Knowledge can improve the world we live in

I mean, it isn’t rocket science.

Yes, the west must do better. Developed countries must do better to address biased laws and application if biased laws, BUT, when someone flee a war, gets taken in and then starts moaning about stuff he/she never had access to, grates with their host (naturally)..

The skin bleaching industry is apparently booming. Why?

I read an article this morning that was written by a black lady complaining about a white interviewer whom she alleged was racist to her. In the article she wrote: ”even though I am light-skinned”… So, it would appear a light-skinned black lady expects better treatment than dark-skinned black ones?

We are supposed to accept that racism is a one-way thing…

It isn’t. It has become a mindset plaguing even those who allege they are victims of racism

We all have biases. Yes, some have faced the brunt of it for longer, and when you rope in the impact of awful laws and daily issues, yes, we do have some work to do. BUT, people are beginning to take the piss! Black celebrities being shocked when faced with what many non-celebrities face on a daily basis and they throw a hissy fit! Yes, nobody should be subjected to nor have to put up with racism or racist abuse, but fir goodness sake! STOP THE BLOODY WHINING!!! abuse is abuse: be it racist or non-racist, religious etc. Decent folk refrain from abusing eachother, but I do not see anyone immune to hurling abuse, if suitably provoked. Now, whether that abuse then take into account, the appearance of the person they are about to insult, is just conjecture

The non-stop moaning has become such a distraction, while crucial issues around disproportionate response to people seeking sanctuary (based on where they’re from) and other serious disparities continue to slip through the net. Someone attends an interview and gets rejected, it has to be because of their race! Yes, racism is still rife and yes, people are stripped of opportunities, BUT for godssakes! it is not the reason each and every time!!!!

Same for sexism! does it mean every female CEO is going to be excellent? Yes, nobody should be denied an opportunity because they are female. But I am sure that not every female handed an opportunity will excel

You don’t.

How do you end racism and bias by constantly moaning?

You don’t 

People just need a pinch of reality. 

Take the law (and enforcement of the law) out and you will see that we are all barbarians! We are all worse than animals. No other species is as selfish and self-centred as humans.

The Russia-Ukraine war is just so dumb! As the Pope stated last week, was it necessary to provoke Russia? The protagonists haven’t lost their children I’m sure. It is easy to mouth off and say you’re bold, when it is the children of others to the slaughter!

If one side show the good sense to climb down, the other may also be embarrassed to climb down. Is it so difficult for Ukraine to have backed off seeking to join NATO or seeking to keep the want-away eastern regions who want to be closer to Russia? Surely, the threat of attack from Russia is better than an actual attack and the ongoing mindless loss of lives?

If Ukraine had asked the world for a loan to build new hospitals, schools etc., the world would have said no. But when it comes to war and supply of war equipment, we seem able to send $billions worth of weapons….

War must be totally outlawed! how? I don’t know. But the world must work towards that: putting war in the same classification as some of the heinous crimes that few would want to be associated with. 

The incessant moaning by celebrities in particular, about being called this or that, is a bore! The more people continue to show that some type of abusive language gets to them so much, the more it will continue (unless laws are brought in to stamp it out – and such laws will have to be enforced properly and indefinitely). You don’t change people through moaning….

A senior female member of parliament in the UK (Angela Rayner) was horribly accused of “crossing and uncrossing her legs on the parliamentary benches to distract Boris Johnson” in what has been widely and rightly rubbished as pure misogyny and in addition, her working-class background was flung at her but bizarrely, if you read some of the online chatter, it is indeed the working-class, council estate dwellers in the country who are raining insult on her online. It really is unfathomably confusing!

Equally confusing is a similar phenomenon of billionaire/millionaire politicians being able to convince a crowd of low-income members of society that they – the billionaires – are one of them, that they understand them, get them and are there to fight for them. The billionaire will drop by from his mansion every now and again, use the language the blue-collar, low-income folks want to hear, tell them what they want to hear, tell them everyone else things they’re stupid and nobody else care about them. Whips them into a frenzy and they begin following him/her where ever…

I simply cannot understand it.

Could it be, that poor people simply find it less envious to follow a rich person? Same as an illiterate would pretend to dislike someone with a posh accent but deep down, just wants to be that person?

One would expect solidarity from the working class when a working-class person makes it as far as to become a Member of parliament, but bizarrely, ire is what Angela Rayner appears to be drawing from our low-income folk. Truly baffling…

War historians gush about tactics and manoeuvres etc., and we all read about it and some enjoy watching war films, but is there anything fanciful about war?

As Russia pummel Ukraine and the west send in weapons to help Ukraine defend itself, the minute this conflict turns to Ukraine launching attacks on targets in Russia – even if justifiable as part of Ukraine’s effort to defend itself – supply of weapons to Ukraine will have to be reassessed or the world may risk kickstarting another world war!

These wars solve nothing.

We all need to appeal to ALL involved: Russia, Ukraine, the West etc., to PLEASE, PLEASE, bring this bloodshed to an end. This war is slowly heading in the direction of escalating into a world war. With the kind of weapons some of these countries now claim to possess, the loss of life on all sides will be truly awful. Yes, life is not indefinite and human beings appear not to give a sh*t about life anymore – with the daily stabbing on our streets etc, BUT the loss of life in this ongoing Russia – Ukraine war is so pointless. If those involved can just take a look at the faces of some of the helpless children being killed or displaced. The issues between Russia, Ukraine and the west, can be resolved to everyone’s relative advantage round a discussion table

This desperately needs deescalating NOW!!!!

Is anyone out there honestly trying to achieve EQUALITY? where do you begin?

As Confucius said: ”five fingers are not created equal”. To achieve equality, it will mean bringing some down, while helping some up. I see no willingness from anyone to do that. I won’t bother going into the fact that we remain comfortable with seeing some born into man-made affluence such as royalty and we delight in watching TV shows such as Downton Abbey, with servants milling around – but, hey! that’s just a TV show? well, No; delighting in it, indicate our lingering preference, after all, TV shows based on what’s not deemed popular flounder.. Anyone asking questions about levelling up society is seen as a crazy ”leftie”… (I am certain those born into royalty and the rest, have no issues with it, and I am not sure what their idea of equality is? but I daresay it is closer to reality, than the lipservice crap the rest of us spout about equality)

Today’s fight for equality typically boils down to one dissatisfied group seeking to replace the incumbent. And if/when that is achieved, that new incumbent set out to repeat the exact same mistakes of the group they replaced.

There has never been an era in human history where equality was achieved. Can one venture to think that it is today’s generation that will achieve this impossible feat? With the present bottomless desire to show off on social media? obsession with ”selfies” etc. I won’t hold my breath…

We’ve seen the current reaction to global conflict, which as many have pointed out, even our charity is biased.

Creating Equal Opportunity is perhaps slightly more feasible. But even that, will require overcoming the impact of geography, some religious beliefs etc. Put a group of children through the same access to education, financial security (send them on the same holidays etc) and you will end up with a very similar product. But in our present dog eat dog world, it is more convenient to laud the prowess of those with access to education, low stress (as their parents have jobs etc) while asserting the dumbness of those who simply never got a chance. And it is not just about building schools. You see athletes with funding, no need for second jobs, vying against others who have no funding, poor gear, can only practice part-time as they have to keep second jobs, and we speak of Olympic champions and World champions… laughable really..

Nobody is willing to give up what they have. An even when they do, e.g. monks or nuns, it is still only possible thanks to some degree of privilege and I am sure even those vary by location

We should face reality. Focus on trying to create equal opportunity as the myth that equality is, is little more than a pipe dream…

Given that it is presently not possible to make the world an equal society, such that people can travel abroad if they wish to, and not out of desperation, I see no reason in taking any side. Those with intolerant anti-migration views are where they are, due to misinformation and manipulation by those who want them to remain that way. And those who support free movement of people do not seem to understand nor care that you do need to have the infrastructure to ensure such movement doesnt end up being detrimental or perceived to be burdensome or damaging either. And in any case, this supposed free movement only seem to apply to a selective few e.g. EU free movement doesnt include less privileged non-EU folk.

So, let’s have an unbiased point of view shall we?

1. People with anti-migration views in the UK vastly outnumber those interested in asking the Prime Minister about partying during Covid lockdown (i.e. Partygate). So, timing of the Rwanda move is being questioned. But what do people really expect? that politicians are just our slaves and they give their life to attain positions within government but we can just toss them when we want to? (what are they supposed to move on to?)We all get a lot wrong in our workplace (you only have to look at the state of services we receive these days: how many of us resign? I am not trying to defend Boris, but society does need to get a grip. He was useful when people wanted Brexit, now he is expendable? Well, he knows the buttons to press and is clearly doing exactly that..(he is unlikely to want to allow himself to be used and then discarded).
2. We are in 2022! but people still know they can get a reaction by putting flyers through doors in the UK warning that whites will soon be a minority in the UK – and presumably, that is supposed to be a worry? Even though, outside of London, you can likely count the number on non-whites. But more importantly, how do we think the natives in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and several other countries feel? Those natives (Maoris, Aborigines, First Nations etc.) are now a tiny minority in their own country and also now make-up majority of prison inmates in some of those countries, for falling foul of laws and ways of life imposed on them by the people they welcomed in as visitors years back. Same people who quickly outnumbered them and stuck them in reservations… YES, integration is the major issue. People coming into the UK should be willing to be brits and live as we do. Nobody will be desperate to come to Britain if we allow people to come in here and turn the UK into the countries they fled from. The focus should be on that dilemma, not daft statistics and idiotic scaremongering…
3. But what is truly sad, is the fact that in 2022, telling people they will be sent to Africa, appears to be an effective deterrent! Jeez!!!! That is so sad. Unfortunately, it is truly an effective deterrent as I am not sure any of those folk risking their lives to cross the English Channel in a rubber boat will do so, just to end up in Rwanda (well, until the no-win, no-fee lawyers step in and nobody gets sent to Rwanda anyway). But what is the long term situation here? if Rwandans can’t see it, should the rest of us not spell it out? Look at Liberia, Sierra Leone… decades on, the newly settled folk live separate lives and the various civil wars have been along that line of division. You will either end-up creating a new British money-backed elite in Rwanda, who will become hated by the locals; and in a country with a very recent history of genocide…. it was only a few years ago that we used to dump our plastic waste in China for them to sort it and we paid them for that service and it was all they had. Today, we are buying virtually everything from China; they sat up, worked hard and they are now indispensable to the rest of the world. Rwanda needs to find their way out of poverty – becoming the dumping ground for illegal migrants that Britain doesn’t want here, is not the way to go. People can blame Priti Patel all they want, she hasn’t done anything illegal, albeit, morally shaky; if we have £120m to give away, why not hand it to Rwanda in the form of agricultural equipment so that they can mechanise their farms and build industries around that. Instead of turning them into our dumping ground for our unwanted illegal migrants..
4. How can the world continue to look on? This is another imminent disaster down the road for Rwanda..

But this matter is less about the UK but more about Rwanda. How can this ever be a sensible arrangement to sign-up to?

Honestly, I didn’t think the UK would ever try to make such a move, as we used to be a nation of ’think tanks’ and one would like to think there are other solutions out there. But I doubt any solution would be without detractors. We don’t have an opposition party! instead of them coming up with their own better alternative to this Rwanda thing (an alternative that will stop the deadly Channel crossings), they are forever fixated on partygate!

If we develop all corners of the world (will never happen! I know…), then we can eliminate most if these problems. Unfortunately, what many people in the UK are saying, is that they feel exposed, helpless, as they pay their taxes (or claim their ancestors did) while our border has become non-existent! 6000 people have crossed in via the Channel this year alone. How do you prepare fir and get facilities ready, to welcome and integrate people, if you have no idea of numbers as they just come in without any processing? If the border is enforced (and clever people have to figure that out; unlikely this Rwanda thing will be that solution as legal processes are likely to scupper it) and the influx is via due process, chances of integration etc., will be higher and they will face less intolerance. If you look at the present UK government cabinet, many of them are in this country because their parents were taken in. There is no shortage of empathy in this country (and yes, there has been and will always be an element of hate too), it’s the lack of control (with the porous border) that is grating with many..

What an awful, pointless waste of lives!!!

Russia invading Ukraine is inexcusable. Invasion should never, ever have been an option. But why on earth Zelensky didn’t offer this neutrality thing BEFORE the invasion, to preempt it and avoid this needless war, is baffling.

Russia say they do not want their antagonists (NATO) camped next to them. They say they would see Ukraine joining NATO as a threat etc. why a compromise wasn’t pursued sooner, to prevent this mindless bloodshed is just baffling!!!

I’ve never watched the Oscar and probably never will. But I read this morning that the host, Chris Rock, cracked a mean joke about Will Smith’s wife’s hair and Will got up, walked up to Chris and slapped him on live TV. Seriously??!!! How dumb can Will get? These folks go around complaining about being labelled ”angry black men”… well, perhaps smacking a guy for doing his job (cracking jokes) on live TV probably doesn’t do much to quell such stereotype…

I can never understand violence. If you feel you are physically stronger than someone, hitting them simply makes you weak and a bully. Will Smith’s action was inexcusable….

Smith could have made his point by getting up and walking out or if he had a pair of gloves, thrown it down and asked for a duel in their private time in jest. Smacking someone in the manner he did, was not only daft, it sends the wrong message to kids out there.

You don’t go around hitting people because they cracked a mean joke…

In the messed up world we are in today, it is just simply amazing to have someone like Ash Barty, World Number 1 female tennis player, come out today at just the age of 25! to say she’s had enough, she’s spent and that’s it. Bye bye tennis!

Yes, her coaches, trainers, sponsors and all those who expected to make $millions more out of her over the coming years must be gutted. But I am sure they have made a fair bit anyway, so, all good. And yes, some will query her mental toughness, as she has quit before (in her teens) only to return in 2016. Some will even suggest she nay be back, and well, who knows. However, my hat’s off to her for making this bold step. if you’ve had enough, step away, instead of staying on to get ripped apart. Naomi Osaka should take a cue from this. Either know you can take it, or walk away. Life’s too short.

We have turned sports into a misery for these athletes. They get paid well, but everyone wants a pound of flesh off them…

During the quarter final of the Indian Wells Masters in California, Kyrgios asked a vocal spectator in the crowd “Are you playing?” as he got ready to serve.

The Australian player, 26, added: “Are you good at tennis?”

In video footage of the encounter, a faint “no” can be heard from the stands.

Kyrgios responds: “Exactly, so why are you speaking?”

Referring to Ben Stiller (American actor who was at the match), he continues: “Do I tell him how to act? No”, drawing a laugh from the crowd.

At the Indian Wells tennis event earlier in the week, a female spectator yelled out ”Naomi you suck”! Osaka went on to lose 6-0, 6-4 and was in tears, saying this brought back memories of the year the Williams sisters and their dad received racial abuse at the same venue. Ok Naomi!

Had the spectator shouted “Naomi you suck because you’re black!” then, perhaps conjuring up the Williams’ situation would make sense. Even if the ”Naomi you suck” shout was motivated by the spectator’s racist disposition, the fact remains she did not make any racist comment. Etiquette is what’s lacking BUT, in sport, when a packed arena chant one sports person’s name and we say it’s supporting that athlete, and he or she wins and thanks the fans for their support – how do we think that ”support” impacted the opponent? So, when athletes channel that support, to the detriment of their opponent, is that unfair? is it wrong?

Osaka needs to get a sports psychologist and toughen herself up or go and find some other vocation. Getting reduced to a gibbering wreck and crying profusely because some idiot in the crowd say you suck, is not what one would expert of any sports man or woman at any level of sport, let alone the level Osaka’s at. I am very concerned for her, she appears to be heading for a tragic end and although the signs are there, nobody is helping her! Her team need to assess her and if she is this fragile, they need to protect her immediately, by perhaps advising her to quit the sport. Otherwise, all her future opponents will simply need to plant a relative in the crowd to yell out ”Naomi you suck!” and they are guaranteed an easy win, as she crumbles into tears

If sports men & women enjoy the adulation, the rockstar status, they have to be equally prepared to blank and ignore the heckling. Surely, that is what they are trained for?

To try to link every negativity to racism is not a healthy position to be in. In any case, once you’ve shown that this is your weak point, it will be savagely exploited. Bullies don’t stop because they see you crying. They are encouraged…

I don’t know what sad satisfaction any fan or spectator would derive from yelling out ”Naomi you suck!”, but if the yell had been ”Naomi you’re the best!” and it made Osaka smile and perform better, then, that’s the scale tipped in her favour? I mean the reaction from Osaka is just bizarre. She needs to focus on her tennis and part of that, is learning to shut out the crowd..

It is depressing but not at all surprising that women still need to hold events such as the International Women’s Day this week, to try to continue the push for equality etc. The same group of men who were eagerly doing the crossed arms ’X’ or W symbol all week, are the same who need to face reality…

I just cannot understand why we can’t just keep life simple. If a woman wants to be a bricklayer and she acquires the necessary skill, let her get on with it. If there are male-dominated or female-dominated professions, FINE! provided such domination is coincidental and a matter of choice and not as a result of one sex blocking the other or ganging up on the other or squeezing the other out. There are some things that many women (won’t generalise by saying ’all’) simply do not like to get into and same for men. Nothing wrong with those fields being dominated by one or the other, provided it is totally a matter of choice

There are inconsistencies everywhere. Some people want the tradition of being ’walked down the aisle’ by their fathers, but wonder why some of these barriers have been impossible to remove. You can’t have it both ways. If you are religious and believe in the ’man is the head of the family’ doctrine in the bible verbatim and refuse to accept that perhaps some of those teachings have passed their use by date, because the world has moved on – it is not amoral to try to move with the times a bit, but there will have to be a secularity needed, without necessarily depriving religious folk of what they believe in – it is the attempt to bring all that into a secular society that has led to the continuation of the bias out there. Is it possible for a man who believe he is the head of the family and all that, to try to keep that attitude to his own domain at home, if assuming his family choose to go with that, but when he gets to the office set that aside and see/treat his female colleagues as equals and relate to them exactly as he would his male colleagues? – highly unlikely. That is why we still see women being paid less in some jobs, getting boxed into only some type of roles and the handful who buck that trend are set up as an example that the problem no longer exists.

It is such a complex problem.

Where we should get to, is a society where we can all disregard our differences and simply focus on relevance. If some folks want to celebrate their differences, FINE! it should be about them desperately seeking equality, it should just be another celebration, if they wish to. Right now, these various groups have to keep on fighting for equal treatment. The problem is: WE ARE ALL GUILTY. A woman fighting for equality for women today, could be the same woman typing up homophobic stuff on twitter tomorrow, or the LGBTQ person fighting for LGBTQ equality today could be the same person shouting out racist slurs at a football match tomorrow. There are too many ’courses’. The only possible solution will be a ’live & let live’ policy, where we all just ignore our differences, without giving a hoot about differences and just letting people be, letting them succeed in whatever they are skilled in, without trying to box them off. But who can get this reset done? You look at a sport like darts; why can’t women compete against men? well, now they do. But if women decide the atmosphere isn’t what they fancy, do you change such atmosphere? or let women set up a separate league? the dilemma remains the same. Asking women to box against men or play tennis against men etc., isn’t fair right? but perhaps let people give it a go, if they want to. Don’t make it a taboo. But then, there would be the Health & Safety concern….

I don’t know! I don’t have all the answers, but eliminating the focus on differences may well give us a better chance as a society, than what we have today..

Either way, it would be good to get to a time when groups such as women can celebrate whatever day they wish to celebrate, as just a celebration and not a desperate need for awareness of their continuing plight/challenges they still face. We each have to mend our ways! There us no monster out there, WE ALL are the monster(s), it is each and every one of us responsible for these problems!

Nothing demonstrates just how pathetic human beings are..

This was on BBC’s Question Time programme. Much as Nadhim Zahawi may have misspoken, WHO REALLY BLOODY CARES who is ’leading’ or not??? people are dying, a meaningless war is ongoing! The focus should be SOLELY about getting this situation back to the negotiation table, ceasefire and seeing what can be done, to get this to end

Instead, Helle Thorning-Schmidt was sat there trying to made a needless point! I doubt the mothers and fathers losing their kids as we speak, give a monkeys about whether or not it is the EU or the UK leading efforts…

There is simply no real leadership anywhere these days!!!

Should Zahawi have said what he said? No. But is that really what anyone should really care that much about? SERIOUSLY?!!!

Pathetic!!

There are no heroes in this skirmish! It just needs getting back to a discussion table before thousands more die needlessly..

First piece of common sense I have read in weeks! As reported on Sky News this morning…

All the bravado crap is just costing innocent lives! The minute the war kicked-off, the only objective should have been every effort to de-escalate. There are no winners, no heroes in war! So many children have died – do they know who is wrong or right? what was their crime?

The usual daft: ”I vow this or that” that leaders utter, all the way to being captured and often times killed (Saddam, Gaddafi)… they’ll keep on vowing to their last breath. Madness!

Ukraine was never going to hold Russia. And if the rest of the world were to back them, millions more will die. Can we not for a minute just try to avoid the obvious!?

Do I have a solution? NO. But it doesn’t appear any of the folks we selected as leaders do either. That’s the pity…

The statement from Grant Shapps this morning is the first piece of common sense. Don’t hand weapons and aircrafts to Ukraine. Spend all effort on securing a temporary cease fire and get everybody back to the discussion table! enough blood has been shed! whatever point was intended has been made! neither side has lost face. Stop the fighting and killing now and talk this madness through! PLEASE!!!!

As people fleeing Ukraine and their relatives who are already based in the Uk demand charity, demand entry into the UK, I recall a football match a few months ago, where really vile abuse was being uttered by you know whom…

In time of need, the UK will always stand up to be counted. But one can only hope that these Eastern European countries take some lasting lessons. Hungary, Poland and others all flooded the UK seeking work when they were desperate, but give it a few years and what you see is rarely ever a show of gratitude..

Awful as our politics, social care etc., have been in recent years, it must not be taken for granted that this is still one of the safest, most secure and fair (especially our judiciary) countries in the world and we will continue to endeavour to expunge hate and those who would like to turn the UK into a third world country

Social media has been buzzing this week trying to paint the picture of a hero (Zelensky) and a villain (Putin), setting aside the most important and most expedient matter: getting the incursion to end!

Humans lack the capacity to learn. Let’s send weapons to Ukraine now, and 10 years later, it will be Ukraine attacking some other country with those same weapons.

Yes, we all know or partly know who started this war in Ukraine. It was Putin and even if he says he had good reasons, they should all have remained at the negotiations table. There is no reason good enough for this kind of bloodshed AND that does not apply solely to Russia. No country or organisation should head down this road…

Unfortunately, there is NOBODY out there thinking this through. Sanctioning & isolating Russia will not lead to an uprising or the ousting of Putin. in fact, the outcome will be the opposite. Russians who are presently unhappy with this war, will change their mind if we crash their economy and their children begin to starve. THE ONLY ANSWER is to try to get everyone back to the discussion table to try to figure this thing out, and in the meantime, get Putin to pause the unnecessary conflict and bloodshed

If you look at the likes of Saddam Hussien and Gaddafi who ended up hiding away in a culvert and met a very undignified death, when it was amply clear that such an ending was very predictable and in Gaddafi’s case, he already had a very recent example. And there are so many of those examples out there. But they perhaps thought they at a point of no return? Such is human pride…

Was it necessary to address the situations Saddam, Gaddafi and others were creating and the wider threat, I think many would say: YES. Will there be others like them? of course. The chap in Syria is an example, even though, he has limited his antics to his own patch and as such, likely to get away with it till his people have had enough.

What is missing, when the world head out on these missions to save humanity, is the kind of financial packages that was assembled to get post-war Germany or Japan back on their feet. If we’re going to go out there and seek to better the lot of these supposedly oppressed people e.g. Syrians, Libyans, Iraqis etc., it has to be done properly and seen through to the end, with huge finances to help them properly get back on their feet – and not the abandonment seen in Afghanistan recently – that is what will halt this awful human trafficking and mass migration of people desperately looking to leave these conflicts behind. It is not enough to go in, them dash off, leaving these regions to clean up a mess they didnt necessarily ask for

Fortunately for Ukraine, they are in Europe and funding will likely come, to get them rebuilding, once the ongoing madness ends..

There’s no perfection out there, and personally, I care less about who is wrong or right, we just need to refuse military solutions. All sides need to refuse to provoke the need for war at any scale. If/when wars occur anyway, then the world (perhaps via a global levy that all UN countries pay into) must fund reconstruction of the desolated societies. Perhaps if that bill hurts us all, we will show a bit more reluctance, a bit more restraint? ah well…..

World leaders should focus on de-escalation. It won’t be seen as appeasement, if handled properly. They can help Putin pull back and out of Ukraine without losing face.

The war in Iraq (desert storm) to topple Saddam Hussein came after he was accused of bullying his neighbour (Kuwait) and hiding huge weapons of mass destruction, not after years of allegedly brutalising parts of his own country (e.g. the Kurds) – that was supposedly acceptable? Well, or rather, was seen as strictly internal business..

I wonder what the global reaction would have been, if Russia had said their intelligence told them that Ukraine had weapons of mass destruction and that is the reason Russia had to attack them? After all, that was the acceptable reason Iraq got pummelled and those weapons of mass destruction were never found, because they didn’t exist – and Saddam turned to be all bark and very little bite! —- oops! But what a very costly (in terms of human lives on all sides involved) way to find that out…

Ukraine could be accused of a similar aggression to their want-away regions – supposedly Russia-leaning parts of Ukraine – that Russia claim to be defending in similar manner to how we all went in to supposedly help Kuwait? Before that turned into a full war to find Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction….?

I tried hard to think of reasons that could differentiate and excuse the Saddam pummelling (and outcome) when compared to the present Russian pummelling of Ukraine and I couldn’t find many differentiators, other than the fact that Putin hasn’t told the world he’s out there trying to locate Ukraine’s weapons of mass destruction – which he doesn’t necessarily have to find…

Although some conspiracy theorists would link the wars in Iraq to oil, I personally believe America and their allies meant well and truly believed they were trying to help Kuwait, oppressed iraqis etc. And I believe it was the same with Libya; the intention was noble. The purpose was to help. But the outcome, which is the same in Syria and other places, make it clear that these military interventions, including Russia’s ongoing incursion into Ukraine – for whatever reason Putin has – is never the correct thing to do. Global reaction is always muted when some countries do the exact same thing that Russia are doing right now, with equally spurious excuses, but when others such as Russia do it, hypocrisy set in: where were FIFA, UEFA and all these sporting bodies who are now banning Russia, during previous incursions that the UN didn’t sanction? That is why it is simpler to just BAN wars/military incursions entirely..

What Russia are presently doing in Ukraine is inexcusable and should not happen – and will hopefully end urgently – but the global reaction to this or any other wars or military incursions should be the same. The world MUST stand firmly against all wars. Countries with a grievance must find other means of settling their grievances! Military forces should only be used in defence or deterrence. But this has to be a universal convention that NO EXCUSES, NO COUNTRY should be able to contravene. Consequences must be the same in all instances and not as selective as it presently is.

There are photos of Ukraine’s president in combat gear, circling the internet now, with all sorts of headings about great leadership…

I do not believe ANY of these leaders, be it Putin, Zelenskyy, Biden, Boris Johnson, Macron, have demonstrated great leadership. Could Zelenskyy not have come out more forcefully, sooner, to ask for an open assessment of what Putin had issues with? Yes, we can all say it’s all Putin’s fault, but is it? And even if it is, could this all have been de-escalated much sooner? Preventing military intervention must be everyone’s SOLE goal. Where is all the tough-talks now, when ordinary civilians are the ones paying the price for this madness???

None of these leaders have shown great leadership. We simply should not be having these kinds of outcome. Yes, many would argue that attempting diplomacy with Hitler turned into concessions and placation, then war anyway. But surely we now have enough examples to indicate the outcome of wars ain’t great. Should leaders not have a clear approach to these kinds of situations? If sanctions destroy Russia’s economy and their people start to feel the discomfort, their reaction may well be, to support the war instead of opposing it. As was seen with Hitler, it could become a ”see what the world is prepared to do to you” kind of situation…

These supposed ”Leaders” appear to lack the capacity to lead. If you want sanctions to pre-empt a situation, you issue the sanctions BEFORE, as a deterrent, and not AFTER the horse has bolted. The current sanctions will only lead to Russians feeling isolated and that the west treats them differently – after all, we know of other countries that have invaded other countries and those were supposedly ok. Great leadership is when leaders prevent wars!

This morning, we’re reading that some demographics are receiving preferential and hateful treatment in Ukraine. Well, why should that be surprising?

It is an uncomfortable truth, but one that is there for all to see. All the pictures out there to date, show largely women & children being moved to safety. Contrast that with the composition of the crowds supposedly fleeing other wars and you see thousands of strapping young men of fighting-age, purportedly fleeing to safety? You have to defend your country. Much as my position is that we must find means to prevent wars; there should never be a tenable reason to opt for military intervention, but given the inevitability of it, ensuring it doesn’t turn into a people-smuggling bonanza is also highly imperative as many end up being exploited and are unwanted at their intended destinations.

Majority of Ukraine’s men, young men and boys of a fighting age have stayed back, to try to defend their country. Credit to them…

It shouldn’t matter who the aggressor is, or their reason. Genuine or not. There must be an absolute end to one country rolling tanks into another. or a group of countries deciding to roll in. The world has been quick to condemn what we’ve seen this week in Europe. We now need to go and do the same, everywhere else and hopefully bring to an end, these needless military interventions – they never solve anything..

And that, friends, is why we are in an incorrigible, hopeless world! A world set-up solely to exploit!

I am sure those popular words: ”we stand with you”, ”our thoughts and prayers are with you”, will come rolling out shortly, but when you check the list of new billionaires from oil prices going up…..

sad….

We have allowed the world to slide out of control (not that it was ever any better for some I suppose)…

As I have previously written; each country should state its values and rules, for example, the UK is a secular Christian monarchy where we want tidy streets (no fly-tipping or littering) and freedom of speech (but with consequences of course), no censoring and we want people to cone here to live the way we do, abide by our values, contribute positively to our society and come in the legal and orderly way. There are other countries out there where you go to jail if you publicly insult their leader or your twitter feed is constantly monitored and censored – those countries should not be described as barbaric. if that is what they do and it works well for them (or not), who are we to criticise them? BUT people should have a choice, whether or not to live in those countries. There are countries where religion and religious laws apply; again, that should be their prerogative, and those who like such arrangements should head for those countries. Trying to create societies that cater for everything, while dumping on what those countries feel they stand for, is what leads to intolerance and rancour.

The madness that we currently have is doesn’t appear to be working for anyone… except of course, the few people who exploit these situations. Be it populist politicians or others…

There will have to be a reset sooner or later. it is inevitable. You only have to look at what’s presently going on in Ukraine, to see that we are heading for a tragedy..

Human hypocrisy knows no limit. And that applies to all of us. PERIOD!

Quoting from a post I read this morning:

Artificial snow in Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, 49 million gallons of water for the alpine skiing competition alone! While there are thousands of people around the world dying for access to portable water, walking miles daily, to get to usable water. Why in god’s name do we do this? The tournaments can of course be hosted wherever they wish to, but surely, one can host some specific events in a country that’s got snow when the event commences e,g. if the host country is China and there’s no snow, do curling, ice hockey etc. there and move the alpine skiing and other events that require snow to Japan or where ever they have snow aplenty. How difficult is it to do that?!! Instead of this madness! while we go on about saving the planet from climate disaster! And you cannot solely blame China, all the countries represented at the events utilising this artificial snow are as guilty. And for what purpose exactly? So that athletes and countries they represent can show their prowess? PATHETIC!!!

Human beings are hopeless! The hypocrisy is sickening! Personally I have lived my life as an individual for the last 30 odd years being as independent as I can be from a young age and have rid myself of most hypocrisy. I am of course not perfect and indeed, why would one seek to be perfect in such a ridiculously hypocritical world? Just try to be as good a person as you can be, and when you’re not, get on with it. That’s my motto. We are entirely surrounded by hypocrisy!

The World Cup (Soccer) in Qatar later this year will be held in air-conditioned stadiums in the middle of a desert! can you imagine how much energy is going to be wasted?!! The football world and leaders say it is to spread football to less popular parts of the world. FINE, we all support that. Can’t alway be help in Europe and such places, BUT, for goodness sake, can they not just hold the opening match and perhaps the final and a handful of matches in Qatar, while the rest of the tournament is held elsewhere, so that Qatar can use just one venue with these air-conditioned stuff? To cut down on this insane waste of energy!!

While all the above is going on, we are prosecuting some 12-seat cafe or bar some place for using plastic straws!!! SERIOUSLY????!! The hypocrisy is just mind-boggling!

Major European airlines are presently flying empty to retain their slots and routes due to EU regulations.

That is why the attempted persecution of countries like China, for not signing up to some agreements to cut emission etc., is just laughable. All these countries are sat there cheering away, as their athletes ski away on artificial snow as they tally their medal haul, which supposedly makes them superior or special? what a farce!!!

…. clearly, everyone doesn’t. America need to roll out televised shows that breaks down and explains their electoral process to every day Americans

You won’t end the lying and misinformation by calling people stupid!

The way their election results are tallied and made public also needs to change: counting mail-in ballot after displaying election-day figures confuses people and allowed the mischief-makers to exploit that. When you have two main political parties and one favour election-day voting, while the other favour the convenience of mail-in voting, it is dumb, to post the figure from one form of voting before the other. Especially without context. If it is stated that for this State or district, 50% of the vote is expected to be in-person and the rest by postal ballot, with a total vote of say, 100,000 voters, then that’s good context. But nope, they display one party leading by 40% and then several hours later, losing by 5%, and the liars use that to say there has been irregularities, when all that happened is that election-day figures were tallied first and reported, ahead of mail-in. Clearly, this manner of reporting counts has now backfired and has to change. Nothing should be reported till an equal number of election-day and mail-in ballots have been counted

It is now 2022. Very little has been done, to avoid a repeat of 2020 when they get to 2024. is that not dumb?

Sitting about saying, we are right and they are lying is hardly going to be effective is it? GET THE FACTS OUT THERE!!!!

Use past election figures to demonstrate the reality of how this works. Spend the billions America waste on lobbying, on getting BIOMETRIC data collected for EVERY AMERICAN. There are only 335,000,000 Americans, spend $100 on each American, to get all biometric data collected and use that for election-day and mail-in ballots if you wish. Funny thing is: it will likely be the people saying the 2020 election was stolen, who will reject biometric data gathering, the same way they don’t want Covid vaccines. So, perhaps there is indeed no hope for America?

Either way, they do need to take some action NOW!!! or it is certain that every presidential election that the Republican party fail to win going forward, will be declared as stolen. What some of them want, is for voters to be the exact demographic as it was in 1888. That is the real issue that lurks behind the situation today….

It really is nauseating, when human beings try to be too clever!
I suppose people can ask to be called whatever they wish to be called: Sting, Bono, Thandie or Thandiwe etc. With most Chinese folks in the west going from Chuhai to Charles etc. Nothing wrong with trying to blend in or just insisting people make the effort to be ok with difference – and if we all effortlessly learn to pronounce famous names (Tchaikovsky and the likes), a bit of respectful patience could help us pronounce other less famous names and we also somehow learn to pronounce Llewellyn correctly, so why not chukuwami? and Jesus not being the biblical Jesus!

But seriously!!?? what a shower Thandie Newton is!? Absolute hypocrite and attention-seeker. I am assuming all those slaves and descendants who had no choice in the names they were handed, now need to change John to Jabana and Philip to Philidwe to demonstrate their independence and freedom? What utter tosh! When it helped her blend in and succeed, Thandie was handy. How about handing over all the $millions she made as Thandie and then go and start from scratch as Thandiwe and see where that gets her? There is absolutely nothing wrong with pointing out that over the past few decades, and it still ongoing, people have faced disadvantages if they show up looking one way or the other or if their name isn’t Steve or Jane —- there’s been several demos of that over the years, with CVs and how people gain employment or get left behind. But there are other marketing reasons why many actors and actresses want cool-sounding names: Walter Bruce Willis preferring Bruce Willis to Walter Willis and many entertainers just picking new names they deem cooler or their bosses forcing them to do so. And it isn’t just about going from Brumabana to Bruce!

And as for Thandiwe’s tearful apology for being apparently privileged because she says she has lighter skin and should have stood up more for the darker skinned folk: seriously??! what an absolute joke! has there been and is there an ongoing prejudice? of course. But for goodness sake!!! this virtue-signalling is fast becoming worse than the prejudice itself. This creation of another layer, another step, the ”look at me, whites are number one and I am number two due to my light skin and feel so sorry for these darker number threes who are always getting such a raw deal. Well Thandiwe darling, you are now part of the creation and promotion of that “number three” status, whether you know it or not.

Absolutely nothing wrong with her saying, look, I’ve always liked my full name but got lumbered with Thandie for decades, by those who thought Thandie was cooler and blends in better, the same people who told Whitney Houston she needs to straighten her hair to fit in better and sell more records, the same people responsible for the £multibillion skin bleaching industry today? and for the caste system in India or for Eileen Gu being more marketable than Naomi Osaka?, and now that I can afford to kick back against all that, I will insist on being called Thandiwe and perhaps, shine some light on this issue.
What she may need to note, is that there are still many Thandiwes out there, who cannot yet afford rejecting Thandie. Just look at criticism of the superbowl half-time show this week: go figure…

There are people without arms, legs, eyesight etc. out there , who are getting on with life. Others with disabilities with people laughing at them etc. Our dear Thandiwe’s sitting about crying about lightness of skin and all that cack! Yes, it is horrible to be ill-treated differently because of the colour of your skin BUT for fig’s sakes!!! there’s a lot more going on out thee Thandiwe! get off your shallow horse and get real!!!!

But seriously, what is to be achieved? Yes, there are issues, but NO, Thandiwe, No, no, no. Make your personal choices but give it a bloody rest please! millions of dutch, scandinavian, polish, jewish and other settlers anglicised their names over the years and yes, perhaps not in an effort to be accepted or as the necessary step to get by, but jeez! ease up Thandie or Thandiwe! give it a rest PLEASE!!!!

We are creating a society that seeks to straight-jacket us all! But sadly, with no real progress in areas that matter e.g. police brutality in America, mishandling of immigration – leading to increase in intolerance etc.

It is apparently ok for black and brown ladies to wear long blonde wigs but it is cultural appropriation when a white lass does corn-row…

I wonder if that extends to Arabs wearing suits and ties?

It is a tad confusing. perhaps I need to read up on it some…?

Cultures should, in my opinion, be accessible to whoever’s keen on it. Should never be a one way street!

Helen Miren is currently being criticised for playing Golda Meir in a film because she isnt Jewish. Is this whole caper not called ACTING?
For some reason, Idris Elba can’t possible play the FICTIONAL character, James Bond. Why don’t we get a real donkey to play donkey in the next Shrek, and a real fish tomplay Nemo? I see no bloody reason why Eddie Murphy couldn’t play JFK and Steve Carell play Mandela! it’s all ACTING for pete’s sake!!! I can accept an argument on the basis of creating roles to ensure others get roles, BUT surely, if acting is what it is, i.e. acting, why do we need to be so bothered about matching faces or features. Just get on with the blooming acting!
Kids have the right idea with their ’make belief’, where literally anything can represent anything, and they’re good to go!

We’re heading nowhere fast, with these daft concepts….

This week has seen fresh talks in the UK about this subject and I will now add my two cents worth!

Nobody alive today is in a position to offer a meaningful apology for the transatlantic slave trade. PERIOD. Anyone who does, is simply being disingenuous.

Similarly, NOBODY in the UK today, living here, is not a beneficiary of slavery – whether you’re black, white or whatever other colour’s in use. Most of what we have today, be it schools, universities, our strong financial system, our economy, our way of life, ALL benefited from those centuries of cheap labour. CHEAP as it wasn’t free – some evil folk were paid for each slave.

The problem we have today is that people continue to spout rubbish. Critical Race Theory? bollocks! You don’t need any theory to understand the economics and depravity of what went on back then and how it has impacted people. The wilful distabilisation of a continent, to promote strife and conflict, leading to sale of hundreds of thousands of people. The ongoing distabilisation of that same continent – for a different set of reasons today. The way schools should teach slavery is simple: no race on earth, no nation, has escaped the clutches of slavery in human history. We have all been enslaved at one point or the other. The most recent and therefore, most savagely vivid example, being the transatlantic slavery of the 1500s to the 1800s but that is only one era of slavery. And for those who wonder why the church didn’t intervene – after all the head of the church of England is the King or Queen – well, if you ask that question, it means you have never read the Bible. Slavery dates back to biblical days and was sanctioned as a winner takes it all concept. So, no chance of religion stepping in to try to stop it in the 1500s or later. You only have to look at the religious status of slave owners in America to reach an accurate conclusion.

It happened. It was vile. It fed into what we all now have today, whichever way one is to look at it. So, tearing down the statue of a slave-trader can only be meaningful, if we also hand back centuries of societal benefits and the infrastructure that was built on the back of those poor slaves. Clearly not feasible right? Well, what then??

Heinous things were done to the transatlantic slaves and many of the surviving photos are shocking, BUT why do we expect the perpetrators or their descendants to be horrified? I doubt there is anything done to these slaves that hadn’t been done before at Newbury prison and other 14th, 15th century prisons in the UK (all the famous de-bowelling, hung-drawn-quartered etc,) done to each other as it were, so doing those things to African slaves was very readily done and mist likely without any second thoughts whatsoever. What is more concerning, is the TODAY, hundreds of years later, we still have some crude and primitive means of torture, which is inexcusable. Including extra-judicial killings by the police in America, mass incarceration of drug peddlers while the consumers go unpunished etc,

Anyone who thinks someone will denounce or renounce what Britain got from trading slaves, when we are still refusing to hand over more recent items from the days of the empire e.g. the Elgin marbles, need their heads testing! Yes, you will readily find many who are appalled by the brutality of slavery and are keen to join statue-toppling protests, but when you lay out how they have and still benefit (and we all still do) from slavery, you will get nothing from them, other than conjecture. It is impossible to uncouple the impact of hundreds of years of slave labour and revenues from it, from what we still enjoy today. So, what would an apology be worth? NOTHING!

We just have to move on. Teach history with some blooming perspective and not in a manner that continue to make some people feel like victims in the 21st century.

Your ancestors were enslaved. All ancestors have been enslaved at one point or the other through history. Move on. Let’s focus on today’s problems, and if some of those problems are still directly linked to slavery and/or colonialism (which is indeed the case), the solution is clearly not where people keep looking, which is why it has dragged on for this long….

I do not know enough about Russia or Putin, to make any honest/informed statement about whether or not he is evil. Same for Xi of China. I do not know enough to sit in judgement.

But history will tell us that the times we have tried to remove supposedly ”evil” leaders, the result hasn’t been encouraging and the collateral damage remain till today: Saddam, Gaddafi etc. – yes, horrid folks, but what’s been the aftermath?

But seeing the likes of Macron of France, turning this into an ego-boosting Photo opportunity, smiling like a cheshire cat next to Putin, on his supposed trip to Moscow to sort the Ukraine stand-off, is stomach-churning! We do not want another war. And yes, various leaders wading in now, to pre-empt this needless conflict is good, but this is no photo-op moment!

It is fairly obvious that if the west can change the hypocritical and baseless narrative that always seek to paint Putin as a monster, he will also change his stance. I do not believe Russia want another war either – it is such a needless waste of life! But for Europe to depend so heavily on Russian gas – and willingly take it, but continue to make the guy out as this hairy monster, is clearly hypocritical. If you don’t like or trust the guy, stop supping-up his gas!!!

Almost every item you get from Amazon (an American giant by the way) is ’made in China’. It seems the rest of the world have downed tools and stopped production! So, while we are happy to consume their products, why disparage them?? Trump called Covid a Kung-flu and his audience cheered. But you visit each of their homes and you’ll find Amazon-delivered ’made in China’ products!

I am not for a minute saying Russia and China are faultless, quite frankly, I do not know. But what I do know, is that no country is faultless – we all have our demons. Be it prisons full of minorities (and their crime largely being supply of drugs that our posh university students consume!) or other stuff. But it is so easy to point at Russia or China…

Safe to say good & bad emanate from every country. Salisbury Novochok poisoning was horrid, but some will say that so is an allegation of weapons of mass destruction that were never found but the death toll piled up high. I am not sure what the solution is, after all we already have a United Nations (not sure what impact they have though…). How can countries make war an option that is NEVER taken up?

If the west change our approach and rhetoric, a great deal more will be achieved in getting Russia and China to perhaps re-assess their approach too. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Crimean, Ukraine…. there has to be a peaceful means of sorting these matters…

Maybe I am just too naive and the world simply can’t be at peace…

Awesome Sadio. Well done..

Seems to work well for the elite. Followed by an apology when written proof such as emails or photos are produced.

….”my recollection differ from that or from his or hers“. I wonder what the verdict will be, if a thief’s defense in court is that he has no recollection of stealing what he’s seen stealing on CCTV?

But such is the predicament we find ourselves in. Our politicians now seek to get away with blatant lies with that phrase: ”I do not recall…”, well, let me jog your memory with a few photos and emails. The next line will be: ”I have been assured that no rules were broken”. What that means, is that someone else shall carry the can for it! Afterall, I didn’t lie to you, I was assured that is the truth, so, don’t blame me when it turns out to be yet another lie!

Plain speaking has never been our strongest point and we wrap around fancy words. BUT surely, when someone holds a public office they must know that the level of scrutiny that comes with that, will require a fair bit of plain-speaking? or perhaps not..

A government is not or should not be an individual right?

But now, everyone’s coming out taking pot shots at Boris Johnson. Where were they 4, 3, 2 years ago?

The story is ALWAYS the same. Human beings are natural users! Once you’re no longer deemed useful, they turn on you.

It matters little whether or not you are a fan of Boris or not. He was useful for Brexit (regardless of whether or not him wading in was a self-seeking, opportunistic move) as he lent credibility to a movement led by fringe folks with scant credibility. Ok, the 80-strong Tory majority he delivered after Theresa May was kicked to the turf, could have been achieved by a donkey, given how poor the opposition was. From the final days of Gordon Brown – who should never have been Prime Minister as he was not electable as his only general election proved – to Ed Milliband who is a great guy but was never going to be a Prime Minister in a million years, to an even greater human being, Jeremy Corbyn who was never going to be a Prime Minister in a trillion years, to the present leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer, who is probable a very genuinely nice guy, but is never going to be electable as Prime Minister. A very long list of individuals that the Tories must be delighted to see heading the opposition. David Milliband or similar, is what the labour party need to go and dig up, to stand a chance. I mean, half the work has already been done for them by the current bumbling of this government. A donkey could win a general election against Boris right now. Unfortunately, not Kier Starmer or the other alternatives the labour party think they have – they are not electable.

But back to the Boris situation. Did he just become what people are saying he is? NO. So, it was ok, when he was of use? they were all happy to accept him as he is, when he was of use right?

The Tory MP who defected to Labour last week would have us believe he has now only just seen the light? What a joke!

Yes, holding parties at 10 Downing Street while churning out rules to the rest of us, will likely bring this government down and end Boris’ run as PM, BUT for people to start coming out now, to nail him to the mast and say he is unfit for office, when they all lapped it up over the years as he delivered the stuff they all lapped up (including an 80-seat majority, vanquishing the Labour red wall etc.) just shows you the horrible side of us humans. But then, Boris should have seen it coming shouldn’t he?

Where are the world’s so-called elder statesmen?

Does it really matter who’s wrong or right? One can partly understand WWII as an individual decided to take the world on and declared war. Nobody has as of today, declared war in Ukraine; so, why don’t we try to de-escalate now?????

Instead, it’s threats of sanctions and reprisals. Ok, maybe that will work. But what if it doesn’t? Are we going to march off to yet another war?

Look at Libya today. Iraq, Syria….. do they now have democracy? safety? what exactly is the improvement that’s been achieved? thousands of refugees left, right and centre..

I do not have the answers, BUT can the big names out there not speak up now and try to find a means of solving this problem in Ukraine before we’re all at war again??

A teenager plays her first ever grand slam, does well, plays her second (US Open), wins it; yeah, WINS IT. ok, possibly a fluke plus some very fortunate absentees. BUT she still won it. Thousands of players play their entire careers without ever winning a single grand slam.

She is still only a teenage and regardless of her current form, she will win more tournaments sooner or later. And if she doesn’t, she would still have achieved more than most, in winning her 1 x grand slam.

One hit wonder? so what? that is still one hit more than several other players!

Perhaps not in our nature?

Recent revelations of Members of Parliament taking on second and third jobs, jobs that may or may not be a Conflict of Interest – but certainly jobs they would never have been offered, were it not for them being MPs – so, make what you want if that.., makes it quite clear that very few now go into MP roles with a view to be of service to the public. Or at best, the public service aspect is now a sideshow.

If you think about people who got drafted into the army during wars. That is public service. No choice and many didnt even understand what the war was about.

The role of MPs in how our democracy functions, is critical and I am sure some of them put themselves forward in order to keep that going and to serve. But seriously??! how can we now be in the muddle we presently are in? with photos of rule-breaking parties and even the opposition leader has been photographed having drinks with his staff; he says no rules were broken. BUT for goodness sake! can these folks not find something else to do in their spare time during this pandemic??????!!!!! why sit about having drinks regardless of what the bloody rules are?? if you are the leader of the opposition and you know how these optics can be twisted and how these stories can be used to question your credibility. Why in god’s name can he not just bloody drink at home with his family??? just till this pandemic’s sorted. If a member of his staff has an event or needs cheering up, meet up for coffee!!! The entire situation has become so pathetic! just think of the distraction!!!!

These are clearly now JUST paid jobs and descriptions such as ’public service’, ’civil servants’ need to be scrapped or simply limited to those who are truly providing service!

Baffled!

If one is happy to host a tennis competition in the middle of a pandemic – supposedly to entertain people and keep things moving – why would you not want the world’s best tennis player there?

You can get the guy to take a Covid test twice or three times a day. If as it were, he has already arrived in Australia, get him to self-isolate (apart from mixing with his team of staffers) for the duration of the event and take daily tests as a minimum – if he doesn’t test positive, what is the harm? YES, the chap was very arrogant in thinking he can just waltz into Australia with some ill-scripted exemption, but I doubt he would have expected to become a political pawn..

The reasoning that he may give voice to anti-vaxxers or his presence leading to unrest in Australia, is perhaps the most bizarre argument I have heard in years! You only have to conduct a very basic investigation, to find that most likely a majority of government officials have been flouting the Covid rules. Or is there anyone dumb enough to think it is only the UK’s 10 Downing Street staff throwing lockdown parties?!

When Covid broke out, governments around the would could have shut borders but didn’t. Can Covid be spread by vaccinated people? I believe the answer is Yes? So, they depot a guy who hasn’t rested positive because they wanted to make a point? if only the vaccinated can travel, make that mandatory – but nobody seems to have the guts to do so. I am fully vaccinated and will gladly take future jabs, but I fail to see the need for this persecution of those who choose not to be vaccinated – when what should be mandatory is proof of whether or not you have the virus (how to make the provision of such proof reliable, is where governments should have focused months ago) and as we have seen, some will still flout whatever rule is put in place – and in the UK, it appears it is those putting those rules in place that are flouting it without any penalty

Yes, all the crap being stated by Djoko’s father and the rest, is just that: CRAP. He just fell victim to political games that’s all. He should have been smart enough to ensure the event organisers confirmed all aspects before jetting out to Australia. There is no conspiracy nor attempt to put Serbia down. Australian politicians simply say an opportunity to use him in scoring cheap points and they couldn’t pass it up. It is very similar to how we use every crime committed by a foreigner, to say we should kick all foreigners out. Forgetting all the crimes locals also regularly commit.

This is the sad, sad state the world is in today. But in truth, that is the sad state the world has always been in, the only difference is that social media and tech now get these stories out there at record speed…

For a country largely made-up of immigrants (Australia) to behave the way they now behave, is truly tragic. But not at all surprising.

Canadian tennis player Vasek Pospisil wrote: “Novak would never have gone to Australia if he had not been given an exemption to enter the country by the government (which he did receive; hence Judge Kelly’s initial ruling). He would have skipped the Australian Open and been home with his family and no one would be…talking about this mess. There was a political agenda at play here with the elections coming up which couldn’t be more obvious. This is not his fault. He did not force his way into the country and did not “make his own rules”; he was ready to stay home.”

This is an individual who doesn’t require a passport to travel. An individual who is old enough to have witnessed an era in which her ancestors directly ruled a huge chunk of the world. But above all, this is someone who could choose to ignore these rules if she wanted to. BUT instead, chose to be an example.

I am not a royalist, but you don’t need to be, to respect a frail old but powerful lady who still wants to live by example and lead by example.

So, what excuse could be tenable, for the recent and ongoing revelations of partying that was allegedly going on at 10 Downing Street during the supposed lockdown???

Madness!

The issue here, is not about anti-vaxxers or the principles around the need for people to get the jab etc. How on earth can a civilised country get into this kind of embarrassing situation?????

A daft battle of egos between their government and the organisers of the tennis event. With Djokovic caught in-between. Not entirely faultless, given his needless coyness relating to the vaccine, BUT still, the adults in the room should be the Aussie government and their event organiser.

A World Number 1 tennis player who has for a while been known to oppose vaccination and has never said he has been vaccinated, says he has been granted a medical exemption, tells everyone he is heading to Australia, is allowed to board a flight (just think about this: if you don’t have a visa to enter Australia, will an airline let you get on the flight from your departure point?)

If Australia’s Prime Minister has so much time on his hand to comment about this, while his country is being ravaged by Covid, could he not have come out the day Djokovic was about to leave Dubai for Australia, that he needs to head home as Australia won’t let him in? If he (the Australian PM) cares so much about his country, would he not have pre-empted this embarrassment by just saying ”exemption or no exemption, Australia will not allow any non-vaccinated entry”. Djokovic could then have stayed in Dubai and started legal action from there, if he wants to challenge

To lock a World Number 1 tennis player in a refugee hotel and think that demonstrates toughness or Australian principles or anything else, is just idiotic:

1. The event (Australia Open) promotes Australia and prima donna or not, Djokovic’s presence elevates the event
2. The usual objection to ”one rule for some and another for others” is a semi-illiterate’s folly. Of course it is one rule for some and another for others. When has life never been that? Some of us who are not part of the elite, just have to deal with it. That is what it is. Anyone who thinks politicians and rich people are ever going to face the same treatment or challenges as us mere mortals is either a semi-illiterate or just an idiot. So, Djokovic is well within his right as a rich elite, to think he is above the laws that us mere mortals have to comply with: that’s how they (the elite) all see it and that’s the privilege they have always enjoyed
3. Why is the Prime Minister of Australia commenting on this? can he do the same for the thousands of refugees and asylum seekers they have in Australia? if not, why not? After all, he is saying Djokovic should be treated just as every other traveller right? so why isn’t he giving us his thoughts on every person denied entry into Australia? this is all just political point-scoring.. And pathetic at best

The saga makes Australia look like a third world country where individuals can just make it up as they go along. They will now perhaps try to overrule the common sense judgement handed down by a judge today, confirming Djokovic is to be let alone. Madness indeed!!!

I would like to think the UK government unlikely to get into such a dumb situation as we approach Wimbledon later in the year. They would likely have applied common sense immediately. Either stop the guy from leaving where he was (Dubai) or let him in, if he has arrived and does indeed have the exemption, which he clearly has, as your event organisers confirmed it!!

You hear the phrase: ”this country that my ancestors fought and died for“ fairly frequently in the UK. And more so when you come across groups of semi-illiterates or in underprivileged parts of the country. These folks seem to think that only brits died to keep us free….?

A quick google search will yield the following basic information:

DEATHS BY COUNTRY
 

Country	Military Deaths	Total Civilian and Military Deaths
Albania	30,000	30,200
Australia	39,800	40,500
Austria	261,000	384,700
Belgium	12,100	86,100
Brazil	1,000	2,000
Bulgaria	22,000	25,000
Canada	45,400	45,400
China	3-4,000,000	20,000,000
Czechoslovakia	25,000	345,000
Denmark	2,100	3,200
Dutch East Indies	—	3-4,000,000
Estonia	—	51,000
Ethiopia	5,000	100,000
Finland	95,000	97,000
France	217,600	567,600
French Indochina	—	1-1,500,000
Germany	5,533,000	6,600,000-8,800,000
Greece	20,000-35,000	300,000-800,000
Hungary	300,000	580,000
India	87,000	1,500,000-2,500,000
Italy	301,400	457,000
Japan	2,120,000	2,600,000-3,100,000
Korea	—	378,000-473,000
Latvia	—	227,000
Lithuania	—	353,000
Luxembourg	—	2,000
Malaya	—	100,000
Netherlands	17,000	301,000
New Zealand	11,900	11,900
Norway	3,000	9,500
Papua New Guinea	—	15,000
Philippines	57,000	500,000-1,000,000
Poland	240,000	5,600,000
Romania	300,000	833,000
Singapore	—	50,000
South Africa	11,900	11,900
Soviet Union	8,800,000-10,700,000	24,000,000
United Kingdom	383,600	450,700
United States	416,800	418,500
Yugoslavia	446,000	1,000,000

Among those are the ancestors of many people we now refuse entry to the UK or when they walk out streets, they get told to ”go back where you came from”.

The so called ”WORLD WAR” brought the world together to confront hate. Soon as the war ended, we broke ranks and the world swiftly switched back into ”your country”, ”my country” and you only have to see the pattern of the countries that retained wealth versus those who are now in abject poverty.

Amongst those who gave their lives so that the UK could avoid the clutches of Hitler and his goons, were tens of thousands of people who had never been to the UK. Their descendants are some of those ”foreigners” we now despise so much, when they walk our streets today. 87,000 Indians as an example….

Britain’s contribution and sacrifice is unquestionable and I get irritated when the French refuse to acknowledge this (if brits had caved-in or formed a similar nazi-leaning vichy govt…) or when historians forget the fact that in the end, someone had to standup to Hitler, for others to join. And if Britain hadn’t been the one to stand up to him, the course of history may well have been tragically different. In addition, the loss of nearly 400,000 british lives, is in itself, a massive per capita toll. But our ancestors didn’t do it without the 87,000 indians who died, other commonwealth folk etc. None of those millions who died fighting hate during WWII would believe where we got to in 2016 with Trump and his hateful supporters taking over America or where we are today, when you read some if the vile comments people put on chats and spout on our streets. 27 illegal immigrants wash up on our shores a few weeks ago and we just shrugged and carried on spouting hate. How can this be where we have ended up after all that sacrifice made in 1939 – 1945???

Our politicians continue to sit back and oftentimes provoke hate for political gain, when we should relentlessly stamp it out. As I have repeatedly written on here, borders must be made secure and immigration should be via due process, BUT hate and abuse/discrimination must never be allowed to become acceptable in our society; there are no credible excuses for tolerating hate. Others died to keep us free, not just brits! While that doesn’t mean they can now all move here (i.e. their descendants), when they are here, they should never be exposed to or have to up with hate and bigotry!

I don’t know the details of what JK Rowling has been saying about transgender folk or whatever else she is said to have done, BUT surely, to hold a Harry Potter reunion event and block her, is a farce right?!

It would appear that actors whose career is already in its twilight and have nothing else to prove e,g. Robbie Colchrane were the only ones bold enough at the reunion to praise JK. Any Harry Potter actor present at this event in JK’s absence is an ingrate!

If they disagree with JK’s views on the transgender matter, they are within their rights to say so. BUT to swan around, attending a reunion event that she was not involved in, is pathetic. It’s like saying the world must distance itself from drinking tea because Hitler liked tea! It really is that pathetic! We can all understand that going around promoting copies of Mein Kampf as a best seller may be frowned upon or construed as sharing Hilter’s views, but turning down tea because he used to drink tea or refusing to breath air because Hilter used to breath air, is what most would agree is ridiculous!

So, if JK Rowling is deemed to have transgressed, fine. Feel free to crucify her or burn copies of her books that you previously bought (if you want to be so foolish) or refuse to follow her on twitter. BUT surely, you cannot ”un-read” the Harry Potter books you have read nor ”un-watch” the films right?

I am not a Harry Potter fan. Never read any of the books and haven’t watched any of the films. But seriously!!! we need to be better! To see a bunch of idiots who made millions and became stars thanks to JK’s books, gather for a reunion that she wasn’t present at, is laughably pathetic

Whatever anyone think of JK’s stances, you cannot seek to dissociate her genius/writing from the product (movies) of her work.

Apart from her obvious and ill-advised attempt to overhaul or upend or modernise our monarchy, what crime is Meghan Markle guilty of?

She is constantly vilified at a similar level to a serial killer or a child molester, by the rough end of the British public, the exact ones who should see her as a beacon of hope. Why?

Envy. Pure and simple

It eats at you, right to your core.

I’m sure you’ve all had the experience of a chat by the coffee machine in the office, when a colleague mentions another colleague has just bought an awesome house and instead of feeling pleased for him or her, as most of us would be, you get that one colleague whose retort would be: how old is he/she? (trying to reassure themselves that they are younger than the colleague who bought a house and in time, they will buy a house too).

I had never heard of the TV show called ’suits’ and most Brits probably hadn’t before Meghan turned up. But does that mean she was a Z-listed or rags-to-riches story? NO. Many in the UK today have never heard of ’Seinfeld’. But automatically, she had to be a gold-digger. None of us had heard of Kate Middleton nor the Middletons, wealthy as they are, prior to her showing up with William. But she couldn’t possibly be in it for anything else other than love (which is perhaps true) why? because society just assumes an American divorcee who is an actress on a show we haven’t heard of, cannot possibly be in it for love. Had to be a gold-digger, a manipulator. We immediately and conveniently forgot Harry’s past steely resolve and single-mindedness that previously made him the darling of the masses. Now he is just that easily manipulated empty head that the Meghan puppet-master has been able to twist around her little finger. Very convenient indeed.

But what is most shocking, is the way this convenient and very deliberate narrative has been allowed to build-up. And to what end exactly? What conclusion are people hoping for exactly? And why should such a conclusion be pleasurable to any decent human being?

The unrelenting hounding…

What exact ending is being sought?

You look at Meghan’s family; they all thought they had an average actress sister, of whom they were mildly jealous, but just as we feel, when we see a very nice car and a footballer pops out of it and you breath a sigh of relief, because you would hate for it to me any day-to-day hardworking person like yourself, but are ok with it being a footballer or a golfer. But suddenly, she pops up into super-stardom by landing a prince (and not just any prince, and English one..), and the rush of envy was just too much for them to bear. Why couldn’t it have been me her half-sister thought? Forgetting she never even made it as far as ‘suits’. And what has followed, with all the telltales and harmful stories have been nothing short of horrifying. I am sure that if Meghan’s kids ever sent a Christmas card to these vile creatures, their very first thought would be how to use it to get on a TV show or sell yet another story. While some blame the press for sniffing around and motivating them, I do not think the press forced any of these vile creatures into deciding the path to take with their horrifying stories and attempt to paint Meghan as an evil, manipulative creature – that was all driven by ENVY. Period. Now, let us assume Meghan is everything they say she is, and worse. Let us assume she is evil, manipulative, a gold-digger etc., well, Harry has made his bed, so, why not just let him find it all out on his own? What exactly do one get from ”I told you so?’. The behaviour of the Markle family towards Meghan, is just unimaginably deplorable. There is absolutely nothing, NOTHING she could have done to her Father, her half-sister and half-brother, to justify any of their action or words. Not including them in her life? feeling better than them? not inviting them to her wedding? turning her nose up at them? taking their money? I mean, none of those actions justify any of the stuff they have been putting out there about her. The entire saga just goes to show exactly how low human beings and society at large, can descend

Even those who have for years voiced their opposition to having a monarchy this day and age, suddenly jumped on the bandwagon of calling out a supposed social-climber in Meghan.

She’s a social climber. So what? How many of those criticising that would have turned down the same opportunity?????

Could she and should she have sat down to better understand (instead of stupidly thinking she is now here to sort it all out! just like most of the twitter-generation think they can sort out the past, knock statues down and make every past wrong right) what our monarchy is all about? should she have kept her head down and accepted that once you decide to opt in, you need to observe the rules, the etiquettes, the tradition? YES, YES and YES. But nothing she has done or will do, and no matter how things end for her, justify the envy-fuelled hate and nastiness that has been visited on her by all and sundry. No human being deserves that. I truly hope all parties will shortly calm the hell down. That she will get off her high horse and adjust to what being part of the british royal family requires (for the sake of her wellbeing and her kids) and that her horrid family will just melt away or at least stop talking about her (we’ve all heard enough) and that the rest of society find something else to fixate on (and yes, that cuts both ways).. Nobody decent stands to gain anything from this relentless hounding of Meghan…

….. but anyone with half a brain will know why this will never abate. MONEY! clicks, tweets, press coverage….. this has become pure gold and were she (Meghan) to become a nun and move into a remote nunnery somplace, people will still find stuff to say and print and sell. Her father will say she is a fake, insincere nun and pictures of her shaking hands with the devil when she was 2 years old will be leaked. There is never going to be an end to this…..

Just think about this for a minute: even if Meghan was the greatest lying schemer the world has ever seen, does that make her immune to mental health impacts, when you have your Father going out there spouting all sorts about your life and saying you are fake and horrible. That is in itself, enough to cause anyone (regardless of how tough and evil you are) mental health issues. BUT the minute she raises the issue, out pop the trolls again, claiming she is pretending and she could not possibly have any mental health stress because the superhuman power that liars have, is impervious. Seriously??!!! Society is truly finished! Hate has definitely won (at least at present). Pathetic really!!

Food banks are not enough

eradicating poverty is easily doable but won’t be done. So, how about simple, practical solutions?

Supermarkets discard tons of food every week. Clothes store burn out of date clothes! SERIOUSLY???!!!! There are hundreds of empty government buildings around the country. BUT hey! we want to be horrible as deterrent! We’re worried that if we help, more people will seek help…

I am not a socialist and I understand that individuals should avoid drugs and other issues that contribute to becoming homeless. I also understand that the government cannot be expected to fix every problem, BUT seriously!!! Just look at our defence budgets, cost of wars etc. All taxpayer funded. Yes, we need defence budgets as there are enemies out there, BUT we have more than enough resources to create new industries, more jobs, train people up, get the minimum wage up etc.

There is absolutely no reason for us to have the present levels of poverty in developed countries. As for homelessness, shame on all of us!

Just read ’Curb your enthusiasm’s Larry David’s article describing Christmas as an absolute joke, a farce and an environmental disaster. Couldn’t agree more.. Some will say, ”well, he’s Jewish”. Sure, but Jewish holidays are not mandatory public holidays here, and they do jot heap pressure on everyone like Christmas do…

Many years ago, after school, I wanted to be a writer and I took 2 years off to travel the world, to decide what I will write about. What I saw around the world left me totally empty and will haunt me till my very last day on earth. Words fail me. I still struggle to understand or describe how entitled we feel, when we saunter around the world, waiting to be served, expecting service because we can pay for it. You see glitzy towns and a step off the main streets you see hungry children digging through dustbins to find food to eat.

We created a monetary system and financial sectors that ensure the same old traditional supremos remain in control, while the rest of the world are locked in, under that financial control, as the supremos hand them loans. You have the likes of Greece, Ireland and pretty much every so-called third-world country owing billions. And hey! that all makes sense but Cryptocurrency doesn’t. Bitcoin is doomed, it is based on nothing, it has no value, yap, yap, yap. Well, what value exactly has the monetary system that has kept so many countries in abject poverty for so long???? Much as I am not an advocate of Cryptocurrency and do not know anything about it, it makes as much sense as the present rigged financial systems we have, which brilliantly keeps the poor countries poor. They produce, they have natural resources, but we allow their leaders to embezzle billions (why? and where do they stash those funds?). Why do we have so many poor and homeless in the UK, US and other developed countries? – are we saying we lack the resources to eradicate poverty here? People are hungry, even as large stores throw unsold food away weekly.

Now, what has all the above got to do with Christmas one may ask?

It has everything to do with it. It is the same narrow mindedness that led to the creation of a convoluted, fake period where lonely people feel even more lonely and desolate (read an article in the Guardian this morning about the hopelessness felt by single folk at Christmas), but hey! what do we care? You do You. There are all sorts of excuses out there: it’s tradition (whose tradition?), it’s religious (ok. and where is religion when the next lonely person commit suicide as they dread the arrival of Dec?), it’s just a time to be merry (ok – but so many do not have the wherewithal to be merry and are under pressure). But hey! we can’t change the world….

Personally, I just try to be as sensible as I can: i don’t fuss about Christmas or New Year or Birthdays or any other celebration. BUT I try not to ruin it for others, if they wish to. I try to keep my perspective, while avoiding fouling it for those who derive pleasure from these celebrations. But it does reemphasise the reason the world will always be exactly as it is …… our selectiveness and NIMBY attitude means we will continue to look away when inconvenient truth stare us in the face..

….. and a merry xmas to you all (ha ha) .

You can’t find a more unscientific phrase than the phrase ’trust the science’.

The whole purpose of science is to use logic to establish facts and visible solution. The minute it becomes just a matter of ’trust’ without clearly laid out evidence, it has become a religion

Some say it us undisputed that lying is something human beings do best (then we lie about not lying), but we decide which lies are acceptable e.g. we start early by telling children about Father Christmas or Santa Claus and we weave in a bunch of lies and people get to sell all sorts of Christmas merchandise and ensure this fabrication never ends – but it keeps children happy we tell ourselves, then we later tell the same children that life isn’t about materials etc. We laboriously manipulate and hijack a middle eastern story of a messiah, turn him caucasian, come up with convincing images of Jesus and compose a bunch of songs to go with it. But hey, those are ok lies we say. Personally, I am never one to judge, if that works for many – and it appears to – good for them. Carry on. But with science, when there’s a pandemic and we initially ignore it as a Chinese thing, then it’s all about washing your hands with soap for 20 secs, then wearing masks, then standing 2 metres apart, then staying at home (lockdown), then vaccination followed by more vaccination, then boosters likely followed by more boosters and then out pops variants and we now face likely more lockdown shortly. And NO, nobody should question the science, just trust the science…

It’s like climate change; we can all see the changes happening. Can scientists gather data, compare past occurrences and speak coherently? NO. What we end up with is a bunch of bored teenagers saying more needs to be done and the minute anyone seeks to ask them an intelligent question, the reaction is: ”how dare you question a child?”. Environmental Engineering was part of my degree at university and I am a strong believer in the urgent, critical need to tackle climate change and that so many human activities are a major contributing factor e.g. reckless use of fossil fuels, pollution, how we use & discard plastic, other waste etc. BUT I believe questions MUST always be allowed. Science must not become a matter of blind faith and trust without any question allowed. Science cannot be taken over by barely educated teenagers no matter how passionate they are or however convincing their speeches and twitter following. Science is stronger with questioning

Like so many others, I have taken my Covid vaccines and booster, to ensure our health system isn’t chronically crippled, with beds taken up by Covid patients, while other illnesses are pushed aside and surgeries postponed etc. And I have complied fully with all social-distancing rules at all times and will continue to do so – regardless of all the stories of affluent people ignoring these rules – to ensure its controlled. BUT what is frustrating is that similar to Brexit, society has again been allowed to form these crazy, inflexible faction, which has now symbolised the social media generation, with facts out of the window, replaced by horrific lies and the science that should drive a prudent set of actions that could help us all, is what suffers irretrievably. I believe that if the implications are better explained, there may well be no need for the spread of some of the dumb conspiracy theories out there and most of the crazy anti-vaxxers may understand that taking the jabs is not just about the individual but helps prevent the spread to others who are more vulnerable, takes up hospital beds that could have saved other lives etc. But similar to Brexit, madness has taken over. Britain quitting the EU was a very necessary move, but not for the lies that were and are still being told, but solely because the EU has become a pointless redtape run by people with their own agenda that has very kittle to do with the reasons the EU was created. But in order to sell the exit, whipping up hate via false narratives was seen as the quickest, easiest route – and it proved quite effective. Would the brexit vote have favoured quitting the EU if the campaigners had stuck with just facts? Probably not – so, perhaps like the Santa Claus example, they simply did what had to be done to get Britain out and the means justifies the end? —- they probably think so. Either way the reaction of EU and the aftermath, firmly underline the fact that brexit was very timely and necessary – if the EU was such an awesome organisation to be a part of, why did they have to be so hateful when Britain decided to leave? (a decision that was made democratically via a formal referendum by the people, and whether or not they were lied to, is beside the point, a vote was conducted and that was that) if Britain is set to miss out on EU goodies, should the EU not have just celebrated our exit and joyfully waved us goodbye? – what is the need to make an example of the UK to apparently prevent others exiting? If the EU was such a good thing, would others not just stay? So, one can only assume that the vindictive backlash visited on Britain is just a personal decision of the individuals in charge of the EU? Either way, it only served in demonstrating to Britons that brexit was indeed necessary. I hope that in the coming years, the EU will soften its approach to the UK – what we could have all fought to avoid, was the need to call a referendum in the first place, but we didn’t. Once it was called and the result favoured an exit, WHAT ELSE COULD BE DONE? the same people who are now trying to frustrated implementation of brexit should be the ones trying to focus on dealing with the reasons so many people chose to vote in favour of an exit, but again, we will focus on the wrong things or just ignore it, to later cry over spilt milk! It is exactly the same with Covid – how are so many people believing the dumb conspiracy theories out there? BECAUSE WE ARE FAILING TO GIVE THEM COHERENT FACTS. Yes, some loonies will still believe whatever they want to believe, even with facts in front of them, but why don’t we at least try to get those facts out there? Instead, we sleep-walk, just as David Cameron believed the british population would never vote to exit the EU. With Covid, we now see society again needlessly split, with sides pitched up against each other yet again, while hundreds more continue to die.

Knight of the British ’Empire’, Officer of the British ’Empire’ etc. A few more were awarded this week and the usual objections have been raised by those who ask where this so-called ’Empire’ is?

But really, what is there to complain about?

It is indisputable that the British Empire is an antiquated concept that is now only as real as the existence of the Loch Ness monster or Big Foot, if someone is happy to issue these awards with description ’Empire’ on it and someone is delighted to accept them, what’s the harm?

The fact that Turkey is not issuing Knight of the Ottoman Empire or Greece carrying on with Knight if the Alexander the Great Empire or Italy issuing Knight of the Roman Empire, is perhaps their business. If as we all know it, that Empires come and go, and the British Empire only lives in the minds of a few remaining octo and nonagenarians, why not just leave them to it.

Most multi-generational Brits (a term I use to describe brits whose ancestry date back at least 5 generations – and NO, I do not imply that makes them any more British than a child born yesterday to an immigrant who arrived in Britain last week. But multi-generational Brits bear that burden of thinking they are the only ones who need to defend its history) believe that the British Empire enlightened the dark world by bringing their light and educated savages etc., but are those savages now better off? Would Africans prefer living in caves now and munching on fruits, with the occasional tribal wars and tens of deaths, compared to millions of death from slavery, manipulation leading to bloody wars, all to have a battery-powered cigarette lighter and the ability to add 1 + 1 = 2 and learn about Jesus? It is best to leave Africans to answer that question. Same applies to native inhabitants of Canada, the US, Australian, Brazil etc. Seeking the removal of some visual reminders (by going through the proper channels – not wanton destruction during riots) if some feel strongly about it e.g. statues, is ok, even though I believe removal avails little. But to demand that words such ’Empire’ is removed from awards, when we still have a monarch is pointless. As explained above, nobody is saying a British Empire is still out there, and if anyone thinks or states that, well, good for them. I would like to see him/her stroll across a US Immigration control at JFK without their passport and tell the officer that as an Officer of the British Empire, they can just stroll in. Some points are simply not worthy of debate

Whether or not the British Empire is seen as a brutal period that’s best forgotten like most other past Empires or as an era that brought light to dark parts of the world, fixation on the continued use of the word ’Empire’ in the honours is pointless. The awards can be called whatever the Queen wants to call them and whoever’s happy to accept them should, and those opposed to them have the option to refuse them. But the daft attempt to try to force the removal of the word ’Empire’ is quite frankly, daft.

Today’s daft notion by people with very little intelligence but huge followings on social media, that we can undo the past, rewrite history (history is a flawed concept anyway – always manipulated and told from the perspective of those seeking to manipulate), right every past wrong by knocking down a statue here or there, really is exactly what it is: DAFT. Yes, there used to be a British Empire, yes, that empire, like all others before it, was designed solely to the benefit of those who created it (is that surprising) and yes many would argue it wreaked more ill than good (but as explained above, only those on the receiving end of the brutality would point at the ills). Apologising for it today, is pointless. Can’t be retrospectively fixed nor undone either. So….. let’s move on…

I can understand the pain that some previously colonised people may still feel towards Britain, and the pain that many non-white people still feel about how they are perceived and treated in today’s Britain, BUT let us imagine the reaction if a Brit living in Spain starts demanding an end to Bull-fighting? Perhaps not the best analogy but you catch my drift. Some of the freedoms we all have in the UK today, which includes being able to speak freely, must never be taken for granted. There are practices in every part of the world that could be improved, if we can get to a point where all that’s left to improve in the UK is the use of the word ’Empire’ in a honours award that people can opt out of, if they not interested, then life is good aint it?

Raising awareness is always useful and it is laudable e.g. Movember or charity events etc. And I do believe that people spending a night on the street (albeit in their nice new cosy sleeping bags) is a worthwhile experience BUT has anyone actually asked a homeless person what they think?

Surely, spending a night or two out on the street, while knowing you have a home to go back to, AND the fact that this homelessness experience is of your choosing and when it ends, is also your choice, is in no way a peek into the life of a homeless person whose dilemma is not just about a physical shelter but addictions in some cases, safety (spending a night or two on the street in the company of co-workers with our mobilephones on the ready to dial for help if needed is not the same as being out there permanently with no protection, no help at hand etc), without any healthy food is the real dilemma, apart from the mental aspect, which can never be replicated. That constant feeling of hopelessness, helplessness in a society where we have the resources and means to do something about it but our politicians choose to do nothing, leaving individuals and charities to it. How on earth can anyone explain the large and growing number of homeless people on our streets, in our so-called developed nations???!

Absolutely pathetic!

Society really must change. We can do so much more, to help the unfortunate in our society. It doesn’t matter whether or not it is a self-inflicted situation due to drug use or other reasons. They are where they are and for all the money our governments waste on election campaigns (I mean, just look at how much funding they raise in America to run election campaigns….) and other stuff, it shouldn’t be individuals trying to solve this problem

The reason American prisons are full to capacity with hispanics and blacks have absolutely nothing to do with race or racism. it is pure opportunism. One of the largest money-earners is the business of locking people up: it feeds lawyers, judges, prison-owners, food industry and the list is endless. And the easiest, cheapest groups to incarcerate are the poor and the disadvantaged; people who will not be able to hire sleek lawyers to drag the process; people who are almost certain to keep reoffending – to keep coming back to jail. Their cases last a few minutes in court and the sentences can be harsh, as there will be no public outcry, nobody will protest and the money-making machine rumbles on.

You only have to look at the number of people in jails for selling drugs. If you round-up and imprison the people who buy these drugs – rich, affluent doctors, lawyers, politicians and their kids, the sale of drugs will come to a grind. But NO, for decades, we have continued to ignore those responsible for generating the DEMAND for these banned substances, while concentrating solely on the unfortunate fools who get caught-up in the vicious world of supplying these drugs

The people who go around torturing others in the name of protecting the rest of us, believe they are doing the right thing, the most expedient thing and they go back to their families, sleep well at night, because they have built-up those excuses. The vile lunatics who go around killing people in the name of religion, tell themselves they are doing so, because God told them to do so or to right some supposed wrongs – do we think that if God wanted all of us to be muslims or Christians or Hindu or whatever other religion, that he couldn’t have just done it? Do we really think an all-powerful God needs a bomber to help him spread a religion?

You look at armed robbers; they probably tell themselves society is rotten and you should take what you can; afterall, banks cheat us all, politicians lie to us etc. People wish to leave something for their children etc. But surely, if we all decide to become robbers, none of us will survive right? But individuals will always find the appropriate excuses to permit the evil they decide to engage in and justify their need to do so.

We create countries, we create borders, we create a need to stratify society: rich, poor, educated, illiterate, etc. Some go as far as to create castes: ”untouchables”. How vile. To label another human being as an ”untouchable”. Some countries are safer than others because people choose to observe certain rules. You take for instance, speeding on roads: we all know the speed limits right? And ABUSE – and I do not mean racial abuse; I mean ALL forms of abuse, be it those based on race, body size, age, sexual orientation etc. People engage in hurling abuse for a number of reasons, each with an excuse attached…

But we continue to create these excuses.

You look at the Covid-19 pandemic and the way wealthy countries have monopolised the vaccine. Discarding millions of doses as they expired. You would think that a common adversary such as a virus, would bring us all closer together? instead, it has shown us off for what we are: travel bans on non-consequential countries that governments do not see as capable of standing up for themselves. Fit young men & women shoving old people in supermarkets to grab (and stash) rolls of toilet paper. And we pile up the explanations and excuses..

You will always find a volunteer for any crime, regardless of how heinous. And they will have their reasons: “it was an order and I cannot refuse an order” or ”I did it for my country”. Why has the Biden administration not reviewed & dropped America’s pursuit of Julian Assange? ok, he revealed classified information. I haven’t read the story in full, nor do I know the full details, BUT surely, some compassion could be applied? Try him in absentia, sentence him to a few more years in jail (which he could complete where he is now, in the UK) and that should be ample deterrent for anyone else trying to leak classified data. Assange should of course apologise unreservedly to America – regardless of the efficacy of the data that his organisation leaked, if they are classified, there could be other risks to leaking them and recklessness is never true journalism. As for whistleblowers in general, yes, it is noble to flag up an issue, but breaking laws to do so, is also not right is it? There has to be legal means to object to actions perceived to be wrong – what we cannot have, is a society where people are hired into sensitive jobs, sign an agreement that bar them from leaking security/sensitive information, and then go out there and plaster it all over the internet. There is a great deal going on out there, that individuals should simply refuse to do, but go ahead by making excuses to themselves for doing it and we end up with sale of humans, world wars, holocaust, hate etc. Be it in the name of religion, God, governments, dictators, race (e.g. genocide) etc. At the bottom of it all, you will probably find: financial gain, mental health issues etc.

We are simply who we are: dreadful beings largely.. and we’re bloody good at coming up with excuses….

Humans are possibly the vilest form of life on earth: we are very destructive (also apparently excusable..) and need very little reason to hate on each other (with plenty of excuses to hand..)…