Old Gaffer

My regular readers will know that it is now my policy only to write when I have something new to say, or something worth repeating, because in the last two years I think I have said it all. What I wrote yesterday caused me to think more deeply of the future, when I hear the… Continue reading 04.06.08,Do we need to get our act together?

Are we getting our eye wiped? Yesterday, 02.06.08, the television newsreader gave a dissertation that the increased cost of oil was going to be passed on to air travellers now, and also sometime in the future, even though the purchaser had paid upfront for the contract of their journey, and would be further charged increased… Continue reading 03.06.08, Serious Financial Anomolies

This paragraph is of something I wrote two years ago. Auto-suggestion prompts the ills of today. The editors are less critical, much is gratuitously violent and brutal. In the 30s we had not these options, just sport and our social life, not hunched over a TV, or reading magazines far worse than those we were… Continue reading 02.06.08, Knife Crimes and Stress in Teens

I find the government extrapolation of roughly gathered statistics, is causing knee-jerk reactions by both the government and the media, when quiet contemplation might have a totally different interpretation in what is seen to be a problem. Today we had a very crass example, where some backroom boy had done a bit of extrapolating and… Continue reading 29.05.08, The Responsibilities of Old Age.

Politics. Because of my experiences as an adult over 70 years, it worries me when I see that those in Labour are proposing David Miliband as the next leader. He has been a member of Parliament for seven years, and held three successive posts as Minister of State, each for about a year. The worry,… Continue reading 28.05.08, More Worries.

At least I was until today when I woke up realising we had been duped for years. In around the 70s a few of the members of my family were falling off the perch, and in consequence I periodically received small legacies. When some of these had accrued in my current account I went along… Continue reading 23.05.08,We Were Fast Asleep and Trusting

Youth Crime Impact. It appears that the increased spending has been almost a total waste of money and the targets have been missed in every case. In spite of this the government agencies are putting out statements which contradict those put out by the Criminology Department of King’s College London which has been doing a… Continue reading 22.05.08, Interpreting The news

Maybe we are, because otherwise they wouldn’t treat us so. I’m talking about politicians, advertisers, and all the misinformation that we are fed daily. On  Sunday, on the Politics Show on BBC 1, Harriet Harman was put on the rack for two reasons. The first was that at either Central Office, or the local constituency… Continue reading 21.05.08, Do The Think We Are All Stupid

I think some of the remarks which pass across the floor of the House of Commons, and are then transmitted on television, have all the ingredients of ignorance, bad manners, lack of respect, and above all are a bad example to the youth of the nation. If you go back through the ages and look… Continue reading 18.05.08, Have good manners disappeared?