We in the UK are said to waste enormous amounts of food. Here in Cardiff, they even provide us with biodegradeable bags to put the stuff in and it is collected weekly with other compostible material. Most of the stuff I put in there is inedible anyway - bones, husks, outer coating of pineapples, orange peel etc. And I am someone who doesn't peel potatoes or carrots or the like so you can hardly call me wasteful.
But it isn't all the consumer's fault. So much stuff is sold in quantities that defy complete usage even if you have a family of say 4 or 6. Celery is a real culprit. It doesn't keep fresh for too long although I dare say I could blanch it and freeze it. However most recipes call for one stalk or two and all the supermarkets sell is the whole bloody bunch. Do I really want to spend all day preparing different things with the stuff to save the planet?
Our Government wishes to discourage or even ban 2 for 1 food offers saying that much is wasted. They can piss right off as far as I am concerned. I live alone but I am quite happy with the savings I can make on '2 for 1' providing I can freeze the 2nd portion for another day. If I cannot freeze it, then I don't buy it.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Friday 19 March 2010
British Empire
This beyond all doubt was the largest empire ever seen, bigger than that or Rome or even Alexander the Great. As such, it has come in for a lot of criticism and it is true that a lot of nasty things were done in our empire. I don't apologise for that. Times and social values were different when the empire was created and who is to say that the colonial countries would have behaved differently if they had been colonial powers? You wouldn't want Robert Mugabe to be the Emperor of Europe would you?
'Ah,' I hear you say, 'but we never had any colonial aspirations.' Really? Are you telling me that given half a chance you would not have knocked seven bells out of the neighbouring tribe or country? Given the history of conflict over the past centuries, then of course you would. It still happens to this day.
And if the British Empire was really so very very bad, why is it that its political ideals - democracy, free press etc. - are still held in high esteem today? Even the worst dictator still pretends that things are democratic. The USA kicked us into touch in 1776 but they still hold many of our values dear, as does Canada,Australia, India and many, many smaller places.
But was there ever a British Empire? I am biased here for I really believe it was an English Empire. Yes the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish were drafted in to support the expansion but it was led, largely, by the English.
Next point. For most colonies it's been about 60/70 years since they were given independence and what's happened since? India has moved on and Canada/Australia/USA have done so too but they became independent earlier. South Africa seems to progress in fits and starts.The majority of the rest have not moved at all or even gone backwards. Despite this, British colonialism continues to be blamed for the woes of today. Yes indeed we could and should have done more but that's no excuse for the state of many countries today.
Well, let's just think about the state of things before Britain arrived. People wandering around with tea towels over their genitals, holding spears, fighting and earning a subsistence living. (India was different.) Our main fault is that we hardly improved on that.
'Ah,' I hear you say, 'but we never had any colonial aspirations.' Really? Are you telling me that given half a chance you would not have knocked seven bells out of the neighbouring tribe or country? Given the history of conflict over the past centuries, then of course you would. It still happens to this day.
And if the British Empire was really so very very bad, why is it that its political ideals - democracy, free press etc. - are still held in high esteem today? Even the worst dictator still pretends that things are democratic. The USA kicked us into touch in 1776 but they still hold many of our values dear, as does Canada,Australia, India and many, many smaller places.
But was there ever a British Empire? I am biased here for I really believe it was an English Empire. Yes the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish were drafted in to support the expansion but it was led, largely, by the English.
Next point. For most colonies it's been about 60/70 years since they were given independence and what's happened since? India has moved on and Canada/Australia/USA have done so too but they became independent earlier. South Africa seems to progress in fits and starts.The majority of the rest have not moved at all or even gone backwards. Despite this, British colonialism continues to be blamed for the woes of today. Yes indeed we could and should have done more but that's no excuse for the state of many countries today.
Well, let's just think about the state of things before Britain arrived. People wandering around with tea towels over their genitals, holding spears, fighting and earning a subsistence living. (India was different.) Our main fault is that we hardly improved on that.
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Age of criminal responsibility
Back in 1993, two 10 yr old boys took a 2 yo toddler from a shopping mall. The little one went freely and CCTV shows that he held the hand of one of the older boys. The older boys took the toddler to a railway track and killed him by bashing his head with a brick and a car battery. The killers were released on parole in 2001 and given new identities. One of them is now back in jail for what are said to be serious criminal charges but we don't know what they are.
That is the background to the fact that this case and others have reawakend the debate on what age should we set for criminal responsibilty. In Britain, it is 10 yrs old (8 yrs old in Scotland) and that is one of the lowest, if not the lowest, in Western Europe. The simplistics amongst us are clamouring to raise the age to say 14, 16 or even 18. Are they saying that we have to change because France or Germany are different? If we used that logic, we'd be changing all sorts of laws.
Each country is different. Go to Amsterdam and you see the glass covered tourists boats moored on the canal sides at night; it was no different when I went there the first time back in 1970. Try doing that in the UK and they would be bricked to oblivion in just one night.
No, any decision on this issue must be based on local circumstances not what is happening in the Congo.
But there is a wider and much more important issue here - why should there be a fixed age anyway? Children develop at different speeds and much depends on parenting in the first 5 years. Some parents infuse their kids with moral values and others don't; many do it half heartedly. So who is to say that all children below a given age are not criminally responsibe whilst those above that age are. It all depends on the child and his/her upbringing.
In an ideal world, you'd scrap the fixed age limit and make an assessment of the child before deciding upon the way it was to be treated much as you do with adults with respect to insanity. Trouble is the assessment would be made by sociologists who are only too willing to play the 'there, there, it's not your fault' card.
I don't have an answer here. But of this, I am sure that any 10 year old from whatever background would know that bashing a 2 yo's head until he died was wrong.
That is the background to the fact that this case and others have reawakend the debate on what age should we set for criminal responsibilty. In Britain, it is 10 yrs old (8 yrs old in Scotland) and that is one of the lowest, if not the lowest, in Western Europe. The simplistics amongst us are clamouring to raise the age to say 14, 16 or even 18. Are they saying that we have to change because France or Germany are different? If we used that logic, we'd be changing all sorts of laws.
Each country is different. Go to Amsterdam and you see the glass covered tourists boats moored on the canal sides at night; it was no different when I went there the first time back in 1970. Try doing that in the UK and they would be bricked to oblivion in just one night.
No, any decision on this issue must be based on local circumstances not what is happening in the Congo.
But there is a wider and much more important issue here - why should there be a fixed age anyway? Children develop at different speeds and much depends on parenting in the first 5 years. Some parents infuse their kids with moral values and others don't; many do it half heartedly. So who is to say that all children below a given age are not criminally responsibe whilst those above that age are. It all depends on the child and his/her upbringing.
In an ideal world, you'd scrap the fixed age limit and make an assessment of the child before deciding upon the way it was to be treated much as you do with adults with respect to insanity. Trouble is the assessment would be made by sociologists who are only too willing to play the 'there, there, it's not your fault' card.
I don't have an answer here. But of this, I am sure that any 10 year old from whatever background would know that bashing a 2 yo's head until he died was wrong.
Friday 12 March 2010
Original artefacts
The possession of originals like artefacts and paintings is an obsession with many people and the source of a lot of friction between nations. Can’t see the point of much of this generally. Let’s look at a few:
Egypt understandably would like the Rosetta Stone out of the British Museum. Let them have it, I say, for we could make a perfectly acceptable copy. Enormous quantities of Egyptian artefacts were taken abroad over the years and they don’t moan too much about most of them. Maybe that’s because they have plenty left. Nonetheless, I’d return the bust of Nefertiti from Berlin.
I am far less sympathetic to Greece’s request for the return of the Elgin Marbles but that is born of the fact that they have just bloody well moaned for years and are a pain in the arse. Melina Mercouri made it an obsession and that only increased my resolve to tell her to piss off. As an actress turned to politics, I suspect she made this a cause to further her political profile. The Greeks have a wondrous history but I see little that they have done to promote it. I mean it took the Brits to kick off the project to create an ancient trireme.
Iran wants to borrow the cylinder of Cyrus the Great, arguably the world’s first declaration of human rights. Well, first they do some pretty fine full size replicas for sale in Iran so why do they want the original, even if as they say, they only wish to borrow it? Usual reason, we want the original, it’s ours, it’s part of our history and so on. The British Museum is behaving as though it does not trust Iran to return it; can’t say I blame them. Well we could swap the original with one of those tourist replicas and surely that would be good enough for the researchers who say they wish to study it more. Let Iran have it and if they destroy it with a car bomb, what the heck?
Now to the arts like painting and sculpture. Well they are easily reproducible and have been, so what’s the fuss? This is where I compare the museums with the airports on which I wrote earlier – testosterone. All a bit like kids really – ‘I’ve got the original Guernica, so go suck,’ ‘I’ve got the Mona Lisa, so bugger you.’ I have but 3 original paintings in this house plus a silk embroidery: they are lovely. If they were copies, it would not bother me a bit.
And then there is the value of the originals. Those in the public domain are generally worth nothing because the very museums and galleries that hold them are unlikely to sell them. Maybe we should rethink this – like ‘Hi Egypt, we’ve racked up a lot of debt, how much for the Rosetta Stone, in gold, of course?’ Trouble here is that the sellers are often richer than the prospective buyers and that’s certainly true of Greece right now with an economy that is truly buggered.
Private ownership is another issue entirely. Private ownership is a matter for the individual and you could argue that it is based on the sin of coveting not that that is particularly relevant. The beauty of private ownership is that if you keep it secret, no other bugger knows and therefore won’t make a claim.
I have some rare stamps. I have no unique ones but I have 2 examples of which there are only 3 others in the world and no photocopy would satisfy me. No one out there is clamouring for mine.
Finally you get the mixed private/public ownership such as the Koh-I-Noor diamond in the Crown Jewels – privately owned but we all know about it. Bhutto (Ali not Benazir) of Pakistan once asked for it back which is a bloody cheek since it was found in SW India. I guess you might make a replica of it in cubic zirconia but it wouldn’t be the same.
So where has this ramble led me? Nowhere really. Guess I’d hand back the really crucial artefacts (except to Greece) that could be copied and keep the rest.
Egypt understandably would like the Rosetta Stone out of the British Museum. Let them have it, I say, for we could make a perfectly acceptable copy. Enormous quantities of Egyptian artefacts were taken abroad over the years and they don’t moan too much about most of them. Maybe that’s because they have plenty left. Nonetheless, I’d return the bust of Nefertiti from Berlin.
I am far less sympathetic to Greece’s request for the return of the Elgin Marbles but that is born of the fact that they have just bloody well moaned for years and are a pain in the arse. Melina Mercouri made it an obsession and that only increased my resolve to tell her to piss off. As an actress turned to politics, I suspect she made this a cause to further her political profile. The Greeks have a wondrous history but I see little that they have done to promote it. I mean it took the Brits to kick off the project to create an ancient trireme.
Iran wants to borrow the cylinder of Cyrus the Great, arguably the world’s first declaration of human rights. Well, first they do some pretty fine full size replicas for sale in Iran so why do they want the original, even if as they say, they only wish to borrow it? Usual reason, we want the original, it’s ours, it’s part of our history and so on. The British Museum is behaving as though it does not trust Iran to return it; can’t say I blame them. Well we could swap the original with one of those tourist replicas and surely that would be good enough for the researchers who say they wish to study it more. Let Iran have it and if they destroy it with a car bomb, what the heck?
Now to the arts like painting and sculpture. Well they are easily reproducible and have been, so what’s the fuss? This is where I compare the museums with the airports on which I wrote earlier – testosterone. All a bit like kids really – ‘I’ve got the original Guernica, so go suck,’ ‘I’ve got the Mona Lisa, so bugger you.’ I have but 3 original paintings in this house plus a silk embroidery: they are lovely. If they were copies, it would not bother me a bit.
And then there is the value of the originals. Those in the public domain are generally worth nothing because the very museums and galleries that hold them are unlikely to sell them. Maybe we should rethink this – like ‘Hi Egypt, we’ve racked up a lot of debt, how much for the Rosetta Stone, in gold, of course?’ Trouble here is that the sellers are often richer than the prospective buyers and that’s certainly true of Greece right now with an economy that is truly buggered.
Private ownership is another issue entirely. Private ownership is a matter for the individual and you could argue that it is based on the sin of coveting not that that is particularly relevant. The beauty of private ownership is that if you keep it secret, no other bugger knows and therefore won’t make a claim.
I have some rare stamps. I have no unique ones but I have 2 examples of which there are only 3 others in the world and no photocopy would satisfy me. No one out there is clamouring for mine.
Finally you get the mixed private/public ownership such as the Koh-I-Noor diamond in the Crown Jewels – privately owned but we all know about it. Bhutto (Ali not Benazir) of Pakistan once asked for it back which is a bloody cheek since it was found in SW India. I guess you might make a replica of it in cubic zirconia but it wouldn’t be the same.
So where has this ramble led me? Nowhere really. Guess I’d hand back the really crucial artefacts (except to Greece) that could be copied and keep the rest.
Saturday 6 March 2010
Michael Foot
Michael Foot died this week at the ripe old age of 96 – a Labour politician and one time leader of the party who led them to a disastrous election defeat in 1984. That would not have been difficult given that Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party were riding on the crest of the wave following the defeat of Argentina in the Falklands. However I have to ask myself if he would have done any better if the Falklands dispute had never happened: I doubt it.
Tributes have poured in since the man’s death from people of all political persuasions:
Passionate
Intellectual
Honest
Kindly
Brilliant orator
Idealist
You name it, he’s done it or so they say, but did he? I don’t believe so for his impact on this world was bugger all. I did not know him personally but I have seen him speak many times and read some of the things he had written. So let us look at just a few things.
Brilliant orator? Oh for sure he could speak well and at length. His speeches were quite fluid and dotted with a gentle humour that would make anyone smile. However, they were hardly captivating or inspiring. Sure they got his supporters clapping but would they have got them or me out of bed early on a frosty morning? No.
Leadership? He showed no signs of leadership whatsoever, only rising to be the Leader of the Labour Party in order to fill a vacuum. No visible evidence of an ability to get people to do that little bit extra. And how could you possibly campaign for unilateral disarmament at a time when the USA and USSR had enough missiles to destroy the planet. If the West has disarmed, the tanks of Russia would have been rolling across the north German plains the very next day. MAD may have seemed daft but it kept the peace.
Some have commented on the fact that he did not enlist for WWII, preferring to spend his time in his London flat reading and writing. Others have said that he may have been a ‘conscientious objector’; it is possible. He may have been unfit to enlist but we have never had any details. I don’t know the facts here but I do know that my grandfather managed to enlist with lousy lungs and only got thrown out when they found he had understated his age.
Note however the words, ‘London flat,’ and the fact that he is reported to have died in his ‘Hampstead villa.’ Now even a box room in Hampstead would cost a small fortune so that tells you that he was well off. Hardly surprising since him and his equally left wing brothers were the children of a well heeled solicitor from Plymouth. So, he’s just one of many middle class socialists that have never experienced the hardship of the working class but pretend to empathise with it.
I won’t miss him and I doubt if many will given a week.
Tributes have poured in since the man’s death from people of all political persuasions:
Passionate
Intellectual
Honest
Kindly
Brilliant orator
Idealist
You name it, he’s done it or so they say, but did he? I don’t believe so for his impact on this world was bugger all. I did not know him personally but I have seen him speak many times and read some of the things he had written. So let us look at just a few things.
Brilliant orator? Oh for sure he could speak well and at length. His speeches were quite fluid and dotted with a gentle humour that would make anyone smile. However, they were hardly captivating or inspiring. Sure they got his supporters clapping but would they have got them or me out of bed early on a frosty morning? No.
Leadership? He showed no signs of leadership whatsoever, only rising to be the Leader of the Labour Party in order to fill a vacuum. No visible evidence of an ability to get people to do that little bit extra. And how could you possibly campaign for unilateral disarmament at a time when the USA and USSR had enough missiles to destroy the planet. If the West has disarmed, the tanks of Russia would have been rolling across the north German plains the very next day. MAD may have seemed daft but it kept the peace.
Some have commented on the fact that he did not enlist for WWII, preferring to spend his time in his London flat reading and writing. Others have said that he may have been a ‘conscientious objector’; it is possible. He may have been unfit to enlist but we have never had any details. I don’t know the facts here but I do know that my grandfather managed to enlist with lousy lungs and only got thrown out when they found he had understated his age.
Note however the words, ‘London flat,’ and the fact that he is reported to have died in his ‘Hampstead villa.’ Now even a box room in Hampstead would cost a small fortune so that tells you that he was well off. Hardly surprising since him and his equally left wing brothers were the children of a well heeled solicitor from Plymouth. So, he’s just one of many middle class socialists that have never experienced the hardship of the working class but pretend to empathise with it.
I won’t miss him and I doubt if many will given a week.
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