String

A piece of string.
This is the one used by Kim Jong-Un on the end of which he keeps the President of the United States of America.
Sleep safe in your beds people...

Tyrants...

Trump has been having a good time.  Since moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, I wonder what the staff thought about that, and pandering to the rednecks who he thinks will ignore the tales of women abused, many wives, lie after lie, the loss of staff daily he has now made a mess of both Iran and North Korea! 
Moving the embassy because of US political electorate and because he is being pulled by a string the Israeli President is holding is one thing, not a good thing, but ignoring the consequences of such action and indeed taking a one sided view as politicians always is is clearly a bad thing.  While agreeing God has placed the Jews back in their homeland, thanks to the British, it is not always right to rush ahead thoughtlessly by following the will of an ungodly Israeli leader.  All Israeli leaders since 1948 have been secular, not religious Jews.
Trump must be pleased with the report that Prince William (which one is he?) will visit Israel and go visit the West Bank also!
To add to this the ending of an agreement which the majority of EU nations thought wise, and indeed the best possible at the time, just to play the tough guy is reckless at best and plain stupid at worst.  Iran is not just another Arab nation, Iran goes back, in their own mind, to Cyrus the Great some 2500 years ago and see themselves as a big nation in that part of the world.  They do not take bullying from the west easily, especially after the treatment the UK and Russia have given them in the past.
Here the US follow Israel and Saudi in their fear of Iran.  Because of that already the Saudi's have broken Syria with the west's backing, who knows what would happen had Russia not intervened, and a region already overflowing with refugees now has millions more, but we do nothing about this.  Being Arabs and far away they really don't count do they?
Quite how Trump has gone from 'bigging up' his meeting with the North Korean leader to blowing it in such style I fail to understand.  It could be China have intervened, the trade with the US is important here, and we never know what is going on behind the scenes,especially in North Korea.  
Two nuclear nations, so called, yet Trump plays games and offers an impression of not really knowing what he is doing.  The comments made in the media may of course have been deliberate, the whole thing is likely a game Kim is playing also, but we are left wishing a more sedate, indeed intelligent, President lived in the White House.  Is there no chance we can have one soon?

Today Europeans face the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into existence today. This is an EU rule that is intended to give individuals control over what facebook and Google and the like make of your data.  So for a while lots of emails from many companies have arrived demanding we 'accept' or not, or in facebook and Google's case 'take it or leave it!   
In short a great deal of fuss from folks who will not rob us, a great deal of words from the main ones who do!  These will continue to use our data, the weird people in charge gathering the cash, the power and who knows for what reason while our precious data is transferred into adverts for those daft enough not to download 'adblockplus.'  
I am not sure it is worth the fuss but someone somewhere will continue to make money and get around these laws.  The intention is good but while these folks are now open to huge fines if found guilty of avoiding the law it will take years to sort that out and they will have the data until then.  Most of us will not see much difference.  If we don't like it we can always dump facebook and Google and that will hurt them.

Tuesday Waffle

Trudging wearily home from the museum I wandered through town watching the men struggling to put up the towns Christmas decorations.  The big switch on off lights is Saturday and I am glad to see they have not erected the feeble decorations too soon.  I believe in Denmark such things are banned until December and so they ought to be.  These would have been arranged earlier but problems arose from people forgetting to order the things and not arranging for the road to be blocked on the Saturday hence they are being erected today.  Council jobsworth not worth their jobs it appears.
Another Christmas and how many will appreciate why it exists?

However I am happy to report the building was busy today with Christmas browsers and some even parting with money.  The exhibition is not too busy as people are preparing for the rush.  Hopefully it will be better in January.  Three women did arrive, kids also, and the three of them chatted happily in the shop making more noise than some football crowds I have known.  The few men who later appeared were quiet, mostly because they had no idea what they were looking for!   Making tea was however difficult,  the kettles would not work.  It took me ages to realise the sockets were blown.  So it looks like a fuse or worse for those.  I found another and had my tea, just in time to leave.  Too busy to make it earlier.

The worst part of this time of the year is that few care about history.  They are so busy preparing for Christmas any history is put aside.  This is unfortunate as the desire to talk about something interesting is replaced by telling folks where they might find things we do not stock.  It was also very interesting that nobody mentioned Harry and his bird we are all paying for.  The media, even during the night, was full of him and her and today they wax lyrical about where they will be married, I care much...
However the row over the Brexit papers not being disclosed to parliament may indeed bring it all crashing down, if the House plays its cards properly.  By telling the House there were papers and then offering redacted versions off them and now claiming there were no papers someone is telling lies.  Hopefully it all falls apart by Christmas.  
Now a report Korea has launched a rocket for Christmas might take Harry off the front page while we watch Trump bellowing from a golf course about some nutter with nuclear weapons, oh the irony!

Finally from Russia a story. 
Alexander 'Sasha' Chechik sent 'selfie's' to his friends while holding a hand grenade having taken the pin OUT!  He sent several pictures to his friends and one asked "Are you OK?" And got "Depends on what OK is in your understanding?" as an answer.  Moments later the grenade went off.
Now some 'experts,' and I use that word loosely, tell us if the lever is held the grenade will not go off, but many different types of grenade are out there and this is Russia so who knows where this came from.  The police claim it was an accident and not a suicide, either way it was effective.   Men do not live as long as women and this man gives some indication for the reason for this.  A sad story but with a degree of humour also. 

Happy People

CNN

Here we see a happy group of people, some may be acting quite a bit of course. I wonder whether the smiles for the young leader concern the new of the UN report which has outlined the atrocious conditions in this unhappy land.  I have taken some interest in NK for a while, such places hold a fascination based on the limited news that comes from there.  The secret and very dangerous state does make me want to look over the border and see what is going on.  For a very long time we have known of the cruel regimes behaviour, the supposed nuclear weapons, the labour camps and the starvation that occasionally hurts the land, now however the world may be forced to pay attention.

Cruelty is not unusual in that part of the world.  The Japanese declared Korea a 'protectorate' well over a hundred years ago, and peace has not returned to this unhappy land, at least the northern half, since. Korean women were forced to serve Japanese soldiers during WW2 and many guards on the 'Burma Railway' were in fact Korean.  Survivors often stated these men were much crueler than the Japs! During the Korean war of 1950-53 James Cameron and Bert Hardy brought reports and pictures of the terrible treatment given by the South Koreans to prisoners from the north and questioned why we defended them. This did not make them popular!  

While South Korea appears intent on following the west into chasing vast wealth the people in the north endure their situation usually devoid of much information from the outside world. They are not all ignorant of the goings on elsewhere but they are wise enough not to mention it.

The masses of rockets aimed at the millions living in the South Korean capitol Seoul tends to put most folks of military action.  Especially when even a decisive campaign might lead to vast numbers of dead. So what can be done to enable change here?  I suppose nobody knows, but at least this report may well offer positive impetus to change in North Korea, and any improvement however small is to be welcomed. 

Good old George.  Once again he has risen silently and put his foot in it.  He has decided, supported by the Lib-Dem and Labour leaders, that Scotland cannot use the 'Pound' if they desire independence.  A brilliant piece of support for the 'Yes!' vote!  It appears to have worked superbly.  We all know that whatever they say today will mean nothing tomorrow, when Scotland is free the 'Pound' will most likely still be the currency used.  Ramblings from unknown EU leaders may also support the 'No' vote but in the end mean little, the EU will support Scotland in the end, in spite of Madrid!

I like it!

  

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St Andrews Day

Today is St Andrews Day, a saint ignored by the Scottish people for five hundred years since the reformation. He is of course of no importance today, even if the bones that monk carried with him when he landed on the Fife coast actually belonged to Andrew himself, but the nationalistic emotion is expressed through this day. Any nation treated with contempt by a bullying neighbour will magnify patriotic feeling, and the Scots pride has long been treated with contempt by English arrogance. So on a day like this, even with several inches of horrible unwanted snow making life difficult it is important for Scots everywhere to gather together, hail their nation and then go out and insult an Englishman for the good of mankind!

While Scots rightly complain of English oppression we are in a wonderful position in comparison to some in this world. In forgotten Darfur Sudanese aircraft still bomb and harass refugees, in the Democratic Congo women are still raped and men murdered by any of several rebel forces or indeed the national army itself. Many find their home to be no more than a collection of scrap metal walls or plastic sheeting, possibly lucky ones will have tents supplied by aid agencies after a natural disaster, many others will have less. While I complain about the cold I can still find heat at the touch of an expensive button, in North Korea, where it may get as low as minus 50% many do not have this luxury.

The 'Daily Telegraph' features a video of a woman so hungry and feeble she eats grass, and another fighting back when a bribe is demanded by a police officer. The mad mullahs in charge of this nation do appear to have gone too far in recent days, a change to the monetary system has left many bereft and rebellion is arising throughout the nation. While the state retains control the people once again face deprivation and starvation, and this in turn may encourage the military leaders, the ones with real power, to create a war situation in an attempt to save themselves. While the people starve and the powerful fret we can carry on regardless towards another 'Merry Christmas,' and all that brings. Hopefully the girl in this video is still alive by Christmas.....

                                 The Daily Telegraph North Korean Report  

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Cold Weather

I do complain about this cold weather, and rightly so! I feel that my rightful place is amongst the sunshine that is scattered so freely towards the centre of the planet but appears so fleetingly in my life. Tonight, the cheery weather folk tell us, snow will make its way from Scotland and the north of England and cover us in deep layers of the white stuff! The 'Daily Mail,' in the usual calm manner, has a headline 'Met Office Forecasts 18 Inches of Snow!' I doubt we will receive 18 inches, two or three would be bad enough, and I suspect the temperature will fall to below zero.
However this is nothing really. In a few days this will end, with flurries on and off until Spring actually arrives. However today Beijing, the Chinese capital, recorded a temperature of minus 60 at one point! In many places it was so cold the heating would not work! I also came across Christians in prison in North Korea, a place on a similar latitude to Beijing, who are imprisoned for their faith, in jails without heating I would imagine. Thousands locked away, many suffering like their fellow citizens from malnutrition, in temperatures lower than many of us could withstand! So while it may be depressing, and cold weather is, and while it may be dark and dismal, at least we are a lot better off than many.  

A Postcard a Day

I stole this picture!  It comes from one of those intriguing sites that at first look somewhat dull but actually contain some excellent items. This site gives us a postcard each day and some, like the one shown are very interesting indeed. This picture shows the original post box, an idea of Anthony Trollope the author and Post Office employee. Situated at Barnes Cross, Holwell, near Sherbourne in Dorset the box was first used in the 1850's and even old Mike cannot remember that far back, I think. The uniform shown dates from that time and is reminiscent of some of the gear worn during the 1970's, although not by me! I recommend this site as there are some excellent postcard shown there. The photography is often marvellous and the subjects, ancient and modern, often intrigue. Some time ago I passed through London Bridge Station on a Saturday and there were numerous stalls selling postcards.I was surprised at just how many, and indeed how much! There are numerous other postcards sites also, but I think this is one worth a look!   A Postcard a Day.