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.