Category: General

War criminal and author donates proceeds to Survivor’s Association.

Imagine for a moment if you will, Adolf Hitler, not having topped himself, but deciding to donate the proceeds from his best-seller, “Mein Kampf”, to the Holocaust Survivors’ Association, in admiration and respect for all he had put them through. ( No, Mr Dinner-Jacket, you may not make a comment on the Holocaust)

Would they ponder for a moment or so, before eagerly accepting his generosity…or would they be saying to themselves, “Hang on a minute, this is the bastard who got us into this mess in the first place?”

What does our panel think – an act of supreme generosity, or a calculated ploy?

Perhaps the end justifies the means after all – the imponderable of Camus’ Les Justes.

Old game, new name!

Three strangers strike up a conversation in the airport passenger lounge in Calgary , Alberta , while awaiting their respective flights.

One is a native Indian from the Sarcee Reserve; another is a cowboy on his way to Lethbridge for a livestock auction. The third passenger is a fundamentalist Arab student, newly arrived at the University of Calgary from the Middle East . Their discussion drifts to their diverse cultures. Soon, the two Albertans learn that the Arab is a devout, radical Muslim and the conversation falls into an uneasy lull.

The cowboy leans back in his chair, crosses his boots on a magazine table and tips his big sweat-stained hat forward over his face.

The wind outside is blowing tumbleweeds around, and the old windsock is flapping, but still no plane comes.

To break the silence, the Indian clears his throat and softly speaks:”At one time here, my people were many, but sadly, now we are few.”

The Muslim student raises an eyebrow and leans forward:”Once my people were few, he sneers, “and now we are many. Why do you suppose that is?”

The Alberta cowboy shifts his toothpick to one side of his mouth and from the darkness beneath his Stetson says in a smooth drawl,

“That’s ’cause we ain’t played Cowboys and Muslims yet . . . but I do believe it’s a-comin’..”

Togetherness in Bed

In recent days two news items on the NHS have appeared, each of which makes me grateful for the French health service. Both items concern British hospitals.

This morning we were told of the Government’s plans to end the use of mixed-sex wards by the end of the year. Mention this to my French neighbours and they think we are joking. In this year of 2010 one in ten hospital patients in England and Wales are placed in mixed sex wards, and a higher proportion, a third, have to use mixed-sex bathroom facilities. A spokeswoman claimed that the difficulty lay in the ancient buildings still used as hospitals.

The other item suggests that excuse to be some way off the mark. In a discussion on a new hospital over the weekend we were told that this building, construction is due to start this year, will boast wards containing upwards of twelve beds. So, in a building that we can expect to be in use for the rest of this century, patients will be sharing multi-bed wards in the year 2099.

This is third world standards.