The Future

With Labour doing a passable impression of the Tories, setting their sights on Pensioners, Children, the Disabled and most poor people while letting big business, arms companies, and other Billionaires carry on regardless.
Assorted Fascist parties doing well in various countries around the world.
A possibility of Trump winning in America?
Western governments applauding Israel for committing daily war crimes.
Despite a supposedly left wing (sic) government, the BBC and all major media outlets are still pandering to the right wingers.
The Tory leadership to be contested by two corrupt nutjobs, which will no doubt lead to a Conservative / Reform alliance at the next election? with the ultimate grifter Farage poised to be the next PM.

So I've got that early 80's no future nostalgia going on.
Recently watched Threads, The War Game, Don't Look Up, Armageddon and a few other disaster movies.

Climate catastrophy - Too Slow
Asteroid Destruction - Unlikely
Alien Invasion - Improbable

So it'll have to be World War 3 nuclear annihilation,
or if there is a God? time to be doing the flood thing again.

Election Apathy

A few tables from election 2024 which back up my opinion.

Those with sense either chose the "least worse option" or didn't bother.

Those without sense voted for the other lot?

Choices?

I used to hate that saying of "the least worst option", but it's popping into my head a lot this time.
The corrupt Tories must go whatever, even if it means swapping it for a slightly less corrupt lot.

Labour - unrecognisable from the party I've supported for most of my life.
Beholden to big business and foreign governments, with just a passing thought to the working class and unions who set them up.
Tories - Can't think of any decent Tory politicians anymore, all on the gravy train.
Lib Dems - Seem pleasant enough, but shouldn't be let near power again after selling out in 2010.
SNP - Seem to have some of the best politicians, but I don't live in Scotland
Reform - One policy, blame everyone else. While making Farage richer.
Greens - A few decent people, but will never get mass support.
Others - Some decent candidates but most people don't look past the main parties.

No doubt whoever wins will have only have a small percentage of the British public behind them.
Historical data suggest people have less interest in voting than ever.
In 1950 nearly 29 Million voted out of a population of 50 5illion (57%)
In 2019 it was up to 32 Million but from a population of 67 Million (47%)

Considering PM's like Attlee, Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, Wilson, Heath, Thatcher, Major all got 13-14 Million votes from a smaller population, I guess a lot of people just don't really care anymore?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway have some memes 😀

 

 

 

 

 

Election 2024

I should be excited but have never felt so apathetic about an election in my adult life?

From an early age I realised the Tories were not on my side, and nothing I have seen in the last fifty years has changed my mind.
From the Seventies when the Conservatives seemed to be filled with pompous toffs, who were the type I'd learned to despise from an early age. Then came the Thatcher years when they became the nasty party.
Major seemed a decent person but was surrounded by Thatcher's goons.
During the Blair years they had a collection of dislikeable leaders who were never going to challenge, then they went for the bright young thing as Labour had done with Blair and we got Cameron.
After Lib/Dem leader Clegg sold his soul to prop up the Tories they were back in power.
Despite winning again in 2015 Cameron was weak and couldn't stand up to the increasing amount of right wing loons in his party, so we got the Brexit vote to appease those who worried that the Farage train would cost them votes.
Cameron did a bunk straight after to try to convince people it wasn't his fault.
A couple of years of the bland May until Bojo the clown threw his hat into the ring.
The bumbling oaf seemed to appeal to people who prefer image over substance and fiction over fact.
Since 2019 we've seen a merry-go-round of incompetent (out of their depth) characters put in high ranking positions which has totally screwed the country while lining their own pockets.
Finally after the Bojo, Truss and Sunak disasters the country appears to have realised they need a change.

I've always voted Labour in the past, but the current party just seem to have adopted a Tory light collection of policies, all those great policies from 2017/19 which gave me hope have gone now, it's just anything that will appeal to disillusioned Tories and hope previous Labour voters will stay with them.

The Tories must be consigned to the bin of history, and I really want them to suffer a historic defeat.
But I'm not seeing much from current Labour that gives me too much hope for the future.
Starmer makes lots of promises and then breaks them all, Reeves sounds more like Thatcher every time she opens her mouth with the cash from big business shaping her policies.
Tory boy Streeting in charge of health is very worrying; already receiving large donations from private health care it doesn't look that good for the NHS.
Top jobs for those that undermined Corbyn at the last election, which gave us this current situation.

With the 'First past the post' system I don't expect it to be a complete whitewash, as there are many areas that would vote Tory whatever they did and would never vote Labour after a lifetime of brainwashing.
I'm guessing the "none of the above" "couldn't be bothered" section of the electorate will be the largest percentage again, as it has been in the last six elections.
At least one third of registered voters don't bother, I think it will be higher this time.

Blair's 1997 victory had the largest percentage of registered voters with just 30.8% so nearly 70% of eligible people did not vote for him, since then it's been even worse.
So when people mention a Democratic election or the will of the people it always makes me laugh (or cry).
Unless we get proportional representation it will never be Democratic.

 

 

General Election 2024

 

General Election 2024

 

The Economy

Surely the best way of fixing the UK economy is putting all the corrupt incompetent politicians and tax avoiding billionaires, on an engine-less boat and towing it off to the Bermuda triangle in hurricane season?
Would save the country Billions.

Options

Political options are so limited these days.
Red Tory, Blue Tory, Yellow Tory?
Graduated levels of right wing capitalism, all very depressing.

 

Social Media

A post about my experiences of Social Media.
Social media, good or bad?
I've drifted in and out of social media for many years.
Initially it was Friends reunited connecting with old school friends, but on the whole it didn't really draw me in.

I liked MySpace mainly because of the music element, I could follow all those bands I loved and find lots of new music from up and coming bands.
Had a few actual friends who were in groups who would tip me off about anything worth listening to.

Tried the Bebo one but it didn't really tick any boxes, think it was more for kids.

Son got me into Facebook in 2007 but other than exchanging a few messages with him it seemed quite dull, so didn't really bother with it.
One day I tried a few of the games available to play through Facebook and got quite hooked.
Added loads of 'friends' I didn't actually know just to enable playing some of the games, and did chat to a few around the world who were interesting.
Over the next 10 years nearly everyone seemed to join it and I was getting Friend requests from relatives, workmates, ex-workmates etc meaning I actually knew about 100 of the 700+ friends I had.
Sadly it has turned out nearly all my real friends are a bunch of bigots and idiots online, saying stuff that they would never had dared to when I knew them, or had always conceded when I'd had face to face arguments.
Early last year most of the games I used to login to play stopped working through Facebook, and they also changed the layout to suit phone use so I rarely go back. Only missing one ex-workmate who I used to share music videos with.

Joined Twitter back in 2011, when tweets were done by text message.
Only really got back into that 2 years ago.
Think I'm liking it because I don't really know any of the people I connect with, I've got about 250 followers who must have liked something I tweeted and follow about 700 interesting people.
Although there is a high percentage of morons and dickheads on there, it's good that you don't actually know them in real life.
Also a good window on the mind sets of famous people and politicians, so you know how to think of them when you see them on telly.
One thing that has really struck me over the last 2 years is just how actual news is covered by mainstream media, you can see varying points of view on Twitter about nearly everything that happens in the world and can judge the credibility of the story by the people who are reporting it, but then you watch the news on telly and if they cover the story at all it is usually skewed to one particular view and totally unbalanced.

Well that's it for now, just felt I had to post something once in a while.
Was reminded I have this blog after hearing the latest Bojo comment about people using common sense when the latest herd immunity is rolled out next week, and seeing England fans on Sunday with flares up their bums!!

Kleptocracy

Surprised this word doesn't get used more?

Kleptocracy is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population.

Democracy

Basing this on years ago when I had kids under 18.

If one day I said "Mum's gone out how do you four fancy take-away, what do you want I'm having a kebab" and the kids all shouted "Pizza".
So I order 5 kebab's and they all get the hump.
I could point out "it's the will of the people".
Because 20% of the population voted for the Conservatives in 2019 and evidently it's all you need to claim this.

Dreams

Something different.

I'm not sure if I dream every night? but there is usually something going on if I'm woken after 1-2 hours of sleep (which due to my wife's medical condition is happening more frequently).
Usually the dream fades away within seconds of waking, even though I try hard to remember key facts.

Last night was one of those rare occasions where the bulk of the dream is still in my head.
Most dreams I remember are a strange concoction of people I know, places I've been, situations I've experienced, and a collection of TV and movie scenes I've watched, all jumbled up to make a story that seems plausible in my dream state.

This morning in real life I have one important thing to do, to go and pick up the wife's prescription.
So as best as I remember it goes like this -
I was in the local supermarket where the pharmacy is that I use to pick up and drop off prescriptions.
I am walking in the supermarket with a trolley towards the pharmacy when I notice my cloth face mask stretched across the handles of the trolley, I panic thinking I don't have my mask on and quickly go to put it on, but then find I'm already wearing a paper mask. For some reason I then put the cloth mask over the paper one and wear two at once.
As I get to the pharmacy I notice it looks totally different and quite strange, there is a big white space with several nurses all dressed in white behind what looks like four large baths?
In the baths are four old large ladies in medical gowns all with breathing masks on, I recognise one as my Auntie Audrey (who died about 20 years ago), we nod at each other.
I ask one of the nurses if this is still the place to pick up my prescription and she smiles and says yes, then she hands me a bag with only one item in it, my wife has four items each month (In real life the doctor had rung up and said they were giving her a new extra item yesterday), so I assume this is what is in the bag.
After asking the nurse for the rest she gives me the original four items in another bag.
Next scene - I am walking home from the supermarket but instead of the trolley I am now pushing a babies pram with what looks like a two year old child in it?
What starts out as local scenery soons turns into a heavily wooded area with large detached expensive looking houses dotted in amongst the trees.
The roads are still there but surrounded by trees, I take an alleyway to get closer to home which is again tree lined, but notice through the trees a large valley with a river running through it.
I can see houses by the side of the river and old couples are outside tying up boats to moorings, and one old guy is in a boat in the middle of the river fishing.
I carry on and suddenly get to what in my head is my local town, except it looks more like New York with skyscrapers and thousands of people.
As I walk through I become aware that I'm the only one wearing a face mask (indeed I have two on) and start to worry I will pick up the Coronavirus from all the gangs running around coughing and spitting at people in the street, sad to say I don't check to see if the child I'm pushing is wearing protection.
As I go to cross the busy road a cluster of 'saying it politely sex workers' come toward me asking "do you want the virus", I quickly get across the street and head for home.
Next scene - for some reason I am not home but now in a hospital.
I walk in and am met by two characters from the soap opera Coronation street, Ken and Daniel Barlow.
It seems I was delivering the child to his father Daniel who is in an agitated state and holding his injured arm.
A Doctor comes out of a room and says "bring him in now", at which Daniel starts shouting that he is not going in with that doctor, I ask him "why not" and he tells me that on the previous visit that doctor had dropped the child on his head and attacked Daniel, who pulled down his shirt to show me a huge scar on his upper arm.
Daniel shouts "I'm going to call the police", the Doctor says "it's me or nobody", Ken chips in with "calm down we will be there too".
Even in my dream state I'm totally confused with what is going on, and wondering why nobody else seems concerned.

Sadly at this point I was woken up and the rest of the story remains unwritten.
Possibly there will be a continuation during another sleep? but unless I'm woken during the dream I will never remember it happening.

Wish I was this inventive during my waking hours.

'Merica

So the American election choice is either a) A geriatric with signs of dementia owned by big business or b) A geriatric with signs of dementia owned by big business?
Suppose they're lucky because they know what they're getting.

The Irony is Strong

Sudden calls from Tories to control the Main Stream Media after years of misinformation designed to prop up whatever lies the government is seeking to spread.
Newspapers all run by tax avoiding Tory supporting billionaires, and the BBC whose directors were appointed by David Cameron to control the flow of information, under threat of losing their licence fee.
Suddenly the weight of public opinion and falling revenues have forced them to print some actual truth, and the Right wingers don't like it.

Probably a great time to hold these people accountable, but in reality they will be gently reminded who looks after them and will all toe the party line once the current fuss has died down.

But it was fun while it lasted.

Common Sense

Interesting that several government ministers have been trotting out the line "the general public should use common sense", to excuse themselves from all the mixed messages that come out every day.
Obviously this is coming from Conservative HQ as part of "operation blameshift" which will be ramped up for the next few months as it is with every other disaster, just remember Grenfell which managed to shift the blame to the firefighters.

Sadly as this blogs title suggests common sense seems to be going out of fashion at an alarming rate, a quick trawl through social media shows a high proportion of the population are led by whatever they are told by the media, which as anyone with an ounce of common sense knows is agenda driven.
Sometimes you think their must be a program of brainwashing going on, as people you know and seemed quite well adjusted are posting whatever the media tells them and refuse to believe overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

"It was the public wot did it"

Ventilators

I like meme's, cartoons etc, they save a lot of typing.

Buzzwords

Clapping

So Boris has got the clap, or maybe I've been getting confused with all the stupid posts I've read in the last few days?
Have to admit I knew nothing about the clap for the NHS the other day, just read about it afterwards from all those muppets who have been singing the Tories praises throughout this shitstorm.
I guess it was a guilt trip for all those who supported the party of austerity and the slow dismantling of the NHS after realising that during a crisis we really do need them.
Not that any of them get the irony of the whole situation 😒

Now I see there's a call to clap Boris??? for his cock-eyed handling of this whole situation.
If I hear any it will lower my expectation even further of the mental state of this nation.

Four Years

Four years since I posted anything, and probably over ten years since I posted anything worthwhile?
Maybe I should start again, but it got tedious when the only people who bother to comment are the troll types, who inhabit most online platforms and only live to criticise others.
Also depressed that it seems nearly all my family and most of my ex-workmate friends that I'm still in touch with, seem to have been brainwashed into a sheep mentality where they all believe and follow anything they are told by the media.
Much as I used to enjoy a good face to face argument where opinions could be expressed and I could refute anything I knew to be untrue, social media has pretty much done away with this.
At this time of Coronavirus it has become obvious that a more dangerous virus has been propagating for the last dozen years affecting the ability of people to think for themselves.
All that's needed is one hack to make up a story in line with the particular media's political leanings and print it on the front page, even if it is proved to be 100% fabricated they will only be required to print a retraction on page 19 in small print. Before that happens the headline has been shared across the internet by anyone of the same political persausion, then the sheep get on board thinking they've discovered something which will impress their friends.
Anyone with a basic knowlege of fact checking will usually ignore it, but sadly there are already millions infected by the "if it's on the internet it must be true" virus and will then start quoting it in conversations and the lie spreads. Any political question and answer session will usually contain a handful of placed stooges to bring up the lie and subvert any sensible conversation.

..... Oh what's the point? the muppets are taking over the world :(

Bricking It