Down the rabbit hole...

I'm finding it increasingly hard to like any politician of any hue any more. In fact my favourite politicians seem to be those that are in the later years and either retired or shuffled off to the Lords. And amongst them I count members from all parties. I am uncertain as to whether this is just because I am getting old and this is some kind of age thing or whether politics has changed. I recall being an 'angry young man' myself and remember how passionately I felt about aspects of politics and would regale my friends with my drunken opinionated blatherings about how the world would be better if... And yet today I find politicians way too shouty, nearly all of them! Even when they are not being shouty they are bending the truth in such a manner as a balloon artist would be proud of. Taking a serious subject and manipulating it into somethings that come out looking like a giraffe with a pink body and green ears! I can no longer watch the programs that I enjoyed wher

Some random thoughts... I was thinking, imagine if you thought about the person you know best in all the world, maybe a member of your family or a friend or, somewhat unlikely, a complete random stranger, although I guess if you have been studying a particular person in order to write a biography on them then perhaps you might really know that individual best! Maybe. But regardless, if you thought about that person whoever it might be. And you thought about everything you know about them, about every recollection, and you spend hours and hours just thinking about all the things you know about them. The good, the bad, the laughs, the tears, where they have been, what the have done, what they have been through. It's just. Well, there would be a lot, there would be a lifetime of memories all sifted through. And why was I thinking this complete randomness. Well, because every time I hear an empty statistic like, 5 people killed in a shooting, two people dead in a car crash, 81 de

Much as I admire 80 year old eco-warriors super gluing themselves to all manner of things in the name of the environment I do have a few teensy weensy little concerns with it. The first might just be that an 80 year old has not just lived through, er, 80 years of varying degrees of economic and industrial growth but has in all likelihood contributed and definitely benefited from it. I wonder how many cars they have bought in that time, and clothes and all manner of consumerist goods from further and further afield as time went by. So I just find it a little bit much that they should put themselves front and centre in the argument. Unless of course they all wear a sign that says, heh look, really sorry but this is all our fault and, having had all these wonderful benefits and flown around the world on holidays for many a decade we hate to have to say we were wrong and now repent and ask you not to do, or enjoy, the kind of life we did... thanks! But that's only a small part o

I'm not keen on Autumn. Not when it is wet and let's face it, wet is the new normal for the UK. It's almost as if the nature itself has decided to live up to the stereotypes about the British weather. The year seems to have been one of various records being broken, mainly records that involve large quantities of water and ever bigger measuring devices complete with ever greater superlatives to go with them! And a wet Autumn is the worst of all I think. The days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping, the central heating is on and the faults in the central heating that have been there through the preceding six months of so, sniggering unseen in a pipe somewhere, suddenly burst forth (not literally I hope) and say 'tarrah here I am...' and the plumber is summoned from his slumber to come and deal with it! Doing things in the garden is not exactly pleasant. The cold air, the never ending cascade of leaves as the different variety of trees decide upon th

As trite sayings go 'work to live not live to work' has to be one of the top five. It does have to come with a shed full (an English expression basically meaning a shit load... a lot, is that better!) of exclusions and amendments. Can you imagine saying that to a surgeon? What would you have her do? To not do the extra couple of hours and leaving the latest stabbing victim to the care of the A&E nurses until they cannot deal with the trauma any longer and the victim bleeds out. Even a surgeon, or any Dr or nurse or Fireman or policeman or or or, should work to live but when they take up this wonderful and noble career, a dedication, they know what they are getting into. In fact Drs have to survive a trial by fire simply to get through the training. The training itself, simply to become a Dr is so tough and so stressful it verges on the limits of what is permissible according to the various bills on Human Rights. Then at the other end of the spectrum a single dad who i

I was in the gym today and noticed a young girl (these things being relative so she could be anywhere from mid twenties to thirty something but I digress...) who had self-harm scars on her arms, actually only one arm, her left. Mainly on the upper arm but some on the lower arm as well. My first thought was why am I even looking it is none of my business but she was cute and that kinda hooked my attention for a minute. Then I felt a little sad for her having gone through whatever it was in her life that made her feel so bad that she needed to self-harm. But ultimately, before I stopped noticing, I felt really proud of her for having put this behind her, guessing by the age of the scars, and not just accepting her past but also wearing the scars like a badge of honour. Not sure whether that's quite the right phrase for it but I think it is brave and really cool that she didn't just cover up and feel ashamed of this part of her life. Also, I'm not sure I can feel proud

One wonders what exactly the world would or should or could do about China. What exactly will 'the world' do when the puppet government in Hong Kong cracks down upon the protesters that have been on the streets for several months now. The level of violence from both sides has increased and the protesters, particularly the student protesters, are now, I think it is fair to say, radicalised. It is almost as though they want martyrs for the world to look upon and act on. But the world will almost certainly not do so. Hong Kong has a population of c.8 million people. Sounds a lot. But China has already shown that big numbers don't scare them. For a start the population of China itself is c1.4 billion so Hong Kong is not even 1% of the population. Not to mention the PLA has a standing army that numbers at least 2 million and then there are reservists after that! And for those that think China, or at least the Communist Party or China, will not do anything about such larg

Ladies and gentlemen, roll up, roll up, roll up. We have for you one of the finest, most audacious, most malodorous shows you will ever have had the confusion to watch. Or, for the more initiated one of the most complete shows of manipulation you have had the pleasure, or displeasure depending upon your viewpoint, shows that ever you did see. Whether you like, or dislike, BoJo. Whether you trust him or wouldn't ask him to feed your cat for one night while you go and watch a show in town. Whether you think 'Johnson' is an all to apt expression about the man and his penchant for accidentally putting his hands on knees other than his own. Or whether you think he is really quite such a bumbling buffoon that it is entirely possible for him to put his hands on his own thigh and simply miss, is completely up to you. What is almost undeniable is that he, or maybe the dark evil creature that looks a little like something that lives in a cave and craves a magical ring standing