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It has been said surgeons are overpaid. This is ludicrous, in the light of the earnings in the entertainment industry, the sporting industry, spec builders and entrepreneurs. Today stress is greater generally than 20 years ago. Never more so, it seems, than in the medical sphere, with spurious targets, a public more prone to self abuse in one form or another, new and more virulent diseases, and government intervention creating constant change from the tried and trusted procedures of the past.

Standing on the sidelines of hospital treatment in Northern Ireland, the overall quality of skill, consideration and compassion, given generously by hospital staff has been of the highest, indeed exceptional. That is not to say that I have been pleased with the overall care. Waiting time has gone through the roof. In my case, 9 times longer than it would have been in Scotland, with the result that the surgery had to be considerably more severe than it might have been. Sitting in waiting areas, I observed the constant, weekly pressures the surgeons and staff were under, across the board. My reading of it is that the medical profession is generally fair, but under extreme financial pressure and staff shortages.

Some professions suffer more stress than others. Surgery and medicine are high on the list because they have to deal with emotion as well as health. Most doctors today are put under such constant stress that they become bone weary. Either the government is lying when it says it is increasing annual funding, year on year, ahead of inflation; or there is mismanagement of those increased funds, and/or that disease is overwhelming the DHSS. Within my circle I see no sign of an increase in illness. Don’t let us kill off the doctors and medical staff, giving them heart attacks. Assess their income, and the winnings a golfer can accrue with only 4 rounds of golf, and decide who is doing more for society. We are being hoodwinked into paying extortionate sums for our pleasures at the expense of essentials. There is only so much money to go round and next year there will be a lot less.

I started to write about our political scene before I heard of the loss of personal information of half our population. The loss didn’t surprise me as I have been preaching that Government, from top to bottom, is computer illiterate, vulnerable to the computer technocrats, and thinks big is beautiful, when in fact in computing big is dangerous from a number of aspects.

In the past, many of our politicians were drawn from the ‘landed gentry’, those with inherited wealth and often from a family with political antecedents. Like the retired to day, they had time on their hands to allow them to think, criticise, and in the case of the wealthy, if inclined, actually to go into politics. Today, politicians are recruited, could be foisted on a constituency, if elected sit on the back benches, possibly still with a career elsewhere, until they are placed in office, still inexperienced. In office they are playing catch-up and too busy to think and criticise.

Politics is applied man management on a big scale and being a minister it is also on a small scale, and is not learned over night. Rising through the ranks in any big industry, one soon learns that to succeed one requires a pervasive sharp, incisive wit and a listening ear. A sense of humour is essential in smoothing relationships and getting the best out of people, providing it is not perceived as patronising. Control and discipline are a given. An essential element is also a cynical mind which can easily sort the wheat from the chaff. Some people are serious by nature, others morose. They can’t help this, and it is impossible to gauge whether they are less happy than we are, but it can be an impediment to promotion, and if promoted, a barrier in relationships.

I believe the attributes that apply to good government, should be wisdom, probity and fairness and must be taken for granted. No matter how amusing a politician is, if he isn’t patently honest and competent, is impetuous, doesn’t treat his underlings with the respect they warrant, makes and acts on his own ideas and policies without reference, he will have failed. If he appears to be academic and humourless, he will only appeal to some, who are similarly inclined. If he is spontaneous when he should ponder, and ponders when action is needed, he will soon lose face. Senior politicians should, above all, give respect to the opinions of those they have placed in office, anything else is a prescription for chaos. As I have said before, if you want the best you must pay for it dearly, but ensure you are getting value for money. Politicians are not God, in spite of what they appear to think, they are the servants of the public. My problem is that I don’t believe all they tell me, there is severe mismanagement through change for the sake of change, legislation on a total front without proof of success, trying to achieve the unattainable in the time set, and making rash statement to appease disapproval. Those in control should never seek to be loved, if it is not spontaneous, it will never happen, to court it by legislation is another prescription for disaster and chaos.

Identity Cards. With an influx of foreigners in an uncounted million, or probably an awful lot more, some form of check is essential, but on the face of it, forcing 60M residents to purchase, totally unnecessary cards to be able to check on 1.67 % seems not only ludicrous, it is a criminal waste of money. I realise the problem is that criminals are so pervasive, sophisticated and competent, (the better ones – or worse – coming from Russia, I am told,) that they will subvert any system we put in place. By the same token, if the government is to go on repeatedly playing into their hands, what is the point of such an expensive system with so much personal and useful data being included and then given to the criminals? The banks etc are constantly spraying junk mail and making TV viewers sit through endless adverts for cards. Why can’t we harness them to provide cards on the submission of two photos and two or three pounds, they will have achieved their desire for us to run up more debt, and we will have something which, while not fool proof, only partially fulfilling the need for checks, will be better than what we have today. I personally wouldn’t mind a discreet tattoo, if that would help, somewhere easily accessible, like cattle behind the ear? Although, please, no hole in the ear. On second thoughts, even that wouldn’t work!

Some will think this arrant nonsense, but it is my rubbish, based upon my own experience, not someone else’s regurgitated. I have been blessed, and it is a blessing, with a very vivid visual imagination. From childhood I have never seen the pages or the script of a book, when reading I have been at the cinema, visualising the scenes and the action in detail, and where there was not enough detail my mind supplied the rest. Hanging, the electric chair, decapitation and all the rest, were vivid in my mind and horrifying, and even now to a jaded mind, they are vivid and unpleasant.

These thoughts, at 4 in the morning, were spawned by trying to find a solution for two serious problems of today, both random and mindless, terrorism and unprovoked, vicious attack. Since I was 17 years of age I have envisaged my demise, many times, in circumstances of war, in its broadest sense, and the most horrific was the training I had at 17 in hand to hand bayonet fighting. That experience was so graphic, so personal, so savage, I have never really got over it, and I used to think of the poor troopers in WW1, of the Desert Rats, in North Africa and Italy, and the combatants on the German retreat from Moscow. I can’t speak for others, but I believe, people in war avoid discussing their reactions, most of which they subdue to a low level, as there is no alternative. I have had to face the possibility of imminent death only twice, in an air raid, and on convoy. In one case I was so concerned for the welfare of another, and in the other, my own welfare; the incidents were over before I had time to be petrified. Killing remotely, that is, dropping depth charges, shooting with any weapon, even being a dedicated and committed suicide bomber, is impersonal. Being shot, torpedoed, bombed, or even attacked, unless you see it coming, is unanticipated and therefore the reaction is post firing or explosion. Being a possible target and aware of the fact is something one can accept equably, as it is part of the job and taken into account, not a constant source of anticipation.

I have said before, aggressive action is accompanied with a rise in adrenaline levels, which provides the incentive, the fearlessness, and the excitement. Excitement, in my limited experience, was the goal of most of my early wartime escapades, such as wandering around during air raids looking for the action. In joining up there is a level of that too, entering a world one has read about in jingoistic prose, and possibly spurred on by publicity and rhetoric – a push from the rear.

Currently on TV there is a level of aggression in films and cartoons for all ages, that is well over the top, beyond reason, and excessive. To the critical mind, mindless aggression is being substituted for story content and quality of production. The question is, ‘is it influencing the unimaginative, and being replicated in life?’

To condense this, it takes boredom, a desire for excitement, possibly a chip on the shoulder, an aim, spurious or valid, an applied incentive from an outside source, be it a theory, a strong individual in the group, or someone with a motive, to create a fertile environment for aggression, and even more dangerously, action. The training and the rhetoric will provide the excitement, indoctrination coupled with a dedicated leader, real believer or feigned, will take the sheep to the slaughter. The basis for the training and the ultimate action will come from a party which has an agenda of its own, the ability to subvert intellectually, a persuasive tongue, and enough reason and valid elements to fool all but the cynical.

I therefore believe, while it is necessary to watch for the bombers, it is the lines of communication and the prime movers, who need to be identified and removed by any means, nothing barred; we have to go down into the slime to find them and in the slime we must deal with them. They are randomly killing innocents for their own reasons, which probably are unrelated to the rhetoric. Taking the history of the Basque separatists, the killing of the innocents will achieve nothing.

During last week, as part of the Festival Of Remembrance, Jeremy Paxman presented a fabulous programme on WW1 and Wilfred Owen and his poetry. Brought up by my father who, while being a conscientious objector in 1914, in WW1 he nonetheless served as a stretcher bearer and in consequence was wounded twice and gassed, I was therefore taught the futility of war. I served for nearly five years in the Royal Navy in WW2 and was later so incensed by the cowardly actions in the N. Ireland Troubles, that, with a large workforce, at 50, I joined the Ulster Constabulary as a part-time, night time copper. With all this experience, I have never seen the purpose of war, nor the justification; too many innocents, including the soldiers are hurt, injured or killed, at the behest of one or some, with a different agenda.

Resulting from my own angst and the programme, I had an urge to break into poor verse, with no intention of equalling any real poet. Being computer illiterate I am too fearful of posting the verse, in verse form, in case things go wrong as they tend to, so please excuse the way it is presented.

WHY CAN’T WE STOP IT?

We the populace, we the tribe are fooled Day on day, by spurious anecdote. Our ardour encouraged but never cooled As fictions they scatter as fact. They quote Of the purity of war that hideous maw, That sucks up our men to be never more, With a jingoistic appeal to us To battle for them. It was ever thus

The drums roll, the flag is run up the mast With fake reason and digging up the past So stressing our invincibility, Our National pride not culpability. They dress us up and march us off to war For a purpose so subtle, we never saw That under the verbiage there lay a game Of personal ego and commercial gain.

It’s not just our lot, it’s across the world, That untruths are told and flags unfurled. How is it so that we men in the street Never see the real aim, when they entreat The rest of us, here and abroad, to arm To kill and maim, merely destruct or harm Those we know not and often can’t see, Civilians, children, soldiers, you and me?

Let us wake up and see the real reason. Oil, land, political egos, not treason. Their man in the street is like you and me, Couldn’t give a damn, just wants to be free. So why are we killing, so offhandedly? Suicide bombers, once innocently Passing time, now steeped in dire hate, Killing in numbers in many a state. Not for religion, some reason obscure That teaches not love, that clearly is sure.

So let us wake up and stop it right here. It achieves nothing good only spreads fear.  Apart from a few, we all are losers Dancing to the tune of a few misusers.

For a long time I have been preaching that Councils can provide a better service to the Electorate than centralised control. Having worked as a consultant engineer, in contracting, for the Admiralty, for a Housing Executive, and also in Local Government and the Northern Ireland Civil Service, in a mid range capacity with large designs, contracts and workforce, I have experienced the difference. Since about the late 60s there has been constant reshaping of government in all areas, and not necessarily to the benefit of the areas served. Local government has had its teeth drawn and been left with little responsibilities for the services that really matter to the individual, other than those like recreation and cleansing.

In the past, small councils, rural or town, have suffered from insufficient expertise in depth, due to their size. They have often been too open to influence from the ‘Old Boy Net’ and vested interest. The larger councils with greater departments, greater staff, used to be able to give departmental staff training, advancement, in-house expertise and loyalty. If you have to import experience, you lose continuity and above all the personal relationship between departments. In good councils, if there is a problem, it usually can be sorted verbally and face to face. I suspect that huge councils like London have to be split up, with the result that they lose the common touch with the electorate. City councils of the size of Belfast retain them. In a good council, the minute an employee steps into the street, while he might not be aware, he is registering council business – the state of the roads, drainage in storms, lighting and so on, and in parks as well – his pride is at stake.

Central Government is remote and impersonal. often it employs consultants for technical work, at considerable cost, as, with the current general promotional policy, it no longer has technicians trained in-house by coal-face experience, to enable them to monitor the consultant. The principles of civil service senior advancement require movement between departments, similar to Ministerial changes, This is not a prescription for continuity, there is no knowledge in depth, or a build up of the ability to refer current problems to past, local history, as there was in councils. Memos replace verbal intercourse, and protocols and decisions small, or even of significant and costly size, can, across the board, be handed down to departments for execution in a memo, without reference to the effect they will have locally in execution. The management of a council is generally housed in one building, and serves the needs of the geographic area. Because of its size, the civil service, is broken up into large separate units, even in any one function, and is a crude, cumbersome, fit-all tool, not always able to adapt to local conditions.

Local government is more adaptable, offers cheaper and simpler opportunities for the trial of a management theory, without affecting many people. If the public, en masse or individually, feel aggrieved, they can see their local representative on the council, or call at the City or Town Hall and speak to someone. Until the changes took place, the local government workforces, from journeyman to manager, were brought up through the system, knew it backwards, knew the history of the areas in which they worked, and could respond quickly and efficiently in any situation. Take a simple example, designs from a kerb line to a road bridge over a river, were conceived, designed, smaller ones even built by the council, with the larger schemes let to contract but supervised by the experienced council employees. This system gave valuable training to those coming up, This was replicated throughout the departments of the councils. In spite of the standing jokes about council workers, most had pride in their work, and those in the community with limited skills were given work and retained their self respect, The problem is it takes decades to build up the knowledge and the skills, and to pass them on.

In our current, divided society, my experiences in Northern Ireland show that in spite of a candidate being clever, even handed and worthy, he may not be elected, because of voting along ethnic lines and tactical voting, This can leave the minority without representation, and is something which will have to be addressed if we are to have a United Kingdom. How it is achieved equably is the problem, but addressed it must be. We should start now to do away with carpet central government, but not go back to the plethora of councils of all sizes, but to councils covering either large areas or large populations, not both, and not gargantuan councils like the LCC.

Low Emission Zones (LEZ) – the latest hidden taxation and congestion solution, except it is promoted as something more worthy.. Do you know that in another ruse to save the World politicians have put pollution limits on vehicles? Do you know how it applies to your car? I certainly don’t for mine, yet councils round the country, starting with London, are proposing to make areas of their towns and cities LEZs, where one is prohibited entry on the pain of a £100 fine. It could never be deemed fair, and, indeed, especially unfair if there was not adequate public transport, and to my mind there isn’t. Add to this, ambulances, school busses and a high selection of common vehicles used for daily deliveries don’t qualify either, and will also be fined. This is Class A chaotic thinking, especially taking into account the lack of adherence to the theories of how to save the world of the greater populated nations. The whole thing is out of proportion to the level of the problem and the level of the fine is extortionate and irrelevant where saving the earth is concerned, as it will be used for another purpose. Globwarm has become an excuse to raise taxes and perform other actions, without going through the proper channels.

The waste of computer generated junk mail has more than one effect. It creates vast recycling, wastes the subscriptions of charities unnecessarily, annoys the recipients and wastes their time, and it wastes valuable raw materials. A purchaser’s, or a subscriber’s name is placed on appropriate lists, two things happen thereafter and several don’t that should. Not only does the original computer regurgitate correspondence, catalogues, or begging letters containing free gifts, your name and address has been bartered for inclusion on a like computer, and so the rain becomes a deluge. I accept it makes sense to re-canvas to offer more goods, in the hope of tantalising purchasers again, that is the firm’s business, but, nonetheless, should be limited after a few repeats, in an effort to save waste.

Reminding the generous people that you are still helping charity is reasonable, but to repeatedly re-canvas to the point where the small donation has been used up in the expenses of printing, gifts and postage several times over alone, never mind the running expenses, shows a complete lack of supervision of the conduct of charities and the fact that the money donated goes mostly on salaries and management. If donors were less gullible and more street wise, this sort of misuse of the donations might stop. It is clearly producing a profit of some sort, but whether net income is balanced against a sensible yardstick of expected return for promotion, rather than to cover all outgoings and only some help to the legitimate recipients, should be crystal clear to those inspecting charities. Computer canvassing requires legislation, for all our sakes, the charities, us the recipients of totally irrelevant material, and waste disposal.

Some serious statements don’t make sense to me. Like, why when we were once a nation of manufacturers and builders, we now have to recruit skilled migrants, yet having a high level of our own unemployed, and so many people on welfare? Is it the unions or the government to blame? From statements and articles in the press, we seem to be heading for a period where money is going to be short and we will need to tighten our belts. This latter is not surprising when we have a huge internal debt similar to the American type, coupled with having to bolster the banks because of America, due to our own vulnerability in that regard. Brown appears to be increasing taxation, while cutting back on services. We are fighting wars, which were intended to defeat terrorism, but which have in fact generated it within our own boarders. With our high proportion of Islamic followers and our small island making linking easy, plus our liberal life style, we are an easy and apparently a justifiable target to some Islamics. The wars plus antiterrorism are a heavy drain on our finances and police resources, which include the costs of time now lost in travel security. On top of these conflicting demands on the exchequer and our pockets, is increased spending by a high proportion on Defence, plus damage and reinstatement costs due to climate change, flooding and the like. Yet Brown is proposing a vast building programme, ignored when we were solvent, partially to house migrants at our expense. Does the latter not provide a further inducement to immigration?

Let us examine our PM’s new ploy which includes Globwarm. The daily Telegraph, 06.11.07, said he proposes to build 100 houses per day, including Globwarm features, for 13 years to catch up on the negligence of the last 10 years. Currently we are building 185,000 new houses per year. In a working year of approximately 200 working days, this means building 925 houses per day. The estimated requirement in the future will be for 220,000 per year because of immigrants and family break-up. In fact I can’t see the targets being met. Some may be ‘dwellings’, not houses. Some migrant occupiers might be single or only two, the broken home is often a girl leaving home with a child. In the 50s we built high rise flats, we must not fall into that trap again, just because it is quicker, cheaper, and in this case all that is needed? Building houses for a mother and child is a greater expense per capita than flats, through the form of the structure, and a greater strain on storm water disposal and the costs through building and maintaining roads. I suggest supervised care home complexes for them with their own flat, would seem a better solution for them both, with more company, help and economy.

Assume that houses with an average of 2 bedrooms, built by national contract not speculative building, cost, say £150,000 each. One hundred per working day equals £75m per week or nearly £4 trillion in the first year. Of course if it comes to pass, it will inevitably take more cash and more than 13 years. Estimates of this type are never right, take the cost of the Dome or the new Wembley as examples. A high proportion of those for whom the houses are intended will not now have a hope of obtaining a mortgage and will be renting, at reasonable rates as we did in the 30s. This time the government will be footing the bill, long term, The tenants too will have to face the costs of furnishing in an environment where buy-now pay-later will most likely be almost a thing of the past. While this is all going on, the infrastructure has to be made to accommodate this expansion and will be costing yet more money. Here, in N. Ireland, building had to be temporarily curtailed because the services had not been correspondingly revised. There will have to be adequate drainage for the increase in runoff from new houses, drives and roads. Sewage disposal may have to be extended, as will waste disposal. Roads will have to be built and some drastically altered to take care of the Mummy-run, because with all this expensive building now being paid for by the treasury instead of private purchase, there won’t be money for public transport. If the houses are built and owned by speculators, that may undermine the object of their being built. Gas, telephones, TV and shops will have to be provided for an influx over 13 or more years.

There has to be planning, with three or at least two, if not several judicial enquiries over planning objections, unless the scheme is steamrollered through. On TV they showed two designs of scientifically engineered Globwarm-friendly houses. To my old fashioned eyes they were monstrosities of science over aesthetic appreciation. One of them looked like half a huge bee hive sitting on a tin garage. If economies of scale are to be made in this vast project, there will be a rubber stamp type of approach to designing.

Frankly, I don’t think we, in our current fiscal state, can afford all this cost and disruption, and the government’s reasoning is obviously partly specious.

It was Enoch Powell who railed in the 50s about the problems of a divided society would have, when the large number of Afro-Caribbean immigrants was allowed into England, for cheap labour. A couple of days ago I read in the press that, surprise, surprise, there are 2000 suspected subversive activists in Britain, with terrorist interests. I have lived in a divided society for 65 years, from starting with pure naivety to arriving at unsatisfactory conclusions.

Of course there are 2000 youngsters, possibly twice that, being brainwashed by real dissidents for their own ends. The youngsters are bored, some are lonely, some looking for an outlet for natural aggression, some are misfits with a chip, some have already been indoctrinated in the home, all attracted by excitement. They start a few at a time, putting an innocent toe in, possibly with some quasi political or religious reason, and if the brains behind the system are as astute as they usually are, the process will attract them. I remember the fun we had in lower elementary school, with stupid secret societies, invisible ink, crazy signals, but the level of excitement was nothing like these kids are experiencing. What the end is, I’m not sure, what it will probably end up as is criminality for the enhancement of the dedicated few with a profit motive, as has happened here in N. Ireland. Children emulate and hero-worship the known dissidents, and can’t wait to join their older brothers in daring deeds. Here, the children still stone the police, the fire men, the ambulance crews and burn assembly halls and damage churches, even though the ‘war’ is allegedly over. It is not of course, it has merely gone underground, will surface again until there is a United Ireland, and the law is such that it is not worth the time arresting the little terrors, they will not be sentenced anyway.

I know what it is like to have an empty house waiting for me on leaving school at the end of the day. Of looking for company, until Mother comes home from work, and believe me, it is not difficult, if your training has not been rigorous and at times painful, to be led into trouble. I had a very dear friend, way back in the 40s. He had been brought up as a republican, and we would argue late into the night about Irish politics. If a section of society believes it is under privileged, second class, nothing you say or do will remove that stigma, neither a buoyant economy, high standard of living – nothing! It is almost in the genes and has been taught at the parent’s knee, so it must be right. Please remember this dictum!

A solution which might stem the tide with respect to young children, if not the often vicious reactions of some members of our divided society, is to divert them by putting money, supervision and longevity into recreational facilities of a quality, which will not underline the ‘second class’ syndrome. I’ve been there too, to disused church halls, badly decorated, and insufficient equipment of a poor quality and a pervading air of squalor. The people had the right idea, but not the personal experience and the money to know and avoid the pitfalls.

Our small society here is now even more layered with a strong Asian community and some of the latest migrants. There are some of the indigenous residents who resent the influx to the extent they are shooting and burning these incomers out, even though they have lived in the area for even 20 years. This is a recent phenomenon for which I can’t find an explanation for, unless there is an underlying financial motive.

I believe there is a need for a committee of experienced people; professionals in behavioural matters, child psychologists, community workers and input from those who have been there, to study the problem of divided societies, coupled with crime and poverty, before the whole thing gets out of hand. There is a strong subterranean murmur against the increasing dilution of our heritage, for want of a better word. It is growing and if it becomes really deep-seated, it will be difficult to control. The influx of foreign millionaires taking over some of our more treasured assets doesn’t help. We need to start now, seriously and with vigour. Enoch was tarred and feathered on paper, but having lived in Africa in the British Raj, I always thought he was wiser than he was given credit for.

Not only are the peoples of Britain and America disillusioned with their leaders, but there is anarchy and upheaval throughout the world. By drawing comparisons between, say 1930 and today, some strong levels of change become obvious, in for example, general honesty, respect, compassion, speed of communication, insularity of commerce, education, prospects for the individual, personal self-control and Authority. From baronial times until relatively recently the feudal system, whether acknowledged or not, held sway, people were classed, and their lot depended on what class they were in. With little scope for self-improvement, with only minor movement between classes, acceptance was the alternative. With that society came respect at all levels, whether genuine or feigned. In the classless society we have today, advancement materially can be mercurial, and not necessarily warranted or respected. It does, however, induce jealousy, greed and discontent, resulting in lack of respect for others, dishonesty, selfishness and ultimately theft. The get rich quick, and the buy today and pay never, philosophies, have become routine, clearly accepted and, indeed sponsored by the so called financial sector, without reference to the outcome, and the ultimate theft of the savings of the more prudent through taxation to bolster the failing banks.. The corollary of this state is that many of those coming behind see no point in frugality, the savings will be whipped away anyway.

I have stressed before that the difference between the old animal intelligence, with its slower and more deliberate analysis of situations, rather than instant, computer generated reaction along supposed rational processes, leads to a shortage of time between action, the outcome and the next reaction caused thereby – a chain reaction in fact, in circumstances unanticipated, not necessarily relevant. This is, I believe, prevalent in finance and government, where action and outcome are not given due prominence. Something being seen to be done is more important. In government, failure can then follow, and if done repeatedly there is a stuttering of decisions, rescinding, and more decisions, the electorate loses confidence and becomes apathetic and pessimistic. In finance we are now more open to the vagaries of other countries’ financial dealings. Losing our insularity as a nation has had serious consequences. Instead we have global commerce, finance, politics and influence, which has been detrimental in many instances to our welfare. The most serious concerns I have are our reduction in farm production, and manufacturing, placing us in a vulnerable position, in that we are becoming more and more dependent upon world trade, with an extreme loss of our reservoir of technical skills, to the point where we have to allow immigration to make up the shortfall,

I don’t believe education has improved since the 30s when I sat what was to become the Eleven-Plus. We all learned to count, we had to. Then progress was a matter for the individual, university was for brainy people or those lucky enough to find themselves in it. The rest would be apprenticed, in some form or other, or were articled in a profession. Apprenticeship was a protracted, labour intensive procedure, and the course was tough, but the product was a real craftsman. Today, the top craftsmen are retained by large companies, the casual man might be efficient or he could be a ‘chancer’ – we have all employed at least one. In the 30s we were so glad to be well educated there was little or no cavilling, today it is a right, and university education is the goal, even if the quality of the student is inadequate to complete the course. This has produced a social snobbery, where manual work is for someone else. The wage structure is at fault, frivolous work is absurdly rewarded and serious work is under valued, If you are part of ‘Entertainment’ in all its forms, financially the sky could be the limit. Compare this with the professions, the labourers working under filthy conditions who are essential, and the general workforce. We need sewage workers, bin men, navvies, bricklayers, as well as doctors and clerks etc. The world’s attitudes have changed, the class system is collapsing daily, but the basic structure of our lives cannot be changed in essence, so if our needs are to be met, all, repeat all those addressing those needs should be given equal respect and equal status. Human nature being what it is, snobbery and adulation will always place a curb on equality, but, if we cannot or are not prepared to do what others have to do, then we should give the respect and pay the rate we would expect for doing so, instead of importing immigrants to do it cheaply. I fail to see how someone needs hundreds or even tens of millions, or even how they can spend it. The money is mainly coming from the pockets of the young and the poorer section of society, for entertainment which is transitory, and appears to be locked way, perhaps in offshore accounts, doing nothing for those who originally subscribed it.

Yesterday I considered sending no more Comments to the Blog, indeed closing it, because I felt I was repeatedly covering old ground, as one does at my age. For example, there was a piece on BBC TV News offering the fact that young people, selected for a questionnaire, considered they were at least 5% better of and happier with their lot than those canvassed at some time in the past, This therefore showed that old idiots like me were mistaken when they constantly barracked against and were sorry for the life young people were experiencing today, compared with what we had when we were young, and by implication, the piece was promoting that the differential has not been downward and detrimental. I think it is a government propaganda ploy to stop young people feeling depressed. We were fitter, not under pressure, mostly part of a family with only one wage earner, had a future, not sparkling, few possibilities that would be better than our forebears had, our financial expectations were secure and crime was rare in general. As we knew nothing else, we were not resigned, we were content. When people carry out surveys, where the results differ by a small margin, taking into account a safety percentage for error, it reduces the outcome to a point where the survey is pointless. This subject has been examined before ad nauseam, by me and greater minds than mine, and yet no one seems to heed, or be able to stem the downward spiral. Affluence is not necessarily a gauge of happiness.

I have been persuaded to think again. I shall not be contributing in the volume I used to, and I shall take note of my stats (statistics of readers), they tell the story. When I’m yesterday’s news, I shall stop.

06,11.07, Comments, Our Special Relationship?

Special relationships are not always amicable. Take that between prisoner and warder, it is certainly special, because of the circumstances, but unlikely to be a friendship as is the usual interpretation. What I’m really referring to is our alleged and vaunted relationship with the USA, which is possibly pure fiction. I remember how difficult it was at the beginning of WW2 to get the Americans to help us in our hour of need. It seemed impossible for Churchill initially to convince them that we were in a parlous state and if we were overcome, they could well be next.

It is my conviction that politicians, especially at election time, in order to cosy up to the electorate, actually make statements that shadow the views of the majority of the electorate, rather than the situation as it really is. They know in doing so they are not only using a fillip to the ego of the electorate by acknowledging they were right all along, there is a feel good factor in there as well. From my experiences with the Yanks in WW2, not only do I doubt that the average American doesn’t care one way or the other, there is a large body who, on principle, hate Britain for historical reasons. I believe the natural wealth, which incidentally they have been squandering by greed and bad management, has induced a sense of insularity, and they only stir when their financial or material interests are in jeopardy. What started this tirade by me were two things. The first was that whether we like it or not, the colossal internal debt in America is being, to some extent, repaid by the solvent sector of this country, because banking is no longer an in-house facility. Banking is now a global cartel and takeovers in banking are regular. We, in our ignorance, are more at risk than we realise as a result, in a lot of cases, of rushed, electronically controlled, preordained reaction to conditions, rather than a slower, more considered cerebral one,. The second cause of me sounding off was a piece in the press last week quoting Mitt Romney, a Republican presidential contender, and one time Governor of Tennessee, clearly a true conservative of the Deep South.

He is reported to have said America was at the crossroads of history, and implied he was worried America would go the way of Europe and become a second-tier military and second-tier nation. He further extolled the virtue of America strengthening every aspect to ‘remain the most powerful nation on earth. A world without America as the leader is a very frightening place.’ he said. I beg to differ; on the contrary! That sort of mindless rhetoric is a clear indicator that there is no special relationship, and if Romney feels he is echoing the responses of the majority of the electorate, there never was.