Need A Good Reason To Change The Gun Laws? Here You Have it.

Take a look at this image and imagine you are a kid , under 12 let's say.  One of these is a deadly hand gun a machine designed to kill things. The other is a Wii game console controller designed for fun.  AT FIRST GLANCE IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL THEM APART BUT WHAT IF YOU ARE ONLY THREE ?   Both were lying around a family home where a  3 year old died after she shot herself  after finding the gun in the living room where her mother was on her computer only feet away.   So much is wrong here it is just madness to allow guns of any kind to be sold. The mother informed investigators that the toddler aged three, played with the game for days on end. Yes it is a tragedy,  yes it was an accident,  can any one be blamed ....most definitely yes.  

Leadership Debate. Just bring your own Leader.

I don't get this. The three protagonists can be seen and heard on live Parliamentary broadcasts most any day. So what will we learn from a staged debate where we are more interested in Messrs Brown Cameron & Clegg fluffing their lines, sweating profusely and stumbling on entry than anything they will actually say.  The simple truth, which these guys do not yet grasp is, we are all so disgusted with politicians and bored with politics the prospect is as about exciting as painting a wet fence. 

   What a waste of prime time TV.

Winter Olympics: amazing.

I am not a big sports fan .  I do like watching on T.V. but I get grumpy at the football fanatics  who seem to think soccer is the only game in town.  I have just watched the Canada/U S A Ice Hockey  game from Vancouver and it was truly amazing. After watching the excitement and speed and skill of the game it is obvious nothing comes close to this for thrills and skill. I also watched some of the specialist ski and snow-board events and these people are either incredibly stupid or incredibly brave,either way they do stuff that just leaves me saying "how do they do that".In a world where war and hunger and injustice are rife it is encouraging to see nations competing in honest competition and following a principle where it is all important to take part.  Some of our over paid football players should take note. And how do you get the message to the terrorists of the world ?   

So P.M. Gordon Brown Loses His Temper. Shocking or What.

I may be out on a limb here but, the fact that the most powerful guy in the country loses his temper now and again does not shock me in the slightest. Let me say straight off,  bullying of any sort is unacceptable no matter who is involved. This case just does not sit right somehow. The lady who has started the whole thing a Mrs Pratt (unfortunately) has ignored  the rules  of her own organisation by  breaking confidentiality rules it is reported. Already sponsors are resigning from the charity, leading Tory Anne Widdicombe among the first.  Politics is a dirty business but it always manages to find new lows to wallow in.

As always resignations and inquiries are called for but will Mrs Pratt be resigning ... no is her response. Will the National Bullying Helpline be investigated ...probably not. Such is the clammer to blow  the story up it actually seems like poor Gordon is being bullied.  I guess he wont be calling the help line.  Would you ?

The Pound Saves U.K. from Deeper Recession. What Future For The Euro?

I am old enough to remember the big switch to decimal currency in the U.K.  It was the biggest con trick of all time. Overnight prices rose dramatically as retailers rounded up the odd one or two penny anomalies in the conversion.  The other thing was that pack sizes of most products went down but prices went up, or at least it seemed that way. I would argue long and hard to avoid joining the EURO, just as I want to keep the pint, pounds & ounces and feet & inches. I don't mind co-existing with litres, kilos & gramms, and metres I just think it is o.k to have the best of both.

    Now it is beingreported by a "think tank" that if the U.K. had not retained the Pound our recession would have been  much worse. I am not sure if that is totally true but when you look at the trouble Greece are in,also Spain and Ireland you do wonder if they now regret  losing  that bit of heritage and national identity  for the promise of  wealth and security by joining a single european currency.  I guess if you have no money it is immaterial what the money you have none of is called. It is important what it is worth though and in global terms you are much better off if you have POUNDSrather than EUROS.  What I can say is that out and about at the weekend every where we went was busy car parks were full shops and restaurants were doing good business. Maybe the recession  was not as bad as we were led to believe.   What I really want to know is how do you get a job on a think tank? It sounds better than working for a living .

Scrap The Fixed Retirement Age? I Don't Think So.

This makes me grumpy and troubles me a lot. The language is slanted to preserving the rights of those who want to work past what is known as the official retirement age of 65. As far as I know there is no law which prevents anyone working as long as they want to.  It should be about choice, not need. If pensions in our country were of a decent level to allow people to maintain a reasonable life style I am sure we would see a different picture.

 It seems like a stealthy ploy to increase the retirement age. The other thing that concerns me is the fact that young people have enough difficulty getting into the jobs market as it is, this can only make it more of a challenge for them. Hard work never killed anybody they said, but no one ever asked a miner or a ship yard worker or a night shift worker. Some people want to retire and collect their pension, i.e. the one they have worked for.  This bit of social engineering should be consigned to the scrap heap along side the majority of people who work past retirement age, like judges, politicians, bankers and civil servants: you know, people with gilt edge pensions.  

So be warned this is about wealth not health, and we should also remember that people fought and sacrificed to get retirement pensions in our country. Many never even reached retirement age.   We give them up at our peril. 

SWINE FLU: ARE WE ALL OWED AN APOLOGY?

Let us not forget that there were some serious cases of swine flu and sadly there were fatalities. We are not through the winter yet, but it does look like the warnings about thousands of dead, industry grinding to a halt and, mass vacination plans were more than a wee bit off the mark. Again we have been victims of "WORST CASE SCENARIO PLANNING".  It is designed to terrify you so that when what actually happens is bad enough, it is stiill nowhere near as bad as they said it would be and you feel relieved that it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  So don't say we didn't tell you.

Happy New Year and the Long Trudge to Work.

So as the Xmas/New Year Holiday ends it is still freezing and snowy.We have been pretty much snow bound for most of the two weeks as winter has really set in with minus 10's and a minus 15 forecast in some parts of the country. As predicted (by every one exceptt the roads dept.) salt supplies have run low or even out altogether but it's the suppliers fault not the highways dept. We did venture out however  and one highlight was the fireworks in Edinburgh to herald in 2010 a truly amazing experience which every one should see at least once.

It's back to work now though and we hope lots to grump about as we get back to "normal"  which the weather report says will be in about 2 to 3 weeks

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR  !   

Amanda Knox. US Anger Grows. The Mystery Goes On.

Supporters of Amanda Knox are to meet Hilary Clinton citing serious misgivings about the Italian Justice System. Let us not forget that Meredith Kercher is dead. I admit to taking a simplistic view but ignore the justice system for a minute.  Three people enter a room,only two emerge alive and well,the third person is dead,murdered. One of the two, or both did it.   Under most jurisdictions guilty is the only verdict possible.

As always is the case unless Miss Knox or the boyfriend own up and tell the honest truth we will never know what actually happened.  So all of the criticism and accusations of Italy's justice system seem a bit off the mark.The crime was committed in Italy there for Italian Law applies. Calls to boycott Italian products and cancel holidays have already begun.   Meredith Kercher  has no say in the matter. 

Bankers Bonus. Is it another Goverment climb down?

I am firstly amazed that there is any money in any bank to allow them to pay anyone a bonus. You would think that their priority would be to pay back the loans which bailed them out or to at least let their long suffering customers see that some restraint was being exercised regarding bonuses. At the height of the credit crisis the chancellor told us steps would be taken to curtail these payments.Now we are being told there may be a windfall taxon them a super tax on super bonuses. That will be fine then. Let them get the bonus and then  try to tax it.   Now I have always known that bankers are particularly good at the old tax avoidance game, and quite simply I smell collusion here between government bankers and the tax man.  This all stems from the resignation threat from RBS directors if their bonuses were banned.   Let them resign I say, I am sure there is plenty of younger talent waiting to step in and take their place. CALL THEIR BLUFF, and let us get some reality in the banking system, they have forgotten that it is the customer who is king,it is time to remind them.