“The noise, dear boy; and the people!”

The noise, of death and destruction; the people, who were annihilated or who fought to prevent such annihilation, were prevalent all over the world in the years 1939-1945: because those were the years of possibly the greatest test of true democracy ever envisaged.

To use the words of King George the 6th “ but we can only do the right as we see the right, “. We in the British Isles, along with France, declared war on Nazi Germany, on Italy and later on, of course, on Japan. One of our allies was of course Stalin’s Russia, the Nation who perhaps suffered most both at the hands of the Nazis as well as at the hands, or rather the bayonets, of Stalin’s ruthless rule.

For six years, war tore apart Europe, large portions of Africa and the Far East; millions died in the cause of defeating the Axis of Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan. The oceans of the world were darkened with the oil and blood of sinking ships and dying men; the air was filled with the noise of aircraft, bullets and shells.

But you won’t see or hear much about this titanic struggle if you visit the House of European History in Brussels.

Strange, but true!

Updated.

Most people of my age simply do not know that we actually fought in the European Civil War during 1939-1945!

A ‘Green Deal’; or just the ‘Old Deal’

I have written before about the total lack of mechanical knowledge and aptitude of my eldest brother, and of the fact that he is a legend amongst his family and friends for being so totally lacking in knowledge of even minor repairs around the home. As I wrote at the time “His finest utterance was on the subject of wine; he had been persuaded to buy a different brand of booze at the supermarket, and he had tried to get the cork out of the bottle for twenty-seven minutes before learning that the bottle had a screw-top!”

He called me up some years ago to ask my advice on a gas boiler and hot water shower problem he thought he was having, and he was astounded to learn that I could solve his problem over the phone whilst being some 300 miles apart. He called me again to again ask if he was doing the right thing in taking up an offer and estimate from British Gas for the complete replacement of his gas boiler for the princely sum of over £2,000.00, as the fitter had recommended a salesman to call because the boiler was ‘old and in need of replacement’.

I asked my brother if the boiler had passed the ‘safety inspection’ which the British Gas CORGI fitter had carried out, and he replied that it had passed, and he had the certification on his hands. I then told him to find a local Gas Repair Company from the Yellow Pages, and get a second independent opinion.

He called me back a week later and thanked me for the advice, as the independent Company’s salesman had stated that his boiler was perfectly sound; but when it eventually went wrong, and was ready to be replaced, his Company would be pleased to do the work, fit and commission a brand new boiler, for the princely sum of £650.00!

I write of this because I trust neither the Government, B&Q, British Gas, or indeed any independent ‘Assessor’ to speak the truth when dealing with things which the average householder just does not either understand or appreciate!

With Formula One, you’ll find it all happening!

McLaren-Mercedes        Proud sponsor of the F1 racing team, and also of the cattle prods used by the Bahrain Police against peaceful demonstrators.

Red Bull Racing-Renault. Proud sponsor of the F1 team, and also Equally proud of the tear gas produced under special licence for the sole use of the Bahraini Royal Family against their restive subjects.

Ferrari                   Sponsor of the most successful F1 team, and also of the flexible bludgeon, used exclusively by the Pakistani security force recruits in troubled Bahrain.

Tata Industries  Sponsors of the computer and communications network for F1, and, equally impressively but slightly less well advertised, their technical expertise in crowd control, tear gas and public relations for the Bahrain Royal Family.

Caterham/Cosworth/Williams    Proud sponsors of teams in F1, and also suppliers of mechanical and electrical engineering maintenance expertise performed on the fleet of Saudi gun- and personnel carrier vehicles which support the ruthless crackdown on Bahrain’s Shia majority population.

A very perfect ‘Gentleman’?

We have to rejoice. We have to accept that there is at least one amongst we British who is of unimpeachable reputation, spotless character and of the strongest sense of moral duty; when ‘the word ‘moral’ is used in the old-fashioned sense of the word, which is of honour, loyalty and devotion to duty. How do we know that such a person exists? Well, we know because Ken Clarke tells us that he exists.

He exists because he can be trusted to be told about information about an individual which is so secret that it cannot be divulged to that individual. He exists because not only the individual who presumably is on trial cannot know about that information, his lawyer cannot know either. He will be the repository of ‘evidence’ which cannot be disclosed to anyone without an authorisation or classification which is above ‘Ultra top secret’, because we, the public, cannot be trusted to learn whatever has been learnt, divulged, alleged or even dreamt of regarding that individual who is on trial! He is presumed to be of such rectitude that he, and he alone, will have to respond to lawyers and barristers for the Government when he receives such ‘secret’ information, with no chance whatsoever of holding such ‘evidence’ to account as we have done, in both low and High courts across this nation of ours, for nearly nine hundred years.

We must allow ourselves a small peek into the future, by guessing out of the lists of both the ‘great and the good’, just who will hold the liberties of such accused in the palms of their hands.  The first name, of course, on that secret list of ‘the best of the best’ must be that of our all-time favourite guy, Tony Blair. Who could argue against his inclusion in such a band of stalwarts? After all, we as a nation of ‘democrats’ allowed him to assume the mantle of ‘the leader’ when he was Prime Minister for eight-odd years. The former leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, must also stand high on the list of people to whom such secrets can be included. After all, despite earning the title ‘the Welsh Windbag’, he never said anything which could be construed as being dis-loyal to the State, partly because he never uttered anything intelligent or intelligible at all! John Major must also appear on our lists of those above those above the salt. After all, it was he who ramrodded the Maastricht Treaty through the Commons, presumably after reading it, and thereby cementing yet even further the iron grip of the European Elite (a.k.a. European Union). The list could be extended to members of the ‘Slebs Circuit’, as we all know and instinctively trust such stalwarts as  those who feature on the gossip pages and photos of the Daily Mail, but perhaps that may be a step too far, partly because most of that bunch couldn’t be trusted to keep their knees together, never mind their lips.

So, the ‘Consultation’ phase of the Green Paper goes churning on, but it is a very strange thing to note that the only senior politician who has so far spoken out against these ‘Fascist’ totalitarian ideals is the Deputy Prime Minister, who possibly only read the Green Paper whilst sulking in the toilets after yet another Cabinet meeting where he was once again comprehensively snubbed by both Cameron and Osborne.

just a few jerry cans….