Political Correctness.

I was going to wax lyrical about this dreadful 21st century curse following a couple hours on YouGov this morning. A young women had written that she felt oppressed by PC and unable to truly express herself and that it actually had effected her life in a subtle way leaving her often frustrated at not being able to discuss real life problems.  Briefly, PC had left her at disadvantaged and unhardened to the real world and laid down oppressive rules on her right to free speech. It made me realise that many kids these days are so closeted in mind and spirit through the nanny state and PC that the real world, or the 3/4 of it that is very un PC and really does not care about their felling, can be a terrible shock and that too many of the worlds problems are now shrouded in the Taboo label of UN-PC and so never discussed.

In so many areas of life, in the "first world" we see how PC has brought about a generation really unable to cope with life, or even discuss it.. For example I saw a girl go into melt down recently because the shower had run out of hot water.. Meanwhile downstairs we were watching the plight of the refugees in Somalia. To have given the lady in question a pointed comment in front of her PC mother would have been nearly as bad as shouting shit at the Pope and so the opportunity to correct of at least inform the young lady and give her a more balanced view of life was lost.

In so many areas now PC has stopped us from addressing real problems and made brave people shy away from telling the truth in case they offend or indeed break the law. It is of course fascist and beggars belief that people of intelligence can be so scared of anothers views or comments as to effectively ban free speech. I often wonder how this came about. Probably the sixties when it was "cool" to oppose everything and support nothing but the right to oppose. I for one wish it would dry up and blow away.. PC is really very Stupid, stunts conversation, effect argument and has no place in a modern democracy. Time it went!

List of Huntingdonshire Cabmen week ending 25th September 2015.

Due to administrative discofibulation concurrent with the hyperinflationary problematic vibraphonics found in the  mainframe at head office we are unable to publish the portion concurrent with the current list currently.

Therefore, only notices are available for publication this week. The problem is being worked on by our IT department who report that the epicyclic main thrust parameters are regurgulating within plus or minus five gigawotsits above best fracture levels and outside of normal temperature and climatic conditions, this may account for the loss of data before wide girth band interconnectivity prolapsed, as was the case last week.

Naturally we will keep you posted, or use the post if its not fixed soon.

Notices:
Births
Maurice and Susan Humbleton-Mousdroppings - a son - at home tuesday last. Blessings at St Bolder in the Vales.
Marriages
George Coal and Susan Lump - saturday last - Civil Registrar - Civic Hall.Barnstaple. Reception at the Car wash High Street Filling Station Straddlethorpe Lancs.

Deaths
The death of Sir Hadrian Cuthbert Mantrouser-Extension DSO, KB, Woolwich Arsenal Rtd at home in a his bath tub with a fan heater. Wife doing well. Donations to Save the Korean Humpbacked Ganderduck please.

Miss Grace Frenella Fannyfuddle-Gladly Msc in Burbleton - upon - Soar,  Nursing home. Missed by her Game Keeper Boris. Flowers only please. Service next Wednesday St Ditherintons in the field.

Europe in disarray.

What does one do when it appears the lunatics are running the asylum? We are under siege from migrants and refugees who are intent on living, as they see it, the easy life in Europe. Greece and other states are crumbling under the pressure. Eastern Europe is putting up fences as fast as they can and no one has a clue what to do other than have another conference and fall out a bit more while the migrants and refugees wonder over and take up scant resources and housing.. Sounds harsh? Well, we have a million kids already in this country living in poverty and close on a million families basically homeless living in poor, or temporary accommodation how do you think they feel. We already need to expand the school places by 75000 (thats a lot of places) and the impact on the health service and local authorities has been massive. In other words we cannot cope with the 66 million people in this small island never mind take on a million or so more. Plus.... hot news, all these people breed and have large families.. So, in ten year time and with no end in sight......Mayhem.

Naturally, just to make it more interesting against all advice HM Government decided to treat Assad as the bad guy he probably is and do nothing in Syria.. Now the Russians are going to do it for us. Mind you with no military capability anymore what could we have done. Good luck to the Russians.. You never know if they manage to stop ISIS they may also stop the need for the Syrian refugees to come here. However, that will stop the millions now on the move who have been encouraged by open borders and social media to come and have a better life in Europe. We really need to get a grip and fast.. The future with climate change and more wars over religion, resources, a useless UN and politicians too scared to make the tough decisions is dire.

Dad auto appears to be a myth.. I cannot believe the stupidity of nearly the largest car company in the world to try and pull a stunt like this. What could possibly make them think they could get away with it. I for one love VW's or should I say did! I now feel cheated and stupid for telling everyone about the myth that was VW. They now deserve all they get. Although I feel sorry for the workers. I wonder how hard the German Parliament will try to save them?

Also, Its interesting but no one seems to have linked VW with the fact that those same engines can be found in SEAT and Skoda cars.. So the number could be enormous.

Of course the million dollar question is how many other companies have cheat systems on their cars? I bet there is a lot of people worried this weekend.

List of Huntingdonshire Cabmen Week Ending 18th September 2015

First Gear
Kendle Mint-Cake
Sandra Spoon
Agnes Plumpness
Stephanie Squid

Second Gear
Mandrake P Hermitage-Tit
Wilson Humpback-Whale
Drag the Druid
Evan Evans

Third Gear
Mandy Moon
Graham Gradual-Incline
Wonder Wobble-bottom

Fourth Gear
Linda Lips
Sidney Syrup
Elspeth Elongated-Hernia

Fifth Gear
Trevor Tragic
Poly Gon
Pavlo Pavement
Eradicus Fallowfield

Overseas chapter
Wilbur Neanderphalis                                                          USA
Blastfart the terrible                                                              Tibet
Count Siegfried Von Largebratwurst-mit-Prom Fritz             Germany
Inoff the Red                                                                        Russia


Court notices:
RIP:
Terrence Totally-Toasted. At Burnley Crematorium Tuesday Last. Late donations to British Heart foundation.
Sandra Partially-Charred.    -       Ditto      -  Flowers only please

Marriages:
Edward Knee and Edwina Fumble announce there engagement. Bands going up at All Saints Wetherington-on-Sea.
Marriage of Wilson Brian Arbutnot Undergarments and Wendy Windpipe at St Crabbs in the field.

Births:
Marlow and Mandy Minge - a boy - early at Teddington Lock Suggestions to Points of view BBC TV Center W1.

With due Homage to John Cleese for the following

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ‘s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”

The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbour” and “Lose.”

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be alright, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!” and “The barbie is cancelled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final escalation level.

A final thought – ” Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC”.

War and Peace

In 1983 I was posted to Cyprus arriving just as the US Marines arrived alongside the French and Italians in order to go and sort out the mess the Israelis had left in Lebanon. I was sent because of my particular skill sets to work as RAF liaison based on board the US Iwo Jima and Guam, both US Marine assault carriers. I had a grandstand view of what followed. The Iranian/Syrian backed Hezbollah was on the rampage fighting the Druze and Israeli backed Christian Phalange groups, the later had only recently had been involved with Israeli approval in going into the refugee camps on a slaughtering rampage. Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were the heads of state for the UK/US back then and sent a task group along with the French and Italians to sort the mess out.

It was a fascinating three month med cruise and to my eyes an impressive use of massive gun boat diplomacy that got absolutely nowhere. We even had a second world war battleship the USS New Jersey and used it on several occasions to great visible effect but little impact on the problem we were there to solve. I think Beirut was the first modern conflict in some ways. We had factions who hated each other and a region with massive religious and ethnic/cultural divisions that had been cobbled together by the French after the first world war. But without the Turkish Empire, the previous owners, to impose peace. It all unraveled as most of these places eventually do and continue to do! So, used to conflict were the people of the Lebanon by the time we got there that no amount of force would stop the killing. Funnily however Dallas the TV show would stop them. It was transmitted on Middle East TV at 6pm everyday and that was the only time the fighting stopped and folks could shop and get a breather for an hour.. We called it the Dallas hour! Once the show was over the fighting started again.

It is now a much worn story  as along the way all the multi national force took severe casualties and the US Marines 299 killed and many wounded in a Hezbollah truck bomb.. Probably one of the first major suicide bomber attacks and proof in my mind that we just added to the casualty list by being there. It would not be the last time I felt that way as the next 30 years of conflict unraveled before my increasingly cynical eyes.

Somalia was the same story of massive force being defeated by asymmetric warfare and still it goes on. I often wonder if we do more harm than good by trying to impose peace by half hearted attempts at force of arms. These religious cultural wars - lets call them Tribal wars - are really civil wars in the hardest terms. Long held blood feuds and cultural fractures are drivers that flare as peoples once oppressed by greater empires release tensions long oppressed in a blood fest.

In Ireland we (the British) tried pretty much everything to get the tottering peace we currently have.. But, it is a truth not well known that the IRA had to be beaten to the table when in the late 80s the gloves came off and the British really went to town on the IRA and caused them significant casualties. So, perhaps Carl von Clausewitz had it right in the 18th Century when he said ironically  "A conquer is always a lover of peace"

Given the nature and probable outcome of the problems in the middle east I see no reason why it will not get a hell of lot worse before it burns itself out and the people of that region settle for peace.. For how long depends just a much on the nature and force of the peace imposed as it does on the will of the people to have peace.. Sadly!

I think peace should be a cause best left to those able to impose it and who understand the implications of loosing it. once again Clauserwitz had it right when he said "to secure peace is to prepare for war". It would seem the Russians are doing just this in Syria, as this is written and we shall see how much "peace" those at war in Syria can take before getting the message and settling for an imposed peace.

In conclusion, I think the world lacks the will and the forces to impose peace on most of Africa and the Middle East, but the fall out from it in suffering, refugees and its consequent impact on Europe may change this.....I hope it does...because I can see nothing but pain and suffering unless peace is imposed by force. Given how little these groups actually fear the forces of peace (for want of a better word) I wonder how much horror must be unleashed upon them before peace prevails.

So, why did we fail in Somalia and Lebanon? Same reason as Vietnam really, lack of conviction, wrong tactics and not taking on the opposition with a total focused offensive spirit designed to totally crush them. War can never be waged half way. Its either total or fails.

Sad but history proves it.

The Corbyn Factor

Soooooooooo, Its started already. One day into it and the media are cuing up to pour scorn on every move the new shadow cabinet make. My goodness Jezza has them panicking. The Tories are telling us we will be dead within the week and penniless within days if Corbyn is allowed to breath and  the shiny Blairite suit and tie brigade are deserting the front benches for the shires while plotting his downfall.

Stay tuned folks and watch how the vultures of the media circle and pounce upon anything the shadow cabinet does..Naturally, if they do well then stand by for the media making it up as they go along in order to bring them to heel. How long do you think it will be before we find that Corbyn is related to Lenin or Che? Or, his Aunt Maude was a fascist black shirt in the 30s.

Well I for one wish him well in his attempts at sorting out the sorry mess our Parliament has become and particular good luck in stamping on the smarmy sods who even now have not paid back the money they stole from you and me in the expenses scandal. 24 members of parliament found guilty of mall practice have still to pay back what they owe and indeed have had their debts written off. Why, because to chase them would cost more than its worth apparently. My Goodness me try that one on with a power company or the bank.  Good luck Mr Corbyn in making those we elect responsible to us for what they do.. Any chance of sorting out and publishing the Iraq war report please, or what actually happened to Dr Kelly? You might even start by putting a few of the previous labour party cabinet on trial.. Just a thought.

In Hungary and other places along the migrant/refugee track there have been clashes it seems. In Hungary a crowd of some hundreds of local people gathered and stoned a refugee/migrant train in a station and its getting hotter in Munich it seems. However, as predicted they borders are being closed and Merkle has been told to shut up by the Bunderstag.

It will not end well unless the EU gets its act together and I dont see it doing that anytime soon. A very great pity because at the end of world war two with millions of displaced people on the move we did a good job all things considered. Now with a fraction of the problem in real terms it seems beyond stupid not to seize the nettle and sort this problem out before it becomes a cock up of biblical proportions.. As it will !