflation, but fail to mention that it was caused by the right wing idiocrat in Washington.

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ROYALS

I guess that when a family accepts privelege and a heap of money from peoples taxes, it is reasonable that they are scrutinised closely. The rift between Charlie and Diana is proving to be a long standing show. The Daily Mail loves it! they are serialising a new book by Di’s old man, or is it er brother? Washing dirty underwear in public seems to appeal to the great British public. Basically I could not care less, although the headlines provide amusement. There are other more interesting questions like is Harry his son? Interesting, but still irrelevant to the real world today.

Canada is forging closer links with the EU – a win-win situation, Canada has mineral resources (including rare earth) and the EU is the 2nd largest market for goods on Earth. Where is the UK? Well since we committed economic suicide by leaving the EU we have been suffering, major decisions regarding AI and tec matters will be made without us. However the parties of the right (and many Labour MP’s) are still espousing out independance. Reform are ruing the lack of their ability to build a wall through the English Channel (La Manche – or the straights of Farage?). yearning for days gone past is very sad – like wanting to reopen coal mines to supply old steam railway line and the fire hazards that they cause, let alone the pollution. Hey Burnham, get up off your arse and negotiate a deal with Europe that in effect gives us full membership again. Easy passport control, a say in major decisions, free movement of citizens, the Dublin Agreement, what is there not to like?

Other parties and the RWPress are working upto an apoplexy of hate and panic about future tax rises. Of course we would all like these taxes to be lower, until we see the harm done in lining the pockets of the rich at the expense of the poor. This is of course too simple, I would be almost sure that most people are ignorant about the wealth created by libraries, the NHS, education, etc. I wonder if a simple tax of x% of earnings would possibly disempower the wiles of the rich tax avoiding bastards.

Those who paid most tax last year were -According to the Sunday Times list, the top 10 UK taxpayers are:

Dame Mary, Douglas Perkins and family – Specsavers – £121.7m

Fred and Peter Done and family – Betfred – £400.1m

Alex Gerko – trader – £331.4m

Chris Rokos – bond trader – £330m

Stephen Rubin and family – Chair of Pentland Group – £325.6m

Denise, John, and Peter Coates – Bet365 – £227.1m

Peter Hargreaves – Hargreaves Lansdown cofounder – £210m

Tom Morris and family – Home Bargains – £209.1m

Sir Tim Martin – JD Wetherspoon pubs – £199.7m

Mike Ashley – retail – £175.9m

Note the lack of landowners, and investment bankers. Only 2 traders listed. It would be relatively easy to tax land and property, and difficult, very difficult to move it off shore! If patriots want to move away from the UK because they pay tax that protects these islands – so be it. Some names on the list are popular, but I applaud them for paying their dues.

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SCARY

Trump has turned from being a dangerous fool into a really evil threat to humanity. not only does he start wars, back genocidal ghouls, but now the Pentagon has admitted that it has deployed weapons in space, both defensive and aggressive. It was known that development of these weapons was actively being pursued but the deployment can only be bad for humanity. An arms race will ensue with Russia, China and possibly one with impossibly rich politically motivated tec billionaire (trillionaires?) joining in. This is the stuff of sci-fi horror movies. It all makes the AI scare stories seem boring – Trump also believes that the leaders of tec firms investing in AI are talking bollocks when they warn that the industry needs regulation. Does he have a hatred of humanity and earth? Of further concern is the ongoing support he gathers from equally distorted minds in the USA, can possibly further afield? So we have threats from space to be concerned about, but AI concerns are a hoax (like Covid) – is this all a diversionary tactic to divert attention from Climate Change (drill baby, drill). Oh and I forgot to mention anti-vac campaigns. What an absolute ****

He lso just lost a court case to restrict postal voting which he erroneously blames for his loss in the 2020 election, despite the fact that he votes by post himself – hypocrite is not in his lexographic dictionary.

At home Reform lose another prominent leader, this time accused of coercive/controlling behaviour and assault. And still a quarter of voters support the misogyenistic, racist bastards – why is beyond me! violent sex offenders are more likely to be found in homes of demonstrators at anti-migrant demonstrations, and possibly in the homes of those pictured on the front of yesterdays Daily Express.

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WHEN WILL HE DIE?

I am not wishing it, just wondering! His deputies are even worse as they seem to believe in the distopian future portrayed by the old man. He posts at the rate of one per hour (last 6 months) and has not been coherent in any! In many ways I hope he survives to the end, then gets locked up for crimes against children, women, humanity generally. His sicophants should follow him to the lock up! But back to the begining – it is a very real question – his ramblings are becoming ever more incoherent – I would not give him long!

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PETROL AND DEISEL PRICES

Are going up and up. £170 ltr, and likely to rise more as 3 of the most used seaways are all limiting traffic. The Strait of Hormuz is virtually closed on a haphazard basis; the Bab al Mandab Straight looks like it may be closed by Houti fighters supporting Iran and the Panama Canal is limiting the number of vessels passing through it to 29.5 per day. So world trade is being hampered and oil prices do not look like coming down any time soon. This will have major impacts on farming with fertilisers risinng in cost, let alone the transport costs. And all this is before El Niño’s impact is fully felt this year and next. The quicker we get to a carbon free future the better, the government should remove the costs of going green from fuel and put it on general taxation, and also stop pricing energy by gas costs. there is no doubt that the UK can be energy independent in a short time span, if the political will is there.

Thames Water has fallen foul of NIMBY’s who have objected to its plans for a new reservoir in Oxfordshire. I know little about the project but with a grown population in the south-east we will need to expand water storage facilities. However I would ask if there are alternatives, maybe more use of grey water in new developments. Also are data centres being charged properly? (i.e. being made to pay for the increased demand). Put everyone on a water meter with scaled charges – free for x amount, then scaled up for above normal use (150 ltrs per day per resident, allowances for medical problems). A new lake in Oxfordshire would provide jobs and opportunities for sports and recreation.

Pensions – let the old eat banana sandwiches with demarara sugar and give the young an opportunity to thrive.