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Showing posts from April, 2022

Some hospital visit that was!

So many times do we read and hear about all the problems faced by the NHS (National Health Service in the UK). The need for more money, the problems with waiting times, and let’s be brutally honest, the incapability of our wonderful politicians(!). To say politicians cannot even organise a p*ss-up in a brewery is an understatement. Whatever is ailing the NHS, it is NOT of their own making. There might be errors because of being understaffed, doctors and nurses are simply overworked, over-tired and presently underpaid. I say all this because I had to go to the local Welsh hospital for a CT scan on my colon . Being a bit nervous, because the last one some years ago involved a long black pipe carrying some equipment and a light. But things progress, this time it involved a very short tube up the rectum which I did not even feel and a large round scanner. Being wheeled four times in various positions it was all over in under ten minutes! And this is my point, these machines, scanners and a

It is all pointless, just for wanting to be topdog...

So the UN chief said that war in the 21st century is an absurdity. Hurrah, someone saying the right thing. If you look at it, it is an absurdity. Here we have a large country just throwing its weight about. Unfortunately they are making a big mess of it as well. Its like a little baby throwing its toys out of the pram. I want it Mummy, gimme,gimme, gimme! Russia feels threatened, we should ask Eh? By what or by who? Russia could have had excellent trading relationships with all the countries around it. Most need the resources they have. Russia could have been the richest country on Earth even surpassing the US and China! But no, they want political control. How stupid can you get? Instead of swimming in gold plated baths, they have become the pariahs of the whole planet.  But we have to be fair, the West has not always been squeeky clean either. We as well have thrown our weight around if things did not go our way. We really need to look at what makes humans do the actions we do, like

Are we still sleeping or have now finally woken up?

It is beginning to look like some powerful people are having to take desperate measures. That is to say, the Russian leadership. Sergei Lavrov continually mentioning ‘We are driving towards a nuclear confrontation (with NATO?) knowing it is basically claptrap. His credibility is nil. Now Britain is in the viewfinder, as we are supposedly supporting Ukraine. It beats me when it seems the the Russians do not think there should be any retaliation from the Ukranian side. No, of course not I suppose it is very OK to just march into another country, virtually rape and plunder everything you can get your hands on. Kill a few thousands of civilians and you don’t expect people to fight back? How stupid can you possibly be?  Has any Russian today have any credibility? If you call that brinkmanship you need a quick lesson in how to properly conduct yourself. To my mind the Russians are paranoid. They think they are a world power but in fact they are just a third world country with similar attit

The world is the world but is it right?

Now that we know, more or less, what the Russians are up to which is no more or less than the total destruction of another country. Whether this will culminate in annexation of the whole lot or just parts of it and which will most likely cut the Ukraine off from the Black Sea, we will have to see. But I am going to be extremely critical. Has Britain been culpable in this? In fact has the Western World? In the UK we allowed the Russian mafia to buy up great amounts of property. In fact we were so eager to get their money we were happy to overlook their credentials. And let’s be fair these credentials were well known! In fact if you look at the way Britain is governed, do you believe we are really, really democratic? Yes, we talk a lot about it but we are still governed by an elite that have great ties to the aristocracy. We have our own oligarchs, just look at who owns Ineos and where he lives. Look at Branson who mostly resides somewhere in the Caribbean. I am not saying that these two

Walk around, seeing things that matter...

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Rather than reading all the gloomy reports about global destruction from a nuclear confrontation between Russian idiots and American sillybillies I went walking in nature and discovered hidden in a small tuft of grass a nest of robins. Yes, life goes on. I nearly asked the robin nestlings what they thought of Putin but whilst they blinked with their eyes I didn’t think they had an opinion. That is strange as the Russians might well unleash nuclear ar m aged d on which also would impact the robins. I just marvelled at how small they were. But you know, they have as much right to live as you and me! On my daughter’s property the germander speedwell grows profusely and I even noticed a harebell! Loads of buttercups at this time of the year and what surprised me there is a pair of grey wagtails that keep trying to get into the house! They tap their beaks onto the window, ‘Let us in’! I think the explanation was that prior to people living in the cottage at the time of extending the prope

Is there a point to Twitter? Really??

Reading Twitter makes you think the world consists of only total idiots. I have always wondered who Alistair Campbell really is under that austere skin. But he appears to be devoid of any common sense whatsoever. But he is happy. I also wonder at the same time what is the point of Twitter. However, some of the exclamations of horror and indignation are quite fun to read. I wonder if Boris Johnson reads Twitter? If he does, does he sleep at all?  Now I read that quite a few, more than 50 MPs are to be investigated. There seems to be only one thing MPs get investigated for and that is of a sexual nature. Whoaah! The Palace of Westminster a brothel now? It does not really surprise me, being cooped up with lovely low d ê colletage, mini-dress wearing secretaries it must do something for the nether regions, I think. T hese MPs, usually the male variety of course, cannot wait to get to the office to get to work(!). Should we ask what the state of British politics is in? Or should we admit t

Is there a point in protesting?

It is rather interesting, this grouping called Extinction Rebellion (XR). Doing some interesting things like protesting by glueing themselves to road surfaces or other interesting things like the top of buses or trains. The funny thing is by doing that they actually doing more damage to the infrastructure than ‘saving’ the planet. The argument stated that they want to protest against the government falls flat because the ‘inconvenience’ is actually directed at the general population. I have been listening to some of the inane expressions of some of the ‘protesters’ and pretty quickly you come to the conclusion that here we have yet another set of people who have found their reason for living . Meaning they have found what they think is their purpose in life.    I read an ‘New Yorker’ article from 2017 which asked quite simply ‘Is there any point in protesting’? By Nathan Heller and he (I am assuming he is a ‘he’ and not a non-binary exclamation mark) he pointed out some of the American

Partygate? What's that again, I'm confused.

It is a funny country this, Britain. Formerly known as Great Britain. But OK, you cannot be great forever I suppose and certainly not when we are saddled with such incompetent MPs as we have today. Bar the very few who are worthy the rest can be just put out to grass. We have 650 of ‘m and 600 could be sent to one of those lovely Hebridean islands counting sheep. They would probably fail at that too. Anyway, it is true, we have lost all sense of proportion. Boris has been fined for attending a party or parties. Rishi Sunak the same, more to follow. In the past I have been scathing about Boris. Yes, he can be a bumbling nincompoop from time to time but let’s see what the opposition is so vociferous about. Headlines abound with the word ‘LIARS’. First of all it’s the only thing the opposition can talk about. T here is nothing they know, economics is not a science they are aware of nor do they know what a woman is. This so-called Partygate in retrospect is just a gathering possibly badly

What is the Suwalki Gap?

With various reports now circulating about Russia’s intentions I think it is becoming clearer as to what is happening. Obviously, Ukraine is but a start. I noticed a map on the news that showed the Ka l iningrad Oblast encla v e and the Russian intent to ‘reunify’ the enclave to Belarus, its staunch ally. The land in question is called the Suwalki Gap. It would however bring Poland and therefore NATO, in direct conflict. I might have to admit that it seems we are going down the route of a total war. It might end in a nuclear conflict unless both sides refrain from MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). It ought to be obvious what road Russia is taking. It simply is to go as far and as fast as possible. It is a costly exercise, if I may say it like that. Given the poor command structure, the quality of the soldiers, the morale and problems with logistics, I am not at all certain how this will pan out. In sheer numbers the Russians would win any war. Just like the Chinese tried during the

War or peace? That indeed is a question!

There is always a question about whether we should have peace or war. That is if you read social media. Take the Ukranian war. There is no doubt here we have a nation that has been summarily attacked. Practically without any foundation whatsoever. Although the attacking nation, Russia has said they wanted to ‘protect’ its nationals and change the government since it was run by neo-nazis. Obviously fabricated since there are more neo-nazis in Russia than in the rest of the world. Besides the Russian nationals in the Ukraine felt pretty safe except for the usual traitors who for some reason wanted to move their bit of land back into Russia. Similarly the Crimea. Well, so the choice was made – war. Not only that but it seems the intention was to literally destroy the cities and country through indiscrimate killing of ordinary civilians. Even worse prior to killing they were tortured. It has not worked the way the Russian leadership envisaged. Looking at the reports it just seems that Rus

Saving the economy or a 21st century folly?

Sometimes you read very interesting but worrying news in newspapers. Today I read that Starlink already had put quite a number of satellites up. In the order of 2,000 or so. Next we read that Elon Musk is preparing to blast another 2 to 3,000 into the air. We might begin to worry what this is about? Just think about thousands of satellites joining the debris already there! Is this a new plan to darken the sun? Meaning less heat for Earth? Is there scientific research that states we need to do this? Is this regulated? Far from me to say the good Elon is a nutter but I wonder about some of the commercial plans of his companies. Amazon also wants to get in on the act. I don’t want to be a killjoy but inside me a little voice is sounding – is this the next debacle to happen? I am not at all sure we need this so-called technology. Ostensibly for mobile phones blah, di-blah, di-blah, blah, blah! But surely is it not about time we sort out the planet’s problems first and foremost? I don’t bel

Is Russian DNA the same as ours? Hmmm..

Simply because the world is in a bit of a state right now with all the bad news from East Europe, the Middle-East tensions that still simmer, the growing problem in the Pacific where China is beginning to stretch its legs, you might be wondering if humans read history books? We just don’t get it, do we? I watched an interesting TV program about genetics. This was looking at how much different our DNA was compared with that of Neanderthals. They had managed to obtain some from Neanderthal skeletons. It so worked out that due to some wonderful sex sessions Homo Sapiens interbred with Neanderthals. You know how it goes, I see this behaviour every day in the Rhondda town where I am an unpaid observer. A couple of drinks in the local pub, and any woman or girl will do. Today though it is not just men, women as well can put a few drinks away. So, things have not altered much, party times continue. As such Neanderthal DNA can be found in Homo Sapiens today. In fact 2 to 3% of our DNA is Nean

Symmetry or chaos?

Friends of mine ask sometimes, ‘Since you go to church, you must believe in God’. Well, actually I have news for them I don’t believe in God as such if you think about an old man sitting on a cloud. Or that I equate Jesus with God. I am not sure if that is heresy, I don’t really care. I do however believe in a universal force. A force containing both good and bad. Positive and negative. Matter and anti-matter. Light and dark. There are many scientific bits and bobs that try to answer the question of whether God exist or not. As I mentioned before something about symmetry, you will be able to discern that the universe is not symmetrical for 100%. You would have thought pending your view of the world that there is more bad than good or that there is less positivity, or even more matter than anti-matter. The answer is yes and no! I am not sure about good or bad actions, viewing the Ukrainian war which is bad. I f there is symmetry it would have to be cancelled out by something good some

More food or less food? Treat your soils as a friend...

For all those people who like agriculture or let’s call it farming, you will like a BBC programme called ‘Countryfile’. Last Sunday was show the benefits of nurturing the soils and how to get away from artificial fertilisers. The farmer in question, Adam was rather interested because he was shown the differences of his farm soils compared to those of his neighbour’s farm. Those soils were far richer in micro-organisms, were more fertile. The reason was that ‘David’ was not using fertilisers but treated his soils in the old way. Manuring and leaving them to rest from time to time. The results were quite astounding. The good thing about such programmes is that other farmers might well want to do these things as well since fertilisers have risen in price six-fold! It seems a win-win situation by using less or no fertilisers and getting healthier soils. It was also said that grasslands are great carbon sinks. That alone would be good news for the planet. It is easy to be despondent about

Electric power? What power...

It is something I have worried about for a time. Wind power. Where I live (in Wales) you will see more and more wind turbines. Completely disfiguring the landscape. So far so bad I suppose but it throws up an age-old argument about Wales being used again for the enrichment of the English. Just like the coal era. But looking at the issue it shows up quite a number of fallacies. At the moment a report in the Telegraph indicates only 7% of the electricity needs are met by wind turbines. It is actually down from a 2020 high of 25%! That is because of the relative calmness of the air, ie not enough wind. So you will note the volatility! We have had a few storms but the vanes will stop for fear of collapse. So wind turbines are not particularly dependable. Besides of the other argument about employment by building these monstrosities when they are mostly built abroad, the whole issue falls apart because a. There is volatility in the electricity market which bodes badly for the 2030 demand to

Woke people - just beat it!

Are we not fed up with all this wokery? Is it not time we tell these idiots to shut the cake-hole? Disband LGBT+, disband BLM and all other social media incompetents. Let me say this to all those who believe Britain to be the evil manifestation of humanity. The British empire does not exist anymore, it left the planet after WW2. Slavery was abandoned here before anywhere else! It is time to take a reality check! Now let me say this, I was not born in Britain but since marrying a Welsh girl have lived in Wales and obtained British citizenship. That day was one of the best days of my life! Britain is one of the best countries to live in if not the best! I just love to read its history. Like all history, of every country, region or continent, history has its good and bad sides. As I have said many times before, you must learn from history, not repeat it! Certainly not repeating the bad. This continual snapping at British history has to stop. I sometimes feel that those who denigrate Brit