Hasta la vista

Off on holiday for a week with the kids. We're going to Lanzarote - volcanic ash permitting. I never thought I would be going abroad again, but I see it as another step on the road to getting my life back to something approaching normality. Wish me luck.

Ha ha.

Remembering how, as a young lad, I spent what seemed like hours in church (chapel actually) bored to tears, I really liked this quote from George Burns -
"The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible."

It's still 1984.

Apparently nobody tells lies any more - they merely "misspeak".

Softly and gently...

Bloody hell - did you see the final episode of "Ashes to Ashes"? Whoooo.... who'd have believed it - Gene Hunt as the angel of purgatory? OK so you can argue that it left several loose ends flapping in the wind, but it sure made sense of the overall structure of the series, and indeed of "Life on Mars" which preceded it. This was the BBC at its best. A Gerontius for the 21st century. Ten out of ten to all concerned.

The flag still flies.

Amid all the doom and gloom and confusion which is around at present, it is heartening to see that the real spirit of Britain is still out there - we are making an attempt on the land speed record for a lawnmower which is currently held by an American. And the driver is the grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell. Does your heart good, doesn't it?

Mandate - what mandate?

It can be assumed that those who voted in the recent election - at least those who thought about it - did so on the basis of what the various parties set out in their manifestos as their intended policies should they be elected. But on Wednesday we were presented with a document detailing what the coalition intend to do - which is a manifesto for which nobody voted, or indeed will have any opportunity of voting for - it is simply a fait accompli. Which raises the rather interesting question of what legitimacy the coalition have to pursue these policies - particularly those which did not appear in that form in either of their manifestos.

Five rings.

The Olympics - that's a Greek idea, yes? No? Well, it's French then - Baron de Coubertin and all that? No? Where then? Did you say Much Wenlock? What the....! But the fact of the matter is that back in the mid-1850s the local doctor in that small Shropshire market town, Dr. William Penny Brookes organised a sports club with the idea of giving the local males something to do other than go down the pub and called it the Wenlock Olympian Society. Annual competitions called the Wenlock Olympics were organised with many events we would recognise today and with laurel crowns and medallions for the victors. In 1890 de Coubertin came to have a look, and the rest, as they say, is history. So remember Much Wenlock in 2012.

The seventh veil?

We're spending more than half as much time again on the internet as we did three years ago, it would seem, and the majority of that extra time is spent on social network sites. I've had my say about Facebook in particular and social networking in general, and I won't go over it all again. In any event I accept that I'm the one out of step here. I do wonder though if people at some point in the future are going to regret laying their life bare to all and sundry. Socialising through the internet differs from face to face contact not just in the number of people you are in effect talking to, but also because what you say or show is potentially there for all time, and I understand is very difficult to remove. I suppose you could say the same about this (or any other) blog, but I'm always careful not to post anything which I am not prepared for anyone to see now or in the future. There are limits as to how much of myself I am prepared to reveal - I wish I could say the same for my grandchildren. It worries me.

Where now for the red flag?

So now we have to deal with a leadership contest for the Labour Party. When I started this blog back in '05 it was the Conservatives who were going through the process, and I made a few comments then. I certainly got it wrong about Cameron, didn't I? But then, I never thought that Gordon Brown would turn out quite as bad as he did. So what about Labour? The Milliband brothers have the Cameron/Clegg look, don't they? And that seems to be flavour of the month at the moment. Will Ed Balls throw his hat into the ring? To have a leader with a name like Balls certainly seems to be offering a hostage to fortune. And where are the female candidates? I will be keeping an eye on developments.

There's a hole in my picture, dear Liza....

Heard about the bloke who has spent over seven years doing a 5000 piece jigsaw - only to find that there's one piece missing? And just to put the icing on his cake, because he's spent so long completing it, the firm who made it have stopped producing that particular jigsaw and therefore cannot supply him with the missing piece.