Tuesday Grumble

This touched a nerve this morning.  Especially after I had returned from Sainsburys where I obtained the things forgotten yesterday at Tesco.  I like to think I am a careful shopper, and I glanced ruefully ate the woman in front of me and her vast trolley full of goodies.  It turns out these are for two weeks, which makes sense, and indeed she appears to have bought wisely, or as wisely as you can with supermarkets gaining 45% extra profit!  So often I notice baskets full of overpriced crap, easily replaced by 'Own Shop' substitutes, and I am aware how fussy kids can be, but so much is bad shopping, or am I just a snob?  

When profits rise they rarely come back down again.  While both gas and electric have claimed they are reducing my charges, but not by how much they have increased, the supermarkets are unlikely to lower prices now they have us trapped.  So we can expect to continue being ripped off for years to come, especially as they are donating to whichever government is in power at the time.  

The Prime Minister, in his £3500 suit, may not feel the problem, which is why he has told the nation to 'Hold its nerve,' while failing to eat properly, but worry not, his wife has still not been asked to pay tax, so he is OK.

Sunak attended a garden party the other day along with many Tories, a smattering of Labour and others, and that nice Mr Starmer also came around.  Quite what Labour people are doing at a Rupert Murdoch garden party I cannot say, but this does not look good to me.  Keir hoping the 'Dirty Digger' is on his side.  'The Dirty Digger,' is himself hoping he wills till be alive to see Keir as PM.  He cares not who is in charge, Rupert knows he is the one that matters.

Another secret deal is under way.  Apparently, the government is trying to acquire houses, the old council houses.  Now, I am not sure if they mean those still available, or those now occupied by local tenants, but the government wishes to house a million or so highly educated, highly skilled immigrants from Hong Kong in them!  

While the public are told to 'Look at the 55,000 on the wee boats,' the government is allowing a million rich Chinese into the country quietly, because they are rich and will vote Tory.  No suggestion of money to build houses for council tenants, under whatever name, no cash, just 'hand them over.'

                                                    Glamour

Willie has been given, is demanding, is seeking, but not from his pockets, £3 million to end homelessness.  Some say, 'Well done William,' I say, 'Publicity Stunt.'  Another excuse to pretend the royals have a purpose, another excuse for pictures of Will with the peasants, and probably her also touching poor people.  

I ask, 'How much money will he put into this?'

Not a penny.

'Will he build houses in his Cornwell estates for the lower orders?'   

Not a chance.

'Will he be given a free ride in the right wing press?'

Certainly.

'Will government policy be changed?'

No.

'Will suitable homes be built?'

No.

'Will the PR stunt continue?'

Only if people fall for it.

Karsh

Another Hoo-Ha in the 'Daily Mail' this week.  St Pauls Cathedral has a magazine, and one item online intimated that Winston Churchill was a 'White Supremacist,' among other things.  Naturally the patriots, few of whom can actually remember Churchill, are aghast!  Fulminating as only those with no historical information bar that gathered from the press they cry out against such blasphemy!  Twice I have indicated to the 'Daily Mail' that Winston was indeed a man of his time, a 'White Supremacist,' an ungodly believer in 'providence' and 'destiny,' a dreamer, an Empire builder, and a racist.

They did not print that, not any other that spoke the truth either.

Misty View to World View

The sun rose as early as usual this morning but had to struggle past the mist that formed late last night and attempted to hinder the suns approach come the dawn.  Funny how enlarging the picture and looking directly at the sun made my eyes water as if I was looking at the real thing!  Anyway the mist cleared by lunchtime and when the sun reached its zenith I naturally fell asleep.  Something wrong somewhere I think.  


The 'Daily Mail,' that organ of truth and righteousness, apart from the half truths, lies and sheer blatant deception, does have a scientific journalist.  I use the term 'journalist' sparingly.  However the Science section knows how to bring science to the people, lot's of pictures and few words, and those repeated often to aid learning.  This is a good idea as we do learn by rote and understand later, in spite of what educationalists may say.  I think it fair to point out my spelling was incorrect there.....


Anyway Eddie Wrenn, if indeed he exists, has written an interesting piece with few words and lots of pictures.  This, like much found in the media today, he discovered while surfing the web for something interesting to earn his wage.  He found a site full of pictures and worth publishing and I must say I agree. The site is called  http://www.stratocom.com/s/1011  and, to the delight of the readership, is dead simple (insert own joke here).  The site contains picture taken from Google, showing interesting pictures from around our blue planet from high above.  There is a button at the bottom that enables the viewer to vote for or against each picture and so in this manner we can discover the most popular.  I recommend a look at this site, some of the pictures are excellent, and you are able, so they say, to move the map around and take your own favourite shot and upload this.  Worth a look.

Daily Mail

David Cameron's favourite Prime Minister, himself, is indulging in his favourite activity this week, Publicity Stunts!  He has outdone himself however by popping over to the United States (which include the Southern States) to visit a proper politician, President Obama.  The photographs showing him 'one of the boys' at a basketball game (whether he knew what  was going on is unclear), and with wife at a banquet, look good adorning his fawning press.  The 'special relationship,' between the 'English speaking peoples' still being strong, in some English papers at least, and mentioned dutifully even if he doesn't believe it either.  In between stuffing his face, posing for cameras, and wondering why they all speak so funny, it is to be hoped the two men can work out a strategy to leave the Afghanistan mess they inherited, sort out the extradition treaty that Blair slanted in the American favour, and do something, however slight, to ease the Syria situation.  There again while there Dave could possibly look into standing as a Republican candidate, he is empty of policy enough to satisfy quite a few I suspect.  


The 'Special relationship' was of course something Winston Churchill dreampt up during the war. His mother was from the US, and not a very good mother it seems to me, and Winston really did like the place.  However Winne suffered from a romantic view of history, his views on the great 'British Empire' were very romantic, and he did see a 'special relationship' between the 'English speakers.' (What about Australia or New zealand, or even Canada I hear you ask?)  The presidents of the US naturally never quite saw it his way however.  There is indeed rightly a good relationship between the nations.  A shared outlook on defence, and many, but far from all, foreign policies have similar outlook.  The UK is always ready to fight Americas wars for them, even though they are late in arriving for ours, and in recent years has foolishly followed George Bush's  military mistakes, at great cost.  There is no 'special relationship' if we are honest, just a similar outlook in many things, and the UK as always is the one that loses out all too often. The many successes British troops have accomplished can easily be lost by one American breaking down under the strain.


I note that the New York Times has a mention of Cameron's visit, hidden away under politics, and mentioning only the banquet, nothing else.  No success of the PR front there Dave.


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