Tuesday 10 December 2013
Head in Hands...
As I realise what a passage of time has occurred since my last spate of good intentions re updating this blog and the lack of results generated by these resolutions.
In my defence, lots of things have been going on which anybody reading my Facebook page will acknowledge. But, I should be a better girl vis a vis the blog. So....
((throws another good intention on the pile and crosses fingers hehehe))
Friday 2 September 2011
Letting off steam...
Gentle readers, forgive what is about to follow. Normally, and contrary to what you might think of me if you read this blog often, I am a sunny little soul. But there are a number of things making me splutter my morning coffee across the table at the moment, so I'm going to give vent to them here, rather than run the risk of going nuclear in public. Were this to happen, it is quite possible I would be banged up in the nearest looney bin... so just regard what follows as a bit of damage limitation hehe
I'm getting fed up with the building hysteria in the aftermath of the London riots. First off, we had the lentil-knitting PC brigade laying into magistrates for dishing out prison sentences or other punishments perceived as 'tough' to the convicted rioters. You can imagine how happy that made me... don't these people realise that it's now well beyond the point where we can be 'understanding' about people scampering around setting fire to things, looting etc?. Personally I think it's also the 'be nice to felons' camp's policies which have got us here in the first place, but that's a whole other topic for another time! In the meantime I just wish they'd shut up and leave the magistrates, most of whom have a lot more experience with criminals than they do, alone and let the poor overworked beggars get on with their job.
Secondly we suddenly have all these horrified comments about the age of some of the culprits? What planet are these people on? Take a walk around any town centre and you can see gangs of kids, who I for one think are quite little, walking around generally behaving in a questionable manner. Go to the same place at about 10pm (or even later) and they are STILL THERE, merrily depredating away. My only surprise about all this is that we haven't, to my knowledge anyway, had a 7 year old in the dock...
And now, which is what has set me off this morning, we have Nice Dave Cameron saying what these people are going to get is 'tough love'. WHO does he think is going to believe that nonsense? Especially when, as above, magistrates are already copping the flak for trying to get tough? We've heard it all before from politicians - the trouble is the lentil-knitters have embedded their PC, tree-hugging attitudes so firmly into the legislative and cognitive life of the nation that anybody trying to sort out this mess is doomed from the word go. Not least because the naughty criminals are not stupid and know how to play the system: in an environment when the government can be forced to give felons the vote because some muppet has had the savvy to take his 'case' to the European Court of Human Rights, does Dave seriously imagine he's going to be able to do ANYTHING which might just be effective without somebody following that lead? The sad fact is that Dave may talk the talk, but he'll be prevented from walking the walk. Sort THAT out first and we might stand a chance of getting to grips with this mess.
Another thing getting my goat recently is what I perceive as the growing number of (to use the lentil-knitting phrase) 'age-challenged' drivers driving really quite highly powered cars around at irritatingly low speeds. First observation: if you don't feel safe driving at more than 35 on a 60mph-limited road you probably shouldn't be driving in the first place. Second observation: if you really MUST come out and annoy everybody by driving at 35 on a 60mph-limited road do it in a car which can only command pity, not an S-type Jaguar or similar, because that's just an insult to the rest of us and comes under the heading of Royally Taking The Mick.
Lastly, for the moment anyway, we're about at the time where the kids go back to school and we see an increasing number of moans about having to negotiate the 'school run' etc etc appearing in the social media. Speaking as a home-educating parent, I don't have to deal with that sort of thing, but I would comment that the same people are moaning their heads off at the START of the holidays about 'the kids being home all the time'. Make your minds up, guys - either you wanted children, with all the disruption to your neat little lives that they entail, in which case accept the disruption and STOP MOANING about it. Or you didn't want children, but somehow ended up with them: in which case, tough. There are a lot worse things in life to deal with than the school run or school holidays, presumably you made the decision, despite not wanting children, to live with them, so just live with the choices you've made and STOP MOANING about it. There are plenty of couples out there who would live to have children but can't - count your blessings instead of making them into a problem.
On a more positive note... it's good to see that my observations on caravan names (April 2009) still hold true, even with a few new ones appearing in recent months. 'Spotting the Caravan Category' has turned into an Angevin Family game now, when we're out and about, and you can often hear us merrily debating this point - 'Oh look it's a 2!' 'No, it isn't, it's a 3a' etc etc . Caravan manufacturers take note!!
I'm getting fed up with the building hysteria in the aftermath of the London riots. First off, we had the lentil-knitting PC brigade laying into magistrates for dishing out prison sentences or other punishments perceived as 'tough' to the convicted rioters. You can imagine how happy that made me... don't these people realise that it's now well beyond the point where we can be 'understanding' about people scampering around setting fire to things, looting etc?. Personally I think it's also the 'be nice to felons' camp's policies which have got us here in the first place, but that's a whole other topic for another time! In the meantime I just wish they'd shut up and leave the magistrates, most of whom have a lot more experience with criminals than they do, alone and let the poor overworked beggars get on with their job.
Secondly we suddenly have all these horrified comments about the age of some of the culprits? What planet are these people on? Take a walk around any town centre and you can see gangs of kids, who I for one think are quite little, walking around generally behaving in a questionable manner. Go to the same place at about 10pm (or even later) and they are STILL THERE, merrily depredating away. My only surprise about all this is that we haven't, to my knowledge anyway, had a 7 year old in the dock...
And now, which is what has set me off this morning, we have Nice Dave Cameron saying what these people are going to get is 'tough love'. WHO does he think is going to believe that nonsense? Especially when, as above, magistrates are already copping the flak for trying to get tough? We've heard it all before from politicians - the trouble is the lentil-knitters have embedded their PC, tree-hugging attitudes so firmly into the legislative and cognitive life of the nation that anybody trying to sort out this mess is doomed from the word go. Not least because the naughty criminals are not stupid and know how to play the system: in an environment when the government can be forced to give felons the vote because some muppet has had the savvy to take his 'case' to the European Court of Human Rights, does Dave seriously imagine he's going to be able to do ANYTHING which might just be effective without somebody following that lead? The sad fact is that Dave may talk the talk, but he'll be prevented from walking the walk. Sort THAT out first and we might stand a chance of getting to grips with this mess.
Another thing getting my goat recently is what I perceive as the growing number of (to use the lentil-knitting phrase) 'age-challenged' drivers driving really quite highly powered cars around at irritatingly low speeds. First observation: if you don't feel safe driving at more than 35 on a 60mph-limited road you probably shouldn't be driving in the first place. Second observation: if you really MUST come out and annoy everybody by driving at 35 on a 60mph-limited road do it in a car which can only command pity, not an S-type Jaguar or similar, because that's just an insult to the rest of us and comes under the heading of Royally Taking The Mick.
Lastly, for the moment anyway, we're about at the time where the kids go back to school and we see an increasing number of moans about having to negotiate the 'school run' etc etc appearing in the social media. Speaking as a home-educating parent, I don't have to deal with that sort of thing, but I would comment that the same people are moaning their heads off at the START of the holidays about 'the kids being home all the time'. Make your minds up, guys - either you wanted children, with all the disruption to your neat little lives that they entail, in which case accept the disruption and STOP MOANING about it. Or you didn't want children, but somehow ended up with them: in which case, tough. There are a lot worse things in life to deal with than the school run or school holidays, presumably you made the decision, despite not wanting children, to live with them, so just live with the choices you've made and STOP MOANING about it. There are plenty of couples out there who would live to have children but can't - count your blessings instead of making them into a problem.
On a more positive note... it's good to see that my observations on caravan names (April 2009) still hold true, even with a few new ones appearing in recent months. 'Spotting the Caravan Category' has turned into an Angevin Family game now, when we're out and about, and you can often hear us merrily debating this point - 'Oh look it's a 2!' 'No, it isn't, it's a 3a' etc etc . Caravan manufacturers take note!!
Monday 29 August 2011
Come on Irene..
.. and yes I know that SHOULD be 'Eileen' before all you 80's pop-lovers start contacting me...
Those who know me will not be surprised I am utterly sick of listening to media bleating about Hurricane Irene hitting New York and environs. Whilst I feel very sorry for people who have lost their houses, or who are enduring some difficult days (remember, I was flooded myself in 2007 so I know just how miserable it is) I am surprised nobody has pointed out that the reason the US is so vulnerable to power cuts during extreme weather is because they habitually run their power cables on poles above ground. High winds, lots of snow or anything else making trees fall over and we have a serious problem, Houston... (or Manhattan in this case). So, my US buddies, start taking the sensible but expensive option of burying your cables and then I might take your hardships slightly more seriously.
I might also, rather piously I know, point out that whatever it is you are enduring for a few days is AS NOTHING to the situation literally millions are going through owing to the drought in Africa. You can always stick your poles up again and get back to normal - for people whose crops and animals have died and whose rivers have dried up, the options ain't that simple. So put it in perspective, huh??
Those who know me will not be surprised I am utterly sick of listening to media bleating about Hurricane Irene hitting New York and environs. Whilst I feel very sorry for people who have lost their houses, or who are enduring some difficult days (remember, I was flooded myself in 2007 so I know just how miserable it is) I am surprised nobody has pointed out that the reason the US is so vulnerable to power cuts during extreme weather is because they habitually run their power cables on poles above ground. High winds, lots of snow or anything else making trees fall over and we have a serious problem, Houston... (or Manhattan in this case). So, my US buddies, start taking the sensible but expensive option of burying your cables and then I might take your hardships slightly more seriously.
I might also, rather piously I know, point out that whatever it is you are enduring for a few days is AS NOTHING to the situation literally millions are going through owing to the drought in Africa. You can always stick your poles up again and get back to normal - for people whose crops and animals have died and whose rivers have dried up, the options ain't that simple. So put it in perspective, huh??
Wednesday 8 June 2011
Culture clash
You've got to laugh really...
Reading the BBC News page this morning I came across this:
The reality of Paris does not always live up to the dream. A dozen or so Japanese tourists a year have to be repatriated from the French capital, after falling prey to what's become known as "Paris syndrome". That is what some polite Japanese tourists suffer when they discover that Parisians can be rude or the city does not meet their expectations. The experience can apparently be too stressful for some and they suffer a psychiatric breakdown. Around a million Japanese travel to France every year.
Many of the visitors come with a deeply romantic vision of Paris - the cobbled streets, as seen in the film Amelie, the beauty of French women or the high culture and art at the Louvre. The reality can come as a shock. An encounter with a rude taxi driver, or a Parisian waiter who shouts at customers who cannot speak fluent French, might be laughed off by those from other Western cultures. But for the Japanese - used to a more polite and helpful society in which voices are rarely raised in anger - the experience of their dream city turning into a nightmare can simply be too much. This year alone, the Japanese embassy in Paris has had to repatriate four people with a doctor or nurse on board the plane to help them get over the shock. They were suffering from "Paris syndrome".
It was a Japanese psychiatrist working in France, Professor Hiroaki Ota, who first identified the syndrome some 20 years ago. On average, up to 12 Japanese tourists a year fall victim to it, mainly women in their 30s with high expectations of what may be their first trip abroad. The Japanese embassy has a 24-hour hotline for those suffering from severe culture shock, and can help find hospital treatment for anyone in need. However, the only permanent cure is to go back to Japan - never to return to Paris.
Now, the rudeness of the Parisians is legendary - from my experiences in Burgundy I can confirm that a lot of the time my family have been made more welcome than the average Parisian because even the rest of France can't handle their arrogance. It says it all that the recent change in the format of car number plates in France was largely put in place to make Parisian cars less easily indentifiable because they were apparently being vandalised when they ventured out of the capital. So, come the Angevin Revolution, the entire city is going to be sent to an upper-class British Charm School for a thorough lesson in Good Manners (where, hopefully, they will also be taught to clear up the dog-poo littered pavements which is the first thing which comes to mind whenever Paris is mentioned...). BUT... if that makes my gentle readers think I have any sympathy for the Japanese they couldn't be more wrong.
I was at Oxford for my post-grad and I needn't tell anybody with even a passing familiarity with the place what a royal pain in the bum the Japanese tourists are. They are quite happy to bang on about respect when it suits THEM, or indeed when you visit their country, but you don't hear much about it when they're scampering all over the place trying to find the best angles for their interminable souvenir photographs. Summertime was positive torture - air conditioning being virtually unknown in most colleges, to get any sort of relief from the heat you had to open your windows. OK if you're on the first or second floors, but if your room was at ground level this was viewed by the Japanese as a golden opportunity. I can't count the number of times I was minding my own business in the MCR, reading the papers and having a swift coffee, only to discover one of the little pests had shoved their camera in the open window and were merrily snapping away. That wasn't the worst of it - as some of the showers were half-underground at my college, and therefore had small windows at ground-level, I have also been snapped whilst at my ablutions. And yes, as a result I have unbounded sympathy for incarcerated animals in zoos, because that is how it felt. It was absolutely pointless putting up 'No Entry' signs if there was an private area - in fact these almost had the opposite effect, one might as well have erected a 'Come and look at this very special thing with your ten cameras, why don't you?' poster instead, such was the total disregard for the quality of life of anybody actually living in Oxford. Where's the respect there, my little Nipponese pals, huh??
So, in short, I think BOTH the Parisians and the Japanese, for varying reasons, need to have a kick up the jacksi. Unfortunately I can't see that happening any time soon...
Reading the BBC News page this morning I came across this:
The reality of Paris does not always live up to the dream. A dozen or so Japanese tourists a year have to be repatriated from the French capital, after falling prey to what's become known as "Paris syndrome". That is what some polite Japanese tourists suffer when they discover that Parisians can be rude or the city does not meet their expectations. The experience can apparently be too stressful for some and they suffer a psychiatric breakdown. Around a million Japanese travel to France every year.
Many of the visitors come with a deeply romantic vision of Paris - the cobbled streets, as seen in the film Amelie, the beauty of French women or the high culture and art at the Louvre. The reality can come as a shock. An encounter with a rude taxi driver, or a Parisian waiter who shouts at customers who cannot speak fluent French, might be laughed off by those from other Western cultures. But for the Japanese - used to a more polite and helpful society in which voices are rarely raised in anger - the experience of their dream city turning into a nightmare can simply be too much. This year alone, the Japanese embassy in Paris has had to repatriate four people with a doctor or nurse on board the plane to help them get over the shock. They were suffering from "Paris syndrome".
It was a Japanese psychiatrist working in France, Professor Hiroaki Ota, who first identified the syndrome some 20 years ago. On average, up to 12 Japanese tourists a year fall victim to it, mainly women in their 30s with high expectations of what may be their first trip abroad. The Japanese embassy has a 24-hour hotline for those suffering from severe culture shock, and can help find hospital treatment for anyone in need. However, the only permanent cure is to go back to Japan - never to return to Paris.
Now, the rudeness of the Parisians is legendary - from my experiences in Burgundy I can confirm that a lot of the time my family have been made more welcome than the average Parisian because even the rest of France can't handle their arrogance. It says it all that the recent change in the format of car number plates in France was largely put in place to make Parisian cars less easily indentifiable because they were apparently being vandalised when they ventured out of the capital. So, come the Angevin Revolution, the entire city is going to be sent to an upper-class British Charm School for a thorough lesson in Good Manners (where, hopefully, they will also be taught to clear up the dog-poo littered pavements which is the first thing which comes to mind whenever Paris is mentioned...). BUT... if that makes my gentle readers think I have any sympathy for the Japanese they couldn't be more wrong.
I was at Oxford for my post-grad and I needn't tell anybody with even a passing familiarity with the place what a royal pain in the bum the Japanese tourists are. They are quite happy to bang on about respect when it suits THEM, or indeed when you visit their country, but you don't hear much about it when they're scampering all over the place trying to find the best angles for their interminable souvenir photographs. Summertime was positive torture - air conditioning being virtually unknown in most colleges, to get any sort of relief from the heat you had to open your windows. OK if you're on the first or second floors, but if your room was at ground level this was viewed by the Japanese as a golden opportunity. I can't count the number of times I was minding my own business in the MCR, reading the papers and having a swift coffee, only to discover one of the little pests had shoved their camera in the open window and were merrily snapping away. That wasn't the worst of it - as some of the showers were half-underground at my college, and therefore had small windows at ground-level, I have also been snapped whilst at my ablutions. And yes, as a result I have unbounded sympathy for incarcerated animals in zoos, because that is how it felt. It was absolutely pointless putting up 'No Entry' signs if there was an private area - in fact these almost had the opposite effect, one might as well have erected a 'Come and look at this very special thing with your ten cameras, why don't you?' poster instead, such was the total disregard for the quality of life of anybody actually living in Oxford. Where's the respect there, my little Nipponese pals, huh??
So, in short, I think BOTH the Parisians and the Japanese, for varying reasons, need to have a kick up the jacksi. Unfortunately I can't see that happening any time soon...
Sunday 5 June 2011
OK, this time I really DO have an excuse...
... because things have been a bit busy at Chateau Angevin!
It's a bit of a long story (what isn't with me?!) but, fingers crossed and touching every piece of wood I can find, it looks as though La Famille Angevin will be living pretty much full time in France from this autumn as we are trying to buy this truly brilliant, wonderful and generally fabulous property.
The reasons for this are, in short:
1. Troll is out of the UK for at least 9 months of the year and has been officially resident in France for years, France having a fully reciprocal arrangement with the country where he works most of the time. Despite all this, the thieving monkeys at HM Customs and Excise sent him a nasty letter last year querying his tax status. Troll's accountant sent a strong response back, and they seem to have gone away... but I have a suspicion they will be back...
So... when this property, which is only about 10 miles from our existing house in Burgundy came up, it looked like a message that we should bite the bullet and get out of the UK now, when we can do it OUR way, rather than wait to be pushed.
2. The grasping monkeys at New College, Oxford, who retained the barn immediately opposite the house I have been renovating for the last 13 years when they sold said house to me, are once again making noises that they want to develop said barn into a residential property. Now, in principal, I don't have a problem with this - I don't mind people living there. However, you only get one crack at a project like that and I just KNOW it will be done badly, with the only consideration being to the financial bottom line rather than to a real love of the building. Which will leave me looking at the cocked-up, aesthetically unpleasing result forever.
The fact this happened to the last house I lavished seven or so years of love upon prior to moving here leaves me little short of despair. At least the place we hope to buy in France has literally miles of open land in front of it which cannot be built upon.
3. I am increasingly distressed by the state the UK is in. Not just the economy, which frankly, we've all seen before and sent the T-shirt to Oxfam, but by the general downtrend I see in the PEOPLE. Everybody seems to be running around at breakneck speed for the best part of every day, with no time for very much other than scraping shekels together or being rude and obnoxious to everybody around them. Nobody has any time for anything I consider worthwhile any more.. and I can't see that situation getting better any time soon, frankly. I've come to the somewhat depressing conclusion that the UK I loved and cared about hasn't existed for 40 years or more... and I don't want to be part of what it's become.
So... the fact we are having to do a fair amount of work on the two houses we have in Burgundy already (because we have to sell them to form the deposit on our new place) wade through the 13 years or so of crap which has accumulated at Chateau Angevin and pack up what isn't being skipped, deal with agents in France both regarding the sale and purchase of everything, find a tenant for Chateau Angevin, get the various animals chipped, jabbed and generally certified for removal over the Channel and probably a million other things I can't be bothered to type about means I haven't been able to blog very much - my rant organ has been totally exhausted in Real Life...
I will attempt to keep you all posted, however...!
Monday 21 February 2011
Tranatlantic Craziness
I hear from a (British) FB buddy of mine that "apparently, the wise lawgivers of Texas are legislating to allow the carrying of guns on campus. Students, professors, tourists, the lot!" As Troll works with Texans and I therefore am treated to endless tales of their outlook on life, this doesn't entirely surprise me, and I may in fact be tempted to open a book on when the first campus massacre is going to take place in the Lone Star State following this latest bit of gun-craziness...
Whenever I try to discuss the subject of guns with American friends you can see their eyes glazing over as they believe they're about to get another lecture from another gun-hating Brit. This isn't entirely fair - I'm broadly in favour of guns if they're used as a means to getting cute fluffy animals or helpless little birdies one step closer to my Aga and therefore my stomach. Being farmers, most of my family had/have guns for precisely this purpose (and of course the odd bout of rat-shooting if the dogs/cats haven't kept up with the growth of the rodent population). What my family DON'T have lying around are automatic weapons, and to be frank I don't really see why ANYBODY needs to keep these items in the normal domestic setting: if you want to use the things, go to a range or gun club which can store them safely. And presumably have procedures in place to prevent your random nutter going on a spree...
The Americans obviously don't agree: for some peculiar reason even the most intelligent of my Yankee pals thinks it's perfectly reasonable to allow people to have any type of gun they fancy lying around the place; even if the said weapon is capable of replicating a scene from Vietnam in one little touch of the trigger. I used to argue the point with them, but time and experience has taught me I'm wasting my breath; these days I merely let them get on with it and indulge in a volley of 'I told you so' emails whenever the latest maniac goes on a rampage with his M1911.
It is true to say we aren't entirely rampage-free in the UK - look at the situation in Cumbria last year when Derrick Bird killed 12 and injured 11 with his shotguns. My response to that would be that the carnage would have been so much greater if he'd had the sort of access to automatic weapons which is 'enjoyed' as a matter of course in the States. In addition I'd draw attention to the fact that whenever incidents of this nature do occur in the UK they are so rare they are remembered for many years afterwards - Dunblane (which resulted in much tighter controls on handguns being put in place) was in 1996 and is still often mentioned whenever discussions on gun law occur. Hungerford in 1987 - coming up to 25 years ago - is still very much in the public mind. Can Americans honestly say the same, when there are so many more gun-related tragedies happening in the US?
It's a mystery to me. Why do otherwise intelligent, thinking, people have such a blind spot on this issue? Because blind spot it is... an earlier post from an American friend of mind on FB in connection with the shooting of the Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in January 2011 read thus:
"A friend posted this: "A fitting tribute to Dr. King: 'Last week we saw a white Catholic male Republican judge murdered on his way to greet a Democratic Jewish woman member of Congress, who was his friend. Her life was saved initially by a 20-year-old Mexican-American gay college student, and eventually by a Korean American combat surgeon, and this all was eulogized by our African American President."
I refrained from comment - uncharacteristically - but my actual thoughts were 'This is all very nice and lovely, but does it not occur to you people that the incident probably wouldn't have happened at all if you had effective gun controls and couldn't buy your ammunition from Walmart along with your weekly groceries?'. Not ONE person made anything like that connection in the comments following my friend's posting, rather it was all a load of congratulatory back-slapping on what a jolly-lovely-integrated-harmonious place America is.
I've quoted the film The American President before in this blog, but it bravely (and almost uniquely in my knowledge of film) makes the point that US citizens do not 'connect gun crime with the possession of guns'. And judging by the events in Texas they aren't going to any time soon... anybody care to take a punt on my book regarding the timing of the next Texan campus massacre??
Whenever I try to discuss the subject of guns with American friends you can see their eyes glazing over as they believe they're about to get another lecture from another gun-hating Brit. This isn't entirely fair - I'm broadly in favour of guns if they're used as a means to getting cute fluffy animals or helpless little birdies one step closer to my Aga and therefore my stomach. Being farmers, most of my family had/have guns for precisely this purpose (and of course the odd bout of rat-shooting if the dogs/cats haven't kept up with the growth of the rodent population). What my family DON'T have lying around are automatic weapons, and to be frank I don't really see why ANYBODY needs to keep these items in the normal domestic setting: if you want to use the things, go to a range or gun club which can store them safely. And presumably have procedures in place to prevent your random nutter going on a spree...
The Americans obviously don't agree: for some peculiar reason even the most intelligent of my Yankee pals thinks it's perfectly reasonable to allow people to have any type of gun they fancy lying around the place; even if the said weapon is capable of replicating a scene from Vietnam in one little touch of the trigger. I used to argue the point with them, but time and experience has taught me I'm wasting my breath; these days I merely let them get on with it and indulge in a volley of 'I told you so' emails whenever the latest maniac goes on a rampage with his M1911.
It is true to say we aren't entirely rampage-free in the UK - look at the situation in Cumbria last year when Derrick Bird killed 12 and injured 11 with his shotguns. My response to that would be that the carnage would have been so much greater if he'd had the sort of access to automatic weapons which is 'enjoyed' as a matter of course in the States. In addition I'd draw attention to the fact that whenever incidents of this nature do occur in the UK they are so rare they are remembered for many years afterwards - Dunblane (which resulted in much tighter controls on handguns being put in place) was in 1996 and is still often mentioned whenever discussions on gun law occur. Hungerford in 1987 - coming up to 25 years ago - is still very much in the public mind. Can Americans honestly say the same, when there are so many more gun-related tragedies happening in the US?
It's a mystery to me. Why do otherwise intelligent, thinking, people have such a blind spot on this issue? Because blind spot it is... an earlier post from an American friend of mind on FB in connection with the shooting of the Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in January 2011 read thus:
"A friend posted this: "A fitting tribute to Dr. King: 'Last week we saw a white Catholic male Republican judge murdered on his way to greet a Democratic Jewish woman member of Congress, who was his friend. Her life was saved initially by a 20-year-old Mexican-American gay college student, and eventually by a Korean American combat surgeon, and this all was eulogized by our African American President."
I refrained from comment - uncharacteristically - but my actual thoughts were 'This is all very nice and lovely, but does it not occur to you people that the incident probably wouldn't have happened at all if you had effective gun controls and couldn't buy your ammunition from Walmart along with your weekly groceries?'. Not ONE person made anything like that connection in the comments following my friend's posting, rather it was all a load of congratulatory back-slapping on what a jolly-lovely-integrated-harmonious place America is.
I've quoted the film The American President before in this blog, but it bravely (and almost uniquely in my knowledge of film) makes the point that US citizens do not 'connect gun crime with the possession of guns'. And judging by the events in Texas they aren't going to any time soon... anybody care to take a punt on my book regarding the timing of the next Texan campus massacre??
Sunday 20 February 2011
Just a quickie..
... to say I'm back. Ranting has not ceased at Chateau Angevin during my absence from this blog, just the time available to type about it has. Also Facebook is a rather quicker method. Just so I don't disappoint my erstwhile readers, a (mercifully brief) observation on one current topic...
There has been a lot of handwringing and bleeding-heart-bleating about the fact the European Court of Human Rights has told Britain we can't deny our banged-up prisoners the vote. I'll let my gentle readers imagine what I SAY, in person, on that particular topic, but take the expletives and bombast out for the purposes of this blog and the remaining thrust of my argument is simply that it seems the epitome of common sense to state that people who pay scant attention to the rule of law can't reasonably expect to have a say in electing those who formulate those laws. However, much as I can see the attraction in Cameron and Clegg sticking two fingers up at Brussels in a sort of Gieves-suited-rerun of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I can also see that Euro-politicos have long memories - we'd probably suffer in the long run when there was something WE wanted out of THEM. That's the way the Euro-cookie crumbles, unfortunately, and there are plenty around who still would love to stick the knife in to the UK as a reprisal for Reichsführer Thatcher's antics in the 80's...
So... my suggestion to get Cameron and Clegg out of the Euro-Alamo is that we sit our little miscreants down on their first day in the slammer and ask them to make a straight choice; namely TV or the vote. Let's see how much the francise means to them when it's up against losing Eastenders, X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent (sic) for the duration of their sentence...
This ruse also has a few added-value aspects -
1. We are treating prisoners like adults and asking THEM to make a choice, rather than imposing our naughty paternalistic will on them. Which is a good thing, yes??
2. The magic buzz-word CHOICE is in there. The last 20 years we have been bombarded with this as our legislators keep hitting the 'giving more choice to ordinary people is a fabulous idea' button in a mistaken impression it makes their crazy expensive schemes more attractive. For once, put 'giving people a choice' to GOOD use...
3. It potentially gives the do-gooding-lentil-knitting mob something to occupy themselves - ie. they can develop programmes to attempt to educate prisoners about the franchise and its importance in an (almost certainly vain) attempt to persuade them to resist the siren call of Rupert Murdoch and his evil empire...and thus gets the irritating, smug, sanctimonious buggers off everybody else's backs for a bit.
Finally. Somebody really needs to point out to the Eurocrats that only 65% of the entire UK population bothered to turn out to vote in the 2010 election - and that was UP on the previous two and at a time when arguably more was at stake for the country at any time since WWII. Why on earth they imagine your average convicted villain gives a tinker's cuss about voting is beyond me; but unfortunately now they have pointed out the little darlings' human rights have been infringed I suspect ALL of the latter will spot the opportunity for state-funded compensation. Ta very much, Europe: I hope we'll remember this cock-up the next time we have to listen to all your excuses when it transpires you've waived hordes of economic migrants through your borders so they can turn up at Calais and be OUR problem. Much as I love the idea of Europe generally, it's the same with any club - it only works if ALL the members abide by the rules... and if the rest of Europe want the UK to be good boys and girls it's about time they set us an example...
There has been a lot of handwringing and bleeding-heart-bleating about the fact the European Court of Human Rights has told Britain we can't deny our banged-up prisoners the vote. I'll let my gentle readers imagine what I SAY, in person, on that particular topic, but take the expletives and bombast out for the purposes of this blog and the remaining thrust of my argument is simply that it seems the epitome of common sense to state that people who pay scant attention to the rule of law can't reasonably expect to have a say in electing those who formulate those laws. However, much as I can see the attraction in Cameron and Clegg sticking two fingers up at Brussels in a sort of Gieves-suited-rerun of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I can also see that Euro-politicos have long memories - we'd probably suffer in the long run when there was something WE wanted out of THEM. That's the way the Euro-cookie crumbles, unfortunately, and there are plenty around who still would love to stick the knife in to the UK as a reprisal for Reichsführer Thatcher's antics in the 80's...
So... my suggestion to get Cameron and Clegg out of the Euro-Alamo is that we sit our little miscreants down on their first day in the slammer and ask them to make a straight choice; namely TV or the vote. Let's see how much the francise means to them when it's up against losing Eastenders, X-Factor and Britain's Got Talent (sic) for the duration of their sentence...
This ruse also has a few added-value aspects -
1. We are treating prisoners like adults and asking THEM to make a choice, rather than imposing our naughty paternalistic will on them. Which is a good thing, yes??
2. The magic buzz-word CHOICE is in there. The last 20 years we have been bombarded with this as our legislators keep hitting the 'giving more choice to ordinary people is a fabulous idea' button in a mistaken impression it makes their crazy expensive schemes more attractive. For once, put 'giving people a choice' to GOOD use...
3. It potentially gives the do-gooding-lentil-knitting mob something to occupy themselves - ie. they can develop programmes to attempt to educate prisoners about the franchise and its importance in an (almost certainly vain) attempt to persuade them to resist the siren call of Rupert Murdoch and his evil empire...and thus gets the irritating, smug, sanctimonious buggers off everybody else's backs for a bit.
Finally. Somebody really needs to point out to the Eurocrats that only 65% of the entire UK population bothered to turn out to vote in the 2010 election - and that was UP on the previous two and at a time when arguably more was at stake for the country at any time since WWII. Why on earth they imagine your average convicted villain gives a tinker's cuss about voting is beyond me; but unfortunately now they have pointed out the little darlings' human rights have been infringed I suspect ALL of the latter will spot the opportunity for state-funded compensation. Ta very much, Europe: I hope we'll remember this cock-up the next time we have to listen to all your excuses when it transpires you've waived hordes of economic migrants through your borders so they can turn up at Calais and be OUR problem. Much as I love the idea of Europe generally, it's the same with any club - it only works if ALL the members abide by the rules... and if the rest of Europe want the UK to be good boys and girls it's about time they set us an example...
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