Sophie and I have subscribed to some charities over many years long-term and also one off. Now we are on a mailing list which is passed from charity to charity and we are receiving junk mail and presents for which we have no use, but overall costing a fortune to purchase, wrap and post, so that the small sum we sent has long been used by this process alone. I repeated this statement because I am convinced that the maintenance of charities is now a marketing industry, supporting not only the charity’s staffs, but a number of marketing specialists. The nightly advertising on TV, and the vast quantity of paper that comes through the door justifies this statement. The whole charity industry needs a close examination. What amounts to blackmail of the conscience should be outlawed, especially as it must by its very nature, waste charity funds, and annoys the likes of me, and causes generous hearted people, often poor themselves, to part with money that may never reach the intended destination, either because of waste, or through diversion at the other end.
I know what I’m about to write is simplistic, might even be incorrect, but I have found in many circumstances that stresses build up over time, until that moment when the stress is greater than the resistance and the system snaps. The life of man on earth is miniscule to that of the Earth, and the damage being done to the Earth has taken place in a very short time of even man’s occupation. I find that the sudden climate change is so widespread, that perhaps the accumulation of stresses from the cooling of the Earth, from deforestation, plate tectonics, and the greenhouse effect etc. has all combined with some other changes to bring about this sudden vast change. Around the world, changes are taking place, both political and geographical, which are almost unique in the widespread seriousness of their effect. In consequence the level of demand for charitable help throughout the world has risen to an unanticipated level, and can no longer be accommodated by subscriptions from individuals. It is now a worldwide problem to be countered by a worldwide charitable organisation encompassing more than the UN is currently capable of.
Homeland. In the last piece I wrote I mentioned the portcullis psychology. Today as always, the Englishman’s home is his castle, but I see the UK, my homeland, in the same terms as I see my home. I am therefore cautious of strangers, welcoming to friends, and object to being taken for granted by those who wish to profit from any generosity I might show. I therefore fail to understand why we have foreigners sitting on our pavements begging, sleeping rough, all without invitation. I would have thought it was logical that if we needed special skills, and were unable for some reason to train them up at home, we should be adopting the same policy of advertising, seeking references, having interviews and selecting by a face-to-face meeting, those we wish to invite into our homeland. It is totally beyond me how Europe has permitted this increasing rush by immigrants, unchecked, who wish to improve their lifestyle at the expense in every sense, of the established nations of the EU. Surely it is time that we reinstated, right across Europe, a border system that was convenient for free trade, but reduced the movement of drugs, criminals, and immigrants with no visa to justify their entry, or for crossing state borders. I can see a loophole whereby, I suspect, it would be easy for Eastern Europeans with passports, to arrive in Eire ostensibly on holiday, and merely walk into the United Kingdom via Northern Ireland.
If you read the Government current and proposed control systems, here and abroad, and one assumes it is replicated by other countries, it would be more logical and more secure to just shut the borders. While I read what is said, I believe it is too fragmented to be secure. It proposes introducing ID cards for foreign nationals in 2008, people who stay in the UK longer than they should will not be able to access benefits. My two objections to blankets ID cards are that they were going to cost us £60 plus, and from the way the credit cards and other identity cards can be forged today, I always felt that they served little purpose in the long-run, as the honest didn’t need them, and the criminal could get them for a small sum.