Posts

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BYELECTION RESULT

So Polanski came second, a respectable result but he will be gutted that his party let him down. I have come to appreciate party discipline – he was basically torpedoed by the very left wing who voted for the Zionism = racism motion at the party conference. Areturn to the environment is essential for a Green Party that has made inroads since the general election. If party members want to be in a very left wing party, they should fuck off and join one, I might even vote for them in a proportional representation situation! It was good however to see that the two R parties (repugnant and repulsive) were in 4th and 6th places, and the nasty party 3rd all with less than 10% of the vote.. Labour and Greens got about 80% of the vote.

I do not believe the figures for autism and ADHD which have risen from 1 in 7 to 1 in 4 in the last 30 years. Besides the fraudulent claiming of welfare, is it just an excuse for underachievement in the parents eyes of their children? I have a family member who is autistic and there is no doubt that he needs 100% care, but I also taught for 35years and only in the last 4 did I came across ‘at risk -suicide, do not let go to the toilet by themselves’ warnings. there have always been children with ‘special needs’, but why the explosion of claims. Middle class parents will always seek advantages for their children, and if they cannot pay the extra for private education, they will manipulate the system – about 20 years ago my very middle class ‘good’ school received over 100 requests from parents for their offspring to have extra time in public exams (GCSE’s), most were refused and it was unusual for the remainder to actually use the extra time because they needed it, Also potential employers should be told if students needed extra time. This is not to enable them to discriminate – many special needs students would make exemplary employees, but maybe not in superacademic fields (I admit to being uncertain about the last comment). Those who actually need it should be swiftly identified and given help, but a graph in the Guardian showed around 60% with a common mental health condition and ADHD and autism.

If this is true society must be totally fucked up. Are we getting better at diagnosing problems, becoming more precious about our children or is there a real problem associated with diet, air quality, media use, climate change? The world also seems to be ever unsafer, quicker and less benign than it ever was.

Weather – the UK recorded a record 40 days when temperatures were above 30C, and 1354 wildfires, but the tories and the 2R’s do not give a shit about our children ad grandchildren and future generations – its all about profit! And the MoD have objected to 4 wind farms on the grounds it affects radar, really! Perhaps we should have more wind farms on the coast to disrupt incoming drones and their radar?

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CHRISTMAS WREATHS

My local school is having w death making session so i picked a laundry bucket of stuff for them, including lots of rose hips – bright red, but my holly tree is a bit weedy so I supplemented it with bay branches – both evergreen and shiny!; and then i added some rosemaries that is in flower with small blue flowers. I might have a go at making one myself with the rosemary, and may be some sage for contrast? Whatever it would smell great.

I now need to empty the greenhouse of the tomato plants – what to do with the soil in the pots – maybe i will add it to the compost bin? Apple and mulberry trees need pruning, and maybe the apricot although it is not tall, it could do with spreading out.

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HOUSING

So the nasty party want to cut inheritance tax (help for the rich but not the economy, only 6% pay inheritance tax but it raises £6bn), stamp duty (help for the house builders) and no mansion tax for the rich; all paid for by cutting welfare. First off, lets look at making housing cheaper – it aint goin’ happen. House prices went up as more women entered the workplace, and families could therefore afford a bigger mortgage – and the house builders and their shareholders and the estate agents and banks all got much richer. House prices will not fall, negative equity is bad for the economy as a whole, So none of this is feasible, or going to happen. The so called mansion tax should be replaced by a newer version of council tax before the nasty party can even sniff a place in a right wing coalition (the best they can hope for).

Raising the minimum wage and income tax thresholds, and introducing higher ones would encourage more more people into work – why should the owner of a betting company pay themselves £350m and then complain about tax, whilst a nurse or even a doctor gets so much less than this. Tax companies on UK earnings as a straight, no cop outs or tax dodges, percentage. Even 10% would be a gain. let the rapacious bastards move to enclaves in Abu Dhabi or Dubai – from where they broadcast jingoistic nonsense and patriotic bollox.

jaguar release a new design of electric car – but do not understand the concept of an EV. Maybe it is me that is a fool; believing that EV’s are environmentally better I ignored the thought that many people believe they need a car that will break the speed limit in most countries (especially urban area). At £120k it is not cheap, is to wide and too long to fit into a UK standard parking space – but the rich fuckers who buy them will not care, or be concerned that their vehicle will act as a block for many small town roads – should small villages and towns, e.g. Fowey ban them?

A personal gripe – two people opposite my house park their cars on the road opposite my drive or inconveniently. I can appreciate the hassle of getting up to move a car to allow another from the driveway; ; but these two cars are there all week and only used at weekends, they coud easily park them in their drives, I have thought of saying something, but as our neighbourhood is not known for friendliness, I have defered, just waiting for karma and a lorry to scrape the sides of each on, and not stop!

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BORED

with the party conferences. Inevitably they talk to their support base and only Labour have the power to do anything meaningful. Tories promise to cut taxes, build a dome over the UK and sunsidise walking sticks for the elderly, the greens have talked bollox that no one cares about, Reform and Regress parties had their conferences a while ago but I cannot remember anything memorable, and have the LibDems folded without trace. Badenoch has decided to ignore the polls and pretend we still have 2 1/2 party system, the odds on the tories winning the next election are similar to seeing Elvis dance on the Loch Ness Monsters nose! their only hope would be a party of fascist nasty people who deny demographic facts.

Weather is turning – it was June when temperatures last failed to reach 20c, and it might be only a short cold spell, I am old enough to remember wrapping up warm for November 5th celebrations around a bonfire – recently you could have got away without a coat! Things to eminence about – penny for the guy and scouts/cubs bob a job weeks.

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FACTS

Too many people are avoiding facts about, well just about anything. It has become very easy to avoid arguements based on hard evidence. Do people demonstrating about small boats care if numbers have come down significantly, as have the number of legal migrants; do they care about the number of women raped by white men – or believe the nonsense about migrants; do they care about the facts regarding climate change; I could go on, and probably will. When did ignorance become so widespread, and even virtuous? Was it due to the disaster that Brexit brought, and people denying they were conned and wrong. Admitting that you were wrong is not easy – but essential for a liberal democracy. Why do we accept the lies that proliferate in the media? Is it because we love to tell ourselves that we are right, when blatently we are wrong.

I have made many mistakes, I believed I was in love at 18, married at 22 to a lovely person who was just as wrong for me as I was for her, I could say all my three children were mistakes – biologically they were, but each one is in my mind nearly perfect! Otherwise, and including the aforementioned – I believe our mistakes are what really makes us who we are, that and recognising that we are not clever as fuck is essential to society and our happiness., and denying any wrong is just plain stupid. Garaeth Davies once said of being a member of my geography team “that I had only ever made two decisions, and both were wrong’ – maybe I was more intelligent than I thought!

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DIPLOMATIC GAMES

Trump has tried to shore up his assertions that the Fairford 5 were ‘we knew everything about them adn would not hhave released them on bail’ by withdrawing a squadron of bombers from Fairford in panic, refuelling planes had to be scrambled to support them, stating that they had info on a threat from Iran. Bullshit – MAGA are losing support in US polls before the mid-terms and the war with Iran is unpopular, especially given rising inflation. He sowed the seeds of American patriotism and is now reaping the costs, Americans are not happy with thedeaths of their servicemen in a futile and illegal war, nor are they happy with the cost of fuel.

Meanwhile the Government seems set on a path of diplomatic war with Israel – the fascist government of that country has said it will close the British Consulate in East Jerusalem (a UN designated Palestian area; and in return our government has said it will expel one Israeli diplomat for every on e force to leave the Consulate. Israel seems to be losing a diplomatic battle in Europe. The Irish football team again refused to shake hands with the Israel team, and wore black arm bands in recognition of those who have died in Gaza. America will always be supportive, and in Europe Germany still reflects on its appalling genocide of the jews during WW2.

Elsewhere, Spains left wing government have called a snap general election over housing costs. France has riots (does anyone else riot like the French? over student claims of underfunding of education, albeit in a time of worrying French Government debt. In Brazil the right wing looks like it may defeat the present government.

Badenoch meanwhile has said she would develop a Britannia Sheild to protect the UK – for £10billion I guess she was just proposing to safeguard London. £10 billion is a lot, but did she think the Ukraine would not have raised this money to protect Kiev? Or was she thinking of an actual Iron Dome stretching for Dover to Carlisle, and have the added benefit of drowning asylum seekers.

And a maybe positive ending – there maybe no Atlantic hurricanes this year due to El Niño, what this means for the UK is unpredictable.

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NASTY PARTY

So the tories would axe the Environment Agency and Natural England – the reason given was that these organisations prevented homes being built (to protect them from flooding and to protect wildlife. You see the tories believe in rapacious capitalism and these orgs. add a cost that eats into their profits (Barrets make an average of £50000 per house!), At the same time they have gone for the grey vote by pledging to retain the unsustainable triple lock. Perhaps they plan to raise the retirement age to 75? They claim they are the party of common sense, and we know that all safety legislation is in place due to a lack of common sense. How many people drink sugary drinks, alcohol whilst eating ultra processed food and smoking/vaping? I would guess that 95% of us lack common sense at times – the nasty party would be ok with that as long as money is made along the way. They have closed libraries and swimming pools – so that health clubs and gyms proliferate and gain an immense profit. Basically it is all about money, profit and the rich getting richer. the tories would also build 50000 more prison places – we all know that works, look at America, or at least Tennessee with its attempted death penalty and high murder rate. Prison reform is the answer, not locking up – except for the most dangerous and where society needs protection. Punishment rarely works.

Meanwhile the Greens have shot themselves in the foot by equating Zionism and Racism; they may be correct, but it is futile to do so when chasing votes. Being morally correct whilst losing power is a habit of the left leaning liberals and perhaps a reason why we have had domination by the cehtre right for the last couple of centuries. being morally correct is a luxury of the middle class, it does not feed a hungry belly or even provide a holiday in the sun. The poor do not care at the rich getting richer, just their own situation. Selfishness is a human trait.

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WEATHER PREDICTION

Looking at the Met. Office predictions it looks like a typical autumn here – bits of rain and sun, bit cloudy but warm – I seem to remember that Nov 5th was cold, wearing gloves to hold sparklers, and being warmed by the fire with a guy on top. Guy Fawkes, along with bob a job week seems to have disappeared from our cultural activities. I am digressing, but so what, other things that are disappearing ‘giving the bumps’ on ones birthday, a pinch and a punch for the first of the month? Friday the 13th – any more? Other superstitions include not walking under a ladder, not stepping on the edges of paving stones, magpies, not putting shoes on tables, and not cutting nails on a Sunday. I am sure I have missed some, but guess we all have little quirks – I always put right shoe and sock on first, and do not like adjacent light switches to be uncoordinated!

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GREEN PARTY

I know that we should all commend statements that decry Israels genocide in Gaza and its murderous intentions elsewhere, but really who cares what the party members think? They have no power or even influence, people on the streets according to those out canvasing. However where the Green Party does have a huge influence is on environmental and climate change issues. Apart from the knuckle dragging flag shaggers most people, especially the young have a deep down fear of what we are doing to the planet. So forget international diplomacy and issues that you cannot influence and concentrate on the 2 issues, that if Burnham gets to introduce some form of PR, the Greens could take alead on. This does not mean ignoring all other issues – everything comes down to economics; Social issuess such as racism and misogyny are also core beliefs for members of the GP.

Burnham has also played a master card regarding the EU. Public opinion is behind rejoining – small boat crossings only started after Brexit The economic cost of leaving was, is and will be horrific, the fishing industry is decimated, farming and manufacturing in decline, immigration has fallen back under Labour from nearly a million per annum. And I think I may be a bit racist when I say that the decline of EU immigration was to the detriment of an integrated society. Europeans have a similar history and sociological make up rather than the influx of people from the far east – there I said it! A large influx of people from Europe would not have the same impact of people from elsewhere. This comment is definitely not about colour but integration into a multi-cultural society. It is also apparent that ex-pats in places like Spain have not fully integrated. I wonder if there should be a nationality test after a residence of say 10 years based on a shared history and common culture. I think I have already said too much!

Warnings of an AI economic bubble/crash are growing stronger.- tec giants have invested billions, but are suggesting putting the breaks on future developments. The thing is, can AI be monetised in a meaningful way? There are obvious benefits to using AI, but at the cost of unemployment? Books and films can be made using AI and I am told they are very good, but will they have the same nuance and moments as those captured from isolated experiences. Would AI have created the iconic Pink Floyd or would we all be listening to perfect trash music?

Badenoch goes for the grey vote by pledging to the triple lock. I am sure that I read that pensions had gone up by 23% more than the average wage – the pension issue was dire, but now it is the young who suffer.

Oh, and El Niño is not expected to fully hit for a couple of months – look out for horror weather related news stories in the media – or here!

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FOOTBALL

I cannot not mention one of the best England performances ever, albeit against a rather poor Crotian side, but it was still Croatia! Bellingham, Kane, Saka and Gordon were outstanding. And so nice to see the explosive power driving forward for a change. Let us hope they can keep this momentum going.