There is a lot of fuss down here in Wales right now over a proposed cull of badgers in West Wales. There is even more fuss now that the Court of Appeal has declared the cull unlawful.
On the one hand you have the farmers who believe that they carry tuberculosis and infect their cattle. On the other hand, you have the usual bunch of greens and conservationists who simply shout ‘No.’ Truth is that badgers carry TB and so do cattle and they cross-infect each other and I cannot get a straight answer out of anyone about which is the main culprit. Indeed, there may not be a main culprit; maybe they infect each other in equal measure.
Then you have to ask yourself if the problem is really serious. Of course it is serious for the farmer who has his herd quarantined but let us look at the wider picture. In 2009, in Wales, 1.8 million cattle were tested for TB and there were 1,175 new incidents. Of cattle taken to slaughter, 9,951 were classified as reactors meaning that they showed a positive response to a TB test. But guess what? If you like me had a TB vaccine as a child, you would be a reactor because you carry the antibodies all your life.
I spoke to a vet about this and uncovered the real problem. We could inject all cattle with a TB vaccine although more trials are needed. The problem lies in the subsequent testing. All cattle will then show up as reactors and as yet we have no way of knowing if they really have TB or are just reacting to the injection. No solution expected until 2015.
I have another problem here. We in the West berate the poorest people of the world not to harm their wild life even when a child has been killed by a tiger or gorillas have raided the banana crop. Yet we seem unable to tolerate a little attrition of our domestic livestock when even the cause is in doubt. Hypocrisy, I call it.
But I am biased. I have sat in a little dell at sundown and watched them all around me.
Tuesday 27 July 2010
BNP
This acronym stands for the British National Party a group of white supremacists who want no truck with people of darker skin. Recently, it was revealed that all members’ names and details have been posted on the internet. Well tough fucking shit. If it were up to me, I’d brand ‘BNP’ on their foreheads and maybe on their arses as well.
Regrettably, the names of kids with family memberships have been published too; that’s not nice and I hope they don’t suffer. As for the adults who are members, I couldn’t give a shit.
In the past week, the Chairman of the BNP, one Nick Griffin, had his invitation to one the Queen’s Garden Parties revoked. He got an automatic invitation because he is an MEP but the Palace said that his invitation was withdrawn because he had used it for ‘political purposes’ on his blog. Maybe they were telling the truth from their perspective and given their position I guess they had to be nice.
I am constrained by no such limits so my message would have been a little different – ‘Look, you racist scum, we don’t want your or your like here. The sooner you die in the gutter, the sooner the better.’
Maybe if the Nazis had been nipped in the bud like that we would not have had WWII and the holocaust. I don’t know and I certainly do not know if I would have had the courage to speak out.
What I do know was written 200 years ago by Edmund Burke:
‘All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.’
So fuck off Nick Griffin and do not pollute my world nor that of my children and my grandchildren anymore.
Regrettably, the names of kids with family memberships have been published too; that’s not nice and I hope they don’t suffer. As for the adults who are members, I couldn’t give a shit.
In the past week, the Chairman of the BNP, one Nick Griffin, had his invitation to one the Queen’s Garden Parties revoked. He got an automatic invitation because he is an MEP but the Palace said that his invitation was withdrawn because he had used it for ‘political purposes’ on his blog. Maybe they were telling the truth from their perspective and given their position I guess they had to be nice.
I am constrained by no such limits so my message would have been a little different – ‘Look, you racist scum, we don’t want your or your like here. The sooner you die in the gutter, the sooner the better.’
Maybe if the Nazis had been nipped in the bud like that we would not have had WWII and the holocaust. I don’t know and I certainly do not know if I would have had the courage to speak out.
What I do know was written 200 years ago by Edmund Burke:
‘All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.’
So fuck off Nick Griffin and do not pollute my world nor that of my children and my grandchildren anymore.
Monday 26 July 2010
Food rationing
During and after WWII, food was rationed in Britain. Understandable because we were fighting a war and quite a bit of food came from abroad. Supplies were limited and the ships that carried it came under attack especially from German submarines. Many were sunk and many lives lost.
I cannot say that I noticed it from the start for I was only born in 1944. However rationing continued until 1951 and was well aware of it by then. For those of you unfamiliar with this I should explain that you were rationed on pretty much everything foodwise and it was prescribed in detail – x ounces of this, y ounces of that, so many eggs etc. all per week. It was probably meagre by today’s standards but I do not recall going hungry and since the rations were balanced, we probably had a pretty good diet. I do recall being particularly fond of the little bottles on concentrated orange juice. Don’t think I ever saw a real orange for years.
In order to prevent corruption (which happened anyway) families were issued with coupons in a booklet and coupons were cut out for each purchase. I don’t remember the details but I recall that there were different coupons for each type of commodity. You had to go to a distribution centre periodically to obtain a new ‘ration’ book as it was called. The place was packed and the queues were long so I would wander off around the hall. The world was pretty safe for little children then.
One time I got lost amongst the crowd and for this one and only time in my life, I thought I had lost my mom. I screamed and screamed and my mother soon found me.
I have few other memories apart from one. At the top of the road was a sweet (candy) shop run by a lady called Miriam. My mother used to give Miriam the whole sweet coupon page and if I bought sweets, Miriam would cut out the relevant coupon after I had left. Sensible arrangement I think with hindsight. You don’t want your little child wandering around with a complete ration book.
Apparently, (and I only knew of this later) some woman watched me buying sweets and not handing over a coupon. She reported Miriam to the authorities but it all came out in the wash and Miriam was exonerated. Pity the woman didn’t check things out before she made the accusation.
Over all, I cannot say that rationing did me any harm.
I cannot say that I noticed it from the start for I was only born in 1944. However rationing continued until 1951 and was well aware of it by then. For those of you unfamiliar with this I should explain that you were rationed on pretty much everything foodwise and it was prescribed in detail – x ounces of this, y ounces of that, so many eggs etc. all per week. It was probably meagre by today’s standards but I do not recall going hungry and since the rations were balanced, we probably had a pretty good diet. I do recall being particularly fond of the little bottles on concentrated orange juice. Don’t think I ever saw a real orange for years.
In order to prevent corruption (which happened anyway) families were issued with coupons in a booklet and coupons were cut out for each purchase. I don’t remember the details but I recall that there were different coupons for each type of commodity. You had to go to a distribution centre periodically to obtain a new ‘ration’ book as it was called. The place was packed and the queues were long so I would wander off around the hall. The world was pretty safe for little children then.
One time I got lost amongst the crowd and for this one and only time in my life, I thought I had lost my mom. I screamed and screamed and my mother soon found me.
I have few other memories apart from one. At the top of the road was a sweet (candy) shop run by a lady called Miriam. My mother used to give Miriam the whole sweet coupon page and if I bought sweets, Miriam would cut out the relevant coupon after I had left. Sensible arrangement I think with hindsight. You don’t want your little child wandering around with a complete ration book.
Apparently, (and I only knew of this later) some woman watched me buying sweets and not handing over a coupon. She reported Miriam to the authorities but it all came out in the wash and Miriam was exonerated. Pity the woman didn’t check things out before she made the accusation.
Over all, I cannot say that rationing did me any harm.
Monday 5 July 2010
Compensation
For donkey’s years, the photographic industry has limited compensation for damaged film to the value of the film itself rather than the cost of the holiday on which you took them. We didn’t like it but we had to put up with it. No other deal was on offer.
Now after the volcanic ash debacle, Ryanair is saying that its liability should be no more than the price of the flight. I agree with them for once. You cannot reasonably expect compensation many times greater than the price you paid for the original transaction. If you think you should, then the price of the original transaction must go up considerably to cover the contingency. Are you prepared to pay for that?
Many years ago, Range Rover placed a fuel pressure regulator (which I sold them) costing £4, behind their V8 engine and against the bulkhead. If it failed, which it did occasionally, then it was engine out to get at it. Cannot remember the cost now but it was something of the order of £250 or even more. So I told them to piss off and offered them £20 which they grudgingly accepted.
We live in a compensation world, fuelled by lawyers who are after making their own profit as they have always done. The hypocrisy of all this lies in the fact that people who take no fucking risks expect those that do, to look after them in every conceivable way.
Let me digress. One of our engineers, got a PCB plot wrong – a mirror image. It cost £7,500 to correct that mistake. Our Finance Director, a nice lad, said we should sack him. I asked why? You make mistakes too but all it takes to correct yours is an eraser or the F2 button. Just be grateful that your errors are cost free.
Let’s move on to Hull where there were considerable floods years ago. A lot of people were uninsured and clamoured for Government help. As one newspaper writer said, ‘If a lot of them had 32” LCD TV’s instead of 42” ones, the savings might just have funded some insurance.'
But back to Ryanair. Our TV screens were full of families who had forked out as much as £3,000 on their holidays but failed to take out insurance. Fuck them, I say, swim home!
I am not a fan of insurance and certainly not insurance companies who will wriggle and squirm to avoid their obligations but they are a necessary evil.
Bottom line is that this world does not owe you or me a living and it’s high time we all understood that.
Now after the volcanic ash debacle, Ryanair is saying that its liability should be no more than the price of the flight. I agree with them for once. You cannot reasonably expect compensation many times greater than the price you paid for the original transaction. If you think you should, then the price of the original transaction must go up considerably to cover the contingency. Are you prepared to pay for that?
Many years ago, Range Rover placed a fuel pressure regulator (which I sold them) costing £4, behind their V8 engine and against the bulkhead. If it failed, which it did occasionally, then it was engine out to get at it. Cannot remember the cost now but it was something of the order of £250 or even more. So I told them to piss off and offered them £20 which they grudgingly accepted.
We live in a compensation world, fuelled by lawyers who are after making their own profit as they have always done. The hypocrisy of all this lies in the fact that people who take no fucking risks expect those that do, to look after them in every conceivable way.
Let me digress. One of our engineers, got a PCB plot wrong – a mirror image. It cost £7,500 to correct that mistake. Our Finance Director, a nice lad, said we should sack him. I asked why? You make mistakes too but all it takes to correct yours is an eraser or the F2 button. Just be grateful that your errors are cost free.
Let’s move on to Hull where there were considerable floods years ago. A lot of people were uninsured and clamoured for Government help. As one newspaper writer said, ‘If a lot of them had 32” LCD TV’s instead of 42” ones, the savings might just have funded some insurance.'
But back to Ryanair. Our TV screens were full of families who had forked out as much as £3,000 on their holidays but failed to take out insurance. Fuck them, I say, swim home!
I am not a fan of insurance and certainly not insurance companies who will wriggle and squirm to avoid their obligations but they are a necessary evil.
Bottom line is that this world does not owe you or me a living and it’s high time we all understood that.
Razor blades
I like wet shaving. It is effective and after you have finished you have a wonderful clean and freshness of face which is unmatched by any electric shaving. Over the years we have gone from razor blades which cut you when you made the slightest error. Given the three moles, two on my face and one at the base of an ear, that was a particular hazard because the buggers bleed like hell with only a slight nick.
But the blades have improved and have protective guards so that I only cut myself if I am really clumsy and get them at the wrong angle. When these protected razors came out, they had a single blade but nowadays you can get up to 5 of them. The argument goes that the first blade cuts of some hair but the residual hair springs back up and you need the second blade to catch it. That makes sense to me but to be honest, I have seen no improvement beyond 3 blades. In my case and I suspect, in most others, my facial hair grows at different angles. So no matter how many blades on the razor, I have to go back over parts of my face to catch residual hairs.
The latest razors vibrate and they do seem more effective but I do think we have entered the realm of diminishing returns here. I could happily live with three blades.
The razor companies cannot live with that of course. Their very being depends upon improving returns and they have one of the oldest marketing ploys of all – sell people the basics cheaply, get them hooked and then rip them off on replacements. I don’t really mind – they have to make a living just like you and me. Strategy no. 2 is to bring out a new product and portray the earlier one as obsolescent. That works too.
All I can say that in all my years of shaving, razors and blades have improved immeasurably and that’s a darn sight better than you have seen in windscreen wipers.
But the blades have improved and have protective guards so that I only cut myself if I am really clumsy and get them at the wrong angle. When these protected razors came out, they had a single blade but nowadays you can get up to 5 of them. The argument goes that the first blade cuts of some hair but the residual hair springs back up and you need the second blade to catch it. That makes sense to me but to be honest, I have seen no improvement beyond 3 blades. In my case and I suspect, in most others, my facial hair grows at different angles. So no matter how many blades on the razor, I have to go back over parts of my face to catch residual hairs.
The latest razors vibrate and they do seem more effective but I do think we have entered the realm of diminishing returns here. I could happily live with three blades.
The razor companies cannot live with that of course. Their very being depends upon improving returns and they have one of the oldest marketing ploys of all – sell people the basics cheaply, get them hooked and then rip them off on replacements. I don’t really mind – they have to make a living just like you and me. Strategy no. 2 is to bring out a new product and portray the earlier one as obsolescent. That works too.
All I can say that in all my years of shaving, razors and blades have improved immeasurably and that’s a darn sight better than you have seen in windscreen wipers.
Imagine
Yeah a John Lennon song. It encapsulates my life. You may say that it is stupid to imagine these things and I would agree that many ideas are impractical. BUT, is there anything wrong with dreaming of a better world? Don’t you want a better world?
Don’t you want little children to have clean water and sanitation? Don’t you want people not to live in starvation? Lennon posed the question, ‘Imagine, no possessions?’ No, I cannot imagine that for we are not that good and anyway as socialism has demonstrated the enforced sharing of possessions just doesn’t work. But that is but a detail.
Few weeks ago, a friend of a friend called me an ‘old romantic.’ Yes, I plead guilty. All my bloody life, I have tried to make this world a better place for those around me. I haven’t been very good at it in the main but I guess I have changed a few for the better. It’s not been a mission; rather it is something that comes naturally. I suppose I got that from my parents. My Dad certainly believed that tomorrow would be better and my Mom gave me the strength to fight and challenge.
Indeed, I would say that I have not always been pleasant to those around me. I have been harsh at times but so what? My Dad was strict with me. Guy once told me a Roman proverb, ‘Those whom the Gods love, they chastiseth.’ I see a lot in that. Told people I worked with, ‘Never worry if I am bollocking you. Worry when I don’t for that means, I no longer care.’
Just me dreaming again but then that keeps me going. If you cannot dream you have lost hope.
Just try it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgYAHHkPFs&feature=related
Don’t you want little children to have clean water and sanitation? Don’t you want people not to live in starvation? Lennon posed the question, ‘Imagine, no possessions?’ No, I cannot imagine that for we are not that good and anyway as socialism has demonstrated the enforced sharing of possessions just doesn’t work. But that is but a detail.
Few weeks ago, a friend of a friend called me an ‘old romantic.’ Yes, I plead guilty. All my bloody life, I have tried to make this world a better place for those around me. I haven’t been very good at it in the main but I guess I have changed a few for the better. It’s not been a mission; rather it is something that comes naturally. I suppose I got that from my parents. My Dad certainly believed that tomorrow would be better and my Mom gave me the strength to fight and challenge.
Indeed, I would say that I have not always been pleasant to those around me. I have been harsh at times but so what? My Dad was strict with me. Guy once told me a Roman proverb, ‘Those whom the Gods love, they chastiseth.’ I see a lot in that. Told people I worked with, ‘Never worry if I am bollocking you. Worry when I don’t for that means, I no longer care.’
Just me dreaming again but then that keeps me going. If you cannot dream you have lost hope.
Just try it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgYAHHkPFs&feature=related
Friday 2 July 2010
Canal trips
Only ever did one canal trip and it was utterly delightful. I and my partner travelled up the Oxford Canal with two friends and their two children. Weather was pretty good and the pace was tranquil. The boat is very confined so you have to travel with friends with whom you get on really well. We all got along fine.
I like a lie-in: still do. So when the others got up, they’d pick up Catherine who was about 6 months old and chuck her into bed with me. That way we’d sleep on to say 10 am while the other silly buggers did things like breakfast.
We had maps and things and sometimes we got off to explore the local neighbourhood, usually some local pub. But then whole thing was a bloody pub crawl as we moved up and down the canal from pub to pub. I think on the penultimate day we moved just a few hundred yards from one pub to the next.
Washing facilities onboard were primitive and Jonathan, my friends’ son didn’t like the shower. So when his Dad took him in there we had screams of ‘No, Daddy, no.’ Passersby gave us strange looks but we just smiled back at them. Jonathan had a little life jacket and he was very very careful. Only his dad actually ended up in the canal. It wasn’t deep so only up to his thighs.
Water and shit are important issues on a canal trip. As you can imagine, you have to take aboard the former at regular intervals and offload the latter likewise. Food and booze are no problem because there are always stocks near to where your moor.
All in all, a bloody good holiday, one of the best.
I like a lie-in: still do. So when the others got up, they’d pick up Catherine who was about 6 months old and chuck her into bed with me. That way we’d sleep on to say 10 am while the other silly buggers did things like breakfast.
We had maps and things and sometimes we got off to explore the local neighbourhood, usually some local pub. But then whole thing was a bloody pub crawl as we moved up and down the canal from pub to pub. I think on the penultimate day we moved just a few hundred yards from one pub to the next.
Washing facilities onboard were primitive and Jonathan, my friends’ son didn’t like the shower. So when his Dad took him in there we had screams of ‘No, Daddy, no.’ Passersby gave us strange looks but we just smiled back at them. Jonathan had a little life jacket and he was very very careful. Only his dad actually ended up in the canal. It wasn’t deep so only up to his thighs.
Water and shit are important issues on a canal trip. As you can imagine, you have to take aboard the former at regular intervals and offload the latter likewise. Food and booze are no problem because there are always stocks near to where your moor.
All in all, a bloody good holiday, one of the best.
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