Oh dear....

...the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire has scarcely got off the ground before the suitability of the retired Judge chosen to head it has come into question. The families of the victims (or some of them) are asking whether he is the right man to provide "justice" - which of course is code for "will provide the answer we want". I hope we're not going to get into another child sex abuse-style mess.

Words, words...

If I'd ever really thought about it, I had assumed that the word "flibbertigibbet" (there are various spellings) was a relatively modern invention.  Meaning a flighty or gossipy person, I had this vague idea that it originated in the 1920s - perhaps associating it with "flapper", so it came as a bit of a shock to find that it goes back to the 15th century and was used by Shakespeare in King Lear.  Just where it comes from nobody knows, but it has been suggested that it may be an onomatopoeic word which sounds like idle chatter.

Get real.

"Queen gets £6m pay rise" screams the press.  But we've been here before (see 29/6/13) - no she doesn't, she is simply being allowed to keep £6m more of her own money,

Yes but...

Over budget and well behind schedule, but we now once again have an aircraft carrier - well, hooray! Unfortunately, we have no aircraft for it yet!!

Sod off!!

I'm getting rather annoyed with these constant reports of people who live in these tower blocks in Camden who are staying put despite the council's advice that they should evacuate while remedial work is carried out. The reports say that they are "refusing" to leave.  No, they're not - they are choosing not to.  A very different thing.

Patriotic??

Andrea Leadsom - leader of the House of Commons - is being criticised for suggesting that BBC interviewers could be "a bit patriotic"  when dealing with interviews on the question of Brexit.  I can see where she's coming from - it seems to be the norm these days for interviewers to be confrontational and badger and talk over their interviewees and consciously take an aggressively opposing stance to them.  But this is a chicken-and-egg situation, isn't it?  Politicians and indeed public figures generally have become really adept at simply avoiding any question they don't want to answer. I remember my first experience of this was Arthur Scargill, who had this strategy of responding to any question he didn't fancy by saying "The real question is..." and then going on to say whatever it was he wanted to say.  So which is the cause, and which the effect?

How much in old money?

Don't know why, but the question arose on telly the other day as to how much 100 guineas was.  Well the answer is £105.00.  The guinea has a long history and for much of it was pegged to the value of gold, and thus its monetary worth varied as the price of gold went up and down, but it eventually settled at 21s - that is one pound, one shilling.  Professional men like doctors and lawyers, and upper-class merchants like art dealers or high-class tailors and the like, would employ a clerk to do their book-work for them and would charge for their services in guineas - the idea being - one pound for me and a shilling for my clerk.

Ha ha

To the optimist, the glass is half full.  To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.  To the accountant, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

The Lazy Cook

Tomahawk steak?  Oh, come on - it's just an oversized chop!!  Giving something a fancy name - and charging a fancy price for it - may fool some people, but not this mother's son.

That place in Wiltshire...

It's the longest day, and as ever, Stonehenge has been overrun by strange people in strange get-ups ostensibly celebrating - what?  Difficult to say really - celebrating the longest day is a bit like celebrating the fact that 2+2=4.  It is so, with or without your intervention.  Some claim to have druidic connections, but as we've said before, such associations are dubious at best.  So it's just an excuse for a day out?

Duty calls

Theresa May is clearly not a people person - neither am I.  I wouldn't have fancied going down to that tower block just to be harangued and abused and bombarded with questions to which they knew I hadn't got the answers - because nobody had. But if I were Prime Minister (perish the thought!) I think I would have come to the conclusion that it was my responsibility to clench my buttocks, grit my teeth and do it anyway. So while I have every sympathy for Theresa May, the person, I think Theresa May, the Prime Minister did not behave well.

On your marks...

They're off!  Brexit negotiations are now officially underway.  It is already being suggested that two years is an unrealistic time-table and we should be talking about an extension - maybe even an open-ended arrangement.  Don't know about you, but I can see this taking forever, and eventually fading away into nothingness.  Brexit means brexit?  That might end up as the inscription on the tombstone.

Incompatible??

Speaking of shame (see yesterday) does anybody else feel uncomfortable with the fact that Tim Farron has felt the need to resign as leader of the Liberal Democrats because he has found it impossible to reconcile that position with his Christian values? Don't know whether the problem is more to do with LibDem principles or Christianity, but when a supposedly "liberal" party can't cope with a religion ostensibly based on "peace and love" there's got to be something wrong somewhere.  

Two tribes

The tragic fire at Grenfell House in London has brought out the best and worst in people.  The heroic actions of the emergency services and the selfless actions of those who have donated food and clothing - which maybe they can ill afford - are examples of the best.  Unfortunately, the way certain people have sought to use the disaster for political or personal ends represents the worst.  So I am at one and the same time very proud and extremely ashamed.

Vell, vell, vell.

You may have seen this story that the reason the Queen's Speech is said to be delayed is partly because it is written on vellum, and the ink needs 48-72 hours before it is properly dried.  But why vellum? Indeed, what exactly is vellum?  Well second question first - vellum is dried calf-skin and has been used for official records for over 1000 years.  Why?  Well of course it well predates paper, but over time has proved much more hard-wearing and long-lasting than this later writing material. Mind you, you would think that in this day and age, digital is the way to go.  Problem is that the advances in technology can often overtake your efforts (see 6/7/07). There was apparently a project in the '80s to create a database of children's' thoughts and experiences, but it was all recorded and stored on laserdisks, which were seen as state-of-the-art at the time, but now are an obsolete technology which cannot be easily read.  So vellum rules - OK?

Prescience?

Not long after we were married, my wife and I went to visit a friend of hers who had just taken up residence in a flat high up in a tower block - then a fairly new concept. I recall my wife asking her friend what she thought about it.  "Beautiful views" I remember her saying "but I do worry about what would happen if the building caught fire".

Ha ha

"If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed.  If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed." - Mark Twain.

My enemy's enemy...

So, who are the DUP and should we be worried at the idea of them having any say in mainland politics? Well, they're the Democratic Unionist Party founded by the Reverend Ian Paisley in 1971 and they can be described as standing somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan.  They are opposed to Irish nationalism, abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage and climate-change, among other things.  In other words, unpleasant people with unpleasant views.  But should we be worried?  Our position on all those matters except the possible reunification of Ireland is settled in law and therefore not open for discussion.  The extent to which the DUP's views affect life in Northern Ireland is a matter for Northern Ireland and their voters. No. there's no reason for us to be concerned - although some of us may feel like holding our noses and keeping them at arms length.

Do the maths!

I'm already a little tired of the claims and counterclaims being made following the general election results.  Yes, Labour did much, much better than expected, but the fact is they still lost.  Corbyn is apparently seriously talking about voting down the Queen's Speech - but he can't,  Assuming the DUP at best abstain, and given that Sinn Fein don't take any part in parliamentary business, even if (big, big "if") he could persuade all the other parties to vote with him he could still only muster 315 votes as against 318 for the government (328 if the DUP vote with them)  I think he's getting carried away!

Remember??

It is clear that the under-25s (including perhaps my own grandchildren) mostly voted Labour last Thursday. Can I suggest that this was maybe because you have to be knocking 60 to have any memory of a real Labour government?  OK you may have some recollection of the Blair years, but, as any die-hard Labour supporter will tell you, that was not a true Labour government.  You need to go back to the Wilson/Callaghan years for that.  So when Corbyn and his lot were laying out their sweetie stall they may have got the youngsters excited. but us oldies have "been there, done that and got the (overpriced and threadbare) T-shirt"

After the Lord Mayor's Show...

So the wheels have come off Theresa May's wagon?  Where now?  I suppose as (1) a remain voter, and (2) a pensioner, I should be more pleased than despondent, but at the moment my thoughts are "what a mess" and I think I'm going to keep my head down until things are a little clearer.  Uggh!

The day after...

I hope you exercised your franchise yesterday (Ooh missus, as Frankie Howerd might have said). If you didn't, then you have no right to moan if things don't turn out the way you want them to.  That's democracy - you vote, everybody votes, and the majority win the day.  Not perfect, but then, nothing ever is.  The die is cast for the next five years and then we get to do it all again - Hallelujah! 

Ha ha

How about a joke for polling day?  Not my pensioners' magazine this time, but off the net -

A binman is doing his rounds and comes to a Chinese restaurant.  He says to the proprietor "Where's your bin?"  The restauranteur says "Oh I bin Hong Kong".  "No" says the bin man "where's your wheelie bin?" The Chinese man says "Yes, I wheelie bin Hong Kong".

So now it really is Last Of...

Peter Sallis, a.k.a. Cleggy. a.k.a. the voice of Wallace (Cheese, Gromit?).  I've a feeling we've lost something a bit special.  R.I.P. mate.

Prevent

Have you heard of the above programme?  Probably depends on where you live - or more precisely, the sort of area you live in.  It is designed to try and prevent (geddit?) people being radicalised and going on to commit terrorist atrocities.  Can't argue with that?  Problem is, it is based on the concept of "tell tale twit" - it relies on people being prepared to snoop on their acquaintances and to report them to the authorities if they suspect them of being that way inclined.  And that has unpleasant connotations with dictatorships and secret police and all that.  So, can it work? - does it work?  We can't know of course - the intelligence services keep that information very much to themselves.  What is worth noting is that, in relation to recent home-grown terrorist attacks, there are now people coming forward to say that they tried to alert the authorities to the fact that the perpetrators were people who ought to be watched. Big part of the problem of course is that the people most likely to be reported are Muslims, and so the Prevent strategy can be seen - and is seen by many - as anti-Muslim.  I would like to end this post by coming to some positive conclusion - but I haven't got one except to say it might end up as a lesser-of-two-evils jobbie - the right of people to live their own lives as they wish, versus the safety of the rest of us.

Aftermath

Are there any positives at all we can take from Saturday night's terrorist attack in London?  Difficult, but what struck me was that it seemed a very amateurish business - a hire van and knives? - smacks a bit of back-of-the-fag-packet stuff. Doesn't alter the fact that people were killed and injured, but does it suggest that the extremists are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel? That, plus the swift response of the police. are the only pluses I can offer.

The elephant in the room?

Considering this election was supposed to be all about Brexit, I am amazed at how little is being said about it.  It seems to have degenerated very quickly into a "May keeps U-turning and can't be trusted" versus "Corbyn doesn't believe in Trident and won't protect us" argument.  As far as I can see, the general populous are not that concerned about the forthcoming Brexit negotiations - which of course raises the question - why are we having this election?  Are we all getting our knickers in a twist for no good reason?

Ha ha

Long time since my pensioners' magazine came up with any decent funnies, but the current issue has a few, So this for starters -

The graduate with an engineering degree asks "How does this work?"

The graduate with a science degree asks "Why does it work?"

The graduate with an accounting degree asks "How much does it cost?"

The graduate with an arts degree asks "Do you want fries with that?"

Chicken and egg?

It is said that having a Waitrose in the vicinity can increase the value of a property by some £3,000. But is this supported by the evidence?  Can anybody show that the value of a particular property pre-Waitrose was £x, and the value of the same property post-Waitrose was £x + 3000-odd?  I think not.  What seems to be being said is that the value of properties in he vicinity of a Waitrose are in general some £3000 higher than the average for the area.  But couldn't it just be that Waitrose choose to site their stores in the more affluent localities and that house prices simply mirror this affluence?

OMG!!

Am I being childish and silly in getting a certain amount of secret pleasure from watching the Conservatives running about like headless chickens in panic as the polls turn against them and suggest that their dreams of a landslide victory are turning to dust? Still another week to go, mind you.