Blog Moved

This is the last post on this site and the whole blog has moved. It can now be found here

"Four eunuchs fighting over a split condom"

Politics interests me. In my youth (and I'm talking 45+ years ago....) I was a young Conservative, but only because the girls were generally much prettier. At University, I lost interest, and once at work, I was too busy earning a crust to get actively involved.

The current contest for the leadership of the Labour Party fascinates me. The only candidate who holds any appeal is Diane Abbott, and by all accounts, she has no chance. For me, the whole contest is admirably summed up by this piece in the Independent. Following the publication of the Mandelson memoirs, the Labour Party seems well on the way to self-destructing, which is a shame, because a confident opposition would help keep the coalition government honest.

Quite what the average Trade Unionist or Labour Party activist thinks is a mystery, since they appear to have lost all means of making their voices heard or their opinions known. I, and I suspect a lot of others, will watch with interest.

Numpty!

Well, the World Cup is over, Wimbledon is done, The British Grand Prix has finished and the Open starts this week. A Summer of Sport is well and truly underway.

I've watched a fair bit on the box over the course of the World Cup, and I now urge the BBC to dispense with the services of Alan Shearer. His speciality, like Sybil Fawlty is the bleeding obvious. He has nothing original to say and clearly does little or no research on the sides he is watching. That is simply unacceptable practice for a well paid, supposedly professional, journalist. Alan Hansen isn't much better. The star of the mid and post match commentators has been Lee Dixon.

Time to find a comment page on the BBC website.

Down with Trousers!

I see that this is my 450th post, and I wish I had something really deep and meaningful to say, but I don't. So, like all Brits, when they can't find anything deep and meaningful to say, I shall resort to our favourite national topic of conversation, the weather.

The warm sunshine is great. I love it. I have no wish for rain or cold. It will be a sad day when I have to start wearing socks and long trousers again. I haven't really worn either for a fortnight or so, and it makes me think of being on holiday. I like holidays and always try and get through them wearing shorts and sandals.

Cycling around on Friday, it was very noticeable that a lot of the lawns in neighbouring roads are getting distinctly brown, and I guess that a lot of the keen lawn maintainers will be wishing for some grain.

A painful necessity

The new UK Government is making news with its efforts to cut Public expenditure, and so Government borrowing. I have to say I'm all in favour. The costs of public sector pensions and redundancy packages is simply unaffordable. We may be in for a long summer, autumn and winter of public employee industrial action, but these people just don't realise there their benefits are way more than the equivalent private sector person. This is a problem that has been bubbling away for some years and should have been addressed before now. The Labour Government just didn't have the balls. It is to be hoped that the majority of the working population will support the steps being taken, and that the Government can find the stomach for whatever fight is to come.

Birthdays

It has been birthday time in our house. Beloved wife and youngest son have had birthdays on consecutive days, so presents have been given and received and family members have been around to wish them the best.