Category: General

Oh what a surprise – not!

These riots were a disaster waiting to happen. The government knew full well they were taking a gamble on the way they have treated the lowest stratum of society. Through brutal cuts in public spending they have been made to take the brunt of the financial sector’s astoundingly bad performance, yet bankers continue to pay themselves £billions in bonuses.

Meanwhile the relationship between young black people and the police deteriorates. Mark Duggan’s death is yet another in a long line (at least 333)  deaths in police custody, yet not a single police officer has been convicted for a death-in-custody incident.

Is it really any wonder these young people feel angry, disenfranchised, have nothing left to lose?

You can put the lid on a boiling pot but unless you deal with the fire underneath, you are going to get an explosion.

New Olympic event

I see from the papers that our Olympic team are practising well with the new events on offer for next year.

The 200 metre sprint with a 42inch plasma telly on your head.
changing into stolen track suit and trainers in under 10 seconds.
How quick can you get from riot one to riot 2

and so the list goes on.

When the press stop calling them rioters and start calling them thieving vandals the better, then maybe, just maybe they will realise it is their shopping centres and local businesses they are destroying, not the establishment. Continue reading “New Olympic event”

Coming to Australia

Australia is a Great country.

I was a bit woozy, having been travelling for about 23 hours at the time, but I am pretty sure that, when I signed my Incoming Passenger and Quarantine forms on the plane, I did tick the box to say that I would make the above statement on all possible occasions. Not that I disagree with it too much.
Continue reading “Coming to Australia”

How Quickly My Civilisation Falls Apart

Bearsy and I landed in Oz yesterday evening, Friday, at about 7.30 pm. We had left his father’s house at 7.00 am Thursday and departed the UK at 11.30 am. We were both pretty exhausted by the time we landed – the first thirteen hours flight had been boringly long, and noisily filled with the joyful and not-so joyful sound of young children whose parents seemed oblivious to the fact that other passengers might need sleep or even prefer silence. The second flight of seven hours had been almost blissfully quiet, but we were both unable to sleep.

My daughter met us at the airport with a food parcel as if we were refugees – she doesn’t share our opinion that the food in the UK is far better than we can get here! Nonetheless, it was a lovely thought since we had emptied the larder, the freezer and the fridge before leaving and it meant that we did not have to stop for basics or rush out this morning to buy food for today.

However, what we have yet to find in the UK is a shower to compare with the waterfall of hot water that we call a shower at home. We were both looking forward to drowning ourselves in hot water after the long flight… Continue reading “How Quickly My Civilisation Falls Apart”