Hello, old friend...

We haven't had a wheelie bin story for ages, so thanks to Bristol City Council - or more precisely Bristol Waste Company who handle the City's refuse collection - for this one.   A pensioner lives - and has done for 60 years - at the end of a private road, which is about 30ft away from the main road. During the 60 years he has lived there, he has had no problem with having his bins emptied -   and this goes way back before the days of the wheelie bin, when the bin man would come and find your bin, hoist it up in his back, take it out to the cart, empty it and return it to you.  I'm sure you can guess where this is going?  He has now received a letter from the Council saying that his bin will no longer be collected, and it's now up to him to drag it to the main road for collection.  Elfnsafety of course - the poor bin men might trip and hurt themselves.

Ha ha

Two cannibals were eating a clown.  One turned to the other and said "Does this taste funny to you?".

Well, is it or isn't it?

Tim Farron - leader of the LibDems - is a committed Christian.  As such he is continually being pressed on the question of whether he considers gay sex a sin. And here he's in a bind - his Christian beliefs conflict with his political nous.  He realises that a "wrong" answer could cost him and his party votes.  But assuming he takes the Bible as the word of God, the answer is clear - it is a sin.  So he's caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.  Of course it shouldn't matter - what he believes is a matter for him and his conscience.  Provided he has no intention - should the opportunity ever arise - of making (well, remaking actually) gay sex illegal, his beliefs on the subject are immaterial. Unfortunately, there are those who would seek to make political capital out of any pronouncement he makes on the subject. Religion and politics don't mix - religion is about certainties (at least for believers) - politics is about what's flavour of the month.

What - I've got to go to work??

So Corbyn would give us an extra four bank holidays if he wins the forthcoming election?  I assume that whoever thought that one up had a look at the calendar first. We already have a log-jam of public holidays in the late Spring/early Summer, and this would make things much worse.  Consider next year - 2018 -
1st January - New Year's Day
1st March - St David's Day
17th March - St Patrick's Day
30th March - Good Friday
2nd April - Easter Monday
23rd April - St George's Day
7th May - May Day Bank Holiday
28th May - Spring Bank Holiday
27th August - Summer Bank Holiday
30th November - St Andrew's Day
25th December - Christmas Day
26th December - Boxing Day
So, seven bank holidays in the three months of March, April and May?  What price productivity?

And the result is...

Will the PM regret calling this General Election?  You can see the reasoning - it's an appointment book thing.  The 4th May 2020 (the date specified for the next election by the Fixed Parliament Act) and the run-up thereto, might well have clashed with any post-Brexit shenanigans.  Better not to take the risk.  But if there's one thing the referendum here, and the Presidential election over the water have taught us - or should have - it is not to take "the will of the people" for granted.  People do the strangest things for the strangest reasons. It seems inconceivable that the Conservatives will not end up with a significantly increased majority - but you never know!

So here we are...

...back again.  Big news while I was away is of course the calling of a General Election on June 8th.  But, but, but... I thought we'd done away with this idea of the Prime Minister calling an election whenever it suited - more to the point whenever the figures were in her favour.  OK, she may have got the necessary parliamentary majority, but I can't help feeling that this whole business goes against the spirit of the Fixed Term Parliament Act - indeed has that Act any purpose any more?

On our way...

... to Torquay for our traditional Easter family holiday.  See you in a week.

J'acccuse...

Ivanka Trump is said to have been instrumental in her father's decision to launch cruise missiles against Syria last week.  Besides being his daughter, she is of course a member of his administration. Even so, you might think that that would be worthy of comment but no - what is it about Ivanka that is exercising people's minds?  Her eye colour!  Her eyes keep changing colour it seems.  Well, surely no great mystery there - coloured contact lenses, one assumes.  Nothing wrong with that?  Not unless you are the Daily Mail that is.  They somehow seem to think that this is in some way against the law! How else do you explain their headline "First daughter is ACCUSED (my emphasis) of using colored contacts...".  

Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

Hedgehogs are becoming an endangered species it seems, and nobody seems to know why.  But it's obvious isn't it?  They're not called hedgehogs for nothing - their preferred environment is hedgerows, and more and more hedgerows are being dug up and replaced by fences   It's that simple, isn't it? 

Arrgh - me poor back!

Research (and there's one of those "it means what it means" words) has revealed that driving over speed humps increases the pollution caused by cars - particularly diesels.  The government is therefore minded, apparently, to give local authorities the power to remove them, or replace them with "speed cushions" - which I assume are more gentle versions of the same idea.  I can't wait - speed bumps round where I live seem to be reproducing like rabbits, and they're the vicious sort which rattle your bones no matter how slowly you're going.  So here's hoping.