Many a true word...

Apparently there was a confrontation in Birmingham City Centre the other day between an Islamic street preacher and a police constable, following an alleged complaint from a member of the public.  From what has been reported, the P.C. handled the situation impeccably, making the point that the preacher was entitled to "stand here and shout and offend" but if he went beyond that and committed a public order offence he would be arrested.  But what struck me was what the preacher is reported to have shouted at the P.C. - "This is a free country and we can speak freely in public."  Doesn't Islam do irony??

Big tartan brother?

I was somewhat appalled to read about the SNP's idea to have the welfare of every child in Scotland overseen by a "Named Person" - most likely a teacher or health visitor.  OK so the Supreme Court have ruled it illegal, but as I read it, they have not blocked the idea itself, but merely the way the legislation is drafted, and the SNP have said they intend to make the necessary changes and re-present it.  So, why is it so worrying?  Well, as I understand it, it means that parents in Scotland will forever be looking over their shoulders at their child's Named Person who. if they think the parents are not doing their job properly, will presumably have the power to intervene.  On a practical level of course, the chances of the same Named Person overseeing the whole of a child's life from birth to age 18 is remote - there are those who will change job, or retire, or die, so it's unlikely there will be any real continuity, so you have to wonder about the viability of the concept, even if you agree with it.

Wartime Broadcasting System.

Did you see that item about the BBC's plans in the event of nuclear war last century?  It is suggested that they would have broadcast a diet of recordings of The Goon Show, Round The Horne and Just A Minute to keep us entertained.  Makes for a good story, but in practice, had the worst ever happened, it's very unlikely that those recordings would have ever been used.  What radios there were would almost certainly have been dependant on batteries, and battery life would have needed to be conserved for listening to new bulletins.  So the thought of us sitting in our bunkers chuckling at Bluebottle and Julian and Sandy is just a nice idea but nothing more.

Go to the country?

It has been suggested that, if Jeremy Corbyn wins the forthcoming Labour leadership contest, the Prime Minister should immediately call a snap general election which, conventional wisdom has it, the Tories would win by a landslide.  Well, would they - and more to the point - could they?  The days when the Prime Minister could call a general election whenever they liked - and for the most part would do so at the most favourable moment for themselves - have gone with the passing of the Fixed-term Parliament Act of 2011, and now the next general election is set for 7th May 2020.  Unless, that is, at least 434 MPs (two-thirds) vote to have an earlier one.  Given that turkeys do not vote for Christmas, and that the Government have only a small majority, this is highly unlikely.  Equally unlikely is that the Commons pass a vote of no confidence in the government.  So, much though she might like the idea, a snap election is not on.

R.I.P.

Marni Nixon - who??  You may well ask, but if you were enchanted by Deborah Kerr's singing in The King And I, or that of Natalie Wood in West Side Story, or Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (to name but a few) then you were being enchanted by the voice of Marni Nixon.  Known by some as "the ghost with the most" she made a career out of dubbing the singing voices of stars whose real voices weren't up to it.  Generally uncredited, she lived her professional life in the shadows.  She has died at the age of 86 and her story deserves to be better known.

In-ger-land!

Allardyce for England??  I imagine there will be many - perhaps including the man himself - saying "not before time".  His name has certainly been bandied about for the last ten years or so.  His main problem is that his record is more a matter of helping clubs survive relegation rather than winning silverware.  But then, he's a Dudley lad and supports the Wolves so that's in his favour!

Back to reality...

So, having had a week off, here we go again.  What has struck me over the past few days, is how nasty people can be.  If you dare to disagree with Jeremy Corbyn, it seems you are fair game for all sorts of abuse - even down to death threats.  Same over the pond if you have the temerity to suggest that Trump is anything other than America's knight in shining armour.  We were taught debating at school - how to propose or oppose a proposition whilst remaining civilised.  Do they not teach that any more?  Bricks through windows was never a persuasive argument.

Ha ha

So, before we get back to the harsh realities of life, here's a joke for you - 

A friend of mine walked into the post office one day back in early February to see a middle-aged man standing at the counter enthusiastically writing addresses on bright pink envelopes covered with hearts.
He then took out a scent bottle and started spraying perfume over them. My friend's curiosity eventually got the better of him and he walked over and asked him what he was doing.
“I’m sending out 1,000 Valentine’s Day cards signed, ‘Guess who?’” he said.
“Why on earth are you doing that?” my friend asked.
“Because I’m a divorce lawyer.” he replied.

Queueing 101.

So you've been round the supermarket and done your shopping and are now approaching the tills.  Do you have a strategy?  Do you just go to the nearest till, do you look for one on your right-hand side, or your left, or go to the one with the shortest queue, or what?  I don't know why, but I dislike working to my right, so I tend to look for a till on my left-hand side, but what I've learned, and I was pleased to see that a recent study came to the same conclusion, is that what takes the time and therefore delays you, is not people putting their shopping back in their trolleys or bags, but paying for it, and therefore, all things being equal, it is better to join a queue with one or two people with full trolleys than one with four or five people with half-empty trolleys or hand baskets.  Of course, you can come unstuck - you can't legislate for the person who finds their bag of sugar is ripped, and has to send an assistant back for a replacement while we all twiddle our thumbs!

Trolls under the bridge

I'm a fan of Naga Munchetty, who is one of the regular presenters on BBC's Breakfast programme.  Apparently she is regularly criticised, if not actually abused, on Twitter.  I think I've said before that, if you put yourself out there on social media, you have to accept that there are people who will take the opportunity to use that social media to attack you, be rude to you, and generally take out their personal frustrations and unhappiness by having a go at you.  I suppose you have to balance this against the advantages (and although I can't see them, I assume there must be advantages) to being on Twitter.  Ms Munchetty certainly seems to give as good as she gets.

The Lazy Cook

Can't think why I haven't done this before - but then, I don't think I've done a pudding before.  So -
Summer Pudding
You will need - 
A bowl - greased on the inside
Some slices of bread
Summer fruits - raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and such
Caster sugar
Cream or ice-cream to accompany.

Once again, I have not given quantities.  The size of the bowl determines the size of the pudding so work from that.  Put the fruit in a saucepan and slowly bring to the boil and simmer until it starts to thicken.  Add caster sugar to taste.  Line the bowl with bread slices.  Pour in fruit mixture and put more bread slices on top.  Put a saucer that fits inside the bowl on top of that and something heavy on top of that - tin of something usually does the trick.  Put in the fridge and leave for at least overnight - longer if poss.  To serve, remove saucer and weight, run a knife round the inside of the bowl, put a plate on top and then invert bowl and plate.  Pudding should slide out onto plate.

Wot - no sandcastles??

Off to the sea-side.  Bucket and spade, yes?  Well, bucket OK, but if you're going to Weston (super Mare, that is) you may as well leave your spade behind, because the Somerset emergency services have warned against the digging of holes in the sand on - well, you can guess, can't you - health and safety grounds. Despite what some newspaper headlines would have it, they haven't actually banned it, but have advised against it.  But it's part of the magic of being on the beach, isn't it?  Try telling your kids they can't dig in the sand? - Good luck with that!

Phew - what a scorcher!

So while we're being un-serious, how about the weather?  "Britain hotter than Hawaii" say the headlines.  Well, we've certainly had to wait for it - the summer so far has been a bit of a  disappointment - and it looks like this hot spell will only last a day or so.  But hey - that's the Engish weather!  Make the most of what you get.

Brexit, Nice and all that

You know what? I've had enough! I can't stand the pace.  I'm zoning out for a few days.  Let's have some silliness and trivia in the hope that things will sort themselves out - not that I'm expecting that they will, mind you, but I don't know about you, I badly need a rest!

War criminal? - come on, get a grip!

You can understand that those whose loved ones were killed or maimed in the Iraq war want Tony Blair's head, and he has done himself no favours by the way he has responded to any criticism of his actions, but really folks, do we honestly believe that he woke up one morning and said to himself  "I know - let's have a war.  What fun!"  He was Prime Minister, for God's sake - it was his job to decide what was in the country's best interests and to take the appropriate steps.  So OK, maybe in hindsight it can be argued that he got it wrong, maybe he was too willing to accept what he was being told without rigorously questioning it, but it was his job to make the decision and that's what he did.  He has been accused of being a liar, but a lie is something which is untrue and you know to be untrue, and personally I see no evidence that he knew what he was saying was untrue.  At best he may have felt uncomfortable about some aspects, but this is where we come back to basics - it was his job to decide.  Just because you disagree with that decision (and I did and do!) is no ground for suggesting that he should face prosecution.

Nice

A picture is worth a thousand words...

So this is the future...

... May as PM, Hammond as Chancellor, Boris as Foreign Secretary (now there's a shock!) and Amber Rudd (who?) as Home Secretary.  Surprised she couldn't find a job for Gove, who surely is one of the sharpest and cleverest minds around.  At least it opens the way for the office of Lord Chancellor to revert to a Lord and a Judge which in my book would be a Good Thing.  Watch this space, as they say.
P.S. Well that didn't happen, did it - the new Lord Chancellor is to be Liz Truss - yet another who is not a Lord, not a Judge, not even a lawyer.

Euro 2016

Were you as disappointed as I was?  OK, it wasn't helped by England going out so early in such a depressing way, but I thought the general standard of football was pretty dire.  The fact that Iceland and Wales will be the teams that most people will remember I think says it all.  This new format, where teams that finish third in their group still have a chance of progressing and which was supposed (so I hear) to make for more adventurous, attacking play obviously didn't work as planned.  An average of just over 2 goals per match is on the low side, and the fact that less that one goal per match was scored in the first half supports that idea that most teams went into their matches with a "let's get to half time at 0-0" mentality.  No, not a competition to live in the memory, I'm afraid.

Sillier and sillier

So Andrea Leadsom has withdrawn from the contest to be the next leader of the Conservative Party, leaving the way open for Theresa May.  Now I know nothing about Ms Leadsom and whether she would have made a good Prime Minister or not, but what I find unbelievable is the stupid, stupid business which apparently caused her withdrawal.  She is supposed to have suggested that the fact that she has children and Ms May has not somehow gave her brownie points - a pretty ludicrous suggestion, but what was even more ludicrous was that it was taken seriously and led to some really nasty and completely over-the-top criticism - all over such a trivial throw-away comment  And I thought the Conservatives were supposed to be a grown-up party? 
And because things are moving so swiftly, a couple of quick comments - (1) does Theresa May need to call a general election?  No - the leadership of the Conservative Party is a matter for that Party.  They already have a mandate from the last general election and that mandate remains valid.  The recent referendum in no way alters that.  (2) Should Jeremy Corbyn be allowed to stand in the forthcoming contest for the leader of the Labour Party even though he may not be able to get the backing of sufficient MPs to satisfy the rules? Yes - the rules were badly drawn and obviously were designed for a situation where the leader resigns or dies or whatever.  They did not envisage a situation where the leader is challenged - and clearly in such circumstances it would be ridiculous for the leader not to be able to defend his position.

The clue is in the name!

What is the BBC's prime purpose?  Over to Lord Reith who practically invented the Corporation and stated its goals as to "inform, educate, entertain".  So first and foremost it is a news disseminator  - its job is to tell us what's going on.  So, although I can understand his annoyance - fury even - at the way the search of his house became public knowledge, I think Cliff Richards' decision to sue the BBC is misplaced.  Reverse the situation - suppose the BBC had decided not to broadcast what was going on, and it later came to light that they had known and chosen not to tell us - I think you can imagine what the reaction would have been - favouritism, cronyism, bias, partiality - you name it.  The police acted badly, and possibly wrongly, in releasing the information but the BBC were simply doing their job in acting upon it.

OTT?

It was surely a little bizarre watching the reception for the Wales football team on their return from Euro 2016.  OK so the Principality are proud of them - I get that - and they did "punch well above their weight" in the competition, but let's keep our feet on the ground - they were losing semi-finalists.  Well done boys, and all that, but to behave as though they had won the World Cup frankly made them and their fans look rather ridiculous.  And as an Englishman, I feel I need to make the point - England 2,Wales 1.  Bitter and twisted - who, moi??  No, just realistic.  Perhaps we're more used to "nearly but not quite" performances, and know how to deal with them appropriately.

Who should choose?

Not really having had any interest in the process until now, I was surprised to find that the eventual decision as to who should be leader of the Conservative Party (and therefore Prime Minister) rests with the members of that Party.  Because surely, this is just the situation which has caused all the problems for the Labour Party? And where is the logic?  As I see it, the general public choose, by way of the ballot box, who is the largest party in parliament and therefore form the government, and then it should be for the members of that party (i.e. their MPs) to choose who should be their leader. Otherwise you could end up - like the Labour Party have (twice now) - with the ridiculous situation where the leader of the party is not the choice of the majority of the MPs.  Bit like the captain of a football team being chosen by the fans, irrespective of what the manager or the players want.

Ouch!

Seems the Government are considering a raft of measures to make life easier (and safer) for the older driver.  Mini roundabouts instead of T-junctions, and entry roads onto motorways which become lanes and require no filtering-in have been suggested.  All very laudable and as one of said older drivers, I am fully in favour, but if there's one thing they could do to improve my driving experience, it would be to get rid of these damned speed bumps which do my back no good at all - and I suspect do my car's suspension no good as well.  Round where I live they seem to be breeding, with more and more of them every time I venture out.  Originally, speed bumps were relatively gentle, but these latest one are brutal and no matter how slowly I go, my poor back protests - so if you want to give consideration to the older driver, get rid of them!

Wise after the event?

I am glad that the Chilcot report has made the point that, when we decided to invade Iraq, that country and its leader, Saddam Hussain, presented no imminent threat against this country, because I remember thinking precisely that at the time.  Saddam was a brutal dictator, but under his dictatorship, Iraq was, for the region, a relatively stable, secular state, and the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" sprang to mind.  Perhaps what was more exercising the minds of our and the US government was not so much that Saddam was perceived as a threat, but that his sons, one of whom presumably would have taken over from him eventually, were both psychopaths (Uday particularly) and would most definitely have been a threat.  Maybe the logic was "better to act now while we can, than have to act later when things may not be so much in our favour".  I'm sure there will be more to be said about the Chilcot report in the days to come.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

So, what is this Article 50 and how does it work?  Prior to the Lisbon Treaty of 2009 there was no "official" way of withdrawing from the EU.  This was seen as a potential problem so at Lisbon they introduced Article 50 which set out the procedure for a member country to leave the Union.  On paper it's all very straightforward - the country wanting to leave gives notice under Article 50 and then has two years to sort out the practicalities.  At the end of that time they are out.  There is provision for the two-year period to be extended, but it requires the agreement of all the other member countries.  But the crucial point is that the leaving country is in control of the starting gun - in the present situation it is up to us when - if ever - we give notice under Article 50.  We can't be forced to do so by the other EU countries, however much they may wish us to get on with it.  And as mentioned in a previous post, the referendum result has no legal force and does not oblige the Government to  act on it.  So we have a situation where the Government can stick Article 50 behind its ear as it were, and decide when, if ever, to activate it.  Advantage us for the time being, I think.

What - again?

So Nigel Farage has resigned as leader of UKIP - but remind me, didn't he do this once before, and the party refused to accept his resignation?  He did say something like "This time I mean it" but we shall have to wait and see.  Presumably he continues as an MEP - and don't you love the way other MEPs refer to him as "Faridge"?  To be fair, he must feel his raison d'être has disappeared with the referendum result and maybe he really does fancy a change, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if, sooner or later, he reinvents himself and reappears on our screens.

What do I do?

Well - here's a quandary!  Wales are in the semi-finals of Euro 2016.  I've spoken before of the "healthy hatred" that exists between the various parts of the United Kingdom when it comes to sports.  I'm sure I've mentioned that the most popular T-shirt in Scotland is one which says "I support Scotland and any team which England are playing".  It's usually football (soccer) where Scotland are concerned and rugby (union) in the case of Wales, but now we have Wales in the soccer arena.  So I would normally be looking to root for the "other team" against Wales - but it's Portugal for God's sake!  Ronaldo!!  A man whom I deeply despise as the nasty, arrogant narcissistic individual he is.  You see my problem?  I'm thinking of shutting myself away and ignoring the whole thing.

R.I.P.

Caroline Aherne.  Her humour was not really to my taste, but there is no doubt she was a clever, clever lady and has been taken from us far too soon.

Many a true word...

So Judi Dench has had a tattoo at the age of 81 - well, good for her!  The tattoo says "carpe diem" which as we all know means "seize the day" - or does it?  The expression comes from the Odes of Horace and the poet is making the point that none of us can know how much time we have left on this earth and that therefore we should "carpe diem".  But the verb carpere actually means to pluck, to gather, as for fruit and therefore what Horace meant was more to "enjoy the day, make the most of the day" for, as he went on to say, you can't rely on tomorrow - you can't even rely on there being a tomorrow.  

Oh 'eck!!

I was going to post something about the fact that both the Conservative Party and Labour are currently leaderless and "who's minding the shop?" sort of thing.  But the problem is that things are in such a chaotic state of flux, that whatever I say has a fair chance of being overtaken by events before you read it.  Indeed, as I am writing this, the news has broken that Boris Johnson has said he will not stand for leader of the Conservative Party, which makes much of what I was going to say moot.  So this is a bit of a non-post, I'm afraid.  Very much a case of - watch this space.....