Old Gaffer

Blog

  • From, it was ever thus, to Holier than thou.

    What grips me is that we, the ubiquitous man in the street, are taken to be stupid and inexperienced, when the majority of us are fully aware of what is going on. Take the case of the junket that went to Australia in the late 60s or early 70s, at the behest of a contractor to see some pipes laid. Ultimately I laid those pipes, but the price of that junket, I am sure, was included in the price of the pipes. At the time I found it so absurd, because it implied that we were communicating either with Morse code or flags, when men were actually walking on the moon.

    It is obvious that somebody somewhere has an axe to grind, when they gave all this information to the Telegraph, and then people rushed about acting all surprised, when even I, a stupid old idiot in the backwoods of Ireland, have known that it has been going on since the dawn of time, you only have to remember Tony Blair’s excesses. If I had gone into Parliament, wet behind the ears, a little in awe of what was going on around me, and discovered that among all the rituals that have been handed down from old rascals like Lloyd George, a few perks are taken for granted, you might just think it all natural. You certainly wouldn’t kick over the traces, it might be frowned upon, and you would be thought prissy.

    The one thing you can say about Brown is that he is precipitate, afraid of his own shadow, and I strongly suspect under the influence of his spin doctors. This sweeping condemnation, like many of his others, is unreasonable, when one remembers that people’s reputations are at stake. Probably most of the MPs who are forced to have second homes, are responsible for no more than oversights, and anyone who has had a second home will realise that is not quite so easy to keep everything together as it is with only one home, and reasonable errors can occur. I myself have recently, as a result of the illnesses of both Sophie and myself, had a tremendous disruption within the home, and valuable documents have been mislaid. This has involved us in having to request duplicate documents to keep our heads above water.

    I hope that those people who are going to be required to push another one of Brown’s new brooms, in this financial shake-up, will use commonsense, understanding, and not go at it like a bull in a china shop. First of all I think they should discover who leaked the information and why.

  • Am I crazy or is everything out of proportion?

    All this business about expenses has yet to be proven in every case, and it probably amounts to little more than a million if that, yet our Prime Minister, along with the Cabinet are getting their knickers in a twist about it. But at the same time of course, billions and billions have been lost by the banking system playing some form of roulette with my money and your money, without retribution, and what is worse they were given more of our money to play with again, and the government hasn’t seen, not only how out of proportion that all is, but seems to think its own reputation is more important than the jobs of the thousands of people who are being laid off or will be laid off, for the lack of a small amount of investment, which the banks with our money seem unable, for their own security, to supply If I was really cynical I might think that all this fuss is a purposeful distraction. When Hardy comes to Hardy I think we will find very few if any of the politicians currently under review will be found guilty – in other words it’s a storm in a teacup, that should never have blown up to the proportions that it has, with apparently so little basis for it ever to have started.

    The glaring question, which I have already addressed previously, is that nobody seems to know where all the money went. I think it would be fair to say, that persons, or groups unknown have stolen it. If it is treated like that then the logical thing would be to assume that it will never come back into circulation, without this being discovered, when there is such a large amount involved. I know nothing about the ins and outs of high finance, but I would have thought when so much of the commercial world has been affected, that two things should have been done. One should be a worldwide analysis of trading on the stock exchange over the period when the damage was done, and the second, new currencies should be brought into service so that any of that stolen would be invalid. Something like that was done on this part of the world when the money was stolen from the Northern Bank. Above all I find it incredible that the government is proposing to take strict action, in accordance with the law, with those in Parliament who have knowingly transgressed. While on the other hand its representatives are happy to sit across the table of a finance committee talking to the manager’s of the very banks that committed these crimes, who are still demanding monumental salaries and retirement pensions, as if they had done no wrong. Surely they were complicit?

    The thing that grieves me is that finances were never previously supplied to make recreational areas and recreational establishments, for those children and young people, latchkey folk, running the streets and creating mayhem. Yet now that we’ve got a crunch they are able to bolster the very banks who committed the crimes with more of my money and yours.

  • Whether the sentence fits the crime seems selective

    Let us take banking, I’m sure most people have had the same experience I have, where you have sent a cheque to pay your credit card charge, in what you consider is reasonable time only to discover that you forgot that Monday was a bank holiday and in consequence you have been charged £12, at least, as a late fee. It doesn’t matter that you have a couple of thousand in your current account, and the bank is holding a few Isas for you, and they have the use of your money to speculate with. The corollary is among the headlines almost daily. How is it that they get away with it? I personally know of instances where members of staff are being given unpaid leave, whether it suits them or not, while the partners in the company are earning whacking great salaries, allegedly untouched by the crunch.

    Have you ever driven West on a dual carriageway, as straight as a die straight into the falling sun? You have the visor down, and yet you’re still blinded. Along the road you know there are speed traps, so you think you have slowed down, but you’re afraid to take your eyes off the road to look at the speedometer, and a couple of days later you discover you have received a fine and a few points lost. The driving conditions are no excuse.

    We have all made an insurance claim, and then discovered the that the small print, interpreted by their specialist, enables the insurance company to reject the claim, and you can write reams and get nowhere, except an ulcer from frustration. It was ever thus, you don’t have to go so far back to remember the time when the printers in Fleet Street lost their pension fund through a bit of sleight of hand by a multimillionaire. The whole business reflects an attitude of ‘please sir it wasn’t me!’, but there is still that differential of what is deemed unreasonable for the man in the street, and acceptable for his masters

    In these last weeks I have been stressing that I believe that only a few of our Masters have been responsible for these alleged oversights, and the press is having a field day. Reputations are at stake here, and everyone should be assumed innocent until proven guilty. The fact that there is probably some guilt does not substantiate this feeding frenzy, and this broad brush approach that seems to tie everybody into the same bundle is reprehensible. It is doing our reputation in the world no good whatsoever, but on the other hand if it is substantiated in certain cases, then the retribution should be quick and severe. These people are the custodians of our economy and our way of life, and should behave as such.

  • Do we get what we deserve ?

    Do we get what we deserve? At times of political upheaval, there is an old cliche that says the populace gets the government it deserves. Just for once I am not going to talk about the government, but the implications posed by the front page of my broadband. It has a panel of five or six photographs and comments, which are presented, whether you want it or not, mostly depicting celebrities in some guise or another. You have to search elsewhere if you want to find the important things in life’. At the same time, flashing advertisements from all parts of the screen distract your eyes. This seems a totally new approach, and I haven’t the technicality to be able to transform it to just a simple statement of the things that I think are important, such as the weather, worldwide news, domestic news, and perhaps a little humour.

    The problem that I see is that we are getting what those who are responsible for our entertainment, our news level, and our general diet on the web and on the TV screen, deem to be most popular, and in consequence the level of our taste. It says more about us than it does about them. It wasn’t as if these celebrities are being portrayed as people to be looked up to. On the contrary every opportunity is taken to denigrate them, and a lot of them leave themselves open to that treatment, and seem to enjoy it, on the principle of any publicity is good publicity. I think it is time that we all decided that if we were going to elevate someone to the status of Celebrity, that person should do something more than just their job, be it a chef with a vocabulary of the gutter, some actress who has a propensity for presenting us a broad view of most of her chest, assuming that is her main attraction, or a notorious husband-and-wife team having a rather messy separation. It seems that quality is no more news-worthy, than the News itself.

  • That broad brush again, and FOOD

    If I were an MP who had played by the rules, and I’m sure that would apply to those who had only recently joined the Parliamentary system, I would be a little bit peeved that the PM’s broad brush had tarred me with the same epithets that applied to the wrongdoers. Just for amusement, let us assess the likelihood of an MP being bent, it requires one to take the whole population, deduct those under 25 years of age and those over 70. This would leave us with about 25 million, of whom only those with sufficient education, sufficient ambition, who are articulate, moderately extrovert, and have an interest in politics generally were chosen, I would suggest that this would leave maybe 6 million who would qualify, but there are only 600 plus seats. So those whom we have selected have a one in 10,000 chance of being an MP. It therefore seems highly improbable that one of the criteria which has not been mentioned, dishonesty, is so prevalent in this class of people, as to apply, as the Prime Minister suggests, to everybody in that 6m. We knew we had open government because they told us we had, but we never imagined it as open as it would appear, with daily exposes, some inaccurate. It makes one wonder just how really open, ‘open’ is, and should we worry?

    FOOD. Sophie and I have never really joined the 21st-century, especially where it comes to food. We are still firmly fixed in the aspic of Edwardian culture that requires food to be ample, tasty and made of fresh ingredients. It is interesting to consider the effect that the electric refrigerator has, decade by decade, changed the eating habits of modern day Britain. I have said before that in that period up to the 50s, people shopped almost on a daily basis, in consequence and by necessity, ate the food when it was fresh. We are now in an era where it is necessary to put a ‘use by’ date on practically everything in the food line, because it could lie in the fridge, for long enough.

    Because we are now very old and to some extent infirm, we are constantly being persuaded by our family to use pre-cooked meals, with carry-outs in preference to cooking our meals, which entails additional washing-up. Unfortunately the majority of these meals that are on offer, in boxes that imply that there is twice as much food in the box as there is in fact, are not to our taste. Our problem is that our food has always been wholesome, and flavoursome, and above all simple. So when I buy something as simple as an Irish stew in a box, I am more than a little surprised to discover that one of the ingredients is chilli. In actual fact I find that that is an ingredient that seems to be de rigueur in an awful lot of the boxed food. I believe that TV chefs, with their competitive environment, are responsible for this and the introduction of so much overseas cuisine as part of the British diet, because they are forever seeking to be original.

    There is no shadow of doubt that the young people today who actually cook, are more adventurous in their cooking than our generation ever was. With us it was a case that what was good enough for Grandpa is good enough for me, and I am afraid no one will beat this doctrine out of Sophie and me.

  • An analysis of the Warlock hunt

    You can’t call the extreme criticism deluging Gordon Brown as a witchhunt, because after all he is a man, so it must be a Warlock hunt. From time to time I have criticised his statements, and his government, as so many people have, but I now believe that it has risen to such absurd proportions as to become totally unfair, unproductive, and a serious reflection on how we are viewed from abroad. He came to power as Prime Minister with the overall approval of the Labour Party, not by his own volition. He served under Tony Blair, who ignored his cabinet and treated them as if they were superfluous, with the result that some of the more strong willed resigned. This was no training ground for a future Prime Minister, who by his very nature tended to be reclusive. Hanging over him was this ‘will I won’t I’ concept of the chances of ever moving into number 10. I think that Tony Blair gave more credence to his spin doctor, whom he ultimately sacked, than he ever did to anyone in the Cabinet. Gordon Brown was particularly unfortunate in the timing of when he came to power, partly due to Blair not honouring his original agreement. Also, Gordon Brown is not an extrovert, which in itself makes his job more difficult.

    Since coming to power, we have had serious crises of one sort of another that could never have been imagined by the average person, but the people looking after our welfare, and that includes Gordon, should have at least taken measures to halt the overspend that was so prevalent, and so widely condemned, resulting in the crunch. One of the most serious problems has been the intrusive nature of media reporting, making suppositions that ultimately turn out to have no basis of wrongdoing, but waste valuable time being dealt with and or answered. This was totally irresponsible, and I lay it at two doors, electioneering by the opposition, and a desire to create sensationalism in order to sell papers. This is further accentuated by the spin doctors or those around him, advising the Prime Minister to go public, when he should not give credence to this onslaught.

    When people in responsibility are treated despicably, and at the same time there is a wish to maintain a high standard of capability within those responsible posts, you will inevitably disillusion any quality candidates who might have considered putting themselves forward, who would now seek their future in other media or abroad. It is time for the slanging match to come to a halt, for those in charge to stop dancing to the tunes of the media, and instead get on with the job in hand, and make it clear that there are proper channels for complaints if they can be justified, otherwise they will be ignored.

  • My thoughts on identity cards are not unique

    Most people today are sophisticated enough to realise that market research polls are based on the opinions of a carefully selected representative panel of people. I am firmly convinced that the majority of people do not want yet another outlet for their identity, they feel enough is enough. What I don’t understand is why the government has gone ahead, spending a fortune, on something the electorate abhors. I can’t believe that they have continued with this absurdity on the basis of a market research which tells them that it appears to be popular. With 50% of the population having access to e-mails, I would have thought that it would have been possible that someone in the government could have done a research for themselves. I assume that children below a certain age will not require a card. Pensioners already have an adequate identity card in their travel pass, which is either free or doesn’t cost us as much as £30. A high proportion of adults have driving licences which are acceptable under most circumstances for proof of identity. Finally with world travel, as common as it is today, there must be a few million people with passports. What in effect do these reductions mean to the overall scheme? Probably, a so-called national identity system for a very small proportion of the population that are prepared to pay, for personal reasons, £30 to have their identity in tangible form, and for foreign migrants.

    I don’t think I’m unique, when I say I’m suspicious of the reasons for which the government intends to introduce this crazy scheme, at a time when it can ill afford the cost and the increase in civil servants, while having no idea about the take-up, especially as it’s not free.

  • Respect and dignity seem to be no more

    I don’t know if I have become more critical, or the whole world is changing so rapidly. I can remember when I didn’t have anything to moan about for days on end, and yet these days it’s a daily occurrence. I always thought that conduct in such august institutions as the White House, Parliament, and 10 Downing St, demanded an adult approach which was dignified, respectful, rather than like a three ring circus, or a brawl in a downtown pub.

    With respect to politicians, it would seem that more and more are being steered to make exhibitions of themselves for the sake of sound bites, to gain popularity, and most of all at the behest of spin-doctors, making instant decisions. The most glaring example was when Obama, the supposed leader of the world, theoretically, if not practically, suddenly took a decision to have a hamburger, in a hamburger joint, for lunch. Can you imagine what the surging of all the hoard into one restaurant, must have done to the quick snack of the regulars, with the security that is required, the advisers, the hanger-ons and the Press, all jostling. The fact that it was a publicity stunt dreamed up by some spin doctor, only adds to the indignity.

    I wonder what genius decided that our Prime Minister should go on to You Tube. Anyone conversant with his withdrawn character would have known that it was a disaster. He hasn’t had, nor never could have the devil-may-care outlook of Tony Blair, who might have got away with it because he could speak off-the-cuff. Once again, spin doctors, with a totally different perspective, were shooting from the hip. I always thought Prime Minister’s Question Time was a publicity jaunt, rather than a political tool. I consider that it is designed to please the electorate that our representatives are attending the debates, when we all know that usually only a few are, because the rest are either in committee, in their own offices, or in their constituencies, if not in the restaurant. That particular showpiece is nothing more than pure theatre, and the PM got it right when he said that the leader of the opposition was screaming personalities, and therefore fighting the next election, not important matters that should have been dealt with in all our current crises.

    This business of being able to record TV programs, and then play them later is a great advantage when you have the most disorientated programme ever, The Apprentice. I have mentioned this before because I find it so undignified, so disrespectful, and so totally divorced from common business practice, that it must be engineered, even scripted, for sensationalism, offered as entertainment. We have experienced time and again the way the programmers of TV fool the viewer, by using outtakes, and other ruses to enhance what is basically a dull subject. What I object to most is that this is presented as the efforts of people who were chosen because of their high ability as contestants for a senior post in a viable organisation, and in consequence pretending that the backbiting, the ill manners and the undermining behaviour are acceptable in the UK business world. We are supposed, I assume, to think of it as a lark, because in the following part of the programme, these people are held up to ridicule, with flashbacks of their off-camera behaviour. I just wonder if they knew what they were getting into when it all started, and, if they are not actors, how it will affect their future. On the second thoughts, the whole set-up, the projects and the behaviour are so farcical, theatrical and absurd, that I have decided it is scripted and the contestants are actors. No one, seriously hoping to become a senior member of staff could possibly behave in the way they do.

  • Religion was ever the tool of the unscrupulous

    When I was reading through what I posted yesterday about groups of people and nations being taken to war purely to satisfy the aims of a few, it was inevitable, especially as l live in Northern Ireland, that the use of religion to substantiate, or foster a political philosophy, had, and has, more than one aim. It is nothing new, the Romans used it in Judea, the Crusaders used it more as an excuse for pillage, than to spread Christianity. The list is endless, and it would seem that in the 21st century it is even more widespread than ever it was. In some scenarios the blame could be placed squarely at the door of the religious leaders in a number of religions, who for reasons of their own have set aside the commandments of the religion in order to justify some political end. The Conquistadors in South America, and the hideous Inquisition are blots on the religious landscape. The Pope, blessing the pilots of the Italian planes that bombed indiscriminately during the Spanish uprising, when in fact it was a forerunner for Mussolini to test his mettle for the next war, was something I never forgave. Our own dustup here in Ulster, ultimately became more to do with criminality than righting wrongs, and the religious divide, which was nothing new, has gone on to the extent that a young boy of 15 was recently clubbed to death just because he was a Catholic.

    As far as I know, the religious doctrines of every religion follow roughly the same edicts as our 10 Commandments in Christianity, but this fact can be ignored in most religions when the political demands are such that the religious doctrines must be sacrificed for expediency. In a world, as materialistic as this one has become, religion becomes watered down to a point where it has little influence for good, when the religious leaders can talk themselves hoarse and nobody reacts. It would seem that the proletariat in every country has become the silent majority, probably through frustration when they find that the power of the state makes it immune from censure. Political events over the last 10 to 15 years have proved this point repeatedly, and do so on a daily basis. Karl Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses, but this is no longer true, religious values are now on the back seat, money and political expediency are what count, be it right or wrong.

  • The League of Gentlemen and Gentlewomen

    I know that I am whistling in the wind, it will never happen, but that doesn’t mean that I’m wrong. By using the phrase ‘The league of gentlemen and gentlewomen,’ I am not referring to the upper-class, wealthy Sloane Rangers, but men and women throughout the world who have a gentle outlook, are not aggressive, nor are they appeasing, they just see no reason for war. Yesterday on television I watched the film that I had seen many years ago, made by the Germans for the Germans, entitled Das Boot, which translates to The Boat, and depicts the horrors experienced by U-boat crews towards the end of the war in Europe in ’44, when the British Navy had the upper hand in the Atlantic, and the chances of a crew member of the German U-boat fleet, being alive at the end of the war, was one in four. What did it achieve? Thousands of innocent merchant sailors were drowned, died burning in oil, or were maimed, because of the aggression of a few for their own ends.

    I have rubbed shoulders with war in its various forms, from a father who was severely injured in World War I, to the London Blitz, to convoy duty, and in no way least, nearly 40 years of ongoing internicene terror, in which I took part as a combatant for two years, and have had friends and relatives fighting overseas in these recent years, because two politicians went on an ego trip. Millions of innocent people have been killed and maimed, the beautiful heritage of the past, throughout the world, has been bombed out of existence, at the whim or a few politicians with their own agenda. The man and the woman in the street, don’t think in those terms, the stress of living, and in these days keeping afloat, is enough for them. Those poor people throughout the world who are constantly being chased from border to border, and shot out of hand, by renegade armies at the behest of criminal leaders, are all the latest indication of the breakdown of political sanity. It is time that the man in every street in the world revolted, at any sign of aggression that is not essential by a so-called leader. In ’39, the Brits were unprepared for war, but the level of aggression by the Germans was unsupportable, and our whole way of life was disrupted for more than 20 years. If the German proletariat had been more cognisant of where Hitler’s aspirations were leading, and had learned from the experiences of World War I, knew the risks they were taking, World War II might never have happened.

    That is my premise, and as I have said many times concerning the outpourings of our political leaders,’ don’t believe all they say, stop and reason for yourself , and if you conclude they are wrong, then fight your corner politically, and don’t let them get away with it ‘