ISRAEL-GAZA AND THE SILENT Mr OBAMA

Mr Olmert here has the power to save hundreds of lives. Right now he could stop further fatalities  by just calling a halt to air strikes on Gaza. It will not happen,just as Hamas will not stop firing rockets at Israeli targets. Both sides believe themselves to be right in their actions against each other.  This is the point where a powerful,wise and respected world statesman stands up,speaks out, and says stop......now.      Mr Obama our world leader in waiting is remaining silent on the whole question of the middle east conflict, he is following the line of silent support of Israel. In fact he seems willing to talk of everything else other than the biggest question facing world peace.   Golf seemed to be his priority on his Hawaiian holiday.

   Make the most of it Mr Obama....that plate you are about to step up to is closer than you think.

FAKE DOG IS TOP SELLER FOR XMAS.

Meet Biscuit he's this years top toy on the Xmas list. At around £140 each you best grab one now or they will be gone. The life size golden retriever walks and obeys commands like a real dog and may be the answer to the age old problem of a dog is not just for Xmas. If it prevents strays being cast out after the festive period I am all for it.  Cute maybe?

                                            This critter is our resident rogue and very much the real thing. Lots more fun too I reckon. He even has his own blog. Check it out and see what you think. You will laugh out loud. And may save £140.

TOYOTA ANNOUNCE FIRST LOSS SOUNDS O.K TO ME!

A collective sharp intake of breath met the news from Toyota that they expect to make a loss for the first time in their 70 year history.  The news has shocked the financial world,auto industry experts, and analysts.  This news is very, very, very bad said one pundit.  Hold on a minute though, last year Toyota's figures were very, very, very good.  In fact Toyota's figures have been very good for around 68 other years in a row.  I am again missing something here because I always thought that that is how business works, a bit good here, a bit bad there, ups and downs. So long as you have more ups than downs it will all be fine...I thought.  Toyota have one down out of 70 and...........PANIC.    So the doom and gloom goes on and on.  What worries me is that all of these C E O's  and experts saw none of this coming, no prudence was exercised, no caution was noted.

Remember the one about putting a bit away........for a rainy day.  It's raining guys.

CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR THE SHOPS AND THE SHOPPERS SO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CREDIT CRUNCH

Yes retailers who were going bust just 5 days ago are reporting record business in the run up to Christmas. So somebody is not telling  the truth here. Our local Center was chaotic last weekend. This weekend it was absolute mayhem.   What is clear is that every store had a sale on offering up to 70% off in some cases. So now they are worried about January with all this spending will there be any retail activity at all. We have said it here already  shrewd shoppers will be out in force again. 

                                    Watch out for record sales in January

TURKEYS VOTE TO BAN CHRISTMAS

As far as we know the Turkeys have never voted for Christmas. So this little story makes us a bit less grumpy. Two hundred and fifty may well be spared after a buyer cancelled his order due to the credit crunch. O.k. they are bred for the table and they do taste great but it's nice to see them getting one back on the farmer.  I am sure he will survive unlike most of his birds.

This one got it's own back too, Ol George? surprised as usual.

BIZARRE ART IS MORE THAN A BIT "FISHY"

I would never claim possession of a keen eye as far as "art" is concerned. Mrs Grumpy however is  very artistic and can see interest and beauty in old brick walls and cracking plaster work. This latest offering from a German lady artist just makes me angry. Using the heads of dead creatures of any species is simply bizarre and perverse to me."Fish are a great way to communicate my opinions"

What do you think of this? It seems so creepy to me, just like the cows in formaldehyde. Dressing them up just makes it even more strange.

Regular readers will know that any type of animal abuse makes us grumpy to the point of anger. It makes no difference that the animals are dead, it still seems abusive to me.  The fish  of course cannot give their opinion.

PRAY FOR THE CAR? HOW BIZARRE? THE END IS NIGH.

The Motor City has hosted some strange events but this must come close to the most bizarre church service ever.In"the most midnight hour ever seen" the congregation were asked to pray and fast for a rescue vote to be passed to save the big auto makers from collapse. Now I am not sure if the Big Boss upstairs drives a Ford or Chrysler. I somehow guess he would favour a simpler cleaner more eco friendly mode of transport. Yes nothing fails quicker than a selfish prayer. Grumpy Old Bloggers verse one chaper one. 

HBOS REWARDS FAILURE AGAIN.

This is precisely the kind of story that makes people angry. HBOS will fly 200 people to New York as reward for their performance in the last year. The 100 managers and their partners will benefit from a lavish reward scheme as coleagues wait to see how many of them are made redundant.

Words fail to describe the insensitivity of this. How can people even accept this type of reward when their company is on the verge of collapse. It is a terrible reflection of our selfish society where our only thought is self promotion and greed. The Bank says these people deserve it as "they have offered exceptional performance and gone the extra mile"  Is that not what you would expect when your company is in serious trouble? 

WOOLLIES. THE VULTURES SWOOP IN.

Well it was sad to see the closing down sale at Woolworth's. Even more sad were the complaints from vultures  shoppers that the sale prices were not low enough. Assistants who are about to lose their jobs were shown little sympathy from bargain hunters who queued to pick over the bones of Woolies.  As a fan of the Woolworths brand it still surprises me how this high street giant has failed so badly. All of the experts are not surprised as they have been struggling for years,but,all of the customers said they loved the place. They just didn't spend enough cash at their local Woolies, hence the demise.

One thing that is worthy of note. Where are the bosses who clearly mis- managed the operation? Are they already off clutching fat pay cheques?

Hopefully something will be salvaged to fill the gap left in every high street,Asda,Tesco and Iceland are in line to buy up some of the prime sites. Meantime we should spare a thought for the staff at the shops and show some sympathy for their situation this Christmas.

                                                                         

NUTS WE'VE ALL GONE NUTS OR ARE WE JUST ALLERGIC

Health and safety has turned us all into hysterical paranoics.  Allergies are a fact of life but an incident which caused a school bus to be evacuated and decontaminated by the discovery of a single peanut typified the over reaction to such irrational fears over nut allergies.  With nut free food and nut free schools it is odd that as more people die from bee stings, lightening strikes and sport mishaps there are no calls to eradicate these dangers. Even more strange is the fact that more people in the U.S.A. have banned nuts from anywhere near their children  but are happy to have a gun in their house.  So again we seem to have perpetrated the levels of fear surrounding the nut allergy problem but just remember, more kids die by just walking around than anything else. So before you go nuts get a professional opinion then you can worry about it all officially.