Knowledge can improve the world we live in

Goes to show it is all just a political football after all?

A slight drop in net migration figures and we are squabbling over whether it was down to the policies of the previous government!? Who cares???!!!! Just get on with the work!!!

Some folk are planning summer protests – which we hope, isn’t going to turn into rioting – with a list is issues they say the labour government hasn’t fixed, in just the few months labour have been in power. The same problems the previous government didn’t fix in the 14 years they were in power and there were no summer protests held! Curious isn’t it?
We are now in an era where people say an election is rigged if they don’t win. Then they start protests and say they want an early election until they win! They defend freedom of speech only when it allows them to say awful things about others.

We must find a way to get back to some semblance of common sense! Governments are not there to serve one side or the other! An election is run to select leaders. Once the leaders are elected, they are supposed to govern to the benefit of everyone (including people who didn’t vote for them! The election is over!!!).

Awful times….

It is bandied about all over the place. Diversity. Ok. I have absolutely nothing against the concept of people mixing, I champion ‘live & let live’. Tolerance. All good.

But there is also a saying: when you’re in Rome, act like the Romans!

There is nothing wrong with cultural diversity, but any culture would be lost, if not retained in its local setting at the very least. How would one learn to act like the romans do in Rome, if the roman culture is nowhere to be seen?

This has nothing to do with right or wrong. Some folk would like to retain their culture. And while they are happy to learn from and mingle with other cultures, they still would like to retain and maintain what they see as their own culture. Complicated? It shouldn’t be. And we shouldn’t find it so impossible to explain. Here’s an example: Britain is what it is today, because of the way of life of the Brits. England, within Britain, May wish to retain English culture and it is not some fixed set of rules written down in a book. But for example, preference for clean, unlittered streets, the use of the English language etc.

Cultural diversity: what is it? I am not sure I know, and I am no expert on the topic. But what it should not be, is an attempt to forcibly dilute or impose. Some aspects of cultures could be conflicting. The local culture should take credence; people moving in to live in England can of course bring their own cultures, but when those cultures conflict with the local norm, they should try to learn and blend in with the local culture. It is what integration is all about. If not conducive, people should seek other countries to relocate to, if they do wish to emigrate from their own countries. None of this should be controversial.

The forceful imposition of other cultures is what leads to crisis.

There is nothing wrong in learning and adapting to the existing, local cultures where ever we go, and respecting it, sticking with it. We can all of course introduce our own, but we shouldn’t try to impose. As a Brit, when I have worked and lived in other countries e.g. Canada, I retained my own British culture within me, but went along with their local culture and found that in most instances, there were similarities (perhaps easy enough, given Canada is part of the commonwealth), but when I have travelled through Asia, Africa and other parts of Europe, I have applied that same principle: learn, adopt and blend in.

A very straightforward comparison is to look at a company. Companies have a culture. When they employ staff, the new employee will need to learn and adhere to the company culture. If the employee doesn’t fit in or doesn’t like the company’s culture, they go and find another job and move to that company right?
Companies hire diverse employees, and benefit from their diverse ideas and incorporate those diverse ideas that fit well with the company’s culture and objectives right?
It should be no different for countries. You go in, learn the culture, fit in and do as should be done. It doesn’t mean you lose or forget your culture, simply means you don’t go in and expect to impose your culture. You learn theirs and fit in. If you don’t like it, move to some other place whose culture you prefer.

I do not see any other reason Kier Starmer would be cosying up to the EU, other than for the very obvious fact that we don’t have a choice. He is very well aware of the huge number of Brits who voted to exit the EU and he is not stupid. He understands fully well that he can’t afford to lose all those votes at the next election. So, why would he still carry on attempting a Brexit reset? Well, for the very simply reason that the people who pushed for Brexit, did not tell their supporters how bad it will hurt our economy (and I believe it is for the simple reason that none of them – Brexiteers and Remainers alike – knew the full likelihood of the resulting impact).

Can Britain survive outside the EU, with no dealings with the EU; of course. But it will be very painful. And the people who will get hit hardest, are the very same people who voted for Brexit, but they do not realise it. When they do get it, when the impact becomes unbearable, they will deflect and find other reasons and other folk to blame for the hardship. This is what Starmer knows a responsible government cannot allow to happen, as it will lead to anarchy e.g. the summer riots of 2024.

But other than silently ploughing away and trying to help the people regardless, and being beaten up for it, on a daily basis, would it not make more sense for Starmer to set up community discussion sessions and sponsor TV sessions where his Cabinet can explain the details of the impact of turning our back completely against the EU? Can he not try to show the people the impacts and why there must be a compromise, a sort of reset! If he is indeed trying to do this for the greater good, why not take that extra – painful as it may be – step to get people to understand that he is doing it for them!!???

Why do it in silence. Public opinion matter! The government need to try to bring the people along. Even if they fail to convince many who are already entrenched and set against Labour and Starmer. The government must persevere and still try. Run local discussion forums, set up community engagement events; show people the reality of the situation: it is the very same poor, angry people who feel they are not being listened to on various topics (Brexit, immigration etc) who will suffer even more, if the UK doesn’t find a middle ground to get some deals done with the EU, even if we still have to be outside the EU (as we must, given the choice the exit the EU was democratic and the majority – slight or not – won the referendum)

We’ve all been there before, when people tell you to take action, go in strong, be robust, stand your ground etc., but when you turn around, those same people are off hiding away in the shadows!
Like it or not, Trump was voted in as President of the US and they are not a tiny country. He will also be there for the next 4 years. That’s that. Taking him on, like Zelensky did, ain’t gonna work, and you will end up backtracking, just as Zelensky had to. It is that simple

So, Carney says Canada isn’t for sale, there was no need to shout it out or draw Trump in for a shouting match. English isn’t Zelensky’s first language, otherwise, he would have made his points at that infamous meeting at the White House, with a bit more coyness! Telling Trump that America May be sitting pretty now, but war can come to anyone, is not a smart way to make the point, and it was what led to the unfortunate harsh exchange between them

Carney on the other hand, knew he had nothing to gain by riling Trump. It was the same for Kier Starmer, who also navigated his meeting with Trump sensibly. The US is ‘the’ superpower, it doesn’t matter what or how they got to that status; it is what it is. They sneeze, the rest of us catch cold (in particular, their next door neighbour; Canada). So, why antagonise their president?? It doesn’t matter what people think of Trump, he is the American President, and as such, it makes very little sense to rile him.

Is Trump ever going to stop talking about making Canada the 51st state? No. Is Canada ever going to be the 51st state? No. So, what would be the point in Carney getting into an argument about it, with Trump?

Well done Carney

Years before Boris Johnson ran for Mayor of London, I said he will be Mayor. A year after he became Mayor, I said he will be Prime Minister. I can say with very little doubt today, that Boris Johnson will soon be back as the leader of the Conservative Party and he will try to return as Prime Minister but this time around, he won’t make it. Why? potential as his tricks remain, they won’t quite cut it this time.

The populist Reform Party sweeping the local council elections last week, was very predictable. Why? so many voters in the UK do not feel listened to. They feel the government is not listening to them, but the simple truth is that they forget that we are in a democracy and the government has to listen to everyone and not just the loudest or the ones who think they are the majority. The government do listen, but they cannot possibly bend to every whim of sections of the electorate. Can and should the government communicate better? ABSOLUTELY. I see no reason why the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and other MPs do not engage better with the electorate, to help people see that some of the things they are asking for, is just not so straightforward! We are all sick to death of the seemingly uncontrollable migration of people into the country via the English Channel on small boats. But dealing with it, is not as simple as people think it is. Should the government communicate that better? ABSOLUTELY! The country is in dire need to that clarity, as the present levels of intolerance and hate, fuelled by the migration anger, is not sustainable. We need to turn the temperature down!

But yes, Boris will be back. He will whip up the crowds again and do a deal with Reform and try to get back to 10 Downing Street. This is a fairly easy prediction. It will happen. And very soon…

It is certainly curious..

Take the case of David Beckham’s rumoured quest to get knighted and getting repeatedly overlooked. He will get it at some point. When individuals think they have achieved fame, wealth.. they begin looking for the next thing: Adulation! or whatever it is, they see as the next level of recognition….

Is it ever enough?

Opportunism could not be better demonstrated; when you look at the state of today’s politics and our crumbling democracy, where individuals such as Pierre Poilievre in Canada and man6 others around the world today, stand in opposition, knowing fully well that they cannot – for very obvious reasons – do much better than the incumbent government, but they go around whipping up the population regardless, with empty promises and solutions they know fully well, cannot be implemented or if implemented, will not make a jot of difference. There are several examples out there, including Brexit in the UK; while I believe it was indeed time for the UK to exit the EU (the EU had to do better), the manner and basis (untruths) and the resulting detriment, which the proponents didn’t fully grasp etc.. made it an opportunistic farce!

There is a huge chunk of the UK population today, who are fed up with the government’s (past & present) handling of illegal migration. But unfortunately, they fail to understand the grave limitation of the promises a bunch of opportunists are making to them. Very similar to Brexit. When a party with a massive majority in government and mandate to implement Brexit, ended up leaving us in the current & ongoing mess, it should be very clear to anyone with half a brain, that those who sold it, simply never understood the aftermath, or perhaps, simply didn’t care! It was just an opportunity for them to get their own way?

But really, who is taking advantage of whom?

The folk in charge? or the people voting them in?

We currently have a new wave of populism sweeping the UK right now, with many saying they are fed up with the 3 main parties: Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. They say they want to replace these parties with a party of the people! They say they people appear well-galvanised and ready to drive this seismic change. But where are the answers? Where are the solutions? to the economy, dealing with illegal migration etc.

NONE.

No answers. Just sound bites, slogans, promises….

We are walking straight into another Brexit…

The desire for a seismic change, the desire to show the establishment that the people still have the power, is going to lead us into total chaos and hardship at a scale that nobody can imagine!

It seems it is now an unstoppable outcome…

The establishment appear helpless. Or perhaps they want the population to learn the hard way, to lay in the bed they have made…

Sadly, no lessons will be learnt (as with Brexit). The poor will suffer more…

The opportunists will quickly pivot to their next opportunity….

Can somebody explain this to those baying for blood and asking for seismic change? Will they listen?

Yes, we are not perfect in the UK. And yes, we may be heading towards similar situations, BUT, I always like to believe that we have people here, who will always stand up for what’s decent!
We now see a good number of people rushing to relocate to the UK…..

I am fiercely pro-British, not just because I am a Brit, but mainly because I have travelled the world (worked in and/or visited many countries) and I am without doubt that the country you can depend on, to stand up for decency, is the UK. Yes, we have our past, but what I mean, is that; even when we do horrible things e.g. the awful summer riots last year, you will always see decent folk step up, to make things right and remind everyone else of what we stand for. Sometimes it takes a while for that to happen e.g. the transatlantic slave trade or belated standing up to Hitler, but Brits end up doing what’s right. Long may it continue..

Building a big prison and dumping in a bunch of heavily tattooed men, without trial, to rot in there indefinitely only offer temporary relief. What’s going to happen to their children? Those children will shortly find their way to the tattoo shops?
El Salvador is not a success story. It is very possible that they had no choice but to get these tattooed folk off the street! The daily homicide figure was rising higher and higher. But they should be in a very sombre mood; they need to find a way, to solve the root cause of the problem. Why are so many, turning to gangs?
The ones they have locked up, is there a chance to rehabilitate? El Salvador also need to now find a way, very quickly, to return to normal processes of proving people guilty – giving them their day in court to defend themselves – before locking them up, if found guilty. Mass imprisonment without trial, just because of their tattoos and suspicion of their affiliation with gangs cannot possibly be normalised! Is it part of a wider plan to defang the gangs, clean up and then preempt? If not, they are heading down a very slippery slope.

As for the El Salvador President travelling the world in smiles, like he’s on a victory lap, he should be reminded that locking up hundreds of citizens of his country, without trial, may well have been a necessary emergency measure, which has helped reduce homicide in his country, but it is still not something to go around smiling about. He needs a long term solution. Does he think he can carry on building larger and larger prisons? Banging up a huge chunk of his male population comes with other longer term generational problems.

When you look at Haiti today, and Ecuador is also heading in the same direction, Guatemala, Honduras and several other parts of South America have had the same issues for decades, with violent gangs running amok. Poverty, low employment opportunity and a number of societal issues are to blame. There appears to be little to no effort aimed at fixing these wider issues. Mass incarceration is not a lasting solution. While it might well be the only immediate measure in a situation where daily killing have shot through the roof, as it was in El Salvador, it needs to be a very temporary measure that usher in a long term approach to getting people into jobs and out of gangs.

The notion of just rounding people up based on their tattoos and locking them up indefinitely, without trial many dying in such detention, leaving their children to fall into the same hopeless trap and right into gangs, is a vicious, unending cycle!

We are truly in hopeless times!

When you have a country (El Salvador) where people couldn’t come out on the streets because the gangs were recklessly murdering them, the population would be happy to see a President such as Bukele, come in an act. But it rarely ends well, if such action, is without nuance. Rodrigo Duterte is a recent example; the former Philippines President, now sat in a cell in The Hague. He was probably not without support, during the years he was in power, enacting his approach to dealing with supposed drug peddlers, while ignoring the real root of the problem: why are so many willing to buy the drugs?
It is the same for Bukele and El Salvador: why are so many turning to gangs? Can he lock them all up and is that going to solve the problem? The answer is quite obvious. He may be going around smiling today, but at some point, questions will be asked about the long list of tattooed Salvadorans who are not gang members but got locked up and lost their lives in his massive prisons. Bukele is of course much younger than Duterte and as such, may remain in power for much longer, but in order for him to avoid a similar ending, he needs to bring back judicial due process urgently. He had an emergency to deal with and for the sake of Salvadorans, he did what he had to do? Ok. But he now has to dismantle the gangs, create jobs, address poverty & other issues that make gang life attractive to the young men in his country, see if he can rehabilitate some of the ones he locked up, and find long term solutions. One would hope that he’s smart enough to understand this. Either way, travelling the world, all smiles, like he’s done something laudable, is indeed laughable! He has a country still to save!!

It is hard not to feel hopeless! When you look at the pictures of roomfuls of these heavily tattooed men in El Salvador prisons and the awful stories from victims of street violence, it is very difficult to argue against the actions of Bukele. When you then read stories from victims in other countries such as the US, where the same gangs and gang members have stretched, it is again, very difficult, to argue against the need for urgent action. What would the alternatives be?
But it is clear that longer term solutions – to address the causative factors – must follow the supposedly necessary emergency actions…

It is definitely a mental health crisis!

Has the world suddenly changed so much? I don’t think so. It is still largely what it used to be, but the only very obvious change, is that we have now embraced and celebrate meanness and hatred. Openly.

I am a firm believer of the fact that any race or nation, could have done pretty much the same horrid stuff as we accuse others of doing in the past. As such, looking back and pointing fingers, is pointless. But it is indeed very concerning, that we have now moved into an era where decency is dead. An era where shame is dead and people are emboldened to get out in public and utter horrible, nasty words. All the horrible stuff of years gone by, things we thought were never ever likely to recur, are now all lining up, ready to happen again.

It just seems so hopeless.

How do you do a reset? It appears to have gone too far. I do not believe 40,000+ people per year, should be rowing into the UK across the English Channel, forcing their ways in, because they know that we area civilised society and as such, cannot just ram them back down the channel. But when the levels of poverty in some parts of the UK is where it has been for the last 10 years, with so many Brits waiting for housing, not getting access to healthcare and schools are rundown with kids going hungry, it is perhaps unfair, for the same folk, to see 40,000+ people rowing in every year via the English Channel to be put up in hotels. I have empathy for these folk seeking asylum and I do understand their plight and the hardship they may be facing, but it has now got to a point where it is impossible for me not to also see the reasons why the poverty-stricken folk in the UK are getting fed up with this and feeling aggrieved. The reaction must always be civil of course. The language and rhetoric appear to be getting more and more dangerous each day. We must find a way – URGENTLY – to solve this problem and seek to return society to the days where we would be ashamed to openly celebrate hatred!

It is naive to think there is a solution that won’t come with some unpleasantness such as deportation. It is inevitable. But it isn’t something to be celebrated.

We are all at liberty to choose who we like. But the minute we start hating some people because of what they look like or the circumstances they are in, THAT, in my humble opinion, is a mental health problem. It ain’t normal!!

There is a very clear lesson there for kids to learn. Or rather, several lessons…

The most important of those lessons is: NEVER PUT NEEDLESS PRESSURE ON YOURSELF! All ends in vanity!!!

You look at the likes of Colin Montgomery, excellent golfer & human being. He never won a single major. Unbelievable right? But, so what? He was and still is, an excellent golfer!

We create these arbitrary measures, these arbitrary barriers…

Rory had to complete a career slam of majors. Why?

Well, he got sucked into it. And it became a millstone around his neck! He would have won the US Masters years and years ago, without this idiotic statistic hampering him! And yesterday, he nearly caved under the pressure yet again. Thankfully, he held his nerve. He will now foolishly think it is all over, and he’s free of this nightmare. But only if he refuses to get dragged into this mindless statistical drivel again!

By tomorrow, someone will come up with some other milestone! If he’s foolish enough to get sucked in again, fine! Some call it motivation. But for goodness sake! ……

Well done Rory.

…. and well done Rosey (another excellent golfer & gentleman!)

8,064!!
Compassion is imperative and I do feel for these people as they are, for whatever reason, in this situation. BUT, this really has to stop. Everyone in the UK benefit from a system based on the rule of law: we work hard, pay our taxes etc. Services are based on careful planning. To have such extreme numbers of people, coming in, without a support system in place, to take them in, is harmful to everyone.

This feeling of entitlement, that you can just pay someone to force your way into a country, is not fair on that country & its people. But I suppose the onus may well be on the UK government to find a way to end this situation. But as I do not have a solution, and I suspect many others don’t either. Tech must be the answer. There must be a tech solution to this.

People in the UK appear totally fed up with this situation, as they feel so helpless in their own country, to keep seeing these extraordinary numbers of folk just rowing in every month. It is sadly turning many against the spirit of charity, which used to be so abundant here.

I hope someone comes up with a practical and humane way to fix this problem soon. It really has become ridiculous..

… and I do not say this lightly!

Sadly, we are presently bogged-down with a myriad of domestic issues….

The world desperately need British diplomacy right now! (yes, there are several examples of global missteps over the years, but I can’t at present, see anything better out there! And it’s all steadily getting worse!!!). Get the likes of David Blunkett, John Major, Jack Straw and a few others together, to propose solutions to the current global mess!

It is well worth asking: what exactly is it all about?????

Life, as we presently have it. With so many people around the world living in squalor, in abject poverty and pain. Given the chance, they rarely help each other, the just want to break out and join the ranks of the rich…

I once asked a wealthy friend why he would spend 25 x the standard cost of a pair of shoes, to buy his customised pair? He said he was unaware of the standard cost of shoes!

When you have a bunch of multi-billionaires pledging to give their wealth away, it makes you wonder: why amass such wealth?

Now, once you have several billions and are no longer worried about standing out or buying customised shoes, I guess the next step is to try to achieve adulation?

To understand this madness, you would need to go right down to grassroots golf, in schools, colleges and clubs that the PGA fund, and how that pyramid structure grows the sport and how ALL golfers earning $millions came through that structure. I am not going to comment on ‘sportwashing’ and all the allegations levelled against LIV (is there any clean money in any sport?? It’s all a matter of perception), but the golfers rushed off to LIV golf for easy money, should be asked to explain where they would be, without the structure that made them the golfers they are?
Has LIV put in 100+ years of golf development into schools, colleges etc?
Now, it is possible that LIV will indeed, over the next 100 years, do as much as the PGA, for schools, colleges etc., but that’s to be seen right?
So, the players that ran off to take LIV money, are well within their right to do so, and LIV are well within their right to do their thing. But for goodness sake!!! Stop the disrespect!! The PGA deserve respect, for what they have done – even if some now say it was not quite enough- over decades, which led to these very LIV golfers becoming the stars they are, for LIV to notice them. Do Ian Poulter or Phil Michelson think they would be millionaire golfers without the PGA and the structure that got them through?
Fine, they went off and took the money. Now, they want to crawl back for respectability!
Phil Michelson is now putting comments out on the upcoming Masters etc. The LIV money hasn’t left them with the respectability they seek, but they won’t give the money back right? They want both. Well, could they have left the PGA without disrespecting the PGA? Yes. There was absolutely no need for the disrespect.

If America believe it has been and is being taken advantage of, and as such, slaps on tariffs, why is the rest of the world having a hissy fit? Should it not be a simple exercise of rebalancing trade? Or could it be, that America was indeed being taken advantage of?
Let’s see where it all ends.

Today, the stock markets, globally, had a meltdown! How is it, that our financial systems are so easily spooked? Were these tariffs not expected? Did Trump not repeatedly state for months, that if he returns to the White House, he will slap on these tariffs?
Have the world not had over 2 months, since Trump took office, to prepare?

Perhaps it’s time for a return to trade by barter?! You fancy my apple? I fancy your orange. Care to swap? …

Banning Marine Le Pen from running in the upcoming election won’t be a clever move! Macron should pardon her- if she is found at fault tomorrow – and let her run in the election. She won’t win the election.
Banning her from running is simply going to lead to an unnecessary mess!

….. few would disagree though…

The earth is roughly 510 square Kilometres…. why can’t we just live & let live???

It is so sad seeing how human beings treat each other. And we find a way to justify it…

But we are all to blame. We are so quick to point to others. So quick to blame others. So quick to blame the leaders. Are any of us any better? Would we be different in their shoes?

Unfortunately, we are stuck in an era where everyone’s permanently entrenched in the sides they have taken and do not feel the need to try to be understood, mainly because they – perhaps rightfully – do not believe anyone will listen, even if they do try to explain..

The dismantling of the Department of Education, which many are portraying as something akin to dictators trying to shut down education, is actually not the case. You first need to understand the US Federal & State functions; getting rid of the Federal DoE setup as Trump is doing, does not necessarily cripple education in the US. A lot of those functions can be delivered at State level. I do not know enough about the details to say whether Trump is right or wrong, but the little I know of the DoE tells me there is a fair amount of duplication in some central functions. Loss of jobs is obviously not good, and it would have been expedient, if most of those workers can first be absorbed into state functions, where there is not going to be duplication.

We must also not forget that securing a visa or gaining refuge or asylum in a safe country like the US, should not be taken for granted. There are thousands of decent, hardworking people in third world countries who apply for visas to relocate to the US annually and are rejected. So, when people get the chance, get to the US and commit crimes, and are likely to commit further crimes as their chances of getting decent jobs following their release from prison is low, deporting them could well be the only sensible step. Now, how that is done, in a manner that avoids deporting people who have not been tried nor convicted of a crime, is perhaps what’s missing. But a blanket outcry, as we are seeing, is probably also not appropriate.

I doubt anyone will say Trump didn’t say exactly what he was going to do, throughout his campaign for presidency. So, he said it, and majority still voted for him. Now, he is doing exactly those things that he said, so, what exactly are people now accusing him of? (doing exactly what he said he will do – and people still voted for him – if we say we support democracy, then fine, people can say they don’t like what he’s doing or how he’s doing it; wait for the next election and if enough of you agree, your votes will add up…)

That said, America needs to return to being a country where at the port of entry, if you incorrectly completed your visa application, the officials just tell you you are silly and ask you to go are redo it and do it correctly, not lock people up for days and deport them in chains (as a British lady was said to have experienced recently). That is not what American used to be. I can appreciate their frustration with the high levels of illegal migration and people exploiting their generosity, but still, it is America, not some unpleasant part of the world that people are scared to visit. America must be America, even if they have decided to become stricter, America was known to be fair. America, please be American….

… but we don’t like the person trying to end the war?

….. but we think there is an alternative, better way of ending the war?

…. but, but, but….. but what?

human beings are insufferable at times!!

There are no ‘buts’…

if others had a better way to end the war, a better compromise, what on earth were they holding it back for???? why hadn’t they tried to sort it???

If there was an easy, tidy, ‘everyone’s a winner’ way to end a war, would there have been a war to begin with? Nope!

It is always so easy to criticise…

You see people sit in meetings not tabling any ideas, not making any suggestions. But the minute someone puts a thought, an idea, forward or makes a suggestion, EVERYONE pile on! They will suddenly have a better suggestion. They will have a tweak that can improve that idea…..

What exactly is the endpoint the world was waiting for? Either side winning?

Yes, the world is complex and majority of us, do not have a millionth of an idea of what’s really going on. I haven’t got the foggiest! But what I do know, is that wars do not appear to achieve anything. As such, we should always try to find a compromise that prevents wars or ends an ongoing war. And you can be certain, when someone takes a step to try to end a war, many will criticise and out pops all sorts of supposedly better ways to do it…..

Hundreds of thousands gave their lives (soldiers) in WWII and they and those that survived will tell you that they did so, so that the world never have to go to war, ever again!
But at the first sight of conflict, we start talking about conscription and arming nations….

Have we forgotten those hundreds of thousands who gave their lives???

I am not naive. The world is a complicated place and as such, the arms race is a given, nuclear deterrence etc., is a given. The various superpowers will continue to display their strengths etc. We just need them (all the superpowers) to always stop short of going to war. Wars solve nothing. They must find other ways to resolve matters…

Would all the testosterone-driven macho stuff happen if the President of the US, China, Russia, France, Germany, UK, Ukraine, were women?

The world needs an urgent reset! Wars solve NOTHING!

ok.

If we put half as much effort into training ourselves in finding peaceful resolution to disagreements, the world would have a chance??

The bravado of men!

Wars solve nothing!

We should be training all our adult and youth population in the folly of war instead!

They may not be perfect, but heaven help us if there was no police!
You read about some of the heinous, unthinkable stuff that is now so commonplace, you would think you’re watching a James Bond film! Society has lost the plot!!!

Historically, stronger nations have always grabbed territory. Nothing new there. To undo that past, will be to hand Canada back to the native tribes or empty the US of Europeans or Australia, New Zealand etc. Russia annexed Crimea. I don’t see any possibility of them ever handing it back to Ukraine anytime soon. But it is a little curious that some British politicians who are hammering the Prime Minister for daring to agree to hand back an Island that many of them had never heard of until recently, because it was a British territory, albeit nowhere near the UK, seem to so brazenly expect Ukraine to just chop off their territory and walk away.

The hypocrisy is startling but perhaps to be expected? It is the way the world is. Has been. Will most likely always be. What really shouldn’t be happening, is the wanton loss of lives! The leaders of these countries should simply hold an arm wrestling competition or boxing bout and the winner can grab the land in dispute. Something along those lines. As it really is crazy, for so many people to be killed and yet, the inevitable occur anyway.
I hear 46,000 Ukrainians have been killed so far. Now, is Ukraine any closer to getting Crimea back? No. Are they likely to end up letting go of a bit more land to end the ongoing war? Very likely. So, it is a little curious right? But should the smaller countries just roll over and keep losing land and ceding territory? No. So, what is the solution? Well, that’s what the world needs to figure out. Whichever way, wars solve nothing.

You can almost guarantee that whatever we have gotten wrong in the past, gets sickeningly repeated.

Is this not exactly how the world got carved up in years gone by? With what began as adventures and expeditions, turning into land grab, empires etc.

So, what are we complaining about?

Would we have Australia, Canada, USA, New Zealand …. and the list goes on….?

Off to the Moon, Mars, rest of space… No rules, no protocol, countries who can, just rush in.

Ukraine is today’s hot topic, but nobody seems interested in what the actual issues in Ukraine are. It’s turned into a carve-up! Land, rare minerals, gratitude and ingratitude, this is the exact reason war solves nothing! Ukrainians must now be wondering what exactly they have lost 46,000 lives for? The land they say they were fighting to defend will be carved up. Their rare minerals auctioned off. People may seek to criticise American and yes, the recent press conference shouting match was cringeworthy, but is this not in keeping with exactly how these situations end up? Did anyone ever think all the $billions pumped into Ukraine to fight Russia will just get written off as freebies? The only real horror here, is that we all continue to stand by as wars begin, we watch thousands die, then we get on our sanctimonious pedestals to begin pointing out what’s supposedly right or wrong. Where was the real effort, the genuine effort to prevent this war from starting? It ends in a carve-up. Plus 46,000 Ukrainian lives on top…

Madness!!

To think it was 30 years ago that the lyrics below came out..

Today, 2025, 30 years on, we have politicians casually stating that conscription is necessary and we will be at war within 5 years. People speak to casually and flippantly about civil wars, world war 3 etc.

How pathetic we all are!
Human beings are unilaterally pathetic!
Can we not sort our differences out without mindless bloodshed???

Meanwhile, the rest of us carry on clubbing, going on holidays, hosting birthday parties etc….

What about sunrise?
What about rain?
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain?

What about killing fields?
Is there a time?
What about all the things
That you said was yours and mine?

Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we’ve shed before?
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth, these weeping shores?

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

What have we done to the world?
Look what we’ve done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son?

What about flowering fields?
Is there a time?
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine?

Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war?
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth, these weeping shores?

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don’t know where we are
Although I know we’ve drifted far

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah

Hey, what about yesterday?
(What about us?)
What about the seas?
(What about us?)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us?)
I can’t even breathe
(What about us?)

What about apathy?
(What about us?)
I need you
(What about us?)
What about nature’s worth?
(Ooh)
It’s our planet’s womb
(What about us?)

What about animals?
(What about it?)
We’ve turned kingdoms to dust
(What about us?)
What about elephants?
(What about us?)
Have we lost their trust
(What about us?)

What about crying whales?
(What about us?)
We’re ravaging the seas
(What about us?)
What about forest trails?
(Ooh)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us?)

What about the holy land?
(What about it?)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us?)
What about the common man?
(What about us?)
Can’t we set him free
(What about us?)

What about children dying?
(What about us?)
Can’t you hear them cry?
(What about us?)
Where did we go wrong?
(Ooh)
Someone tell me why
(What about us?)

What about baby boy?
(What about it?)
What about the days?
(What about us?)
What about all their joy?
(What about us?)
What about the man?
(What about us?)

What about the crying man?
(What about us?)
What about Abraham?
(What about us?)
What about death again?
(Ooh)
Do we give a damn?

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

… ‘messianic complex’?

History will of course continue to repeat itself.

The rich can’t be rich if there are no poor folk about to compare them to…

or something along those lines…

What’s a pied piper without the rats?

Elections have now become handy tools. Someone’s found that loophole. It’s easier to line suckers up to vote for you….

Problem? What problem? Here, let’s just hold a referendum… 😁😁

The latest is said to be Ncuti Gatwa, the fellow currently playing Dr Who. His parents fled violence in Rwanda to solace in Scotland. You can’t carry on looking for a better place! Sometimes worth putting up a bit and trying to make where you find yourself, a better place? You see a spate of black actors who were fortunate to receive their training here in the UK, got given opportunities to become whoever they are, then suddenly the UK is no longer good enough! Yes, I can fully understand that if all we keep making here is ‘period drama’ (Wolf Hall, Downton Abbey and the like…) there is only so many slots black actors can be cast in, but waltzing off to America to put on some dodgy American accent and snatch roles that actors in America (in particular, the black ones, as Samuel L Jackson once pointed out) is akin to doing the same thing to those folk!

I am not asking immigrants and their descendants to stay in a corner, but for goodness sake, a bit of gratitude won’t go amiss! Yes, we have so many issues at so many levels in the UK, a good example is the recent outcry when supermarket adverts at Christmas featured black folk and some people threatened to boycott those supermarkets. Quite ridiculous, yes. But, to think leaving the UK for America is some move to a place that provides more opportunities for black actors, is quite frankly, pathetic. Stay here in the UK, take the roles you can get, play them well and do the best you can!

Nothing wrong with people going off to work abroad, many people do. But it should not be about dumping on the UK. Working abroad is fine. Nothing wrong with it. The reason can even be, that there are more options out there, but to turn it into a colour thing and say black actors get fewer options in the UK, and then go off to a place where you go and deprive some other black actors, is laughable!
It’s similar to a tennis player born to Hungarian parents in Australia, gets trained in Australia (Johanna Konta), moves to the UK at age 14, few years later, ditches representing Australia, starts representing the UK (good for us of course), but what of the young British tennis player who may have been deprived of that slot?
Some folk just want it all?!
Want a better life? found it? Well, stay there are make it even better….

It’s perhaps the same criticism people are levelling against the migrants risking their life to row across the English Channel to enter the UK illegally from France. Is France less safe than the UK?

You have to laugh! Mens number 1 tennis player, Jannik Sinner! Said to have unknowingly taken substances that got him to fail doping tests twice! Yet, he dodged the usual punishment that has been meted out to others, and has now accepted a 3 month ban that takes effect during a period where no meaningful tennis tournaments are scheduled……

Has there ever been a more appropriately named sportsperson? 😁

We say the country is in economic peril. We have a Chancellor who has been in place for a few months and we want to do her in!!?? For Pete’s sake! Much as I do not agree with many of the actions she has taken so far e.g. the obsession with slapping VAT on private school fees, the simple fact of the matter is that she ain’t doing any of this just for herself is she? Yes, she is a politician and they are always eyeing the next promotion, the next position, and I am sure she would one day want to be Prime Minister, but to get there, she knows she must perform as Chancellor. Surely, that is to the country’s benefit that she performs…

So, why are people trying to short circuit her???

She has a degree and a masters degree. She is only in her 40s, so, even if she has worked every day since she finished university, she would have only worked for about 20 years. And she has been an MP for at least 10 of those. So, whether those 10 years were half at the Bank of England or less and some at HBOS, she may have tried to make her experience sound a bit more than it was. Ok. But we have MPs who are in charge of the Health Service (NHS) who are not doctors or medical people and have never worked in the health sector. Rachel Reeves has some finance experience. It may be a little less than what she put on her CV that’s being question, BUT for goodness sake! Let’s not run her out of town if she can help our economy folk! If in a few months’ time her economic measure fail, then ask for her resignation on that basis, not for the ongoing petty, storm in a teacup! She worked at Bank of England for 5.5 years but claimed 6 years or said a decade or better part of a decade in a speech! Jeez!!! So what???? It wasn’t 0 years!!! And she said she worked as an economist but was actually just head of retail complaints. Ok. She still worked in a bank!!! GIVE THE WOMAN A BREAK!!!! Let her focus on sorting the economy!!!

Parental responsibility has been totally discarded. We expect governments to take care of everything. I just read this morning that it appears another car may have driven into a crowd in Germany. Do we ban cars? How many bollards will we need to erect? Nobody wants to accept that the weapon used, is not the problem; it is the individual who is willing to use the weapon that’s the problem!
We are now in an era where there is little to no regard for human life. You have a bunch of people on the internet, constantly typing up insults, abuse, intolerance etc. Not caring for a second, how it impacts the people they target. Even if confronted with the fact that their abuse has led to some people committing suicide, they carry on regardless, as they don’t care.
Ban kitchen knives with pointed ends, that’s supposedly the next solution to the incessant spate of stabbing deaths in London. What next? ban screwdrivers, hammers etc? These children see their parents spewing hate online, on the streets, wherever. There is no form of training left. Teachers in schools are no longer convincing, as many of them are probably spewing hate in the evenings online themselves – yes, it cuts right across society, it isn’t just the illiterates, and it sure ain’t aliens!
When we all sit back and watch on, as thousands get killed in wars around the world and we make all sorts of excuses. It was their fault or their fault… does it really matter whose fault it is??? We just need to try to drive back up, the value of human life. If we can, perhaps these people driving cars into crowds or handing guns to their teenage kids who then head off to school to gun down their classmates and teachers, may hesitate. If we continue to treat human life as of such low value, with our kids growing up believing they can just act as they like…

These are indeed horrific times!!

Yes, inevitably life does indeed go on. But…..

It hurts me immensely, every time I have to throw food away. Why? In just over 2 years that I spent travelling across West Africa and South East Asia, during parts of my formative years, I saw what hunger really means. And YES, I am not naive, I fully understand and accept that if circumstances were reversed, none of those hungry folk would spare a thought for other hungry folk. Notwithstanding, you see a hostage situation where say, 100 people are taken hostage and 20 of those get killed, the 80 that come out alive are all smiles and their families celebrating; yes, such celebrations are of course understandable, but for me, some thought should be spared for the 20 who died, and their families.

I accept that it is probably impossible to fully develop every corner of the globe (some do not wish to be developed either way), but if we do not want people to keep on pouring over here in desperation, what must be done, is to develop other parts of the world.

It saddens me, always, that as many suffer, some carry on in excess. It is probably just natural, that we just get on with things. I am of course far from being perfect. I could give more to help the needy. I could reduce my own excesses, to help others more. But I find it so difficult to go on holiday to places where the local population survive on servitude to tourists and holidaymakers. I find it so difficult to lay about in luxury and get pampered by people who can barely feed their kids and have to serve me, to survive. Some will argue that going there helps those folk survive…

The world is not doing enough, to prevent wars. We carry on with our ‘life goes on’ approach, as thousands needlessly lose their lives….

It is so depressing…

When a male undocumented immigrant called Jesus, in Florida says: “I voted for Trump for the economy”. Next week Jesus is hiding in the back of a car repair shop as Immigration Enforcement officers from ICE search for him. The week after, Jesus has been caught and he’s in the back of an ICE van, enroute to a detention centre and deportation. An improved economy may well be the last thing on his mind and he may then confess: “I just couldn’t bring myself to vote for a woman!”. FINALLY, the truth makes a belated appearance!

Yesterday, EU’s Brexit negotiator, now President of Poland (Donald Tusk) says he would like to see Britain return to the EU. Ok.
I never have and never will support a vote to leave the UK, but the referendum has come and gone. The majority (slight or not) voted to leave the EU. Can we not just respect that???!!! They convinced leave voted based on lies etc. Ok. Why didn’t the truth sayers do better to convince voters?
It is all history now. But it seems nobody wants to work hard, to make the most of whatever the hand is, that we have been dealt. Move on folk! We are spending all available time moping. Yes, you can hold another referendum 10, 20 years from now, but for goodness sake! get on with it!

Moral high ground? What bloody moral high ground??? The PERSECUTED today, are often the PERSECUTORS tomorrow. We’ve seen that time and time and time again!
It is the reason why it is to dumb, trying to correct the past! Pull down the statue to Cecil Rhodes? ok. If it offends some. But those same offended folk, will soon be the ones doing other unacceptable stuff! You see someone clutching a nice mobile phone and driving a nice car, wearing nice clothes, calling for an end to fracking (and I am not a supporter of fracking), but when you point out to them, that the nice clothes they have on, was produced by a child forced into a sweat-shop or that the cobalt in their electric car was dug up by a 7 year old forced down a dark, scary hole in a cobalt mine in Africa, they will swiftly brush that aside.
We see countries who have spent centuries chucking out CO2 now telling others not to. Yes, we must start somewhere, to try to make amends, but…. who picks that new starting point?

We are fast derailing! You see people online, saying whatever they need to, to get followers, become “influencers” and rake in cash, with absolutely no regard to the impact of their actions. Is that any worse than what obtained prior to the internet?

It is a hopeless world….

Disagreeing with politicians and taking opposing views is as old as the hills. I get all that. It’s not going to change. But delighting in their failure and willing them to fail, is counterproductive.

Past few months has been Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer (i.e. our Finance Minister in the UK). It seems she just can’t win! Yes, she may be stubborn and not doing what some folk want her to do or how they would like to see her do it. But for goodness sakes!!!! Give the woman a chance!!!!!! She’s only been in there a few months. If she fails, so many poor people will suffer even more!
I appreciate that people want to say she isn’t as bright as she thinks she is, or that her choices were wrong etc., but would we not rather she was right and the country get back to prosperous times???

We’ve lost the plot as a society!!! Jeez!!!!!

It’s the same as the situation in the US: they’ve had an election, the outcome may not be what some want, but it is what it is. Bizarre as some of the nominations for high office appear to be, would you not rather they did well? It helps nobody if they don’t do well. Ok, you get to say: “told you so?”…. what does that avail?

Can you imagine just how many people have suffered utter devastation from this?
11 teenage boys! Snuffed out just like that!
The police can’t implement necessary measures to end knife-carrying by teenagers in London, because people complain about perceived lopsidedness of the race of the folk who get stopped & searched. I accept that the police can indeed try to do a bit more to avoid racial profiling and that such measures as stop & search, should be applied indiscriminately, to remove perception of unfairness. But they need to be allowed to do their job!
11 kids knifed to death in just 12 months, is nearly 1 per month! That really is awful!
Something must be done and done urgently or it will become normal

I read one of the pitiful comments that typifies many 20 – 50 year olds in Canada today, who think the Liberals are to blame for everything that wrong in Canada (whatever those are??). The comment read: “if Trudeau & his liberals hadn’t destroyed Canada, Trump would never have thought about making us the 51st state”

What a wimpish sentiment!
You look at today’s youth, they sit around watching UFC and beating their chests! The minute they are challenged, they pull a knife! They are too cowardly to roll up their sleeves, raise their knuckles, trade a few blows and be on their way (all still alive and well, even if a bit shaken) albeit, brawling isn’t smart either (people have died from single blows), but is less likely to end in the fatalities we see today.

If it only takes 9 years for someone to destroy Canada, then something is clearly not right with the setup! When Trudeau became party leader in 2013 and later, PM in 2015, he was the rockstar of Canadian politics. So, when exactly did he begin this supposed destruction of Canada? For argument’s sake, let’s say he began to lose his popularity midway through, so, according to these fingerpointers, it has taken Trudeau roughly 4 years to destroy Canada and weaken her so much so, that it is his fault that a guy who had previously joked about Canada becoming part of the US, years prior, and is only just repeating it in 2024, was prompted by Trudeau’s mismanagement of Canada. It really is laughable ain’t it?

Yes, it is time for Trudeau to go, as he is not the only person in Canada who could give the PM job a go! And more importantly, he has been clinging on for a while now. Many have given up on him. It also seems he has indeed made several missteps. But as far as the suggestion of Canada becoming the 51st state goes – a suggestion that was made just to rile & should never have made the back page of any newspaper, let alone become something anyone would take seriously, let alone a raging topic – blaming Trudeau for that, is just infantile! Think about; it took the UK nearly 5 years to complete the Brexit paperwork, and that’s after there was a referendum! Trump is only in office for the next 4 years. So, even if he was serious about annexing Canada, he wouldn’t get through half the process before his term in office comes to an end. He can of course run again at 82 if he wishes, and win again, if Americans decide to cast their votes for him, but seriously? people should stop the silliness about Canada becoming the 51st state, as we say in the UK, it was just a ‘tongue in cheek remark’. The pathetic state of today’s world means that every tweet, every remark, becomes a headline and people who should be working on serious stuff, sit about in press conferences sharing thoughts and answering questions on the utterly ridiculous!!!

Canada has shown its underbelly! It is really unfortunate and partly sad to see. It’s like spending years and years revering your old granny and then one day as you drive by her house, you see her punching a 5 year old in the face, grabbing his lolly and swearing at him. It’s an image that’s impossible to expunge! The Canada of old, would say ‘Thank You’ to Trudeau regardless, get the new PM in when they do, close the Trudeau chapter and get on with it.

When we let hate rise to the surface, we lose objectivity. The reality is very simple: no matter how wrong some thing Trudeau got it, he is not without any support. His party won re-election right? In tearing him and his party apart, those who still support him, are essentially being told their opinions do not count. Such situations never end well.
We shall see how the folk who have been quick to criticise, do when they get in office.

We need to raise a new generation that learns to be less reactionary, less pathetic. There is no perfection out there. No utopia. Trudeau got some things or many things wrong. Even if he got EVERYTHING wrong, ok. Some voted for his party, his party selected him as leader, he gave it a go, some or many now say they’ve had enough of him, he’s quitting. End of. No need for the unpleasantness. Be Canadians of old. Get back to finding ways to solve whatever problems you say you have. Finger pointing gets nothing done!

If you are the president of a country where so many of your citizens are hellbent on fleeing to another country (for whatever reason), would you have time to trade silly bards?

Today, the President of mexico had the time to stand in front of some silly map, to suggest the US can be renamed Mexican America, as her response to Trump stating his intention to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Huge swathes of Mexico remain unsafe as a result of cartel violence, thousands of Mexicans are likely to be deported from the US shortly, if Trump does what he said he’s going to do. Should these not be more pressing matters for the president of Mexico? Instead, she is sucked into the silliness of engaging in tittle-tattle with the soon to be president of a country that has a lot less to worry about.

I am sure the struggling, suffering people of Mexico would rather have a safe environment and prosperity – so that they don’t have to keep sneaking off illegally into the US in search of menial labour – than debate the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico or the tittle-tattle their president is wasting time on….

Leave a single lamp on in a dark room and all bugs flock to it. How about turning on several lamps in that same dark room?

The current rate of migration to the west is not sustainable. Not only because of the friction it is causing and resentment (be it fair or unfair), but for the simple reason that the infrastructure (schools, hospitals, housing etc.) required to ensure fairness and integration is simply not there. There is a very high risk that we are close to those awful situations where immigrants get blamed for everything…

There is a very obvious solution.

If we help end wars, conflicts, displacement of people in parts of the world where the majority of these migrants are coming from, and stop squeezing them for their debt, help industrialise their countries, create jobs, lift them up and make those countries prosperous, it will end the mindless draw to the west, that makes it so attractive to the point of mindless risking of lives of children in dinghies crossing the English Channel or trekking across deserts to get to America. But unfortunately, the same countries who say they are burdened by migration are the same ones who are reluctant to turn other lights on. They want global fiscal dominance. They want ‘America First’ etc. Well, if you succeed in becoming the only lamp in the room, the outcome, is what we have today; with so many risking their lives to come over. If we turn more lamps on…..

Just think of the possibilities….

No more drowning migrants trying to row across oceans. No more angry locals in the UK, Germany, US, France etc., a return of levels of immigration down to what we have the infrastructure to support and safely integrate…..

All at a much cheaper cost than what is currently being spent on deterrence that isn’t really working. A tiny portion of that expense could be put into rebuilding Syria and wherever else it is the migrants are flocking over from. Make the place safe, create opportunities and an environment they will not wish to leave or risk their kids’ life crossing the channel…

But we won’t do it. It’s too simple. We prefer the complex…

The rule of law and common sense can now be so readily bypassed by populism. Shout out, shout loud or have a twitter account with a few million followers and who needs Parliament? Just force politicians to start answering questions on twitter! No need for truth, facts or due process.

Welcome to today’s world…

The urge appears greater than the lust for blood by those at the games in 264 BC.

We can’t help ourselves.

Why on earth would a Prime Minister, the head of a government, go about responding daily to twitter attacks?? Well, because the masses have decided to do away with decorum.
Now we have endless distraction

We spend months, tons of money, running an election and selecting a government but a few weeks later, because someone launches some online petition, we think we can bully everyone else by calling for a new election?
And it cuts both ways. To those who keep on ranting & raving about the negative impact of Brexit; well, you had your chance to persuade people not to vote for Brexit. The leavers won. The rules should have required a greater majority to win, but it didn’t. So, we must get on with it. Brexit stays. Awful as it is, that is what democracy is!

Today, nobody wants to follow due process anymore. They think they have found a shortcut to everything. Just go on social media, shout as loud as you can, gain some support, use that support to threaten ‘cancelling’ etc., and hey presto! You get to have it your way….

Madness!!!

Perhaps, the simple answer is: IT IS US! Humans! Not social media or the knives, guns etc…

For years, the folk who sell guns, tell us it isn’t guns that kill. Those who counter, say: well, punches or knifes kill fewer people. I won’t get into all that today.

I was astounded today, when a UK newspaper headline stated that the 6-month old Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer (i.e. Finance Minister) have ruined the UK economy! Jeez!!! Can we possibly have such a short memory??? It was only a few months ago, prior to this government stepping into power, that we had the Liz Truss budget that is still impacting millions of people whose mortgages flew through the roof!
To begin with, if an economy is anywhere near stable, it is simply not possible to ruin it in 6 months!
And YES, the new government have made a number of very questionable decisions and several unnecessary ones. And they may well end up ruining the economy, but that is yet to be seen.

We have become so beholden to the fast past of unedited, non-factual information feed that is now available online. No rules, no efficacy, no responsibility. Fact-checking is pointless as the masses no longer wish for facts. It’s all about mindless reaction and immediate thirst for the next headline. Carnage is what left in its wake.

Yesterday, Canada’s PM announced he will resign. Now, the ones who have pushed him off the cliff edge, will find a mountain of excuses to explain their own inability to perform any better than he has. It is very easy to be in opposition, shouting out what’s supposedly wrong. It’s quite a different matter, when you’re faced with solving the problems as opposed to criticising those attempting to solve the problem. Canadians will find this out very shortly….

You now frequently hear people (myself included) blaming social media for the spread of lies, misinformation, disinformation etc. We say that in the absence of X (twitter), Tik Tok etc., people would not go rioting as they did last summer in the UK. That people will be less inclined to be led astray etc. I am beginning to be less and less convinced by this argument. It seems we are what we are. We just keep on finding stuff to blame….

I feel very strongly about this. I can see the perspective of those who try to argue that Britain and some other countries were built on the back of the empire and other acts in years gone by. I am also someone who strongly believes in the need for human beings to accept that we are only here temporarily and we don’t take anything with us, when we die. BUT, and it is a capital ‘BUT’, for goodness sakes! There should be a modicum of gratitude! The hundreds of thousands of people, over the last century, who have come to Britain, be it fleeing war (loads came here during & after WWII for instance), or seeking a better life. Yes, there are some sad realities of hardship faced by some e.g. the Windrush generation – including extreme instances of intolerance & hate, which some still have to put up with today. But some of this should have been a 2-way street. There must be some degree of gratitude for getting a chance in a relatively safe environment.

Even with the alarming spate of stabbings in recent years, particularly in London, I am not sure there are many places around the world, safer than the UK.

There appears to be a great deal of a sense of entitlement these days. People come in and expect a lot. But I would hope that a little bit of gratitude goes with that.

There would be no Britain to run to, if some rules were not enforced over the years. Rules that every Brit follow (so, why shouldn’t others coming to Britain do the same?). I have said this before; the government should consider an arrangement where benefits provided to newcomers, to help them settle in, can be recouped over several years, in a comfortable manner (via a tax code applied to those folk), so that they are no longer seen to be a burden. And we can speed up integration and get newcomers into jobs etc. And they can start paying back into the same welfare system that helped them when they came in. This may unburden the NHS and other services.

The language used by those calling for change, is what is simply awful and unacceptable. Leading to terrible moments such as the Summer 2024 riots. We must deal with this, with decency. We are decent people. There is absolutely no need for the horrible language and dehumanising words. Things can be done with decency.

Our laws, our way of life, the need for people coming in, to come in and be the way we are, is the only way we can still have a country that people can flee to, to seek refuge. If we let go and allow the country become a cesspit (with littering every where, stabbings etc.), not only will resentment grow – leading to more intolerance and hate – but along with that, we will very quickly become a similar place, to where people are feeing from.

As a son of a son of immigrants, I will forever be grateful to Britain, for being a place that my grandfather was able to come to (he wasn’t fleeing anything, he came to work) and regardless of some of the hardship he & others like him, who came over to work, faced back then, would they have been better off where they were? Obviously not! But back then, and with my father’s generation, they were very grateful for the opportunity, regardless of some hardship. And this is not just about people who migrated here, everyone in the UK should be grateful for what the country means and what we have! Everyone came from somewhere. The Saxons, Normans, majority of Brits descend from people who came here from elsewhere. We all have a duty to keep the place going and to retain some of what makes it that country where so many people, over so many years, have been able to flee to, or go to for economic reasons etc. If we let it sink down to the cesspit, that is not to anybody’s advantage is it?

Donkey years ago when I took Economics 101, same as many of us, it felt a bit strange to learn about how goods were valued and the global demand & supply arrangements that left supposedly poorer nations in a pit, as the products they exported were valued by a matrix that they didn’t create…..

Nothing new there of course! You may have to go back hundreds of years…

It is what it is.

What that arrangement wasn’t designed to cope with though, is implosion. The west is not supposed to be at each other’s throats. The entire tariff system may have to be overhauled. But by whom?
This is where populism tends to cross paths with realism.
When some say they wish to “put their country first”. Well, why not? Let them. It may well open their eyes to just how dependent we now all are, on each other.
Why is the world so dead against ‘America First’?
US population is 334million. World population is 8.02billion. If the world have been exploiting American generosity over the years as the ‘American First’ people claim, then perhaps they are well within their right to seek to end that. Now, I cannot say that I see any particular part of the world, that has been more prosperous than the USA, so, not entirely sure where the said lopsided arrangement is? Who has exploited America’s generosity? China? Canada? Mexico? India? or is it simply all of us?
Well, if that be the case, then, let’s see what happens over the next 4 years, if the US do indeed end the alleged freebies these folk claim they have been handing to the world?

There may well be some truth to what the ‘America First’ proponents allege? If not, why is everyone so worried? They say they want to (and they have now won the election and run all tiers of their government: congress and the White House) and intend to put their country first. Well, why is everyone having a hissy fit? Could it be, that we have all been taking advantage of their generosity as they claim? If not, then, what’s the hysteria about? or could it be, that we are just worried about the destabilising effect of tariffs etc.? Fair enough, it may all lead to some chaos. But if they are hellbent of doing what they say they will, then the world should just prepare for that bit of chaos, over the next 4 years and QUIT MOANING!!!!
if the circa 7.9billion people of the world (excluding the US) are indeed so dependent on the generosity of the circa 334million in the US, then they (Americans) do indeed deserve to live it large and have the cheapest gas (as they call it), groceries etc., as they want and whatever it is the ‘America First’ people say Americans do not presently have.
If they are wrong, and the world haven’t been exploiting US generosity and we have not been taking advantage of them, then that should all become very apparent and they may just discover just how much their 334million people need the remaining 7.9billion people of the world?

None of this should be acrimonious. Same for Brexit. It should all be a simple matter of principle. Countries should be able to determine how they want to position themselves in the world. It does seem a tad suspicious, when there is acrimonious objection. If America want to slap tariffs on everything and contribute less to global endeavours etc., well, others can slap whatever tariffs they can too, and let’s see where it all ends up.

Either way, we will soon find out. Quit the moaning Canada, Mexico et al., go back to the drawing board and sort out how the 7.9 odd billion of the world can trade with each other and stay afloat, if 334million people say they no longer wish to be taken advantage of, and no longer wish to subsidise the rest of the world.

I have read several online posts of many Canadians stating: “see, that’s the way to go”. Referencing the US. Yes, Trump has surprised pretty much everyone, by winning the election (albeit, the situation wasn’t very different from his defeat of Hilary Clinton, and perhaps that result should have been a peek preview to Kamala’s outcome) but the reality is simple – and this is not about the US or Trump – and should apply to all democratically elected governments: winning an election means you got the votes. Implementation of solutions, be it in relation to the economy, fixing borders etc., should be assessed and scored 2 – 3 years in.

I am not sure what exactly Canadians are looking to copy? Has Trump already fixed the economy and immigration issues? He has said he will fix it all and the electorate have said they believe he will – hence voting for him – but surely, Canada, the UK and any other country where people are saying “way to go! that’s how to do it!” do need to see it done first?
We had a government in the UK who had a whopping super majority of 80 or so seats in parliament but kept blaming the opposition (whom they could have easily eviscerated in every decision in parliament that gets voted on, if they got their members in line…) for apparently thwarting them. Trump now has the house, senate and presidency. So, I believe Canada can wait 4 years to see the wonders, before diving in?

The age-old problem with talking the talk, is always that you then find that you need to walk the walk. You need to implement. You need to deliver. Love or hate him (Trump), he has won their election and that is that. If he gets all he promised done, all the folk (in Canada, UK and other places) saying his way is the way, can begin saying that. But surely, not before 2027/28 right? Unless of course he is a miracle worker and gets the American economy, their border issues etc., all sorted by the end of January 2025…..

Who knows?

One of the most obvious flaws of our democracy is that it has become so easy to exploit. So easy to manipulate. Anyone can say anything during a campaign and promise anything, knowing they won’t be challenged. In the UK, we have a 5 year limit for each government but today, we start criticising a new government, 2 weeks into their term. The job of the opposition party is to help the government do well, by holding them accountable. Not to begin plotting their downfall from Day 1! The country continue to suffer because our politicians are only interested in taking over the government, instead of working together to help the electorate. A very good example is Nigel Farage saying he can help the government get favours from his supposed friend in America (Donald Trump); why is Farage stating that publicly? If he believes he can help the country get deals via his friendship with Trump, he should just do so or offer his help to the government behind the scenes and if his offer is rejected, we’ll, that is the government’s choice. What is the exact purpose of putting his offer out in the press?
We have an opposition party that is already thinking about the next general election, from week 1 of the new government. Within a few weeks, someone put a dumb petition out asking the government to call another general election and the opposition leader was making reference to it in parliament. How embarrassing! I can understand if the government was at the end of their 3rd year…, but they haven’t even completed their 6th month in power. The opposition leader should be busy trying to work with the Prime Minister, to help the people, help the country. Then towards the end of the 3rd year, one can understand if the opposition then break off to begin preparing to take them on at the next general election. What we currently have, is a total disservice to the nation.

Can there be a turning point?

The vast majority of our politicians in the UK mean well. They are just caught up in a vicious cycle of gamesmanship and putting self, party and thirst for power before the need to help the country, which includes ending child poverty, social issues, insane rise of knife crime, fixing the border & migration issues etc.

I know many will swiftly point to the perceived ills of the British Empire and several brutal acts back then, but the attempt to judge that era by today’s moral standards is foolhardy. The people back then, to all intents & purposes, were doing what they felt they had to do for their country. Few would argue that some of what they did, was truly gruesome and many of those gruesome acts still affect some parts of the world today. But it is the same as attempting to demand we follow the biblical 10 commandments today or bring back corporal punishment in schools. These are different eras. What is inexcusable today, is that we are still the kinds of intolerance and hatred that spills into some of our political discourse, when we should have governments that are fully supported by everyone (including the opposition parties) and assisted in doing well for the country. When we get to election years, yes, the gloves can very well come off and the opposition can rightfully criticise the government and point out what they should have done better etc. But for goodness sake! (and indeed, for the sake of the country), what we presently have in Year 1 of a new government, cannot possibly be in the best interest of the country!

When you look at America – and I have said I will no longer comment on American politics, as I don’t see the use. They are in a hopeless situation – the opposition party rejoicing this week because it seems the MAGA people and the incoming party has started infighting; with Laura Loomer taking on Tesla guy with regards immigration of tech experts. These early signs of dysfunction of the incoming government should not be cause for celebration as they will be there for the next 4 years and if they fail, the entire country will suffer for those years. So, why not help them to avoid failure? Ideological difference? FINE. The voters deserve what they chose? Ok. But how does that help the whole country?

The problem is that many are yet to accept that we are no longer what we were, a hundred years ago, when Britain was a superpower and we had all sorts of resources. Today, we are paying £350 a month for energy (gas & electricity) when 2 years ago, it was £80 a month. Why? We lost access to cheap energy from places such as Russia. If they Middle Eastern countries turn off our energy supply, we’ll be in trouble. If China stop selling us all the stuff Amazon delivers to us daily, we’ll be in trouble. But there are implications all round. If the US were to deport everyone that’s not a direct descendant of the Mayflower ship or deport everyone that’s their MAGA people do not consider to be Americans, they will find that they are unable to function as a country. That is the point the Tesla guy is trying to make to the MAGA Laura Loomer. It is the same in the UK; if we deport or remove everyone that’s not a isn’t a direct descendant of the Saxons or Celts, those remaining will find other reasons to be at each other’s throats! It will be the fat fighting the skinny or something else or the other. People who wish to be disagreeable will always find reasons to disagree. But most importantly, the thing with immigration is: if you are able to vet the type of people you let in, you might as well bring in those who can do the stuff that others are not presently good at doing. It is dumb to think you will be able to train up local folk for stuff they are not interested in doing.

The reality is that the levels of dependency have reached an all-time high. I don’t see any country that can go it alone. Not even China or the US. But most certainly not the UK. We import far too much. I don’t think people realise just how dependent we have become, and just how much of the cheap stuff they consume, means we cannot just up and turn our back on the rest of the world. It is time someone explained today’s reality to people in the UK. Yes, we did Brexit (and I won’t even bother commenting on that), but if we think life is hard now, if the countries we rely on, to keep prices of food and everything else reasonable, suddenly stop providing those to us, inflation will hit the roof and there is no point blaming the few thousands of illegal immigrants we have. Even I& we deported all of them, it won’t make a jot of difference. So, NO, we cannot become a hermit nation. We are brilliant, resourceful people in the UK, but it is not enough to sustain us isolating ourselves completely from the rest of the world.

We must find a way to take a step back and reverse the current situation. When a government is elected, we should ALL (all of us, without exception) work with them for the first 3 years, to get things done. FOR THE SAKE OF THE COUNTRY. Then in the election year, if the opposition parties wish to go on the offensive, fine. But for goodness sake, we must end this constant, never ending nagging from Day 1, where the opposition starts criticising the government and carry on regardless of the detrimental impact on the country, on and on and on, just for the sole purpose of taking over power!!! It exploits democracy!!

The newspapers had stories of 80year olds being shoved aside in supermarkets as people rushed to grab stuff off the shelves. Many were hoarding stuff. Toilet paper ran out across the country as people hoarded them.

And Covid was a mini emergency compared to a World War.

Who wants to see their children carted off, hastily trained and sent off to war?

So, when you read about elected politicians in the US talking about a civil war if the candidate they support in an election doesn’t win, we should all be bothered about such talk. But even more worrying, is what has now become a very casual discussion of the possibility of a 3rd world war. Seriously? What exactly do wars achieve? We’ve had 2 world wars and barely 80 years after the last one – and yes, a handful of veterans from that war are still alive today – we see rioting on the streets of the UK because some people say they don’t want migrants reducing their access to benefits! We read about politicians in the US, calling migrants (other human beings) vile names and accusing them of eating pets. The people who gave their lives in World War 2, did so, believing they are giving their lives to ensure we have a world where there is tolerance. They gave their lives believing it was worthwhile, to give the rest of us a life where we all see each other as human beings and never have to fight another war. But here we are, are few decades later and we appear ready and willing to start wars…

The uncontrolled influx of illegal migrants forcing their way into the country is indeed a big issue, and one that needs to be addressed. But for goodness sake! These people are human beings. We cannot ram them on the high seas or leave them to drown! We need measures that will get them to apply for refuge or asylum via standard, safe routes and legally – those measures should include coming down hard on the people who are exploiting them, the ones employing them illegally when they get here etc. But these issues are no reason for us to start burning things down and rioting.

If we know of reasons why the world could contemplate another world war, we should be actively seeking to address those issues now. We should be finding solutions now. With what we have seen of people in the past few years, right across the world, human beings have totally lost our value of human life. It matters little these days, how many people get killed in conflicts or drown trying to cross the English Channel. We do not appear to care. So, goodness help us, if there was another world war! Wars must become a thing of the past. There must be other ways to settle conflicts….

Several articles earlier in the week were dedicated to Prof. Geoffrey Hinton, the so-called godfather of Artificial Intelligence, stating that AI will wreak havoc 10 years from now and wipe out humanity.
Today, it’s Prof. Anthony Glees of University of Birmingham saying we are now on a countdown to World War 3.

It is a little curious because I am not sure the tens of thousands of people killed in wars in Europe and the Middle East in 2024 or their relatives, and including thousands of hungry children in struggling parts of the world, would be that worried about AI wiping out humanity. They are already being wiped out anyway.

I believe we have fairly detailed, written history of human beings dating back a few thousand years now, and it provides no reassurance. Every time groups of people ask for reflection and calm, they are called liberals or lefties. We appear totally incapable of avoiding conflict. The popular individuals are those who talk tough and drive us headlong into wars, intolerance and hate! We embrace those individuals and follow them, till they lead us straight to destruction and carnage. It is how it’s been, and it looks very much like we are headed in that same exact direction yet again.

AI. cool. But what is the arrangement to redistribute wealth, such that the poorest – who are likely the ones who will lose their blue collar jobs to machines – can survive and not revolt? Well, such thinking, to avoid the wealthy getting it all and leaving nothing to the poor, is what we currently deem too leftist, too liberal. But strangely, those presently seeking to crucify the said left/liberals, are the very ones who are certain to feel the brunt of job losses etc. Unfortunately, by the time this dawns on them, it will be too late.

But don’t worry. Once today’s billionaires become trillionnaires, they will tell us they intend to give all their wealth to good causes before they die.

We shouldn’t bash the rich. I am fairly certain that if any of us was in their position, we would most likely do the same and grab as much wealth as we can. It is a human failing. I do not believe there is perfection in any of us. Personally, my sole approach to life, is to try to just get on with living life in a way that only largely impact myself, and I try to exert the least possible impact on others; because oftentimes, the good you think you are doing others, isn’t how they see it. If we can each live our lives by just trying to avoid impacting others too much, I feel it may be a great step forward. Sadly, that is rarely ever the case. We always feel we know best and wish to get others to follow our religion, our ideas, our way of life etc. And THAT, is the reason we will continue to end up in wars and disasters such as what’s being predicted re AI.

If we could simplify life – we fail each time we try, because we grant vetos etc – such that, if you take religion as an example: people should follow whichever religion they choose to follow, but if you wish to live in the UK, then all aspects of your religion needs to be in line with our laws here. Or you do have the alternative of living elsewhere. And if you look at migration, all those heading to the UK, should accept that we have a border that should be respected by everyone, regardless of circumstances. If you wish to seek refuge, seek asylum, you need to come in via the set process. On Christmas Day alone, we have had over 400 people cross the English Channel in dinghies. Tens of thousands have now entered the country via this route. They do not seem too bothered by the fact that what they are doing has led to such tension and violence in the country – with people rioting and seeming willing to burn hotels housing migrants down – you would think that people seeking refuge would want the place they are heading to remain peaceful right? It has become the sole excuse that people are using to spread hate and intolerance in the UK. Everyone’s now at each other’s throat. The government must find a way to put an end to these channel crossings, so that we can go back to welcoming refugees and asylum seekers through proper routes and processes that allow us to be ready for them and cater for them, in a manner that doesn’t cause such friction in our society.

It seems we are just so accepting of violence, wars, hateful rhetoric, all in the name of trying to exert our superiority over others. You look at America and it is Christian nationalists, MAGA, Republicans (now same as MAGA), Democrats etc. Each claiming to be right. Each claiming the other(s) is wrong. Why can’t there just be different visions, but all decently seeking to provide a happy, prosperous environment? Why must the solutions come at the expense of others: mass deportations etc.

Any serious discussion about trying to prevent WW3 or an AI wipeout, will be quickly shut down as being naive and not worthwhile. We seem resigned to the fact that there will be another World War. Afterall, there are presently a number of ongoing wars, and we say each of those are equally inevitable and had to happen. We have a bunch of people talking tough left, right and centre. The needless loss of thousands of lives, do not seem to worry us anymore. It really is astonishing!

We have learnt nothing throughout the course of human history!

It’s just so callous.

To stand there and say you just cast a vote for the sake of paying a few pennies less on a loaf of bread!

Yes, we all want to be prosperous. But for goodness sake! There is more to life than just that!

I know I am of course wasting by breath! Sadly.

I do not follow any religion and have never been religious. And yes, many will quickly point out that Christianity did not prevent slavery, colonialism, the inquisition and several other heinous acts of humanity to date. Ok. But when you look at how completely soulless society have become, with opportunists and charlatans everywhere you look. People standing up saying they speak for the poor and seek freedom of speech etc., when all they’re after is just an opportunity to spread hate or make money…

The rise of heartless crimes such as knife crimes that have now become so commonplace in London, is definitely one that the threat of eternal damnation perhaps kept a bay. But seriously, one thing the Sunday Schools and Christian sermons did back in the day, was instil a little bit of respect for human life over here.

Yes, Christianity was never a global panacea. You only have to look at the spate of crime across the most Christian parts of the world, and in particular, Latin America, to see that. But in the UK, it definitely made a difference as the current void left by the disappearance of churches and churchgoing, is very clear to see. This isn’t about making a case for a return of churches & churchgoing, but we may have to find something to fill the void, as social media ain’t the answer!

Society has descended right to the abyss!

If you read the newspapers and online articles, you will be forgiven in thinking parents no longer exist and the government must be responsible for everything!!

We blame the government for EVERYTHING.

I was reading a BBC article this morning, which reported on the spate of theft in shops (shoplifting) across England. It is an extension of the same ‘help yourself’ attitude that is now so common in today’s society. I need this, so I’ll take it. Not a thought for the impact on the shop owner and their kids and the bills they have to pay. The likelihood their insurance shoots through the roof if they keep dealing with thefts etc.

We want to blame the government for EVERYTHING: knife crime in London, everyone blames the Mayor of London. Illegal migration across the English Channel, blame the government. Ignoring the people employing illegal migrants (exploiting them) illegally, which is one of the key reasons coming to the UK is so attractive to them. Ignoring those they are paying huge sums of money to, to smuggle them in. It is just so convenient to blame the government

We do not want to take any responsibility whatsoever.

How about teaching kids NOT to carry knives and checking your child’s bag regularly, anytime they leave home. Making sure you are on top of how they see things and what they do. And that they fully understand the impact of taking a life.
How about appreciating the impact of shoplifting on the shop owner? How about trying to hold back from this urge to just take things that do not belong to us?

It won’t be the government fixing the growing lack of decency. This seemingly uncontrollable perception of entitlement!

As I’ve always said, it takes a type. Most likely individuals who feel they must lead.
The current toxic environment of our politics is a huge deterrent to the brightest and best. It now takes more guts & thick skin (to take repeated vile abuse) than brightness, to be a politician. It’s a surprise we have anyone left willing to get into politics.

Yes, it’s always been about power and getting quick access to power, which leads to post-politics jobs etc. But, is it worth it these days? Many no longer think it is…

We are cutting off our nose to spite our face. If we deter the brightens from entering politics – because it’s become so toxic – we end up with just anyone who is brave enough and willing to take the abuse and toxicity. That’s not helping anyone is it? We need the brightest and best, going into politics, so that the country is run by the sharpest people we have.

Take housing as one example. The country is short of houses. It’s nothing to do with illegal migration nor migration. If you kicked everyone who isn’t a direct descendant of Henry the 8th out of the country, we are still short of houses. It is a problem that’s built up over decades of underfunding (the same problem with the NHS, services across sectors etc). But where to build new houses? NOT IN MY BACKYARD (NIMBY) says everyone! They want green spaces, clear open skies, no increase to traffic on the road etc. No planning, no consensus. We want to eat our cake and still have it. So, we find someone to blame. We are a country of over 65million people. How can the influx of, say, 2million illegal migrants over a 20 year period, be the reason why everything we have has disintegrated? Is that really being honest? I don’t have the exact figures, but let us assume that of our 65 million population, those that are not 10th generation British are a whopping total of, what? 20 million? How can they be the reason our service industry is on its knees and the NHS, housing etc., are crippled?? We are a great nation, a resilient nation. Why have we not invested and kept things going? HATE won’t solve anything. INGENUITY will. YES, we must secure our borders – for so many highly credible reasons. YES, we must integrate newcomers such that we do not lose how we live our lives here etc. BUT no, no and no, to scapegoating. It’s gone on for too long. We need to face today’s reality: if we want to maintain the exact same scenery as we had 100 years ago, when our population was a lot less than 65 million, then we need to come up with other solutions. Find previously uninhabited or uninhabitable islands to develop and create incentives to move people there? Build artificial islands? Find a new habitable planet? Whatever. Sitting about doing nothing but just blaming everything on migration and repeatedly whipping up hate and intolerance, is a basic human flaw.

Not listening to those NIMBY folk and plowing ahead with sticking houses in places that will lead to generational tension is also shortsighted. But when we have created a toxic environment where our brightest minds had run off and do not wish to enter politics, we are sunk.

The government is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Double-damned if they try to be decent or honest (like our current government). The only government that can be popular today, is one that’s willing to just say what the people want to hear. Get the slogans out there e.g. “oven-ready Brexit”, “stop the boats” etc. while knowing fully well that they are all just empty words. Honesty and decency now gets you nowhere. Combine that with an era where only the brave and thick-skinned can enter politics (with the brightest unwilling to enter politics) and you can see why we are where we are today!

We no longer allow for any planning nor thinking time! Today’s government have targets that they must meet – to stand half a chance of reelection – so, they just have to get on with it. Little in support from the baying public. We want immediate fixes. It is such a dire situation. It seems so hopeless. It is depressing.

What we should be doing, is setting out exactly what the situation is. The facts. How many social housing units do we have in total? How man6 people who do not consider themselves migrants are in need of housing? How many migrants do we roughly expect each year (say, 500,000 legal migrants (net) and 200,000 illegal?) how many of those will require social housing? What kind of housing units do we need to build and what level of increase in services (transport, schools, health etc) do we need?
Then let’s see how best to fix a totally broken system. Instead, we just want to play politics with it all. It has all become just a convenient weapon to divide us all and pitch us up against each other. It’s become a very potent tool for divide & conquer. Divide & rule. Very few actually want to fix it. And when the try – as the current government is – they get crushed for trying. Because we don’t really want the problem solved do we? We just want something to carry on moaning about….

American is the same. Just look at the size of the USA. Should a country of that size and resources get so impacted by a few million people trooping in through their southern border? Why not build more, or find a new planet? or anything. Solutions. Instead, they fixate on mass deportation. It is just so unbelievable really. And they get so whipped up about it. Ok. Fine. Round up all the millions you say you want to deport America! Round them up. Deport them. Build a sky-high wall across your entire border (make the Great Wall of China look like a mini wall), do all that. Let’s see what you have left. A loving society? Nope, you will find the next thing to quarrel about (probably LGTBQ). The same people who are up in angst against migration, will find the next topic they are angry about. There will be no end to it. That is what divisiveness is. The topic is irrelevant. They will always find the next issue. Sort migration and it will be something else next..

I know many people are waiting to say “told you so” to Trump voters. The reality is simple: you will be waiting till eternity. Why? Well, look at Brexit. The people who have been most-impacted, who are suffering most, have now been told their suffering isn’t as a result of Brexit, but that it is all down to illegal migrants and all migrants in general. Did such obviously foolish idea land? Well, you only need to look at the videos from the summer riots. That is what populism is. They will just move on to the next reason, the next excuse, and sadly, the folk who gobble down these wild tales will continue to do so. Why? because it is usually what they want to believe and given their ignorance, they cannot query the efficacy of the information they are fed.

Spend just 10mins on the internet and you will see every article that allows comments is dominated by the same type of folk commenting: folk who can hardly spell. They have found a home on the internet. They have ample time on their hand, as many of them do not work or work jobs where they can still spend hours on the internet typing up vile stuff. You only need to look at the profile of the rioters sent to prison this year. They upload vile comments on every article. They go as far as to find ways around the abusive words that the online systems bots can detect (how sad is that? just to try to hurt others…). They rant and rave. Everything wrong with their lives is the fault of the left or the Labour Party (who have only been in power for a few months!) or migrants of course. They dream of some past era that was supposedly when they had the country and they now want their country back! If you ask them to point out that exact time in history that they wish to return to, that time when the masses, the poor, the illiterate ruled Britain…. Well, they won’t be able to respond.

It was some foreigner who said a few weeks ago: “Britain is no longer English enough”!
And he thought he had made a great point. Well, genius, Britain has never ever been English. The Welsh are not English. Neither are the Scots. Nor the Irish in Northern Ireland. All part of Britain.
The present madness is pretty much that: MADNESS!

Everyone’s dipping their oars in. Everyone’s an expert in what’s good for Britain.

It is undeniable that Europe needs to find a way to sort out the ridiculously porous borders. And the UK and France, need to find a way, urgently, to stop the madness of people just rowing across the English Channel in their thousands – risking lives, with so many drowning – and also adversely impacting the society in terms of the impossibility of preparing for such unquantifiable number of people just turning up on our shores. Yes, fix it and the folk spreading hate and using vile words online will simply find the next topic to spew their bile at. They can’t help themselves. There will immediately be the next topic for them to hate on. However, notwithstanding, the government must fix this problem

There will not be any ‘light bulb moment’ for Trump voters. The next excuse for things going ape in the US – if it does (and I am not entirely convinced it will, as in truth, other than being decent, the Biden government didn’t really do much) – is already prepared and they will simply roll it out, just as the Conservative government who were in power for 14 years in the UK blamed “leftie lawyers” for the uncontrollable rise in migration, when in truth, the greater number was from legal migration, which they simply lost track of, and failed to control – albeit there are reasons for that (one of those, is Brexit!). The next excuse is always ready for them to move on to, and they know their gullible following will gladly lap it up.

I didn’t vote for Brexit, but it was a democratic process – even if the core tenets were based on lies or as many say, it was never fully understood – and as such, the remainers should have done a better job in convincing voters but they didn’t. So, we have Brexit and nobody should attempt to reverse it. Instead, we should all work hard to make the best of it. But there is no dodging the fact that Brexit has had a terrible impact on the economy and the people at the bottom, the poorest in society, are the ones it has impacted the most. We should be able to honestly admit that and then find solutions to the problem; solutions that must not include attempting to reverse Brexit, as it is the will of the majority, like it or not!
Don’t expect a ‘light bulb moment’ from those folk either.

The people being led up the garden path by those exploiting them, are not to blame. It isn’t new. It is sadly, what human beings are. We exploit each other. We take advantage of each other. We are as bad as each other. Do we really care about each other? No. There will be Olympic Games held while some parts of the world is at war. We will say life goes on. Music concerts etc. as others suffer. We through tonnes of food away in one part of the world, even as helpless children starve in other parts of the world. But we each look the other way. Life goes on. If those starving are assisted, will they in turn seek to assist others in future? Not likely. If we cancel the Olympic Games and Taylor Swift concerts in sympathy for those currently at war around the world, will those people do the same for others if the roles were reversed? Not likely. Therein lies the dilemma.

If only we could treat others as we would want to be treated.

I read an article this week that stated: if we can each spend just 24 hours not complaining, not venting against something, not hating on anyone…..

If only….