DutchEnery

Bought the wrong newspaper yesterday (28/3/2023), The Mirror. Good heavens what a vitriolic rubbish. I suppose no British newspaper is good, they all seem to want to air their opinions on politics, one-sided only. Anyway, the Mirror is unabashedly Labour, no doubt about it. Funny though I say it, I had to agree with their main article. Their bit on Kwasi Kwarteng and also the delectable or should I say, kissable Matt Hancock. Well, someone wanted to kiss him. But the main thrust of the piec e , dare I say it, money. I have said many times that there is a grey area with too many politicians about cash. Let’s not call it corruption yet but until it is made clear what is allowable I suppose it is. Parliament insists that all earnings outside are declared but how many seem to forget that? Even the Chair of the 1922 Committee seems to have different idea on how it is alright to ‘earn’ money on the side. What I have said in the past still holds strong today – people become politicians not ...

Not sure whether any British politician has figured out what do to help the Ukraine. Sure, we will have ( hopefully by now) sent some Chieftain tanks and also ammunition but the rate at which the Ukrainian army is using it, thanks to the ‘human wave’ tactics of the Russians, they need millions more bullets, grenades and missiles. The other thing which I do not understand is the reluctance to deliver up-to-date warplanes. It seems to escape our notice that the Russians are testing a. our resolve and b. our economics. Meaning the Russians expect our resolve to weaken, our economics to dive and to drive a wedge in the European Union and also NATO. Even though Britain is no longer a part of the EU we are still pretty well involved in the political rooms of Europe. Including military organisation. There should be no doubt in our thinking Russia will not stop despite sanctions, despite set-backs on the battlefield. In fact Russia is now building up allies, China is also part of that. We are ...

Politicians in this country and possibly in other countries as well, are wondering why nobody likes them. Why they have lost the trust of the general population. Well, I can certainly tell them why that is. For a change politicians do not seem to have much of an idea what is going on. They don’t have a grip on the issues. The rules/laws they make tend to have so many sides to it that they are virtually useless. Development is one of the very much weaker issues that pertain the country. One of the issues is that development is permitted without thinking about infrastructure. I had to go to the hospital in Cardiff (The Heath) which is what I would term relatively modern and also very large! But with all the new building of houses in Cardiff the number of people has shot up and that would include also more people needing medical treatment. It is quite noticeable how busy this hospital is and from where I am sitting it is already way too small to accommodate the numbers! This is also shown...

It’s a wonderful world still, isn’t it? Well, at least if things go our way it is. Sometimes we get ideas to do something and it all goes pear-shaped. I have got a brilliant self-installed network run by Linux (I have not used Windows in a million years). Just because I love hate th eir technology. I also had installed Linux with the best router in the world. Draytek Vigor. Never heard of it? No, neither had I but it leaves most of the others in the shade, usually the ones whom you would see advertised hourly. Its security is impressive. But I decided to upgrade! In the UK there are plans by BT (British Telecoms) to do away with all copper cables and go digital. And to do this by 2025!  Now knowing how things tend to get done around here I think it would be 2055 before all that was done. But hey, a little upbeat message in these times of rising prices will do us great! Whether it is just hype or not even true, who cares? We must leave the backroom boys have their 5 minutes of gl...

PANIC!!! Some snow has been seen in South Wales. Bread and milk all gone (within 5 seconds of the first flake falling). In my place, cars are moving freely but all schools have been closed. The temperature is close to zero which means the bottom layer of snow is already slush! The birds in our garden are still feeding from the hoppers out with black sunflower seeds. (Which the tits love). Funny to see the much heavier jackdaws trying as well but can’t. I now see long-tailed tits which were never seen around here but now there are loads and all having a go at the fatballs! Sometimes five are hanging on the same feeder at the same time and in the tree next they are waiting as well. Close to eleven o’clock the snow is stopping – according to the authorities on the subject. We’ll see, I have not a lot of confidence in authorities nowadays. Too many seem to be staffed by complete idiots. Does anyone check educational attainment nowadays? Well, good question, listening to the kids coming hom...

Question – Why are we not banning TikTok? It would be relatively easy. A message to parents – check what your child is doing on their mobiles. We are using a paid-for software called Famisafe. Guess what – yes, TikTok, YouTube, and its Kids equivalent are banned. TikTok must be viewed as an insidious bit of software made and governed by the Chinese. It’s basically spying on everything you do. As parents you have a responsibility to see what’s being downloaded and used and how your daughters and sons are using messaging on Whatsapp. Make no mistake, companies like Meta (erstwhile Facebook etc) have no wish to alter anything. They want you to use them without any restrictions whatsoever. Why is that the case? Well, money, their profits. Advertising pays millions if not billions, into their coffers. They will not change until forced to do so by governments and law makers. Google, a benevolent company? Forget that quickly, they are not. The same thing applies there, money. On its own there...

Most of my friends and acquaintances are panicking about food supplies. The local supermarkets have curtailed allowances of certain greens and fruit. I am scratching my head because I must be frank – I haven’t seen anything! Perhaps I do not panic quickly but my local supermarket just has a few lettuces on view a but plenty of prepacked tomatoes! At this time I do not really eat lettuce anyway but I can see the point. Spain has had a few problems growing lettuce. However, why have we arrived in this situation? I have thought and said, we are not growing enough of the food we need in this country ourselves. I used to drive back from Birmingham where most of my customers were, back to South Wales via the fruit growing area of Herefordshire. Great views as well! Malvern Hills, Ledbury and more. But there were always billions of plums for sales, apples and pears galore but today, all virtually gone! The orchards deleted like a software program. I suppose it is not much different with veget...

Not sure what other people think about the continuing inquiries that permeate the British political system. One might think – ‘Is it not about time they started to govern’? Every day there are hour long political debates what has happened or not happened at parties held during lock-down at the time of the Covid pandemic. Now there is everybody frothing at the mouth about a political loser whose WhatsApp messages miraculously appeared in the public domain. Instead of tackling important issues like HS2 and its continuing financial problems, the bad economical situation of the nation burdened by a national debt of gigantic proportions and above all the energy problems; we are keeping very busy being regaled on all the shenanigans our wonderful capable politicians have been up to.  When reading some of the WhatsApp messages released you might say – ‘What the f**k’? Well, first of all, the guy who wrote the rubbish should need a quick lesson in what is important in this world and go ba...

As a church member of more than 30 years I have, like thousands of other members, tried to be a Christian. Sometimes failing but at least most of us are and keep trying. I suppose people not going to church tend to think of us as goody-goody and better than them. The good news here is, not only is that not true as in fact we certainly are not goody-goody nor do we think ourselves better than those who are not Christian. As a matter of fact we know we are not so good and acknowledge that fact before God. Most of us try to abide by what the Bible teaches. At least up to now. Because the mouthpiece that is the Church, and in my area that would be the Church in Wales and to some extent the Church of England, now are seemingly diverging from the Bible. Today it just seems to pander to the Woke brigades clamouring for everything. I personally do not believe that the Bible is the infallible voice or word of God. But it has a two-thousand and more years old report about human life in search ...