DutchEnery

Good Lord, has someone finally woken up here in Britain? I don’t mean the woke crap a lot of weedy little nincompoops come out with. No, one of the top generals, and one or two retired ones as well, have now highlighted the danger of Russia. Now, I don’t believe that Russia is going to invade Poland and Eastern Germany right now but there are already signs that the Russians are getting belligerent. Apparently they still believe they are a world power. In fact the greatest world power. It stings them that the reality has shown they are no longer. Obviously in future scenarios countries like Russia, with the resources they have, politicians must calculate the possibilities of Russian or Chinese aggression. As the generals indicated, even the possibility of all-out war. They pointed out that any thinking British person ought to know already, that our armed forces are woefully unprepared, most of all, understaffed. The Army has just about 70,000 soldiers and let’s not look too hard on the...

A good question to ask is this – Has there ever been peace in this world? Not a funny question really because if we are totally honest, has there ever been peace? Certainly loads of us here think that the last 70 or so years have been peaceful but loads of us are absolutely wrong! We here in Britain might feel good and possibly in western Europe as well but the rest of the world have not. There might not have been a total world conflagration like the two world wars which incidentally were European originated but plenty of local insurrections, revolutions, even between religions. Us Europeans are pretty warlike, and ever since the colonisation period of the 16th and 17th centuries have been pretty active on the battle fields. You might say it’s all history now but I beg to differ. It’s still pretty a c tive in many ways, different perhaps to the WW2 activities but nevertheless just as problematic. The people of the Ukraine and of Russia as well are still suffering the mental attitude of...

Why are we so incensed, if that’s the right word, about the so-called sordid escapades of Prince Andrew? Come on people, these things have always gone on. Certainly so in the higher echelons of society. Just read your history books! Also it always amazes me how many girls and women are really prepared to take part! Although obviously, some were coerced or even blackmailed, to ‘partake’. Whilst reading about it in the national newspapers, titillating as it may be, how many of us really care? I don’t care what anyone tells me how bad men are, the frank truth is that humanity and that includes the ‘ladies’, is basically bad. Think about it, I am not making a stupid statement. I still wonder why females want to wear thong style bikinis and strip BHs then start complaining men are ogling. The question also arises about why? Why they are wearing revealing clothes? I asked my daughter, the answer is a stereotype and is almost the same reply you get from every female, ‘they just like wearing ...

For most people, including me, the world of finance is a strange animal. People generally do not have much of an idea how it all works beyond their interest from a bank.We all understand we receive some interest if we save money. But how does a country financial system actually work? Well, for the most part it gets its income from two main sources. Taxation and borrowing. And that is as far as most of us go. Ideally of course taxation would cover all of the costs a government has. Social as well as defence and also improving infrastructure. But as we know that is not the case, so any shortfall or new plans need borrowing funds. One of the big problems with borrowing is one has to pay interest charges. Most borrowing the UK does is by issuing Gilts, which investors can purchase and in return they receive interest for a specific period. A gilt is a UK Government liability denominated in sterling, issued by HM Treasury and listed on the London Stock Exchange. The term “gilt” or “gilt-edge...

A few years ago the Post Office of the United Kingdom took a number of their Sub-Postmasters to Court for embezzlement. Apparently their accounts showed a discrepancy. Many were jailed or fined big sums. Already at that time there were voices who claimed there was something wrong with the computer software the Post Office used. But no-one would dispute the Post Office at that time. But as was said also, how could so many be wrong? Were all Sub-Postmasters criminals? Was it a concentrated effort by hundreds of upstanding citizens to defraud the Post Office? Why did no-one question the findings? Why was the Post Office allowed to do all of this? It is basically a simple thing, officialdom is NEVER wrong! Government and all its subsidiary agencies are NEVER wrong! It is an unwritten rule! That hundreds lost all their savings, their homes, were jailed as criminals, and their reputation, did not matter at all. Even today the Post Office is grinding its teeth and probably thinks it’s still...

When one looks at the daily news items on TV you might notice a trend. First of all are the war reports, Ukraine, Gaza, next you might see reports about charitable activities. In areas of the world suffering from political problems. Dictators or warlords or just bad government. It is a never-ending progression of bad news. A lot is said about the wars but frankly there are few answers. When one group intends to enlarge its power-base, there will be few answers until one of two results have been achieved. Basically, ‘win or lose’. The humanitarian activities are intended to alleviate starvation or are to help ‘soften’ the results of famine, homelessness and more. However, most problems are made by people. News reports only show the the little that is done, some of the results of the relief arriving but there are no reports on how to solve the underlying problems. The other thing that I note is the fact there is never a mention of how people themselves are responsible. How the poorer,...