DutchEnery

Hullabaloo, what’s going on babe? I hear you ask... Well, nothing much that you don’t already know. The various reports on the Corona virus beating a retreat from humans (I want to do that as well, if I could), the continual U-turns by the government AND their advisers, those brilliant scientists. Mind you, there are different opinions on that and people wondering where those scientists got their degrees from. Recently I was talking to a friend who thought that Home Economics had now included medical subjects like virology and how to kill bacteria and viruses with something called Domestos, but I digress. T hen we learned to my inevitable amusement that the PM’s dog Dilyn has been caught ‘humping’ every leg he can find. No wonder the dog cannot attend the weekly meetings in Buckingham Palace, I’m sure. By the way the PM’s attempt to speak a bit of Welsh does not go as far as the dog’s name. Dylan would be the correct spelling. Yep, that’s my question for Prime Minister’s Question Time ...

And so the saga of the boats crossing the Channel continues unabated. It is rather interesting to read and hear about the government squirming. The Home Secretary (one of the better ones we’ve had) continually offering to solve the crisis but it is just words by a politician without real power. She is quite capable but thwarted by the ineffectual British Civil Service and the French inability to police their borders. Even worse, the French intransigence by accepting millions of pounds of our money and promising this and that but quite clearly having no intention to do anything bar a few token pick-ups and a slap on the wrist. It has been reported that the French absolutely prohibit British warships or even normal ships to pick up migrants and return them to France. The word is a firm ‘NON’. As a result the criminals who organise the migration business are just happily increasing their take, even promising different grades of pricing. Apparently one can now go ‘Business class’ or ‘Econo...

It is good to remember sometimes there were great people around in the distant past. People who had a very good idea what humanity is like! One of these guys Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher and a cademic Skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics, and he is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC. I picked this up from Wikipedia. So, what did I find so good about him? Well, he said this: 1. The Poor – they work and work….. 2. The Rich – they exploit the poor…. 3. The soldier – Protects both…. 4. The Taxpayer – Pays for all three…. 5. The Banker – Robs all four….. 6. The lawyer – Misleads all five… 7. The doctor – Invoices all six… 8. The Goon...

There may be trouble ahead.... I remember that lovely tune. But reports are showing that there may be trouble ahead for real! Financial trouble that is. I have said quite a few times that money seems to grow on some trees in the UK. Not sure how other countries pay for all the excesses but in the UK we just keep on borrowing. How does all this work then? Where does all this money suddenly come from? Quantitative Easing? Have a look on Google and explain it to me. It has something to do with what is called ‘Money Supply’. This is the amount of money circulating in the UK. In January 2019 it stood at about £2.4 trillion but shot up to nearly £3 trillion by January 2021. Eye-watering amounts but where did the extra come from? Don’t think it is all fivers or tenners or coins, these only represent some 3 to 4% of finance, bank accounts and reserves adds more. Anyway, you can see that if the central bank (The Bank of England) increases the money supply through more loans (gilts and bills) t...

When everything has been said (or not, as the case may be) the fact remains that we, as humans, are woefully unprepared to combat global warming. The problem as usual, is that not many of us are prepared to change our lifestyles. I believe that this is the case in the western world. Particularly so in western Europe! How would we do it anyway? We have 67million plus inhabitants in the UK alone, of which some 32million are employed. It can change but it seems a figure that recurs. The occupations that would be under severe stress would be those concerned with transport, travel, if you want to curtail CO2 emissions quickly. Obviously just saying that we would have to accept that because of transport loads of other occupations and activities would be affected. Food transport, shipping, aircraft ie holiday travel. It would take some thought but something must be done, somewhere we have to start. Moving into completely electrifying transport will be of help. Transport hubs will need to be...

Has anyone noticed how much more noisier the world has become? In my little backwater it seems younger people purchase motorbikes and take off something from the exhaust system. The noise is unbelievable! Some cars as well, they have modifications that increase the sound. I live sandwiched between two very busy roads. One is the local main street and the other is the A road that streaks through the valley. Sitting outside you cannot hear the birds any more. I believe the birds cannot hear themselves either. When the traffic noise dies down in the later evening but only during the summer, you might hear a song thrush or blackbird. I purchased a piece of measuring equipment. Measuring the dangerous exhaust particles called PM 2.5. These are particles that can go deep into the lungs and also can get into the bloodstream. The WHO (World Health Organisation) states that anything over 12 on a regular basis – meaning 12 particles per cubic metre - is dangerous to health. On our local road ...

You have got to laugh but it is just tragic how politicians, those halfwits, have failed their populations. Record rainfall has devastated large areas all over Europe. Particularly Germany, Belgium and now also the Netherlands. Three massive rivers have their outlet into the North Sea, the Rhine (Rijn), Meuse (Maas) and the Scheld (Schelde). All are in flood. We all are now pretty well aware why these things have happened. These are well-known facts, warmer air holds more moisture and is more active! That is it in a nutshell. The planet has been warming up for a long time now. But our politicians just do not believe it or want to know. For fear of economic collapse. Even now the UK government said that people should fly, they do not need to reduce flying as technology will solve the problem. Yes, that’s the ‘intelligent’ opinion of our government, you wouldn’t believe it but it’s true. The Advisory Climate Change Committee did tell ministers that the nation was even more unprepared f...

The scams that are around, the number is quite astounding. Martin Lewis (the finance guru often on BBC TV was answering a query from Eamonn Holmes about a Royal Mail message that said a parcel was waiting because a small charge needed to be paid. Only £1.99. I had something like that as well but it was an Amazon parcel who used Hermes to deliver it. HaHaHa, people must be thinking we are stupid. But you know what, people ARE stupid and too many fall for that one. First of all, the Royal Mail do not send out messages like that AT ALL. If a parcel cannot be delivered they put a note through the door and with that you can either select another day or take it to the nearest sorting office and pay if there is a charge. From my own experience they accept cards too. If there are charges you will have to go to the sorting office as postmen do not usually collect money. So, simply this, these messages are scams, 100%. Also Amazon will already know your details and would not contact you in this ...

The righteous furore in the national press (The Sun on this occasion) leaves a sour taste. Why? It is about the (in)famous ex Secretary for Health, Matt Hancock. He was recorded kissing his amour (his personal aide, not his wife). Along with half the UK’s population who were doing the same (if they could). However, there are some unpalatable issues about this affair. The whistle-blowing has some dark edges. First of all, it was already well-known that he had an affair with his aide. Well-known in political circles. So, he should have been carpeted by the Prime Minister or whoever else is in charge of public behaviour within the Westminster political bubble. The problem though is that he had made his position difficult as he publicly ordered the whole population to abide by the rules enforced because of Covid-19. He himself forgot those whilst in the throes of passion! That and a few other gaffes made him a bit of an idiot. Well OK so fa r , in should have stepped the PM and sack ed him...

Has anyone ever noticed the daily news on the BBC or for that matter on ITV as well? It is like a never ending feast of organisations reporting how bad they are dealt with. Invariably the main gist is, we need more money! Well, yes so do I. This is not news, it is just reporting the sorry state of management across all these sectors of business. When you look at a lot of these organisations you find the salary levels of the top people unbelievably high. It was reported some time ago that the CO of a well-known charity trousered over £1 5 0,000 per annum. Nice work if you can get it. When challenged about that the usual words coming back to you are ‘You have to pay top whack to get the best people!’. Excuse me, best people? Why then is your organisation in financial trouble? The levels of charitable giving are pretty stable in this country, it can go up or down pending the occasion. Like for instance when a natural disaster strikes, Aberfan or a hurricane or something like that, then c...

Football. what is it? Oh, just a game. But if you watch the news this morning (12/7/2021) you would think the world had come to an early end! England lost on penalties (again). To Italy and at Wembley, the national edifice to the game in London. You could ask but I'm not asking, what is it about penalties and the England team? But it is true, there will be only one winner at the end. That is the way it is. Although I strongly feel that to get as far as a major final, is already a winning place! To get that far against some of the best teams in Europe (as it is an European competition and not worldwide) is an accolade of excellence. It is therefore galling to hear about the abuse levelled at the three young players who missed penalties. That is grossly unfair. It is not the three players who missed, but the whole team. That's how the game plays, as they say. So to the 19 year old Saka, and the brilliant Marcus, well done boys. There will be more times to show your...

We do watch the Smithsonian Channel from time to time (Channel 175 on FreeSat) and today there were a series of very interesting scientific programs – ‘ The Yellowstone Supervolcano’, about what could occur when such a volcano erupted. ‘Earth under Water’, about the sea-levels rising and the results for the earth’s coastlines. Very interesting and ‘Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink’. Now, you must not think I have a predilection for disaster programs but nevertheless it is historical fact brought to life. Furthermore, it can give some indication as to what could happen if we as a species do not change our lives. All these long-ago disasters seem to have one common thread and that is CO2, plus sulphuric compounds. SO2 (sulphur dioxide) tends to form acid rain. It is also quite upsetting to see how fast these things can occur. Rising sea-levels do not just mean a lot of coastline s receding but with most of the planet’s 7 billion people living near or at the coasts it would create a m...

I often try to get into the mindset of those who lived more than a thousand years ago and were what you could call, spreaders of the Word. People like the Welsh saints, Tyfodwg, Dafydd, Cynog, just a few among hundreds. What made these men (and some women also) travel away from home to embark on a perilous journey and a very unsure future? What made them do that? Obviously , parental influence will have played a big part, giving a foundation on which can be built a strong faith. In Dafydd’s case (Saint David of course) his mother was by all accounts the prime reason. Non (a saint herself) was taken advantage of by a local prince and the result was Dafydd. Non never had a relationship but seemed to have devoted her life to her son, prayer and solitude. Probably farmed as well or had to. Is this just a story to validate the sainthood of Dafydd? We might never know. There seems to be no doubt that Dafydd was a saintly man. In my personal opinion there are too many saints, I ...

It is a funny thing you know, I was born in Holland and am a naturalised Briton. With a Welsh flavour of lamb! I read the Dutch Question and Answer website – Quora (and the German and English ones as well). I hope I don’t sound a bit of an idiot, I just am able to speak and write in those languages (as well as Welsh). I suppose some people have a flair for languages, I just like them. Anyway, on the Dutch website I am horribly aware of some people I would call plonkers, who have some opinions about how the UK is faring after Brexit. And not only that but seem to think we here live in abject poverty! These people tend to have had a good education but their knowledge of people is sadly lacking. They speak and write in platitudes, Wikipedia says this - A platitude is a trite, meaningless, or prosaic statement, often used as a thought-terminating cliché, aimed at quelling social, emotional, or cognitive unease. The statement may be true, but its meaning has been lost. They are convinced ...

It was reported that the cost of going green could be as high as £1.5 trillion. Just pocket money then. Actually that equates with some £ 20 ,000 per citizen in the UK. That is £1,500,000,000,000 divided by 67,000,000. No problem for me then, I have that money ready stashed away in a small tin in the kitchen cupboard. We need to ask some questions though, are we the fair citizens supposed to pay for the government's delays and prevarications on this issue? Besides all that, how is this costly sum calculated? What does it entail? Just coming up with such ludicrous statements is not particularly helpful. I think that by now we are all aware of the damage that global warming is doing and still will be doing, ask the unfortunate citizens of western Canada. Frankly, if the government here is thinking that all will be well if we all drive electric cars they will need to go back to school. Making electric cars is just as problematic with the release of CO2 in the production processes. Th...

Snowflake Central (London) has come up with yet another snow storm. They have now decided we are no longer capable to judge our own film preferences and have upped the classifications. Bambi now is classed as 18 and over because dad gets killed in the bushfire and there are those dastard hunters trying to kill everything. Cinderella now will be classified as 15 because those sisters aren’t nice you know. Am I permitted to ask whether we have gone absolutely and certified stark raving bonkers? Can someone tell Snowflake Central that people actually do die? That death and aggression are part of this world’s make-up? I am not sure what they teach in schools nowadays but it does seem iffy! My grand-daughter who is below 10 has to learn about sex and relationships. What the f...? What happened to a carefree youth? There is something unpalatable going on in this country, can someone also have a word with those who are coming in by boats from France to not bother? Unless they have had at leas...

One of the questions that seems to arise today is – Are young adults the most intolerant and woke people? Some research indicates that indeed young adults, that is to say below 25, are very intolerant of opposite views. That is rather interesting as this is something that happened in Germany as well and evidently gave life to the Nazi party. As a matter of fact intolerance can be found in far left or far right political parties. Just remember the Corbynista take-over of the Labour party. Fortunately for us living in the outer extremities of the great UK, as for instance Wales, it has been confined to London or Wokestan as I call it. The once great Labour party in Wales has been emasculated but it is still alive, just. Of course the right side of politics has its violent activists as well. It is funny though we supposedly live in a democracy but with politics so sharply divided we could well be termed the new Russki nation. Perhaps we should name that political streaming, soft communism...

Anyone thinking Katy Price (aka Jordan) has lost the plot? Interesting reports in the national rags saying she’s had (again) cosmetic surgery. I would say this woman is courageous in some silly way. To undergo liposuction, face lifts, and bum injections with fat all at the same time, she deserves a medal! But how about this, get all that done in Turkey! No doubt at a reduced price. You know what the Turks are like. Perhaps this will put meaning to one of our sayings – she has a screw loose. Blimey, just waiting reports then of one of Katy's legs falling off. OK hope she will recover and not have after effects like sagging boobs, fingers that no longer bend, permanent eyelid paralysis, and lumpy stomach because the fat has not been taken out properly and uniformly. Well, what do you expect at these sort of discounted rates? For all we know it was the beggar from the corner outside that performed the operations? Does anyone think, like myself, that cosmetic surgery like that desc...