Yellow Flowers

They say the weather will begin to deteriorate tomorrow so when I saw the bright yellow Daffodils beckoning me out I sauntered across the park and snapped a few.  The sun was as warm as a decent summers day and it crossed my mind that April will bring snow as it usually does.  
Kids were cycling small pink bikes, mums pushing pushchairs, some sitting on benches wrapped in coats just in case, and high above a thin white streak in the bright blue sky carried 200 or so people towards Europe.

'Europe,' that is what we now call the EU and many round here are desperate to abandon to its fate. Sadly these 'Daily Express' readers have yet to understand that they are the ones being abandoned. If this Brexit goes ahead there will be no 'sovereignty' just Donald Trump and chlorinated chicken!  The idea that anyone has sovereignty in this world is plain daft, everybody is tied to everybody else one way or another and this is how it has always been.  It is difficult to keep up with the constant niggles in the House but I had to laugh when Savid Javid was in front of a Commons committee.

Stuart MacDonald SNP, to Sajid Javid: What’s wrong with the amendment?
SJ: Nothing. 
SM: So now the Gov't’s supporting it? 
SJ: Yes. What do you mean, “now”? When was the gov’t not supporting it? When did you hear that? SM: Yesterday. 
SJ: From who? 
SM: The Prime Minister. 
SJ: Did you?!

Here we have the Conservative Home Secretary, one of the Four most important jobs in the cabinet being informed of the Prime Ministers thoughts from a member of a committee as he had not been informed of her opinion from the day before.
I suppose too many in the cabinet were shouting others down and she forgot to indicate what the policy of certain matters actually was.  I wonder if she has changed her mind to agree with Savid or whether she is travelling somewhere and canny mind who he is?

India and Pakistan are flexing muscles (I wish I could) and threatening one another in Kashmir again. This is not new, this has been going on since 1947 and was badly handled then and is being badly handled now.  Much loud talk of both sides having nuclear arms but the option of using them is unlikely.  Many more aircraft shot down, bombs dropped, the wrong people killed as usual but I doubt nuclear war is near.  Pakistan is a confused nation, led by the elite who fight among themselves, leaders chances of being killed by those around them a real possibility.  India facing elections and will seek to 'be strong' and killing a few Muslims goes down well with the Hindi nationalists, especially these days.  Many more to die, many more shouting matches and then peace, it is too easy for India to win - again!

Pakistan

Well done Pakistan!
Just what the nation needs, another dead political leader!
Now what for that nation? The planned elections in January must be delayed, a new leader for her party must be found, and nothing but instability dominates.
Who benefits from this? Bhutto had many enemies and it may never be known who sent in this 'suicide bomber.' I say bomber, but latest reports talk of bullet wounds to the neck. No doubt information will change in these early moments. However, somebody planned this,somebody was willing to kill and wound several hundred Pakistani people, somebody obviously thought this worth it. I hope they are satisfied.
Blame will be passed around from side to side now. Riots will take place, assaults and deaths will follow, but will it change Pakistan for the better? Will the people benefit? I doubt it somehow. The people will continue living their lives, being used and abused, both by politicians and a wide variety of dissident groups.
Some things never change, Jesus still weeps.

News Reporting

Funny how news is reported. A train crash in Pakistan gets little mention in our press, even though around fifty people are dead and almost two hundred injured. It is not important because it happened far away, and anyway Pakistan is where all the terrorists are to be found is it not? None of our folks are involved so who cares?
Some years ago a daily tabloid reported an avalanche in the French Alps which killed several and injured dozens under the headline 'Two Britons Safe!' But the short story only mentioned the dead at the end.
When Glen Hoddle was manager of England the Bishops Stortford local paper referred to him in one story, not as the England manager, but as, '...Glen Hoddle, who used to own a sports shop in the High Street...' Now I am not saying some folks are a bit introspective but.....
I did notice that apart from a passing reference nobody has bothered about the train crash, 'hands free' driving and government slackness counts for more.

********************************************
Nothing to do with Arbroath is one of those blogs that leave you wondering whether what you read is funny or sad. A collection of weird and wonderful stories from around the world. The stories often appear crude, but not for the sake of it, and do show us the strange, sad experiences of folk worldwide. This is one of those blogs you must look at and see what you make of it. Some of it is hilarious, but isn't that the way when others get into trouble!

*********************************************

As one or two of you will read this at what you call 'work,' I have come across this little game to fill in the time before you have a break. It is a simple Paper Aeroplane game, which most of my more intelligent readers will already have discovered. There should be a health and safety warning about that fan, it's dangerous!

Words mean So Much

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me." That was one of the common things we used to say as kids, usually after someone calling us names had just hurt us! Words, as you know, mean so much. usually it is not the words themselves but the way we use them. In the UK it used to be common to describe any Asian who was seen as 'Paki.' Paki as in short for Pakistan. In Edinburgh in the seventies it caused no offence, except to that nice Mr Kyaham who insisted he was "Indian and no bloody Paki!" No-one of Pakistan descent worried about it. later of course it was used in a derogatory fashion by neo right wing groups and fell out of use. 'Jock' is a term for Scotsmen, and I think should always be viewed as complimentary. After all, what can be better than saying "I am a Scotsman?" However on occasion even that word can be used to hurt and insult rather than compliment.

Words are often misunderstood. When she asks "Does my bum look big in this" and you honestly answer that it does, she will deliberately use that as an excuse to remain stonily silent for several hours. Women seem to specialise in misunderstanding words in such situations. A "Yes" often appears to mean "no" and if you misunderstand and accept at face value here word all sorts of trouble can arise. Possibly women and words needs to be for another time?

Politicians and words are marvellous, the emphasis on the 'lous' part. If they lose a vote they will claim they have actually got everybody on their side! In 1968 I remember a Communist being elected in a council seat I think in Inverness. "This is a sign that the people are turning to us," said the leader of the Scottish Communists, ignoring the Scottish Nationalist Party winning 368 seats on the same night! To reach the top in politics it is advisable to avoid truth and stick to being devious. No one wants an honest politician anyway, they might expect it back from the citizens. That would never do!

One day every idle word we utter will be brought back to us,as I discovered when I found some things I wrote a hundred years ago. How frightening is that? Did I really think those thoughts and say those words? What else have I said in all these years I have drifted through life? The mind boggles at the cobblers I have come out with! Anyway I found some folks who may also regret the words they have used, but at least they give us a laugh.

Moving from Wales to Italy is like moving to a different country - Ian Rush

I never criticise referees and I'm not going to change a habit for that prat. - Ron Atkinson

"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff." --Mariah Carey

"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life," -- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.

"Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances." --Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina
"If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record." --Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

"As God once said, and I think rightly..."
- Margaret Thatcher.




Think before you speak, you know it makes sense.....