and several walked by on the other side

I write as an Englishman with strong Northern Irish bonds by birth, along with an intimate knowledge of the intricacies of the Province’s politics, and a calm look at how British Law had been trashed, ignored and twisted, all in the cause of the famed and ‘sacred’ (my italics) Peace Process’; which brought in to Government, Sinn Fein, the grinning representatives of the murderous IRA, along with the equally venal PUP, cover for the UVF paramilitaries, and the DUP, the Protestant origins of which stem from the likes of ex-Stormont Unionist Prime Ministers Terence O’Neill and Brian Faulkner, together with the old traditions of Ian Paisley and all his passionate but deluded religion-based ideals; alongside their well-known cover for the UDA, yet another gang of killers and criminals.

I note with growing alarm the intentions of the PSNI, the ‘reformed’ Police Service, in interviewing under caution the Paratroopers who were alleged to have ‘shot and murdered’ civilians in Londonderry in 1972. Strange, is it not, that these men, supposedly given anonymity and protection under the terms of the Saville Enquiry, are once again to be questioned as to what happened that fateful day; when over two hundred IRA killers have all been sent letters stating that they will not be either prosecuted or imprisoned for the murders they undoubtedly committed.

My own ‘interpretation’ of the happenings which led to the SAVILLE enquiry can be read here, and believe me when I posted it on a Blog devoted to Northern Irish politics, the venom in the comments stated only one thing; that I was right on the button!

 

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If you say you need more information whether to leave EU or not….

 

……..Then you just haven’t been paying attention.

The most important item, on a majority of people’s minds, is Immigration. But, apart from the Romanians and Bulgarians, the vast majority of the inward flow from the EU are totally acceptable to the British, from a viewpoint of reliability, honesty, and just about any other measure. They are like us, in so many ways; which is why they assimilate so quickly and readily.

The single item or measure which should be pursued, but of course is not, is not just Nationality, but Nationality coupled with Religious Persuasion. I refer of course to the new Fifth Column amongst us, the Muslims. There are now over two million of these belligerents, all claiming that their bloody god is better than any of ours; and we see, from hard evidence, that there are those amongst the ranks of Muslims who see it as their holy duty to kill in the name of their f****ing so-called prophet Mohammed.

So why is my stance firmly in the ‘Leave’ camp. Apart from the curse of the Human Rights Act, imported from the EU without any in-depth research as to the extent and ramification of this pernicious Act; as well as the actuality of the imposition of European Law overriding our own Law; I would only point out that the negotiations for Turkey’s full membership of the EU are strolling slowly along, and if the Turks ever get over the fact that they would have to accept that Greece rules over half of Cyprus, they will be eligible for full membership in about four years time. Has anyone else looked at the ethnic and religious make-up of Turkey? 85% Muslim, a small and ever-diminishing Arabic Christian contingent, and the balance mainly Kurdish, who of course are still Muslim, but want their own Independence.

Just contemplate that statistic, and then decide if you wish to remain in a Europe, Federal or not, where you will be forced to accept that a good proportion of 90 million Muslims want to live next door to you; and you would not be able to say ‘No’, because of that old ‘Free Movement’ routine of which the EU is so very fond.

Plimsoll Lines

I was chatting with a car sales employee the other morning, waiting my turn to speak with the sales rep with whom I had an appointment. He was a Geordie, the same as I am, and as we talked, the conversation ranged from football; of which I know absolutely nothing, through various cars and other vehicles we both had knowledge of; and ended up talking about shipping and Unions in Australia.

I was telling this young man of a stevedore foreman in Perth, who was also a Union rep. Now in those days, the Australian Unions ruled, and a ship’s captain, or a stevedore company, walked warily when the Unions were on the prowl. So, as I said, I was chatting to this foreman, and he asked me if I could see the Plimsoll marks on a ship which was berthed across the harbour from where we lay; as she was unusually low in the water. I fetched my binoculars, and saw firstly that she was flying the Blue Peter, which signifies ‘I am about to depart’; and then focussing on her marks, saw that she was sitting well below the ruling lines on the Plimsoll marks painted on her side midships. The foreman asked for a view, then raced ashore, called his office, and about ten minutes later the Port Captain’s guys were boarding the freighter, to stop her sailing illegally. The ship had to unload about three-four hundred tons of cargo before the ship complied with what is actually an Internationally-recognised regulation.

But the reason why I write this is simply because, in a country which survives because of the Sea, whose destiny and fate has always been bound to ships, shipping, and a naval tradition; this young man, an otherwise well-educated and obviously aware individual; had never heard of Samuel Plimsoll, or of the simple fact that, on EVERY ship which crosses any stretch of water, any ocean, anywhere: she must carry, by Law, the internationally-recognised Plimsoll markings; along with the name of the English MP who fought to make it so!

 

The only sentence? Life without Parole!

When I write about mental health or mental illnesses, I write from personal knowledge of a problem which has been with my wife for over 45 years. Over the years which I have lived with this devastating mental illness; namely schizophrenia, I have also encountered great kindness, a depth of understanding of the human condition second to none, and great knowledge of how some people react when faced with the living reality of a person who literally, and mercurially, alters their ‘persona’, to be almost another, stronger, and sometimes more violent individual. In my long life, during the course of my wife’s illness and treatment, I have seen and met dozens, if not hundreds, of people similarly afflicted, and I know of the distress of the families who have had to watch as their relative endures the living hell which can be mental illness. I have watched as a literal giant of a man carefully cradled my infant daughter in his arms, after he asked my wife if he could hold her during a Sunday visit to the hospital where my wife was treated; and I also heard how this same man had to be restrained so tightly because he could smash a human body when his mind was afflicted by the skeins and tendrils of this mental illness.

Mental illness strikes at random; it ranges from a depression to a violence unimaginable; and it is near to most of us, in that most of us know, or are related to, a person who suffers from one or another type of illness. Unless you have experience of; or close and substantial personal contact with a person suffering from such a terrible affliction, you cannot know how such an individual will react under any stimuli or restraint.

Which is why I feel that the only appropriate charge for these three uniformed Nazis is Murder, not the weak charge of manslaughter!

A fair wind, and a sound ship, will bring her crew safe home!

I write today on a subject which has always been near to my core beliefs, and as the subject is ‘Life and Safety at Sea’, it should also stand high in the priorities of the Regulating Authorities, and Parliament, as the ultimate arbiters of Safety as regards the crew and shipping serving the needs of the United Kingdom.

I refer to the numbers of inspections by Competent Inspectors throughout the United Kingdom as noted in the online publication ‘Officer of the Watch’ with a total of 197 Cargo ships inspected, along with 166 bulk carriers; and a total of 14 detentions in the year 2015. I would also ask you to compare these totals with, say Australia, where 6030 bulk carriers and 491 general cargo ships were inspected; where the Detention numbers reported were 241. Gazing objectively at the relative paucity of inspections within the UK, an Island Kingdom which depends almost entirely upon sea freight, as compared to the rigorous Inspection regimes of Australia, we are not just paddling to stay in the same place, we have been caught by the currents of cost-cutting, of so-called austerity, of simply not bothering; in the faint hope that someone else will do our job for us, and protect sailors from criminal acts of neglect and, at worst, death.

We are an Island Nation, with a proud tradition with the sea, and one of the things which stick in my memory of my time in the British Merchant Navy was the resolute requirement that everything to do with Safety at Sea was scrupulously attended to. Every ship I sailed on, every Saturday morning, all equipment with any potential at all regarding safety was either tested, used, operated, sounded or started. Everyone took part, everyone knew how to use all the safety and fire equipment, because we knew that lives might depend on it; and so it was done. We owe it to the seafarers on board every ship which touches our ports and shores that a thorough and sound Safety inspection completed without fear or favour is carried out by Competent Inspectors, of a sufficient number and calibre which should catch any vessels and operators who attempt to evade their responsibilities to the crew, either by substandard living conditions, or by a lack of either provision of safety equipment; or of  maintenance & repair of that essential equipment.

Calls for stronger actions, such as those emanating from the Reverend Roger Stone from seafarers’ charity Apostleship of the Sea (AoS); should be both made required reading, as well as featuring in stricter and stronger criminal penalties, instead of the weak-kneed civil strictures in place today.

‘It’ll be alright; after all, we’re just down the road’

I believe that the famous aphorism ‘If you find yourself in a hole; stop digging’ was originally spoken by the American comedian Will Rogers, but grew to be known as ‘Healey’s First Law of Holes’, after it was quoted by the Labour politician Denis Healey.

I was reminded of that famous saying when reading of yet another interminable bleating interview with Kate McCann, wife of Gerry; and mother of the tragic Madeleine. I say interminable, not only because of the way that our Kate rambles on, but the number of times in which she castigates everyone, from the Portuguese Police, to the Metropolitan Police in the UK; all the red-top newsies, most of t’v.’s presenters and programmers, alongside everyone who has ever been interviewed, suspected, cleared or even sniffed at: over the disappearance of that small child. In all the interviews, in the books, magazine and news articles; strangely enough, she does not mention, not ever, the real authors of that little girl’s disappearance: probably because she will not confirm what everyone else already knows as fact. She will not admit the truth, that she and her husband were solely and ultimately responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance because they would not pay € 10 euros for a babysitter to look after their three kids while they went off to eat at some outdoor restaurant.

True, the child wasn’t abducted by the parents, but by leaving three small kids all alone; so that they could bloody eat and booze with their mates, they left the drawbridge down, the room unguarded, the windows open; and what better signal to maleficent and evil individuals which states, categorically, that the parents basically did not care.

I still believe that the McCanns should have been visited by a couple of thin-lipped women from Social Services upon their return to the UK, and had the other two kids snatched and placed into care, as those two specimens, personable, educated and media-savvy though they are, were truly unfit to be called parents.

I would end with a quote from Katie Hopkins, a reporter and columnist for whom I have a great deal of respect:- ‘Maddie wasn’t lost because someone took her. She was lost because she was left to be found’.

Two dead, two missing; and not a single person asks: WHY?

We are often told, that we choose what happens to our bodies, it is our decision alone; we are all individually responsible for whatever happens to us: whether the actions are through the hazards and effects of smoking; great and deadly though those hazards factually are: or drinking, possibly less; or through the ingestion or self-administering of noxious drugs and substances; possibly even more deadly than either of the first two.

But where are the calls for a modicum of common sense; for the slightest sense of caution; when three elderly morons decide that they know best; better than all the experts who abound in the region: and move off to go walking/climbing deep in the wilds of Dumfries and Galloway; when the weather, arguably changeable as the wind at these times of the year, is demonstrably atrocious. Two of the three, rescued and brought down by police and mountain rescue teams, lie dead in the hospital morgue, and the third is fighting for his life in that hospital. Did they not, for even one second, think that they might not know the area as good as the experts? Just consider the dangers which the rescue teams, albeit willingly, face every time they journey out to rescue fools, morons and numerous other idiots who want to go, climb or stumble; ‘just because its there’?

Also headlined is the news of two ‘experienced climbers’, one of which is an ‘environmental consultant’, was said to have been hit by an avalanche on the slopes of Ben Nevis. Imagine, two ‘experienced climbers’ being unaware of the dangers of avalanches; deep in the middle of ‘Avalanche Valley’! Doesn’t your incredulity graph sort of head skywards?
If there was a substantial deposit required from all these so-called ‘elderly hill-walkers’ and other suicidally-inclined clowns, all itching to go onto mountain tops and hills when the weather causes everyone else to head for the nearest warm fire; there might be a few less calls for those rescue services.

Half-a-league onward and upward?

 

Says it all; for me at least.

h/t Telegraph

 

 

Its not the fall, its the sudden stop!

It is probably a matter of public record that modern pop music, in whatever form, guise, wrapping or even exhumation passes me by. I can count on one hand the number of pop records, melodies, songs, whatever; which have impacted upon my psyche and my mind. From ‘Matchstalk Men’ to ‘Take my breath away’ by Berlin, through a strangely prophetic ‘Ride to Agadir’, to the Mary Fahl version of ‘Going Home’, the superb theme music to the Civil War epic ‘Gods and Generals’; and especially ‘The Living Years’; a song which reminds me constantly of the fact that my brother died without my reconciling with him.

The deaths of five young men in a car which sped past traffic barriers and then hurtled off the gap in the Stockholm road where the bridge had risen; to fall eighty feet to the riverbed below, has yet to be fully explained; as blood, drug and toxicity testing remain unfinished; but it is plain that something went tragically wrong. This was no accident, as the vehicle drove past stationary cars, and a traffic barrier, before their fatal plunge to the riverbed. Four of the five were members of an ‘Indie rock band’ named Viola Beach, and the fifth was their road manager.

Their music will live on, in the minds and memories of their families, and their fans; but it is probably a sad fact that the lifestyle which helped give them the ‘spark’; helped kill all five.

‘Tranny’ bullshit refuted

I have often considered the fact that we hold the right of ‘freedom of speech’ to be the greatest gift won by the civilised nations on this planet. It is one of the first things to disappear when a dictator, or an overbearing regime, whether of left- or right-wing persuasion, takes control of a nation. They do not like the truth being broadcast, and so they attempt to muzzle those who wish to speak out. As with governments so with individuals, university students, and anyone with a particular axe to grind: theirs is the belief/ the truth, and they do not wish it challenged.

Take the ultra-fashionable idea of ‘transgender identity’ and all the associated bullshit which accompanies this twisted ideal. According to the ‘Trans’ lobby, along with, of course, the militant LGBT squads which loudly preach the latest gospel, no-one is allowed to even query the idea that a man, or a woman, can exchange their gender and have everyone accept this as ‘natural’. Now, if anyone wishes to be fooled, and accepts this ‘blarney’ as reality, good luck to them; but what I dislike is the vicious campaign style adopted by the Zealots who believe in the ‘trans’ ideals. They bully, they troll those who wish or attempt to speak out in opposition to their strange and twisted beliefs and ideals; and allow no-one an opportunity to argue against their dictats.

One of the people who, over the years, has constantly riled me with his vocal and literary pursuit of gay or homosexual rights is Peter Tatchell. I am not against homosexual activity, although I regard the proponents of such activity as weird. My attitude is that of Charles Darwin; whose opinions stated that the only sexual activity worth encouragement was that of heterosexuality. Homosexuality, from a Darwinian standpoint, is clearly a disorder. Homosexual acts cannot produce offspring – so gay men and women effectively remove themselves from the gene pool by remaining homosexual. If that is what they wish to do, fair enough; their bodies, and their gene-pools, are their own business. Tatchell’s standpoint was to encourage others to fight, or demonstrate for their ‘rights’; it is my belief that they enjoy exactly the same rights as anyone else on this planet, and deserve no more and no less than any other member of species ‘Homo-sapiens’.

But suddenly, I have developed a great admiration for the ‘rights campaigner extraordinaire’. Seems as though Mr. Tatchell has been through some sort of conversion process, and has attacked both the ‘Tranny lobby’, as well as coming down, if that is the appropriate term, firmly on the side of the ‘gay cake refuseniks’, Ashers of Belfast. Discussing the stalled Appeal against the conviction of two honest Christians who oppose an ideology which is against their deeply held religious beliefs, he stunned many by supporting the bakers in their fight against their conviction.

Tatchell stated “If the Ashers verdict stands, it would mean a gay baker could be made to make cakes saying ‘I’m against gay marriage’,” said Tatchell. “A Muslim printer would have to publish the cartoons of Muhammad or a Jewish printer publish books of a Holocaust denier. So, much as I disagree with Ashers’ right to be homophobic, and I have spoken out against their anti-gay discrimination, they shouldn’t be forced to aid a political message they don’t agree with. I think it’s important to err on the side of freedom of expression and religion.
“It is difficult for me to take this decision, especially given the incredible levels of homophobia in sections of the Northern Irish community.”

The emails from the officer of the National Union of Students were unequivocal. Fran Cowling, the union’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) representative, said that she would not share a stage with a man whom she regarded as having been racist and “transphobic”.

That the man in question is Peter Tatchell – one of the country’s best-known gay rights campaigners, who next year celebrates his 50th year as an activist – is perhaps a mark of how fractured the debate on free speech and sexual politics has become.

Good on you: Peter!

 

But aren’t your police wonderful?

As readers may have gathered from my writing, my tones and my acid disposition towards much if not most of our ‘modern-day society’, I am an elderly man: and I am impatient with much of modern life. Many people may call me intolerant; and they may well be right, but that is just the way I am. My country, the place which I call ‘home’, has altered so much that sometimes I do feel that I am that ‘stranger’ in foreign climes.

The focus for my ire and irritation this sunny, cloudless February day is our so-called Judicial system, the manner it which is has been altered to favour those who please the Lefty-Liberal-Socialistic-clowns who have pervaded this once green and pleasant land; and in particular the Police, how they operate, and in whose favour; despite their Oath of Allegiance.

But, after the intrusion of the Total Correct Political Crew, plus the EU Rules, alongside regulations with the European Courts, we now find that a murderous fanatic was helped to travel to Syria by three of his mates, who landed up in court: and the bloody police, and the CPS were more intent upon efforts to keep his name, and the fact that he was homosexual; out of the public domain.

But during the preliminary legal argument, a CPS note read: “It is not known what the reaction of ISIS would be if they became of aware of the social media chat that Mr Muthana has entered into with the defendants. It seems unlikely that Mr Muthana would have an opportunity to defend himself in accordance with the standards of this court.”

It said the CPS and police had a “duty” under the Human Rights Act to protect him and that “does not end because Mr Muthana has left the UK or is fighting on behalf of ISIS.” In a pre-trial briefing, the then assistant chief constable of South Wales Police Nikki Holland, who is now at Merseyside Police, said: “I don’t think it is a case of physically protecting him but he has protection of the law in human rights. He has a right to life. As a police force we protect everyone’s right to life – even a terrorist.”

So this murderous pillock can go and plan to kill ‘the Kuffar’, but his ISIS compatriots, members of an alliance which routinely denounces gay men; shouldn’t know that he is bent as a nine-bob note!

The wages of sin is death.

I have often wondered about the true statistic of State-sanctioned murder in both the USA and the UK. Because what else could be termed State-sanctioned murder but Abortion?

Some might argue that a woman’s right to control her own body, and reproductive functions, is entirely her own. Others may argue differently, and the laws of both America and the UK side with the woman: but Laws can be modified, or otherwise ignored, as to the safety of the woman concerned. There used to be a requirement for two doctors to sign as to the need for an abortion in the UK, but a practice nurse can now sign by herself.

As a one-time religious participant, my thinking was to a certain extent coloured by that type of thinking; but now speaking and writing from a strictly factual viewpoint, I reckon that abortion should remain legal, but should be bound with far stricter rules and blocking procedures.

Just saying!

Leave: Depart: Quit!

As along with a solid number of others, bloggers, writers; people who actually think: I have studied the entrails, read the statements, figured out what exactly is on offer in the turgid depths of the Cameron/Tusk/EU cess-pit generated document, and have come, once more, to the inescapable conclusion that we, as a Nation, are better off ‘LEAVING’  than ‘REMAINING’.

The proof of my arguments is contained within the garbage printed and titled,‘The new Settlement for the United Kingdom (Link here). We all knew what Cameron was going to try and get through the Referendum with a lot of smoke, and a great many mirrors; but when there is absolutely nothing which can be stated as a ‘Guarantee’; nothing which is given as pursuant to a Treaty; I must in all honesty ask why all that time was spent waiting for this load of old garbage?

The only thing more worrying than Cameron squatting on his plump haunches calling out ‘Bring it on!’ is the row of snivelling cowards who masquerade as the Cabinet. There are at least five Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers who hate and detest the idea of the European Union; that is a numeric fact; but will one of them put their heads above the parapet and state ‘I do not agree’? They are all ***t-scared of losing their Cabinet jobs, their red-****ing boxes, their offices with important titles on the desks, the power which comes with that title. They fear Cameron, and his Eton-generated haughty anger. They will throw away the only chance there is of having a well-known name to lead the ‘Leave’ campaign, because they are just ***t-scared of being fired!

…and they all fall down!

If you embark on an Engineering career, whether certificated and University-qualified, or apprentice-trained and college-qualified; or even if your choice is to get your hands dirty as a technician, or junior or senior Engineer; the first thing you learn is that the single most important word in your vocabulary is, Maintenance!

I spent seven/eight years at sea, looking after the electrical systems on ships large and small, and the voice I recall the best was that of the Second Engineer whose mantra was, ‘You walk around the entire engine room for one purpose, and one purpose only; to detect the oddity, the anomaly.’ He explained, ‘If you walk around the main engine steam turbine casing, you simply run your hands over the casing as you walk by, if you pass a pump motor, a gear-box, you touch it, if you enter the boiler room area, you casually flick open the sight ports, and check that the flames are bright: then you know that you are absorbing information as to the healthy state of that turbine, or pump, or boiler. As well as your eyes and your hands, keep your ears trained to pick up the unusual, the click, the knock, the whine, the unusual clatter. If a casing is too hot, there might be a shaft bearing concealed within, and that bearing is short on lubrication, you have done your job, because you have detected something which may go wrong within a very short space of time’.

Now the reader must realise that sensor technology has taken a great deal of work out of the hands of technicians, and placed it within the purview of computers, which can check an undue rise in temperature, or pressure, a far sight faster than any human could detect, and flag an alarm, or sound a siren; to draw the attention of the technician engineer to that particular problem, whether on a main engine, or a pump; or wherever. But the unfortunate trend within ships, within automation wherever it serves, is that the human beings are and have been phased out, with computers allegedly doing their jobs; because human beings actually cost a lot of money. So the bean-counters have built ships which rely upon technology to do the jobs which technicians and engineers performed for decades, with a huge discount in the numbers of men who serve the giants held within the engine room spaces.

An Arleigh-Burke class US Navy destroyer carries a complement, men and women, numbering some 280. Some tend the guns, torpedoes and missiles, others work and maintain navigation duties and the vast electronics systems which are the very heart of modern-day weaponry and nav. systems; and many more tend the engine turbines and other gear which gives the destroyer its speed and manoeuvrability.

A Littoral Combat ship is, admittedly, a smaller ship than a destroyer, but it only carries a crew of fifty, as most of the maintenance work is supposed to be carried out on a shore-party-based system; meaning that this type of vessel does not carry anywhere near as many technician/engineers as similar US Navy ships. But, the question must be asked, if Arleigh-Burke destroyers have performed, mechanically; almost flawlessly for over twenty years, how come the USS Fort Worth tried to set sail with no lube oil in the precision-made gear boxes, and everything burned up?

A salute to a valiant Man

Professor Bob Carter is dead. Forget the imbecilic paeans of praise for Bowie, place to one side the nicer memories of Terry Wogan; we have lost a giant, who spoke common sense to his bitter critics, and we should remember him with honour, and with gratitude, for he was singularly unique in his education, in his principled stance against the ‘97%’ collective of imbeciles and fellow-travellers who sought to smear and besmirch his very name, all in their cause of ‘Climate Change’

He was a firm critic, and an extremely successful one, of all things pertaining to ‘Climate Change’, Global Warming’; and all the other lies associated with the farrago of bullshit designed to strip us of our industrial heritage, and send us back towards mediaeaval times in the vainglorious pursuit of depleting our output of Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

He subsidised the High Court Case against the thin tissue of lies masquerading under the name ‘An Inconvenient truth’, otherwise known as Al Gore’s pitch for immortality and lots of cash, and forced the UK government to send 77 pages of ‘corrective guidance’ to every school in the UK.

He is, and will be, sadly missed

Link to WUWT for the final lines, for a piano clip entitled ‘Bob Carter’s Peal’ played by Christopher Monckton of Brenchley; as the file won’t import to WordPress.