Jersey – Evening Post

Here is a bit of holiday rubbish- that’s if you can bear such a thing with Brexit and so on. There’s no nonsense like holiday nonsense, is there? Ice cream cones, bobble hats and laughter up to the skies. Well, that is depending on whether you can see the sky it or not. That’s British weather for you. All sunshine one minute, rain the next.

I thought I would go on about Jersey, this time. I’ve just come back from the place. A place of sun, good food and no young ‘uns anywhere – apart from the local denizens, and they all work for the financial services industry. Jersey is dependent on it, so look out for another crash 2008 style. It will happen sometime or another, believe me. House are a bit pricey there and what the young generation are going to do, heaven knows. Its a bit like London where this is concerned, so tighten your braces and grit your teeth. The young generation are about to explode, why the politicians can’t see it, is a mystery to me. But then they fail to see anything that is staring them right in the face, don’t they!

My wife took control of the money and where we went. I’m all for equality of the sexes. I just do as I’m told. Like a lot of men of my age, I suppose. We went to all the places of interest, museums and the such like. The War stuff peaked my enthusiasm, but it put me off guns and violence for life, not that I have ever been into them in the first place. We strolled around the 11 miles with a pleasure that one had forgotten about. The holiday was filled with a certain peace and quiet. A transformation, if you like.

Every night we ate grub that was a delight, every night we went to bed exhausted. It was a holiday to remember and that’s a fact. If you are thinking of going anywhere this Summer, I recommend Jersey. It’s the place to be. Although it didn’t start off well I can tell you. The flight was cancelled and we were shipped off to Southhampton to catch a flight the following day. The Welsh coach was out of the ark and the driver didn’t know anything!

Cardiff Airport – typical! And Carwyn Jones (the then Labour First Minister of the Welsh Assembly) spent over the odds for it!

Old ‘uns – Evening Post

You must have gathered by now, that we old ‘uns (well, that’s pushing it a bit, isn’t it?) but there we are, young ones are always seeing the old as anyone over 45! Anyway, getting back to the old ‘uns brigade, our memories are filled with glory days and not so ‘glory’ days. We remember the good times and the bad and as time goes on the memories flicker between the softer but more memorable instances of our experience.
The other day my mind went back to when I was a youngster, all full to the brim with enthusiasm and a wanton sense of enjoyment. I was off to London to study and the future looked bright. My father dropped me off at the station with a cheque book (remember those?) and a suitcase. No fuss or bother, just be on your way now, and get a degree. And so, began my life of booze, women and song. The young ones think they know it all, everything about skullduggery and so on, well they have got a lot to learn. Haven’t they just!
My journeys took me across London, West Sussex, the Midlands, Essex, and Suffolk. I leant a lot about that age-old wine women and song, didn’t I just. I settled down in Suffolk eventually, I was 41 and got married. I hadn’t leant much had I? I got divorced after three years and went for a job in Birmingham. I was still leaning the tricks of the trade. Well, I thought I was anyway.
I look back now, and would I have done anything differently? No, I don’t think so. The good, the bad and the ugly all make up what we are. What we are supposed to be. Along the way, I learnt about kindness and understanding. The unbent streak of knowing a few things – well, some might argue with this, on Facebook and Twitter! The unholy nonsense of modern-day communication.
I have seen some but not all of the interaction between human beings and all I can say is, good luck to you all and have a good life. In whatever way you choose to live it and let’s face it, we live, die and forget that we were ever on this planet in the first place. And don’t go along the wine, women and song antics. It’s exhausting!

What a hog wash of modern politics!

There seems to be a little confusion over who leads the Tory party. Confusion is putting it mildly! Our Boris is on top of the agenda, but we shall have wait and see. Everything is about waiting and seeing isn’t it? Brexit and all the other domestic matters, we shall all have to wait and observe how the politics crash out because it’s all about ‘crashing out’. A well thought of conclusion, I hazard. It’s my guess anyway.
Never mind Boris (he’s too busy seeing to affaires of the heart to worry about Brexit!), if there is anything, I’d like to see its Rory Stewart getting the top job. Old Etonian he may be, but he’s compromising and has an exact take on where Brexit should leave us, as a country that is.
I like him, for his political stance and for his mild and without contempt discourse. He is not like the other ones, who are content with shifting the boundaries, satisfied with dealing with the unknown and generally looking after their own backs. They all sing to the same tune, God help us!
We have another Referendum on the cards, another no deal and an explosive mine set to go off. And to cap it all, we have a 160,000 odd Tory membership (hardly democratic is it?) deciding who will be our next Prime Minister. And who has put in this mess?
The politicians, that’s who.
I can’t say vote Labour, it’s too Marxist and they would ruin the country, neither Corbyn nor his Shadow Chancellor are Tony Blair or Gordon Brown – far from it and I’m old enough to remember the three day a week, rail in a monstrous late but nether syndrome (remember the British Rail sandwiches? Cheese and ham? God forbid!), coal strikes, car industry in chaos and general financial breakdown. Nationalism and bad debt, here we go again. The Liberal Democrats are in with a chance, that if staying in the EU is your choice, but at least they have been consistent in their view. The Greens and SNP, well if you want to waste a vote that’s up to you, but all is well in love and war.
Hope? Well, we have come through a lot in our history. Wars and so on. So, I believe there is a segment of hope behind all this. If we could just put the past behind us and look ahead, we will find a way through.
That’s if the politicians are up for it – doubtful I agree, but there is a chance that we could get out of this Brexit scandal.

Welsh language?

Who the hell speaks Welsh in Port Talbot? There is a crime thriller on BBC Wales called ‘Bang’ – the police speak Welsh, the characters speak Welsh etc etc

BBC Wales is getting its knickers in a twist again – well, no surprises here then!

Conservative Leader

I’m going for Rory Stewart. He’s moderate and a listening personality. He will reach an agreement come what may.

My money is on him.

I give up!

Theresa May is going on the 7th June. She has made mistakes (well, what PM doesn’t?), but she has my sympathies as well as my admiration, for all the carryings on of the Conservative party. It is a sad day when she leaves No 10. The wild Tory men in grey suits have done it again, they have forced Theresa May to walk the plank.

If you want to go into a deliberate confusion, vote Conservative, if you want to go down a Marxist hell, vote Labour. The two main parties have had it, left right and center. The European elections have finally done the trick. Brexit is on the cards, no deal and do what you like about it. The MP’s have made a right mess of things – and they are voted in by us! They argue political points that we know nothing about, they trivialize each other in a more than juvenile way and to call it just as it is, they are in a mess, an unholy rabble, they are children who have just lent one of their toys and want it back. Let’s call it as it is, Parliament couldn’t rule a toy shop. The Right Honorable and the holier than thou misfits, are unable to carry out a democratic decision from the people, as it is, they were sent to Parliament, by us, to do a job. They haven’t done it so to blue blazes to them.

Sack them.

We need a new political system, at least one that replaces the old. Two parties blazing away at each other, governed by self-interest and what will Parliament get for me, is no good at all. Politics needs to find a center ground, a ground that encompasses all views. There may have to be a bit of give and take, this is fine. Just let’s get on and do it. People are fed up with the usual in fighting of petty political ambitions. The race to get to the top has become a show ground of childish endeavor. It needs to change. It needs to alter.

Tony Blair (son of Thatcher) recognized the center ground; we need to get it back. Forthwith and without the inane mutterings of our political elite. To hell with them. They are a useless mouthpiece of an inevitable groundswell of political immaturity.
Who you vote for, and it will come sooner than you think, is anyone’s guess but for heaven’s sake, make the change that politics desperately needs?
Politics is brutal. Assassination is not my style. Thank God I am not involved in it.

Column – Evening Post

Here’s the thing – multiracialism. Do we have it or not? The hard -left maintain that we do and the hard-right claim that all this is all poppycock and that the hard-left is living in a dreamworld, full of anti-Semitism and so on.
Well, I’ve just been to Birmingham for a weekend, I used to live and work there. Seeing old friends (one a lorry driver and one who used to work for me). The lorry driver I lived with once, and the other one is a Sikh. Both men are full of hell and racist as they come! Not really, I just thought I wind things up a bit.
We enjoyed ourselves, drinking and eating and having a generally good time. No racism in sight. Birmingham is the second city in this country, not like London at all. I lived there too; it has become a state within a state. I wouldn’t go and live there for all the tea in China – well, that’s if it has got anything left, what with all the steel and cheap goods that it keeps producing. It has gripped capitalism for all that and holier than thou good for them.
Whilst in Birmingham I noticed all the mixed relationships, all the Chinese, Asian and blacks walking about with their white girlfriends and boyfriends, nothing new here then. It was all a happy conglomerate of a mixed- race community.
Now, the thing is, and I may well be ignorant of these matters, but I couldn’t see any racist black spots going on and I lived there for about eight years. The media goes on and on about it, but I didn’t see anything, and this is a fact. I couldn’t care less what the colour of a person’s skin is, he/she may become a friend or not. It doesn’t depend on whether they might be blue or brown, black or white. I remember now all the people I knew there were of Asian and black origin, so I would say go and live there and draw your own conclusions.
You may be surprised.

Column – Evening Post

Technology, forget the technological advances of the jet age! Now, here is the thing that causes so much contention in the modern world. Artificial Intelligence, computers, mobile phones etc etc the list never ends. The Government is about to get the social media companies to clean up their act, well, this will be the first time that any Government will bring these companies on line – that’s a quaint word isn’t it?
What disturbs me, is the effect social media is having on our young. And before anyone askes, I don’t use it. Frankly, I can’t see the point in making an idiot of myself—-in public at that.
Let’s face it, you go into a pub and you see all the young people on their mobile phones, not talking don’t forget. What ever happened to chat up lines? You know, the man coming on to girl and either getting slapped in the face or a pleasing smile. There’s no risk anymore. Tap into your mobile and there you have it. What she likes, where she likes going and what her education is. That’s if your interested in this kind of thing.
And you go along the high street – I saw a girl walking into a lamppost the other day, dear me she got a shock. Bang! And that’s she all got from the music that was playing on her mobile! Give me strength.
There are untoward pictures on Social Media, semi-nude and so on, stalkers and miscreants, all with fake names and all with questionable instincts. When will it all end?
I’m all for freedom of speech (I’m an author for heaven’s sake) but it must be exercised in the right circumstances and young ‘uns are getting it right in the face. No holds barred.
It’s wrong.
If this is the way, we are going then God help us. Books are going out of fashion as the young grow up, it will mean they just become a collector’s item. Writing is becoming an old-fashioned sport and normal conversation is becoming the activity of a reckless bunch of old wrinklies.
I say, stop the social media – a fat chance of that! If the world collapses, we’ll still have social media plaguing us.

Brexit – oh no! – Evening Post

What is all this about? We’ve had a referendum and the politicians are still arguing about it. Well, that’s all I can say, they are our servants and nothing more. If we don’t like what they are doing over Brexit then wait for the General Election and vote them out. You might decide not to vote at all, and I wouldn’t blame you. They’ve acted like a load of school children having a fight over a conker match.

It’s ridiculous. The Labour Party is just trying to have a General Election, and bugger the will of the people – what they want this for heaven knows,we’ll be in exactly the same political mess as we are in now!

Two thirds of politicians are stay in merchants and the rest are fighting for an out, out and out again. Where is the compromise? Where is a grown up debate? Nowhere, that’s where. Anyway, I’ve had enough of the political argument, I’ve stopped watching Newsnight and Politics Live. Repetition and sangfroid deliberation by all concerned. It’s an utter nonsense.

Just get it done!

The politicians have already got rid of our Prime Minister, what else are they going to do? The whole political class needs a shake up call and the way to do it, sorry for repeating myself, is get them out. All of them, apart from those who acted with maturity over the whole damn mess.

Trust in politics? I used to have a generous view on this. Now? Not anymore. We have a Parliament that’s on the brink of collapsing. And whose fault is this? Yes, you’ve got it – Parliament. It makes you wonder about a benign dictatorship doesn’t it? Anything, apart from the shambles we’re in – well, a dictatorship is pushing it, but you get my point. I don’t fancy going back to the days of Mussolini and Stalin!

Politicians pull your fingers out, otherwise you may not have job to go back to following a general election. Everyone is going on about ‘the time has passed’. Well, you had better watch out for time passing. We all want to give you the sack, then you can argue about Universal Credit then – on second thoughts, Company directorships are all the rage nowadays for politicians!

We’ve all had enough of Brexit negotiations. We’ve all had enough of the toing and froing from Brussels. We’ve all had enough of the reporters and ‘expert’ commentators. Just do the job and let us all get on with our lives!

I’ll say this for the last time- they are our servants, sack them!!!

PS The Welsh referendum only got in by a whisker, 50.30% for to 49.70% against, that’s out of 50.22% turnout. I don’t hear anyone raising their voices about that!

The Welsh Nationalist Trolls

They are quiet at the moment, aren’t they? The nationalist trolls, that is. Normally they’re out in force whenever I write something that they see as anti-Welsh – which is just about everything!

No lies, no surplus of exaggeration? God in heaven, I must be winning the argument! But what is going on in Social Media heaven knows, I don’t go near it.