This has become a rare occurrence. Well done Hungary..

A short guy with short arms showing everyone that golf is not about pumped-up muscles, but a mix of natural skill, brain power, practice, control of your nerves and execution on the day!

Hang in there Rory! Back to back Masters win!

There’s been a number of these stories in the press this month. Read one this afternoon, a lady; Natasha Cochrane De La Rosa, a dual British-Spanish national, was denied boarding on her return flight from Amsterdam after a new policy mandating specific documentation for dual citizens came into effect. Despite presenting her British birth certificate, HMRC records, and tax documents, airline staff informed her that her Spanish passport was no longer sufficient to prove her right of abode. Why would she hold a Spanish passport and not a UK passport then????
The new law – which was repeatedly broadcasted over several months via multiple media outlets by the government in advance of it coming into force – require dual nationals to either get their British passport or a certificate of abide in their other passport. It is a very simple, sensible and fair requirement. Nothing spectacular about it.

Now, people are complaining!

How is it unreasonable?
If you say you were born and raised in North London, but you only hold a Spanish passport, which you remember to keep up to date, and you use it to travel off on holiday to Amsterdam; you then wish to return to the UK by waving a Spanish passport, while telling the immigrations folk that you are a dual national? Seriously?

Yes, it may have been how it was, prior to the new policy coming into force in 2026. But it never should’ve been. And I am very certain that if someone with a Honduras or Kenya passport did that, they would have had to provide proof of UK residency. So, it is indeed fair that the same process is now applied to everyone with dual citizenship, regardless.

Much as we should have a world where people can move around freely, it is not how things are at present. And as such, people must follow the rules. In any case, if you were born in the UK and went to school here, work here as she claims, why not just get our passport? What’s the logic in only holding a Spanish passport?

Yes, those in the public eye are expected to be role models (not entirely sure why..), but when you look at recent divisive issues such as Brexit, ICE in the US, etc. it seems we then expect these celebrities to either be neutral, have no opinion or support both sides of a divisive matter?

I think anyone who knows anything about golf, would already know that Tiger is probably not what society would call a role model. I am not sure he ever tried to be – other than to the extent his various sponsors dictate – and his recent issues perhaps affirm that.

As for his legacy as a golfer, which is all that us golf enthusiasts care about, it was sealed decades ago and remains intact! His shot at the Masters over 20 years ago, is not diminished by a DUI arrest in 2026. So, let’s stop the silliness! The guy is the greatest golfer ever to play the sport. End of. The rest, well, sad as some of it may be, that’s his personal business. One would hope he sorts it out of course.

If someone does something that’s disagreeable, disagree with them! If they do something that’s agreeable, agree with them!

That’s the way it should be.

The whole “good” and “evil” thing, is what’s killing us all! Where people are expected to just follow and follow.

It’s the same in most workplaces. The employer assumes they have put in place a culture and expectation and all employees must just follow. Those that follow and keep on following are the good ones…

In politics, it becomes dangerous. It becomes cultish. Nobody is consistently good are they? People should be able to trust and expect a basic minimum level of decency, from ALL political parties, regardless of whether they are left, right or centre! The rest should just be a bonus!

If we accept that people can be good or bad and can do good or bad. Then we can agree and/or disagree, without having to rip each other to shreds!

”tax dollars”. Why do North Americans say that??? would it be “tax yen”? of course your tax would be in dollars! that’s your currency right? So, just saying “tax” suffices!!! For example: what is the government spending my tax on? Instead, they say: what is the government spending my tax dollars on?
Quite irritating!

”math”. Is the word mathematic? No. The word is mathematicS!!! so, if you do wish to shorten it, it would be “maths” not math!!!!

Anyway, I was reading an article this morning, written by a Canadian who was hellbent on criticising their new government for taxing him heavily and sending his tax dollars (grrr!) to help developing countries.

It never ceases to intrigue!

What do people think taxes are?

Let me dumb this down completely for you: if you earn $100,000 a year and pay 43% in income tax and moan that the $57,000 you get paid, is a travesty. I can scrap income taxes completely. So, no more tax! Hurrah!!! Done with that. But sorry, I ain’t gonna pay you $100,000. The work that you do, is worth $57,000. So, here is your TAX-FREE earning of $57,000. Off you go. Enjoy your TAX-FREE salary and quit having a moan!!!
How’s that math for you sir?!

People will moan and moan and forever moan!

The monetary system is not perfect. But someone sat in Canada having a moan about tax dollars! Well, move to Kenya and see how people do back-breaking work and earn an equivalent of $1,000 a year! Why, pray me, do you think what you do is worth the $100,000 you earn and are having a moan about???! The work in Canada is harder? you use more brainpower? Oh, I get it; it’s just the way it is? 😁

We can get employers to pay taxes directly and scrap income tax completely. But sorry, your salary is $57,000 friend. Not $100,000. Is that better for you sir?!

Let’s banish the word TAX. It’s no more. Gone.

Advertise every $100,000 salary job as $57,000 and the employer contributes $43,000 to the government purse. How about that?

And no need to send your “tax dollars” to developing countries. How about a single currency for the entire world? Let’s name it “world dollar” or W$. Such that W$1 in Kenya or Honduras is exactly the same and has the exact same value as W$1 in the US, Canada, France, UK etc. A teacher in Honduras then gets W$57,000 a year in salary, same as a teacher in Canada. Same value, same buying power. If the ticket for a flight from Canada to Honduras is W$100, then it is also W$100 to buy the ticket to fly from Honduras to Canada.
Let’s do that.

Keep your tax dollars sir! No need to keep bailing out the developing countries. Let’s simply end the pointless lopsidedness!

Of course economists will say it’s bonkers!

…. that pretty much sums up human history too..

Humans of course hope that putting on clothes, reading books and making aeroplanes makes us different from animals… but…..

It could be 50 years from now or 100, or a thousand years…, but at some point, society will accept, that human beings will never get to a point where we will all believe in the same things, have the same culture, eat the same food, like the same TV shows etc. It’s never gonna happen. What is needed, is for each country in the world to define – as best, accepting it won’t be unanimous, but the majority will have to suffice – what they each deem acceptable, how their people live etc. Once those rules are set and communicated, anyone not happy to comply with the ways of living, in Country A, can look for a country with ways of living that suit what they’re after, and relocate to that Country B. For the time being, everyone in each country – i.e. wherever you find yourself – should comply with the ways of living set out by that country. At least until they find some other country to move to.

The idea that every country can be a perfect melting pot of every culture, every way of life, and that a country can have anyone moving in and carrying on with whatever they did where they’ve come from, is the reason why the world is presently in such a mess. When you have someone born and raised in Country C where women are not allowed to go to school and he moves to Country D where women have the exact same freedoms and access to schooling as men, and Country D allows that individual to come in with his wife and daughters and bars them from going to school in County D. It is a slippery slope! What should happen is that anyone who comes into County D should know that their wife and daughters will go to school! If they don’t wish to accept that, they should stay in country C or find any other country that has similar rules to Country C or stay put in Country C!

There are far too many differing views, too many differing ways of life, for the scale of multiculturalism that some think can be implemented, too many differing work. While sampling cuisine and apparels may be doable – but noting that people still ultimately make a choice – it is simply not possible to each and every country being able to bend to ways of living desired by each and every group that turn up there. It is not feasible!
What should be largely feasible, is for each country to maintain whatever identity, ways of living, that they see as theirs, and for anyone who move to that country, to try to respect and adopt that. If not, don’t move there!

The simple reality is that the lioness grabs the baby deer, to feed her cubs, oblivious to the fact that a mother deer will now be without her baby.
Many would say; well, that’s how the cookie crumbles. That’s what it is. Ok, perhaps that’s true, but, human beings like to think we are a bit more refined than animals, right?
And it’s not just about survival or survival of the fittest. You look at the monetary system and how the world is presently set up, with those in desperation trying to flock to places where they believe they can better themselves. Nobody should need to do that. There should be opportunities wherever people are. Migration should be solely out of curiosity or interest, and it should always be a happy thing for all involved, with benefit to all (the host country and the migrant).

The problem is that it is simply not possible to PAUSE and hit RESET.

Nobody wants to PAUSE

Yesterday, as news of children dying of starvation in some part of the world or death and war in other parts of the world is reported, so is the news of some guy popping out a £250,000 diamond ring to propose to his girlfriend and the same world must cheer!

The lioness must feed its cubs..

All lives are equal, but some are just that bit more equal than others?

Some believe they are just more deserving…

I of course do not have a solution. I hope that one day, the world will find a solution.

Correct! They are being criticised by absolute morons, for not playing beautiful football!

The critics being managers of clubs that lost to Arsenal, and sportswriters looking to stoke controversy in order to get clicks!

After years of Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere and others, with the most entertaining football seen in England, and with no trophies. Second place finish in 3 of the last 5 seasons. It really is pathetic, for anyone to criticise Arsenal for playing less attractive football in the latter part of this season, to try to avoid yet another second place finish!

Recognition – at any cost – is what appears to drive most of us. If you get a 5 year old child to cut out a piece of cardboard and sew buttons onto it, and call it ‘parent of the street’ medal/award, and hand it out to a parent on his street each year, but the end of the first year, you will find people who will soon find folk who will seek to lie, cheat and do anything possible to win it!

People make heaps of money, become billionaires, then they want recognition; they go after designations. They want to be Sir Joe Bloggs or want medal of honour etc. When they have those, they want plaques erected for them, airports named after them etc. When they have all that, they still want more…….

One can understand it when some folk argue that there must be aliens walking amongst us! Well, crazy as that may sound, it is most likely true. Or perhaps, the human heart is just not what we think it is. When we say “have a heart!” or “show compassion” or “have pity on…”, it is indeed very difficult to reconcile some of the barbarism that we see today, in what is supposed to be the year 2026!

There is no collective disgust, when we witness disgusting behaviour. Some of us look away, while some excuse it and say it is necessary.

Today’s world is like waking up in George Orwell’s Animal Farm….

You’ll see a story about hundreds of people dying of starvation, on the same page as a some tik tok celebrity or influencer buying a diamond ring for her 6th marriage to a guy who just came out of jail after years of imprisonment for strangling his last wife!
That is where we have evolved to!

Humanity? what on earth is that?

In today’s world, we are actively trying to find ways to denigrate people, to get clicks!

It is hopeless!

I believe we can all agree, that a baby doesn’t select where it’s born. It pops out and finds he/she is in the US or UK or Jamaica….. correct?

So, when people say: “I feel safer in Dubai than in London”…. and now, they are all lining up to hop on planes to flee Dubai…

Can we not all work together, to try to make the streets of London safer?
This notion of upping and leaving to seek a better place, is such a human flaw! We cannot all empty out…!

I can understand economic migrants; people moving elsewhere to seek work, get paid etc. And funnily enough, when you lift the lid off the Brits who have recently moved to the Middle East, it is indeed to earn more or pay less tax etc. why not just be honest?!
London and the UK remain one of the safest places on earth. AND we can all try to improve that. Parenting appears to be to be completely dead! With young kids carrying knives and taking lives without a second’s pause. It is awful, it is terrifying. But with funding, it is not too late, to introduce new programmes in state schools to try to get the coming generation to reject carrying knives and the present reckless disregard for human life

But first, we need to stop hating on each other. A national reawakening is needed; where we collectively seek the betterment of our society for everyone, regardless of what they look like, sound like or whom they worship….

Surely, someone can design a better version of ankle bracelets and the laws can be drafted to make it acceptable, for undocumented migrants to wear those trackers, so that the ones that commit crimes can then get apprehended and deported. Instead of turning streets into war zones with people in tactical gear marching around in masks and grabbing people off the streets. It may be deemed to be a deterrent, but surely, the visual unpleasantness of it affects everyone, including the very folk we say we are doing it to protect!

It has to be technology sorting this all out

The tags can have lights that indicate (following proper checks in the background) the status of individuals or contain data that can be easily checked.

And yes, we don’t want to see people turned into cattle, with standing and tagging, BUT, surely, it is better than having children witness their friends and parents snatched off the streets….

They get rich, then they want power. They get powerful, then they want recognition. They achieve recognition then…..

But death doesn’t recognise riches, power, or anything else. It comes, and it comes to all of us at some point.

Nobody has at yet, worked out how to take their riches, power or recognition with them…..

We must find a way to get the message through! There is a way to create a peaceful world. There is no need for wars. There is no need for hate. There is no need for divisiveness. It achieves nothing. We all leave with nothing when we die.

What is fundamental is that cultures must not be forced on host nations. I have said this enough times. Anyone who moves to the UK, must be willing to adopt the British way of life and not seek to exploit the decency we offer, to introduce a conflicting way of life here. If you don’t like the British way of life and do not wish to adopt it, please, don’t move here! Find some other country to move to. Surely, that shouldn’t be so difficult to understand?! I understand difficulties migrants face, when they migrate to other countries, and the reason they sometimes stay together in groups. But there must be a continued effort – regardless of the difficulties – to switch to the cultures of the host nation. It is the only way we can end intolerance.

Where we are today, globally, is where historians and others repeatedly warned we must never get to!

We’ve crossed the line and have found out – just as the historians warned – it isn’t looking possible, to go back.

1. The poor are poorer and getting even poorer. The problem with the ‘champions of the poor’, as we are seeing in the UK, is that once they’re elected, they find that they are now no longer poor and wish to distance themselves from the poor. Who would have thought that, right?
2. The reason why presidents, prime ministers and other leaders are expected to act and speak in a “Presidential” manner, is not for the optics or just for the heck of it, it is a means of demonstrating that those in leadership can control themselves and that we can trust them to control themselves, which is the very first requirement for someone trusted to control themselves and rest of us! If a leader is unable to meet that very simple, basic requirement of leadership, it will be a struggle for him/her to respect any other requirement, correct?
3. It really doesn’t matter, what the intentions of a leader or a movement is, if the outcome is a completely splintered followership, that’s a fail! We should not have leaders who are keen to divide and be divisive! Yes, the British aptly and amply demonstrated for centuries, that ‘divide and conquer’ or ‘divide and rule’ is a very effective means of crushing dissent. It’s like crowd control. You split ‘em up, corner the loudest voices, separate them and you quickly get the crowd under control. But it is never sustainable in the long term, right? Where is the British empire today? the colonies? where is the Roman Empire today? Greek? Ottoman? Napoleonic? even the British Commonwealth is on its belly. It is inevitable. For tomorrow’s world, it must be about INTEGRATION and the rules of INTEGRATION. Sooner or later, that is where we will get to. It is where we will end up. Each country will set out new rules, norms and culture; there will be a vote. Some will object as always. The majority will win. Anyone coming to a country, must either accept to abide by those rules, norms & culture or jog on! (go to some other country that they find more appropriate to what they wish for). What presently obtains is just not sustainable! And the solution is not mass deportation. It won’t solve the problem. Those migrant (legal or illegal) are not the problem; it is the societies they come into, that has failed to define – to them – what we accept and do not accept as a society. Perhaps it was deliberate. Perhaps it was an oversight and just happened gradually…
4. There is no need to be horrible about it. No need for unpleasantness and hate-filled rhetoric, no need for masked men to snatch people off the streets in broad daylight without any identification. We just need to sit down and calmly define what we want our societies to be. And regardless of whether someone is a direct descendant of King Henry the 8th or whether they just arrived on a rubber dinghy across the English Channel this morning, anyone and everyone living in the UK or wanting to live in the UK must first accept that they will have to be decent, agree with religious tolerance (and only practice their religion without expecting everyone to follow!), accept that we do not litter, that there is law & order, accept that whatever way of life they followed before getting here is not what can continue over here. The process must be implemented, where anyone seeking to flaunt our rules in the UK, is very quickly removed. Easier said than done? Yes. But such a reset will have a much better chance than where we are today, and where we appear to be heading! Divisive rhetoric and hate clearly hasn’t achieved any result! So, why not try something else?

Years back, when a politician is caught making an inappropriate statement, they apologise and sometimes resign. Today, they double down and rouse their base and tell us we should not be so ‘woke’!

Today’s expectation is that people in public office can just keep accepting gifts. Then we say we are in shock when a situation such as the ongoing Epstein saga pop up. When individuals put themselves forward to join our political class and run the country, it used to be a privilege, a duty, a sacrifice. Now, it is just treated as a public toilet! They just literally, dump on the job! It seems there is no longer the understanding, that a government job, is first and foremost, a job where you put yourself forward to serve! Yes, it comes with perks and influence etc., but for goodness sake! Don’t put yourself forward for a government job, if you are not doing so, to serve!

Thankfully, the UK is still ok. We have our issues but they are not too bad. One can only hope that someday, there’s a reset. As far as I can see, as of today, there is no better country to be in, than the UK. But we must not get too complacent…

It is baffling why people allow utterance of a word or words to be so powerful that those who utter those words do so, with the assumption or knowledge that uttering such words will achieve maximum hurt!

You don’t defeat a bully by rolling over and crying!

Yes, it is understandable that Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan didn’t dress up in nice suits and head to the UK BAFTA event expecting to be called Ni**ers! BUT, neither do the everyday black folk on the streets…

People need to stop reacting so much to these situations! Yes, it is abhorrent. Yes, it should not be happening. BUT, it ain’t gonna end, if the people who utter these awful words believe they can use them to achieve the hurt they aim to achieve!

Now, in the specific case of the weeks’ BAFTA incident, the guy who uttered the N-word suffer from a condition called Tourette Syndrome. As such, it is a very simple open & shut case. He had no intention to cause offence.
Now, did he yell anything out to any other group of people? I’m not sure. Could the entire situation have been avoided? Yes. There is no doubt the organisers of the event could have preempted this for Delroy & Michael’s sake. Unless of course, it is claimed that this is the first time the fellow has ever uttered the N-word…

The reaction to these slurs are a little strange in my humble opinion. Afterall,according to the Pew Research Centre Survey, 57% of black adults in the US are thought to descend from slaves. So, to assume the N-word can just be blasted out there, is daft anyway. Besides, African-American history is not the entirety of black history. There are African countries that were never colonised for instance (I know of at least 1). And it was not every black person or African was enslaved during the transatlantic slave trade years. Last week was a football who claimed he was called a monkey. Awful experience I’m sure, and I do not seek to water it down nor normalise it, BUT, all humans have features that resemble those of monkeys. Black folk need to stop getting riled by these daft utterances and attempts at belittling them.

In America, they need to move on and move forward. As Morgan Freeman said for years: end the colour description. If not, get the colours right. What colour is a Japanese? What colour are Chinese? Koreans? Surely, the entire world won’t just fit into black, white or brown?
I am sure it is deeply hurtful to people who get singled out for insult because of their race, but the only way to end it, is to stand up to the bully and show them their words are now meaningless and cannot hurt you and are effectively just words. Stop reacting to it. Take the power away from the bully.

Quite simply: because human beings are self-centred!

Nothing has changed.

Until we all see life as a temporary phase, where we each live to roughly 100 years max and depart, nothing will change

Some part of the world believe only they deserve a good life and that the others are not worthy of the same. Some see certain parts of the world as unworthy. These supposedly unworthy countries do not help themselves either.

If the whole world can just stop for a day. Down tools for a day. And we all take a look around us and ask: what is it all for?
People wish to leave a legacy. Some wish to be remembered etc.

But at the end of the day, none of us will be around to confirm whether or not such legacies last.
How many of those who left a legacy 100 years ago, can a teenager in 2026 list? Perhaps 5? 10? no more than that. So, what is the point?

We create senseless factions and divisions.
We want to celebrate downfalls. Why?
We stoke the flame of division, in the name of preserving a belief.
We ignore the impact on others (everyone’s from somewhere)

I am of course never going to make any difference whatsoever. These articles are just my musings and my own personal outlet to express my thoughts and write them down (I never return to read them again) to clear my head. But it is indeed a great pity, that we don’t have leaders who can bring about a global reflection, a global soul-searching. Do we honestly need to be so horrible to each other? Yes, hate sells and as we can see, people make so much money from hate, but at the end of the day, none of us get to take any money with us, when we die. We leave with absolutely NOTHING!

After over 20 years! Hard to imagine that after we went the entire season without losing a single match, we will have to wait so long?!!

There will be more twists and turns, but I expect Man City to drop points at Leeds and a few others.

Come on you gooners!!

….. not possible though..

We need a completely new set of rules:

1. Completely new financial system. Single global currency
2. Anyone wishing to move to another country must be willing to integrate fully and adopt the way of living in those countries
3. No wars. They don’t settle anything
4. A global force that ensure people are not mistreated anywhere on earth (accepting this will need to be by consensus)
5. Migration must only be via due process & applications. Seeking asylum will be centralised via approved save havens and then asylum seekers can apply from those safe havens and only transfer to the countries they apply to, if those countries approve their application

None of the above will ever happen though! Human beings prefer strife!

“You will be criticised for what you are, for what you are not, and for what you are believed to be. You will be judged for what you do, what you don’t do, and for what you leave unfinished. You will be talked about for what you say and what you keep quiet. You will be singled out for your successes and for your mistakes, for your decisions and for your doubts. No matter how hard you try to please, there will always be opinions. So live for yourself, because in the end, the only thing that matters is to stay true to your own path”

It’s how I’ve lived my life for the last 25 years (even though I only just saw this quote last week) and how I will always live my life. If majority of today’s society can do the same, stop flocking to what others say and the divisiveness that blind followership bring with it, we may have half a chance!

We mustn’t all strive to be the same! nor try to please everyone….

While the Americans may well have credible reasons to wish to continue to observe black history month, in the UK, it is very strange to see people spending time observing it, with the stories seeming to rotate around Martin Luther King jr, Rosa Parks etc. It seems people in the UK think black history started in the US with the transatlantic slave trade and its aftermath

For how long will it be necessary to keep telling everyone to take pity?
Black history month in – if people insist it is to continue – should centre on the history of black people; most of which predate the transatlantic slave trade or civil rights movement in the USA! Black history month should be about African mythology (and yes, they do have such) and loads of other topics. But then, we should then also have White History Month, Brown history month, and history month for the folk who are not back, white or brown! (for example, the Chinese?)

The world needs to move on from this colour-coding nonsense! There are over a billion people in China and another 123 million in Japan; I am not sure they identify as white, black or brown. So, are we saying they don’t count? Are we saying they don’t fit in?

Nothing wrong with studying the history of Africa for instance. But having school kids in the UK sitting around getting told about American civil rights story, under a black history month annual event, is very strange indeed. It is one of the reasons society isn’t making any progress

This one is a head scratcher!

It is exactly why the world is in such a mess!

I wanted to actually watch this show, by a singer called Bad Bunny, to try to understand exactly what the furore’s about??!

Yes, there appear to be many folk today, who want society in the west, to return to the 1960s. But it is a bit strange having an American Football entertainment show in Spanish, by a singer who actually does speak English and has also done a few song contributions in English in the past.

Now, it is quite understandable that the NFL, to broaden the international appeal of their product, wanted an entertainer who is presently very popular globally, but then again, it is certain that his popularity is probably only in Spanish-speaking countries. The truth though, is that when I watched the show, it wasn’t that good. Not understanding the lyrics – as it was all in Spanish – may be part of the issue, however, I have never been a huge fan of lyrics, which is why I generally only listen to dance & trance music, which are not heavy on lyrics. I only found 1 or 2 of the songs Bad Bunny sang, to be fun & great to listen to.

It is of course ok to try new things. But in a country where the official language is English, it is a very strange turn of events.

The show should and could have had Bad Buddy and someone else, and mixed the Spanish songs with a handful of English songs. It would have likely also avoided the needless controversy

That said, it appears the crowd enjoyed it.

Everyone’s piling on Kier Starmer. But do we have a guaranteed improvement to replace him with?

I believe any government require at least 2 terms in office, to really get anything done. But the public want instant result!

I am not saying I stand in support of Starmer, but for goodness sake! Give the man a chance!!!

One of the politicians being touted to replace Starmer, is a guy who is deleting Peter Mandelson from photos, because Peter is now a pariah for his dealings with Jeffery Epstein. What is the point of deleting the photos? Can he also now go back in time to delete anything he may have learnt from Madelson? or the advantages he may have gained through the mentoring he receive over the years from Mandelson? Does the fact the Mandelson is now caught up in all sorts relating to Epstein mean he (Mandelson) is all bad? NO. Nothing wrong with establishing all the facts and indeed holding Mandelson accountable for whatever wrong he may have done, but for goodness sake, it doesn’t mean a guy he mentored need to go and delete him from old photos!!! Photos he proudly posted and circulated for years..

Another two politicians being mentioned as possible replacements for Starmer are two northern politicians who believe the South of England (and in particular, London) has enjoyed advantages over the years at the expense of the north, and it is time to address that. They may well be correct, but the strategy should not be to drag London down or hold it back so the north can catch-up! They may well strategy should be to bring the north up and get the whole country working and flourishing! We do not need to widen the north – south divide by only championing a north focus. Get the whole country thriving!

But most importantly, replacing Starmer ain’t going to change much! So, what’s the point??

If the opposition parties have great ideas, they should bring those to the table now! Find a way to get the present government to listen and get things done now! Not wait another 2 – 3 years got another general election

Time to get Thierry and a few others to spend time with the squad, advise them on how to close this out!!!!

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester ran for his second term as mayor and won in 2024. To allow him in early 2026 to ditch that role to run for Parliament, meaning there will have to be yet another by-election (to replace him as mayor), while depriving someone else the chance to be selected for the MP position, is ridiculous

Yes, some will say Kier Starmer ran scared as Burnham was expected to mount a leadership challenge (he needs to be an MP to do so), letting Burnham run for the vacant MP seat would be completely ridiculous. Bearing in mind, Burnham was an MP who lost his seat and chose to run for Mayor instead, which he has been doing and is said to have done a good job as Mayor; he has 2 years to go in that role. If he wants to be an MP, he needs to wait for the next general election or he can quit his mayoral role and run for MP as an independent!

Republicans, Democrats, non-votes, any American can now see that perhaps some wrong assumptions have been made? When you have to start going to places of work and schools to pick up people to deport, you know the rhetoric about hundreds of thousands of criminal undocumented immigrants who are a burden to the economy, is clearly not correct…

Anyone would think that immigrant who work and are trying to obtain documents are the ones any country should keep. Grabbing someone who has voluntarily turned up at an immigration interview (going through the due process) and deporting them, may imply that you have run out of the supposed lazy criminal undocumented folk?

If you deport every undocumented migrant who are currently in prison, and you pick up and deport all of the ones who have a past criminal record (be it in the US or their country of origin), and then you find that the total of those, is only 1% of undocumented immigrants in the US, then you know that what you’re then left with, is going door to door to grab undocumented people who do not have a criminal record, are unlikely to ever commit a crime and are hardworking members of the community. Yes, they entered the country without due process, why not just get them through that due process. As for deterrence, get all the manpower you have to the border. But then, some will argue there is no deterrence if you do that. That people have to know that you don’t just walk into the US without going through the legal routes, and just walk into and get jobs etc. It is indeed a tough one to explain.

One thing is for sure, and has been made abundantly clear over the past few months in the US: it doesn’t seem they have millions of undocumented migrants with criminal records…

Well, is it not time to change how the tests are set up then?

The world stagnates! We have migrants rowing across the English Channel on rubber boats, should we not have technology in place to address it? How can rounding them up and ticking them in hotels etc. work? It won’t and it ain’t

Same for America; going back in time to tactics such as knocking on people’s doors and rounding people up, is that where we should be in the 21st century? Should we not have technology that identifies people who should be in the country and pleasantly knock on their doors at 3am in the morning, pick them up with no fuss, no disturbance, no ugly scenes etc. …how can we not have the technology in place to do that?

As a society, we need to advance. Back to the driving test cheats: we are now in 2026! why on earth, are we still getting people to sit driving tests exactly as it was done 100 years ago? and we wonder why these folk are using smart tech to cheat?! The tech to test them, is what needs to get better and continue to get better! or get driverless cars out there fast, end this idiocy!

To everyone complaining about ICE in America right now and all the scenes we are seeing play out in the media. Well, perhaps it the Biden administration had listened a bit and done a few things about the influx of undocumented folk?

We are heading in that same direction in the UK right now. It doesn’t matter whether or not one agrees with the migration issues people are raising. The fact that they feel so strongly about it, means that the government should try to listen and try to explain and try to address a bit. Not doing anything is not going to make it go away.

Votes can swing any which way…

Something needs to be done now. We don’t want the UK to end up with masked folk walking our streets, snatching migrants etc.

“There are clubs you just cannot turn down. I hope the Strasbourg fans can see that and be proud of that.”

And ENGLISH is his first language?

If you say it is a job you just cannot turn down, it means you would take the job regardless.

He was a good young chap in his playing days, so, I hope he does well as Chelsea Manager. But his lack of premier league management experience makes it highly unlikely that he will last 12 months on the job…

Someone just emailed me a link to Mark Carney’s roundup of 2025. Perhaps we need more leaders that aren’t career politicians? or perhaps Carney is just an extraordinary guy. Bottom line is: he has done very well for Canada in his few months as their Prime Minister. A great example for other leaders to look at. Well done Carney

A pizza shop named a new pizza after him: Carney-vore 😀

If you’re part of a group that is perceived to hold an advantage and the rest say they expect those folk to be sympathetic and be an ally to help the disadvantaged folk. Ok. But what then happens, when those supposedly disadvantaged, get to the top? As we have seen, over decades, they get there and say: “well, why should we be better? If the previous lot got away with doing this and that, why should we?”. And so continues the unending cycle of malice!
A few months ago, I stated that the world would face less conflict (wars etc) if we had more female leaders, but then, we have seen the ex-Bangladeshi Leader (Sheikh Hasina) and some of the other female leaders out there, and it is quite clear that my statement may be very incorrect indeed.

But more importantly, you look around you and what you find, is that we are all lying to ourselves and to each other. I think it’s what some call ‘virtue signalling’? We want others to do our dirty work for us. If we are told exactly how many dirty deals and horrible stuff is done, for us to get the water we drink, will we stop drinking water?

A lady who used to head a large organisation told me 6 months ago, that she couldn’t find other opportunities to move on to, and that she is struggling to get the next big company to move to, while her male colleagues move freely from job to job. I asked her what she would do, if she had the power to do something about it? She said she would create opportunities for women to get to the top and have the same advantages as those men. I then asked her what happens the next time a man is then handed the power? She sat back and just smiled. She finally got it!

’The Truth’ is not something any of us think it is!

As Jack Nicholson’s character in ‘A few good men’ bellowed: “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”

We have a world where there is a monetary system that has kept more than half the world at a massive disadvantage for centuries! If you drill down to what’s been behind the advantages that some have enjoyed for centuries, I doubt anyone in the west, would prefer not to have had those advantages. Everything is on the back of that: education, industry, all of it…

To sit in judgement today, is just silly

To put it kindly, WE ARE ALL WRONG!

There’s no big truth out there!

Some people say they are doing the little they can. Ok. Fine. But is that just to appease your conscience? Because, quite frankly, if the little we can do, isn’t really going to make any difference, then who are we doing it for? (most likely, just for ourselves, to achieve some bizarre gratification or attempt to clear our conscience?). Today’s world and today’s youth do not care about nuances. A teenager starts campaigning against oil, with no care for the devastation such actions could cause to thousands whose already awfully poor lives (living in abject poverty) depend on the work they have in the oil sector. I am not a backer of fossil fuel, but I would like to see nuanced solutions that have a tangible outcome – not just for a teenager in a wealthy country to assuage their tantrum – and the least possible added detriment to those who depend on certain industries. Same for those in countries where they have ready alternatives, saying they are boycotting this or that, or choosing not to each this or that! Well, if you live in an impoverished society, in a country where you don’t have any alternative, what would you do? And YES, I do accept the ‘every little helps’ and ‘gotta start somewhere’ logic, BUT seriously? Let’s get real… who are we deceiving?
Change out 50 light bulbs to LCDs, and then hop on a plane to China? Drive electric cars made from batteries using cobalt dug up by 10 year olds in awful conditions someplace in Africa? Choose your diamonds carefully, to avoid those from war-torn countries while actively voting for governments that maintain the very system that has left half the world in debt & abject poverty? BUT, don’t get me wrong. To the folk who change their bulbs to LCDs or buy or some companies for whatever reason etc., good for you! You ain’t doing anything wrong. HOWEVER, it’s not adding up to some greater good nor is it you doing what you can or doing your bit; it is simply you making yourself feel better that you are doing something. PERIOD. And yes, that’s fine. But it ain’t moving any needle.

The world is one giant mix of everything!

We want great results, but we don’t want to get our hands dirty! Cheap products to buy, a happy life singing Christmas Carols, but if we were told just how we are able to have those things we crave, and the cost to others; we calmly look away or come up with very convincing excuses.

I don’t know much about Venezuela, and I do not intend to comment or pass judgement on what occurred yesterday. What I do know, from decades ago, is that Venezuela is an oil-rich country where those in power, own a lot. But a huge swathe of Venezuelans live in abject poverty! I do struggle to understand the ‘strong man’ approach, if you clearly can’t protect yourself. Has this chap (Maduro) missed headlines relating to previous strong-men? there’s a long list: Gaddafi, Saddam….

I personally think the only difference, is that some of us try to be decent. But even so, you only have to take a look at what we would each be capable of, in defending ourselves or those we say we love. It all has an impact on others. Some groups want to save the planet and say no to coal mining etc., while some miner’s child is thrust into poverty. Some groups say religion is the root of all wars etc., then the absence of religion leaves a gap and we see knife crimes and all sorts shoot through the roof. Some groups do not want to see foreigners and they forget their own ancestors came from somewhere. Other groups say they welcome migration but when the implication is out before them, they have no answers to the impact on existing infrastructure etc.

Do any of us in the UK, as an example, want to lose the right to go to the pub, do the things we have done for centuries? No. We want to keep things as we’ve always had it. That is why some are worried and feel threatened by the changes they are starting to see. What we need, is sort our economy out, sort our infrastructure out, such that the influx of a few thousands, shouldn’t become such a big issue: we should process them, expel those who are here to harm us, and get on with life.

The truth, is too difficult for us to accept. So, people make up whatever they believe they are comfortable with and accept that as the truth. It’s like hiring cheap Mexican cleaners for your home, while saying you really wish Mexico would become a prosperous nation! Well…

Or going on holidays around the world, with the money we have from a warped monetary system/model that has kept large parts of the world in poverty, while they carry and fetch for us on our visits, while we say (myself included) we would like to see a better world where everyone flourished. Well…. who’s going to be doing the cleaning, fetching and carrying then? And would we be in the position to travel the world?

Yes, it is complex. But, NO, we are not necessarily the ‘good guys’

There was yet another report in the newspapers this morning, of another millionaire quitting the UK with his family, to move to a tax haven. As usual, there’ll be typically around 300 comments, as it is on these articles. 95% of the comments were people saying “well done, yes, good move, the country is finished anyway, this government is awful!”. Ok. Do these people know how taxation works? That social housing (council flat) that you say you have to wait years to get, the benefits you say you need because you can’t find work etc.; where do they think the money spent by government on those come from???

I have been paying income tax for decades and I am happy to pay, because it is what funds the less privileged in society. It is also what funds the services that keep the country ticking. For people to make millions in the UK, from UK consumers, and then flee off to tax havens because the government isn’t to their liking, as they feel they could get taxed more, is just laughable really! If everyone does that, what’s left?

But more importantly, the lack of understanding is just shocking!

It seems that on one side we have people who say they get it and are well educated, but believe everyone else is too stupid to get it, so, why bother explaining it to them? On the other side you have people who say they get it and are also well educated, but choose to lie to everyone else so that they can whip up the anger, hate and bile. In the middle, is everyone else; what they like to refer to as ‘working class’, some have a bit of education but majority are barely educated and are quick to jump on social media to spew hate and utter what they now refer to as “hurty words”.
One side show up with Climate Change targets and carbon reduction targets that drive up living cost for the folk in the middle, but do not feel they need to explain the needfulness to them. The other side tell them there is no such thing as Climate change and that the carbon targets are stupid and not necessary.
One side says migration is great and we should provide refuge and asylum to those who ask for it – but they neglect to explain to the working class, that the real problem is that we have, for decades, not kept up with developing the economy, creating jobs and lifting the poor British people out of poverty AND that in truth, 40,000 illegal migrants crossing the Chanel into the UK each year, should not be a talking point as it should not really impact a country of 70million people! – and that the real emphasis should be placed on how we can reenergise the country and build up our infrastructure: schools, housing, health care etc. It ain’t the migrants choking those services, it is the chronic lack of investment and foresight! (but YES, alongside that, we must find a way to end the Chanel crossings and get everyone coming in, to use the correct routes apply and be vetted etc). The other side say migration is terrible and it is directly responsible for every problem the country’s facing! That 40,000 coming in annually (which will take 10 years to add up to 400,000 in a 70million country) is the only thing we must consider and fixate on; it is what must swing every election and dominate everything we discuss, even though our housing, schools, healthcare etc., has been on it’s knees for decades prior to the first ever migrant getting on a rubber boat to cross the Chanel into the UK. They tear they very fabric of society apart with the rhetoric and we have now become a country where we are so ready to erupt and tear each other apart! At the bottom of all this, you’ll find: MONEY!

It seems that neither side want the folk in the middle (the working class) to start asking the real questions: how do we create more jobs? how do we ensure no child born in the UK lives below the poverty line? how do we build more houses? how do we build more schools? how do we get the NHS functioning again?

None of the above is solved even if migration to the UK is cut to ZERO and nobody comes across the Channel into a rubber boat!

The industries of old, that kept many towns in the UK thriving e.g. coal mines, are sectors that have shut down. They have not been replaced by anything else. As those folk are sat there wondering where their next meal will come from, they read of 40,000 people crossing the channel in inflatable boats, getting here and being put up in hotels (and some of those hotels are luxury hotels). Nobody cares to explain that we do need to put people up someplace as we are not animals. But it all flares up. It gets whipped up into a frenzy and defy any logic at that point and it has become the only topic. But is is clearly NOT the actual problem that we need to fix, which is to create other industries and create jobs that people living in Hull, Bradford and those places where old industries such as fishing, dress-making (China now do it for a fraction) coal mining etc have collapsed, so that they can build a new future and stop fixating on migration.

There are critical, long term solutions. But unfortunately, the government is stuck in the distraction caused by the demand for short term, immediate solutions, which as we have seen over the past 25 years, have simply not done anything to tackle the actual underlying problems

It is unfortunate. It is sad.

But how do we get out for it? It has become an unending spiral. The migrants have become a very convenient whipping bag and nobody now want to even take a look at the actual, real problems that if tackled, can get the country back on its feet

It is a subject that’s right at the core of societal problems we all face today.

There’s nothing new about people seeking refuge. Millions moved around during and after both World Wars for instance.

When a country takes people in – for whatever reason – the least those people should do, is make a genuine effort to show gratitude by being model citizens; learn the culture of their host country, fit in, be of no trouble and get on with life.

Nobody is asking for unending gratitude. And yes, there are a number of challenges – including some intolerance, which is not to be dismissed, as it can be horrific in instances – faced by migrants, but whichever way you look at it, they fled to escape supposedly much worse scenarios. Yes, it is easier for people to blend in and integrate, if they are not easily identifiable as being different from the majority, but the reality today, is that there’s now very little attempts at integration. People come into the UK and huddle together, create their own mini-societies where they try to recreate their past ways of living and largely ignore the norms of the land.

I am not sure who’s to blame for this or how it can be fixed, but it really is, a major issue, as it is set to become a generational challenge.

It is very worrying.

People should not come in to the UK for the safety it provides, while making absolutely no attempt to embrace the British way of life. This is not about asking people to ditch their culture. Brits who move abroad tend to hold on to the British way of life where they go, same for others; hence the ‘China towns’, ‘Little Italy’, ‘British Vancouver’ etc. But all in keeping with the way of life in those countries. But it is a complex concept. Some feel that perhaps a bit of patience and tolerance is needed. Perhaps we are asking for rapid integration that’s never been achieved before? The Irish migrated heavily and lived in huddles, open Irish Pubs etc, Italians, Chinese and others did/do the same. Are we setting different standards for today’s migrants?

I don’t have the answers

What’s unarguable though, is the fact that we have to find answers as a society and perhaps try to avoid hysteria. In the UK, if we can fix the economy, sort poverty and fix our services and infrastructure, we shouldn’t see protests on the street and such anger, at 40,000 migrants rowing in across the channel (not to be condoned of course); we should have the ability to process them promptly, remove the bogus ones and work with France to find a solution that puts a firm and final end to the crossings so that anyone wishing to seek refuge here, can apply and following due process, not badge in via the channel. But as I keep saying, a country of 70million, should not be this impacted by an influx of 40,000 a year (that’ll take 10 years to reach 400,000). We should quietly and efficiently, process them and move on. It shouldn’t become such a distraction nor take over public discourse as it has.

What we shouldn’t have, is people coming into the UK, then tweeting on social media disparaging the UK. That, is quite disrespectful!

I am not sure many people would want to move to the UK if it didn’t offer what they didn’t have where they’ve come from. Correct?

So, in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, people from the Caribbean and other commonwealth nations moved to help with the rebuild (post-war). Yes, they faced brutal conditions and some intolerance when they got here, but by and large, they tried to fit in.

Calls to preserve the British way of life is indeed very necessary. It is what many moved here for. But confusing that and mixing it up with hate and racism etc., is what’s defeating the purpose. It should have been made mandatory (but now it is perhaps too late) for anyone moving to the UK, to be prepared to live here the way it is here; no littering, no forced marriages etc. This should not be negotiable.

Unfortunately, when the cause is now championed by semi-illiterates, who will make some sense one minute and the next minute they are spouting racist stuff, it becomes indefensible and the purpose is lost. And we end up where we are today, a nation of 70million people worrying so much about 40,000 illegal migrants rowing rubber boats across the channel annually! Yes, it is not right for people to just wade in, BUT seriously?! It should not make national headlines! If we can get the country back on its feet (which is what the government should focus on) and people in jobs etc., then the matter of 40,000 migrants rowing in annually, should be trivial! Yes, it must stop and must be addressed, but not as a national, topical issue that it has now become!
We must be better!

Britain was a very nice place in the 90s, it needs to be back on its feet, with jobs, harmony, reduction in intolerance & hatred. And anyone moving here should be willing to live here the way we do, or go elsewhere if they want a different way of life

…. the child is hands a pile of toys from Santa..

”Thank you Santa” he says…

…. and THAT, is a lesson for all ages! It is the world order. It is how someone who can’t spell their own name, can rule millions of people…..

It is the very reason nothing’s ever going to change.

Tough time of the year for some.

Awesome time of the year for some.

As an individual, I have always found it very difficult to flick a switch; be all joyous and merry when it is expected, and then…..

We all go back to how we are the rest of the year..

Many now say, it’s not about religion, “happy holidays” etc. Well, sorry, No. It is about religion. Nothing wrong with that. Let’s not twist it out of shape. It is ok not to be religious. Leave Christmas in its purest form.

The number of women I see wearing a cross as their necklace these days, but the minute they speak, hate flows out! It is really hard to reconcile the hate out there, with Christianity. But there is of course, always a way to excuse hate and tuck it away, behind what’s allowable

I am not into any religion. But seeing the alarming rise of knife crimes and other crimes in London today, it is easy to see that the old Sunday schools and biblical teachings of hell fire were useful deterrent that is now missing and has left a void, in which so many of today’s youth think nothing of grabbing a knife and stabbing others to death, for the minutest of reasons

I have always had an issue with coming home from the carefree life of boarding school, to what I always saw as a forced happiness of Christmas. But it wasn’t until I spent years visiting some of the poorest parts of the world, that the dejection hit me. Do they know it’s Christmas? Well, the question is: should they? We dash in to dazzle them with temporary hope in gifts at Christmas and the very next week, they are left to rot?
Yes, I accept that perhaps they do need to help themselves a bit. If roles were reversed, nothing would be different. Yes. I get that.

Many say: “well, but we gotta live our own lives”. Well, yes. But that’s exactly what the drug-dealer thinks, as he sells drugs that destroy lives. The drug-dealer believe he is simply doing what he has to do, to feed his own family, take them on holidays abroad etc. It is exactly the same thing a hate-mongerer thinks; spread hate, get paid. And it really does pay well these days, as there are so many out there, willing & happy to fund hate!
It is exactly the same thing an armed robber tells himself; he’s just trying to make money to live his life. We can all find ways to justify what we do.

I do not begrudge those who are happy or can switch on happiness in December or are able to block out the sadness around us. It is a wonderful gift to have. But for some of us who do not have that gift, it is indeed torturous to see horrible, awful people, sing carols and dole out joy for a week in December and then back off to doing the most awful things the rest of the year. I’m no saint, so I try to be exactly how I have been all year at Christmas. I can’t flick that switch (ain’t got one in me) to turn into a wonderful, joyful person in December. But I try my very best not to spoil it for others.

I am not saying that being sad is going to crack it and make the world a better place.

We just need to be understanding of those who do not appear so keen to walk on their heads in Dec and sing carols etc. Some folk are too poor to buy gifts and yes, others will say: “it’s not about the gifts”, ok. So, why is there a pile of gifts? And how do those who can’t afford gifts fit in? How do they feel? How does it make them feel?

Anyway, it is what it is.

It is unfortunate, but traditional is tradition. People must do what they grew up doing. And yes, it is how it is. And it is, how it will always be.

Yes, it is impossible to get everyone on earth to hold hands and love each other. But if anyone wants to drastically remove hatred and hate in the world, all you need to do, is create something that pays better!

Yes, there are a few people out there, who just hate for the heck of it. They want to find people to hate. For whatever reason.

But when you take a look at the vast majority of people out there spreading hate, they are simply doing it for the money. Afterall, it pays so well.

Create other means for these hate-mongering folk to make money and they’ll be off on holidays to foreigner lands, wearing designer shoes and clothes…

Olympic gold medalist boxer and former world champion, Anthony Joshua fought a You-tuber Jake Paul last night and the world of boxing criticised Joshua. What were we after? To be entertained by Joshua having his head punched off right? But for Joshua, why would he not take a fight that is said to have earned him £70million, to fight a guy who was unlikely to land a single meaningful punch on him! Clever guy Joshua! He went in, stroll in the park, gets his £70m and off he goes!

Now, how much of this reported £70m gets to Joshua’s bank account? Let’s say, £10m. The rest goes to his promoter, his team of countless staff etc. So, for about 20 minutes of him walking around Jake Paul, he has made a bunch of money for himself and those around him. Well done to him!

ENTERTAINMENT right?

We want to sit at home and watch two people punch each other in the head. For our entertainment.

And the complaint people had against yesterday’s bout, was that they didn’t punch each other in the head hard enough!

Aliens must truly be laughing their heads off

When I read about all the hate and bile words out there, you just gotta shake your head.Why would one care if someone was black, white, brown or any other colour or whether it’s a man, woman or anything else. Why would one care?? I don’t! People can be whoever, whatever they want to be. We sit about in judgement while salivating over people beating each other up for our entertainment!

People will do anything for money! Anything!

Last week a couple in the UK won £1million in the lottery for a second time! Now, why would you win £1million and continue to play the lottery? After winning £1million, waking up the next day to play the lottery? Seriously?!! We are a truly reprehensible lot!

You read of romance scams, people scamming pensioners, people selling narcotics to the helpless, all in the name of making money!

Empathy is completely out of the window! You see people without any conscience whatsoever, amassing millions from the misery of others! We now have special algorithms to maximise hate for gain!

It ain’t new.

I do not have the answers. Not sure there are answers….

Just read about this on CNN. The ringleader of the coup plotters had his hand on his gun as he read their speech! Why? As a prop?

I couldn’t imagine, for the life of me, what would possess soldiers to think they can offer an alternative to an existing government, regardless of how awful that government may be???? It is of course possible that the soldiers too ‘governance 101’ or ‘Politics 101’ as part of their military training….

This is turning out to be yet another dark era for Africa, and in particular, West Africa, with coup galore! It seems their armed forces are in desperate need of ‘the role of the armed forces 101’?

Eberechi Eze!!!!

Just 12 (of 38) games into the season and we get only the third ever Arsenal player to score a hat trick in the North London derby! On the 198th derby!

The man is now forever a legend at Arsenal! His first derby! What a guy! Eberechi! Eberechi!!!!!

The world has completely lost its way! Not that it was ever – at any time or era – in a good place, but at least some decades ago (particularly, the 90s), there was a concerted effort to try to be better. Now, we are trying to be the worst possible we can be!

Everyone’s having a moan! In the UK we are told by an elected member of parliament that there are now far too many black & brown people on tv adverts! You would think those businesses would fix that, if the commercials ain’t popular? Do we need an elected member of parliament who is supposed to serve all the people, saying that? But before you start yelling out the ‘-isms’, there are a group of folk in South Africa right now, matching on their streets stopping immigrants from accessing health care. And there are other parts of the world where there is ongoing elements of all sorts: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, USA, Canada, Australia, Ukraine (both before and after the latest was started)…. the list goes on….

How dare you get rich? How dare you be a criminal? …. ok.

The world is totally messed up. NOBODY, and I repeat, nobody, is out for the greater good.

What exactly is the ideal world? All black people stay in Africa? All brown people stay in Asia? All white people stay in Europe? oops… what do we do with the USA then? (just brown native Americans?). How about Australia? Canada? New Zealand? Do we also expel descendants of the Spanish from Chile, Argentina and all of Latin America?
Do we end travel?
Is that what makes for the ideal, peaceful world?

It seems people just hate for the hell of it.

If it is all for the greater good, then would it not be selfless?

Can we try to revert to looking out for the greater good? Controlled migration (done the correct way. Nobody should be rowing across the English Channel and forcing their way into the UK. Nobody should be forming human caravans to burst into the US without first applying for entry! etc) is a must. But technology must be developed to achieve it. Not inhumane acts. We need to get back to doing things for the greater good. The earth belongs to no one! We are all here temporarily! None of us will live forever. We’re not immortals!

Tanzania – an unpopular president apparently got 98% of the vote?! Surely she could have just claimed it was 60% and still won. 98%? Now over 700 protester said to have been killed.

Bangladesh – Sheikh Hasina. Always thought she was just a one off. Hundreds of protestors killed before they forced her out

No point mentioning the ones presently making headlines elsewhere in recent weeks.

It seems females ain’t any better.

How people can so wantonly gun down protesters is just so difficult to comprehend! Even in a dictatorship!

Shocking really!

And the ongoing fiasco in the Sudan…

We cannot continue to blame colonialism can we?

Rulers massacring their own people! Terrible!!

It would be interesting to do a thorough research to see what the generational progression of the factions at war tends to be?

Taking two wars for example; the American Civil War and World War II. The side that declare victory do not do so with a promise by the vanquished to change their position. They were simply defeated. They go back home and retain their position. They share that position with their children, who in turn maintain the same position and share with their children. 200 years later, we wonder why we are beginning to see the very same arguments and positions that led to those wars, many decades prior. The issues return in slight variations and we are not yet at war, but they are very clearly those exact same positions. If one was to map and trace the ancestry of the proponents of today’s position, you will find that their ancestors likely held those same views and although they may have lost those wars, we are now back fighting those exact same positions yet again

We talk about “the war to end all wars”. Well, quite simply, it hasn’t

War is simply a form of lashing out. It never achieves any lasting objective. So, what do you do if you’re attacked? Lay down and be slaughtered or fight back? In all instances, you probably have to fight back. So, how do we prevent wars? or rather, can we prevent wars?

Probably not.

But we must never see war as a solution. It settles nothing – as we can see today, with all those same past issues, past hatred, past intolerance of some folk, it’s all back – it ends nothing.

Once upon a time, there was a society made up of a group of horses, donkeys and ponies.

The horses are very strong and ruled the society for centuries. For many centuries, only the horses were allowed to go to school and be educated and they were the only ones allowed to vote in elections etc. The donkeys produced the babies and kept the home clean. After Many years, some changes were made and the donkeys and ponies were allowed to go to school and one day, they were also allowed to vote.

The horses still held most of the positions of power. 90% of the richest, most affluent in the society were horses. When donkeys and ponies applied for jobs, they only got jobs that the horses weren’t too keen on.

One day, someone decided to begin a programme that will help the donkeys and ponies get hired. But they didn’t bother to explain to the horses (they didn’t think it was necessary, as the programmme will not reduce opportunities for horses) that the programme is not anti-horses,but more to get the donkeys and ponies up the ladder. The horses started to see donkeys and ponies getting hired and the horses began to complain that their world was being decimated and that they had become a target. Meanwhile, the horses still held most of the positions of power in society, as one horse retires, another horse was ready and primed up to take the position. It would take at least 200 years of steady hiring of donkeys and ponies for them to ever be on par with horses and that was highly unlikely anyway. Yet, the horses continued to feel targeted and they began to protest and express strong dissatisfaction

Perhaps it was time for society to say to the horses:

”It’s ok horses. You are fine. Nobody is trying to knock you off your perch. The programme is simply to create additional perches and get some donkeys and ponies up there with you”

……..

Although this isn’t deemed as newsworthy out here, it is shocking that such massacre is happening in the 21st century!
Sudanese need to find a way to pull together to end this needless bloodshed! It is hard to blame others for this situation, it is inexplicable!

This isn’t about flying flags or spewing hate or being intolerant. It is common sense.

A guy who came into the country on a rubber boat was caught harassing a 14 year old girl, telling her that in his country, she can be his wife. Then he made a grab for her. He also did the same to a lady who was helping him to complete a CV. It is of course very possible that where he comes from, such behaviour is not taboo. But it is criminal here and he was tried and found guilty, sent to prison for 12 months. It is the exact reason why people should come into the UK via due process, even if seeking asylum. He would have received some information about the laws of this land and that over here, you can’t go making a grab for women, even if as he says, he can get away with doing so where he came from. Coming in via rubber boats across the channel means a bypass of the due process, which could help migrants understand our laws and avoid getting in trouble as this fellow has. On the flip said, the victims of such behaviour feel let down by the government as the government must find a way to project the population. It isn’t everyone who comes across on a rubber boat that’s going to behave like this fellow did, but then, it is the reason that arrangements need to be put in place, to process the folk coming in and get them through due diligence before mingling with the public. It is for the best and helps both parties

The government must find a way to end the rubber boat crossings. It is not right, whichever way you look at it. France should set up a processing centre and due diligence put in place, while the channel made secure by whatever means practicable. The crossings must stop, and genuine asylum seekers processed and assisted.

Protesting, flying flags or being intolerant ain’t gonna solve this problem. As Brits, we are civilised people, we must act in that manner, regardless of the frustration. I firmly believe the government will find a solution at some point. It is a very complex problem

This is not about whether or not one supports or objects to migration. Putting people who entered the country by rowing across the English Channel, in hotels, which have run up £billions in cost, is not a good look, whichever way one is to look at it.

Sooner or later, Western countries will get to the inevitable conclusion that it is a lot cheaper to go and invest €billions in the countries where the majority of the people rowing across the English Channel hail from. It will be cheaper than the Rwanda scheme and it will be cheaper than the ongoing cost of hotels etc.

But what is most concerning, is the rising number of very violent crimes that a handful of the people who rowed across the channel are committing. I just read about another guy who is in court yesterday, accused of following a lady who cleans the asylum hotel where he’s staying and brutally stabbing her to death at a train station, with a screwdriver! This was prior to the guy who has now been jailed for assaulting an underaged girl in East London. It is highly likely, that the overwhelming majority of the people rowing across the channel are just unfortunate people who need help and will never commit a crime. But the reality is that it is indeed the reason why there is a need for people to come in via application and not just row in across the Channel. It has become the one, singular matter that has consumed our politics and every day life!

We need new laws to tackle a number of societal issues in today’s society. Nobody should be sacred to get about their business on our streets. Protesters protesting whatever they are protesting, must not be allowed to intimidate anyone or make our streets unsafe.
Knife crime in London has got to a point where urgent and drastic action is needed. Parents need to be fined and/or prosecuted along with perpetrators in under the age of 20. Parents must be held accountable. WHERE IS TECH????? Surely Meta or Tesla or Amazon or any of these folk can design metal or knife-detector goggles or something and sensors can be installed on street lamps and stuff? There must be ways to implement the detection but also, there must be programmes targeting the age groups who carry knives and working to make it a taboo and not cool to carry knives.

The government needs to engage with tech companies and clever people, to find a solution, as this is getting way out of hand..

There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking pride in one’s country! People saying they are proud to be British, English, Welsh etc., is all good. However, intelligent people will agree that the buying and selling of human beings is not a good thing, regardless of the era. Accepting that some brutal acts of colonialism were awful doesn’t mean you love Britain less or are not proud of Britain. We can be as proud of our history as we want. But there is also nothing wrong with accepting that there were a number of things done over the years, that one cannot be proud of. That, doesn’t make you any less proud to be British

Now, there has been a raging, ongoing debate relating to flags, and flags being used to apparently mark out territory and to tell people that ownership of the country is by some? This matter should not be a matter for debate! Our flag is our national emblem that we all should revere and respect. Sticking it all over lampposts (many are made from tarty cloth with the colours not what it should be) may be mistaken for a show of patriotism, but I think we need to show a bit more respect to our flag! It needs to be mounted high on government building, embassies etc (as it is and has been) NOT hastily painted on roundabouts for cars to drive over it! For goodness sake! Let us show a bit of respect to the flag! Painting it in front of houses and sticking it all over the place, is turning it into a common cloth that anyone think they can just strap up anywhere! That, is NOT, a show of respect at all!
If anyone wants to fly flags on lampposts, they can create their own flag and type ‘British or English & proud’ on it. But to use the country’s flag in that manner, is counterproductive! They think they are displaying pride in the country, but they are actually disrespecting the flag by sticking it up on lamp posts as it is unlawful. Some of the locations could distract drivers, if the flag gets detached and blown onto windscreens as cars are driving by, it could cause accidents. There are several other safety reasons why such action is unlawful. We can’t all just start stringing stuff up on lampposts or painting roundabouts etc. There are reasons why it is unlawful. To then do it with our nation’s flag? Not respectful!

It’s the complexity of life!

Sometimes good people do bad things and bad people do good things!

Except for the few mentally ill folk, the rest of us have the ability to choose to be good or bad.

The simplistic notion of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ has become so blurred in the social media era.

Decency is no longer identifiable

If you look at America today, you have supposed Christians picking and choosing whichever portion of the bible they deem convenient. Ignoring love thy neighbour, thou shall not kill, covet, bear false testimony etc. But the folk who say Trump & his government is bad and that they are good, we’re not doing much good when they had their chances either! That good old concept of good & bad, is the reason we have lost the middle ground!

Broadly speaking, most of us know what’s decent and what isn’t.

We all have what it takes to dial the temperature down, stop the nasty rhetorics, live & let live etc. We are simply choosing not to do so..

Democracy was never perfect. Politics was never perfect. But I do recall a time, not too long ago (20 years ago roughly), when at least some of the aspects of political decorum was observed. Today, it is just so kindergarten!

This morning I watched a few clips on the BBC and MSN, of people in public office, in very senior roles, who make massively significant decisions, attending committees that are set up to ask them questions so that there is oversight – which is a very normal process – yet, the ‘whataboutery’, the ‘tittle-tattle’ was truly shocking!

Our politicians do not have to be perfect. Nobody is. But can we just try to find a way to tone down the extremely dangerous rhetoric?
If 1, 10, 20, 100 illegal migrants commit crimes, it doesn’t make ALL illegal migrants criminals and it certainly doesn’t mean anyone should seek to punish nor harm them. Same as it is wrong to hunt down every teenager in the country, because 1, 10, 20 or 100 teenagers commit crimes.

There are several major issues and politicians can of course disagree and take whatever position they wish to take on Brexit, illegal migration, Covid etc., but we MUST find a way to return to a time when questions are asked and answers provided and not the “well, what about what your party did”? type of kindergarten response. The bar has been dragged so low, when you look at what’s going on in several countries , it is difficult to understand if their politicians actually remember that the job is to serve the people (and not just the people who agree with them). We are in awful times!

Is there a way back? Hard to tell.

I believe Robert Jenrick should urgently apologise for what he said this week about the part of Birmingham that he visited. He probably didn’t intend to be horrible, but the reality is that the way the societal ladder and property ladder works, is that when poor people of any demographics move into an area and they form clusters, they get stuck in there. The ones who make it out – be it via education, lottery win or other means – quickly move the hell out, then other poor or poorer ones arrive. It is not about these unfortunate folk refusing to integrate or choosing to isolate. They will be happy to live side by side with Jenrick on his street, if he can offer them a home on his street and jobs closeby etc. I doubt any of these folk prefer to live in a slum. Their circumstances have kept them stuck in there and yes, it may appear to be a cluster of those demographics, but it is hardly by choice! Create jobs, get people working, earning, and they will be eager to move up the society ladder, to areas where they can live side my side with other demographics, mix etc. if they do, some folk will start complaining yet again! That is when you begin to wonder if there is ever going to be an end to the complaining?! And if – as many have been quick to point out to Jenrick – there are other deeper reasons behind the posturing!!???

I am not sure it is possible, but I do hope that our politicians can look within themselves and move a little bit closer to the days where there were some standards to holding public office. Some decorum. Yes, in today’s world, you probably won’t secure votes if you’re not whipping up the population and fanning the popular rhetorics etc….

Nobody is perfect and I am definitely not perfect nor close to being perfect. But I always try to ask myself what can I do? What is my contribution to a problem? And to take some action from my side. Just over 25 years ago I completely estranged myself from my family when it was clear that our views are just not compatible. From being socialites my parents became religious goons who cannot even merely entertain a difference of opinion on the matter. I initially just distanced myself from them while staying in touch with some cousins and other relatives who weren’t sucked into the same mindset, but then came accusations of favouritism and I simply estranged myself completely from my entire family and it has been 25 very peaceful, happy life and I wouldn’t change if for all the tea in China!
Life is always about choices. Yes, there could be mental health issues and reasons why we sometimes act irrationally, but when we go on holiday in Europe or America and we manage to carry our own bags and our arms do not fall off, but we get to Africa or Asia and we are willing to pay unfortunately people to carry our bags and we feel like we are doing them a favour by creating the job for them and paying them to carry our bags, it is the kind of self-vindication that has led to the awful state in which the world is today; where we all see the terrible impact of heroine & other drugs on people around us but you see mothers, fathers still willing to smuggle those drugs – telling themselves they need to feed their children, pay for school, holidays etc. – so, hey, it’s ok! It is the same reason we read about so many deaths around the world, wars, poverty etc., but we only come out to protest about illegal migrants and our discomfort with that.

Yes, the influx of thousands of people, monthly, rowing in rubber boats across the English Channel is awful, as so many of the drown in the process, and when they get here, many are falling into crime – just read about a gang of mobile phone snatchers on the BBC this morning, all largely made up of illegal migrants – and causing all sorts of issues with the local population now getting fed up and protesting, even though we should be looking to address our greater problems (which all predate the entry to these rubber boat folk) which include inequality, poverty, shortage of social housing, broken health system, crumbling infrastructure etc.

But the fundamental problem is that as individuals, we expect someone else, there is always that ‘someone else’ to take an actions, to solve the problem, while we just want our cosy lives unaffected! We want our holidays, our afternoon tea etc. It is the reason why nothing will ever change!

When people look at each other and immediately seek to classify; I mean, what the heck is a white person? or a black person? or a brown person? What on earth is all that? You find people whose parents or grandparents moved to America and settled there, now so intolerant of others coming in, that they are so riled, you see it physically eating them up! There is a need to respect law & order and rules; people should not just form human caravans and just march into the US or any other country for that matter. It is disrespectful and it disregards their laws and immigration processes. BUT there has to be a way – using technology – to address this. Same as imprisonment of non-violent offenders; there must be a technological option, where they can be punished with electronic tags to keep them at home for the necessary time and community work (teaching, cleaning etc) that can also me electronically monitored with all sorts of repercussion that can be applied, to ensure those measures are ample deterrent to offending or reoffending, so that we empty out our jails with countries like the UK should only have around 1,000 to 5,000 people in prison for extremely violent crimes. It is the type of technology that the likes of Tesla, Amazon and co. should be developing, instead of all the money wasted in banging people up in prisons, feeding them etc.

But then, why would we change? It seems many are content with the awful state society has always been in, and the even more awful situations we are now in, and heading for…