Now you see it…..

North Sea Shell Brent Delta Platform  (A mere 24,0000 tons!)

 

And now……

 

You don’t!!!!

They call them ‘queer’; and they usually are!

When still a teenager, I was uninterested in anything else than my engineering studies and apprenticeship, girls; and of course how to find one who would go out with me; loud and ever louder pop music: and of course that most desirable item: beer. The Korean War had been fought, and the 38th parallel Armistice still rules today. I noticed that Americans, along with a smaller British contingent, fought and died to prevent a Communist takeover of the South, and only with the intervention of China and, to a lesser extent, Soviet Russia, did the North Koreans avert obliteration. America, and its politics, was but a small shadow on my horizon; but one of THE nastiest of political opportunists was beginning to make his presence known in mainstream American politics. Senator Joe McCarthy, a reptile who, single-handedly destroyed hundreds of American lives by simply asking ‘When did you become a Communist?’ He asked and made these leading, destructive and disgraceful questions and commentaries because his position, as a U.S. Senator, gave him unrivalled power, and few dared to stand against him. He was a bully, a hypocrite of the first order, a boastful braggart; but also an intensely professional politician, who single-handedly raised the ‘witch-hunts’ for supposed ‘Reds under the Bed’ to a new, and very sinister degree.  His menacing ‘invitations’ to testify before his Committee led to disturbing excesses. His browbeating tactics destroyed careers of people who were not involved in the infiltration of our government. His freewheeling style caused both the Senate and the Subcommittee to revise the rules governing future investigations, and prompted the courts to act to protect the Constitutional rights of witnesses at Congressional hearings. Two things meant that he was finally brought low; when he attempted to take on the Army, and was humiliated by their counsel, the other was the famous soliloquy by Edward R. Murrow on CBS-TV.

The reason for this drift back in time is to hold up to the spotlight of criticism the new McCarthyism; the really nasty witch-hunt being played out against anyone in political or public life who states, or indeed has even hinted, that there is something deeply unsavoury; or actually wrong, about homosexuality, and whether the avalanche of words and statements glorifying this truly unedifying practice is actually of benefit to both homosexuals, and to the Nation as a whole.

We have the case of Tim Farron, pilloried all over for hesitating to state, as is given within his Christian beliefs, that homosexual activity is a sin. Personally, I have very little time for Mr. Farron, whom I believe to be a deeply-deluded politician; but I do respect his right to believe in whatever his religion preaches.

We also have the case of Tory M.P. Andrew Turner who was pilloried after stating his opinion that homosexuality was wrong to a class of sixth-formers; he is believed to have stepped down after a vicious campaign against him.

We also read of one Robert Peston, who seems to have placed himself as the modern ‘witchfinder general’, stating that he will ask every would-be M.P. the same question in order to establish the ‘truth’.

I have written many times of my opposition to the gradual leniency afforded people who hold to this perversion in their private lives, this same leniency which has ended up with Cameron’s  insane idea of ‘Same-Sex Marriage’ which placed this union of perverts on the same basis as the untold millions of marriages between men and women, made according to rites which have descended from antiquity. I oppose this farrago, and will continue to do so until my dying breath. I do not state that it is wrong on any religious point, although there are so many: I oppose it because sex, and the very act of love itself, is purely for the purpose of procreation, and any such activity which is, of itself, barren, because procreation cannot take place between two people of the same sex was named a perversion as such by no less an authority than Charles Darwin.

Keep a’knockin, but I won’t be answering!

Mike’s Window Election Message.

No Bloody Leaflets, as they are immediately dumped!

 

No Bloody Politicians Welcome!

 

I know whom I shall vote for; and it certainly is not YOU!

‘America is better than this’

I have often written pouring scorn on the brutal policies of Communist China, especially in regard to the forced abortions, the deliberate policy of a one-child family, enforced legally throughout China’s so-called hospitals, where the impersonal and dehumanising law which stated that of a woman became pregnant again after the birth of a healthy child, that pregnancy was illegal; and the baby must be killed before or during birth: was carried out with a brutal rigorous attitude which stated “The Party has ruled, and the Party must always be obeyed; because The Party knows best”!

I began by writing of Communist China, but there are many more in our Western so-called civilised societies who hold beliefs not too dissimilar to the geriatrics of Beijing, who rule by fear, and force, and brutality; together with a very thin veneer of Western capitalism spread very thinly overall! Take the largest so-called Family Planning organisation in the Western world, which goes by the name of ‘Planned Parenthood’. I deliberately state ‘so-called’, because the last thing which these murderous clowns wish to see is larger families. The ‘Planning’ is simply a euphemism, because it would not look to good to have ‘Open-Source Murder’ as part of your Company’s name and open strategy. They have organised and carried out 7.7 million abortions since 1973, and the strategy, planning and methods of their founder bear strong resemblance to the ideals of both the Red Chinese, and the sinister ideals of one Adolf Hitler of not-so-dear departed memory.

 

As the Washington Times’ Rebecca Hagerlin stated:-

‘Minorities crammed into impoverished areas in inner cities should not be having so many babies. And, of course, these minorities (including most of America’s immigrants) are inferior in the human race, as are the physically and mentally handicapped. We should require mandatory sterilizations of those less desirable and promote easy access to abortion. And since sex should be a free-for-all, we must provide birth control and abortions to teenagers too. It’s all for the greater good and for a more intelligent, liberated, healthier population.

Feel a bit enraged by the sentiments above?

They absolutely sicken me.

If you are feeling squeamish or angry too, then you should call your representatives in Congress and demand an end to your tax dollars funding Planned Parenthood. You also can sign the petition at LiveAction.org.

For such are the foundational beliefs of this inherently racist organization and its celebrated founder, Margaret Sanger, who still is lauded on the Planned Parenthood website. Of course, in the lavish online praise of Sanger, conveniently absent is her advocacy for “a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.” (The quote is from her article “A Plan for Peace.”) Or her promotion of the “American Baby Code,” in which she seeks to “protect society against the propagation and increase of the unfit.”

Also missing is Sanger’s fear of her racist views being exposed, as recorded in a 1939 letter to an ally: “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.” Which is exactly what she set out and succeeded in doing.

Planned Parenthood is largely the reason why black babies are aborted in America three times more often than white babies, and Hispanic preborns are killed 1½ times more often than whites. In fact, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research compiled by TooManyAborted.com, “Abortion is the number one killer of black lives in the United States. More than HIV. More than heart disease. More than cancer. Abortion snuffs out more black lives than all other causes of death combined.”

Planned Parenthood masquerades as a benevolent organization, claiming to offer a full array of women’s health care services to disadvantaged women. From the way Planned Parenthood markets itself, one would think it offers basics such as mammograms and prenatal health care — especially for poor women living in the nation’s most impoverished neighborhoods.

But it does not. Mammograms are nowhere to be found. And, as LiveAction.org recently revealed in an extensive investigation in the 41 states where undercover recordings are legal, 92 out of 97 clinics contacted admitted that they do not provide prenatal care. The bottom line is that those ultrasound machines in Planned Parenthood are used to facilitate the killing of preborn babies, not care for them.

What Planned Parenthood does offer en masse in its “clinics” — which are strategically located in target areas such as college campuses and in impoverished, inner-city neighborhoods — are birth control and abortions. In fact, a baby is aborted at a Planned Parenthood clinic at an average rate of every 90 seconds.

Why college campuses? Why poor, minority inner-city neighborhoods?

Because Planned Parenthood holds a worldview that young women should be able to have sex without consequences or responsibility. Because Planned Parenthood wants these same young women to come back to their clinics for their abortions when the birth control fails. And because Planned Parenthood still seeks to provide abortions for minorities over whites. Today, Planned Parenthood may not be racist in its words, but it is still overtly racist in its deeds.

Thanks to the brilliant work of LiveAction.org, TheCenterforMedicalProgress.org and other truth seekers, we now know that Planned Parenthood traffics in human baby body parts, that it covers up the sexual trafficking of minors, that it engages in racist practices, that it provides birth control to underage girls without parental consent and that it does not provide the most basic of women’s health care services.

America is better than this.

It’s time for Congress to cut off funding to this shameful organization and direct our tax dollars to other clinics that offer life-giving health care services. Add your voice to the call to defund Planned Parenthood at http://www.LiveAction.org/petition/.

 

Hear hear; Madam!

 

Brings new meaning to the words “Pick something from the fridge!”

I am often confounded by the ways and byways of the human condition. After some sixty-odd years of noting and recording what is happening in this strange and convoluted world of ours, I often have to metaphorically shake my head in disbelief at what my fellow (alleged) human beings have done, or said.

But even these jaded eyes need to be rubbed as I read of the terrible trauma of the Auckland housewife whose old home was burgled and items stolen inclusive of ‘old meat which needed to be thrown out’, as well as ‘the PLACENTA from the birth of her five-month old son’; which had been stored in the freezer for ‘sentimental reasons’!

Just think of the ‘trauma’ inflicted on the poor unsuspecting clown who opened the Tupperware box because he was feeling hungry!
Just imagine the listings on the charge sheet when the woman is arrested after causing both irreparable mental trauma to the thief, as well as severe indigestion to that thief and, well, repair of the damage to the sewage systems of Auckland.

 

Earth to Saturn? A billion kilometres. Delhi to Islamabad? Just about the same.

I was going to write and comment upon the ‘discovery’ by the Cassini probe of hydrogen molecules on Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn. This scientist from UCL was almost in raptures at the amazing things which could be discovered once a second and probably third rocket carrying probes capable of drilling through an unknown depth of ice, descending to the floor of a (presumed) ocean, and once again drilling into geothermally active rocks. (Her explanation, not mine). The Cassini probe, launched in 1997, has finally arrived as part of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) search throughout our own Solar system; at a huge cost, and these results are the first to indicate the possible existence of life in other places besides our own.

As I stated, I was going to write about this Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and what  a complete and utter waste of time, money and human energy this farrago actually was, and is; but decided instead that what we should really be spending our cash, energy and resources upon is the Search for Intelligent Life on Earth.

I would point towards India, whose proud boast is that India is the largest, most vibrant Democracy on Earth. They talk about the huge and well-run elections, allowing for the peaceful transfer of power in the sub-continental State whose occupants number over one billion-plus. They point towards the fact that the Parties which vie for the votes of the millions, hand over that power after an election with hardly a murmur;  they point towards the huge and burgeoning Digital Economy, of the hundreds of thousands of graduates employed in computer science, engineering and digital technology.

Not so well-publicised, understandably, is the grinding and utter poverty of many millions of the not-so-well-educated, who labour in both rural and urban environments for peanuts, as opposed to the super-uber-luxury lifestyles of the billionaires whose wealth is a direct result of the grinding poverty mentioned earlier. Also virtually never mentioned outside of India is the crushing burden of some 200 million Dalits, or as they are also known, the Untouchables. Judged  to be ‘unclean’ by virtue of their birth, they are routinely discriminated against in every possible manner; and although the practice is illegal, it is so prevalent that no-one even comments upon it.

Also not so well publicised, except when bloodshed occurs, is the well-documented and crushing hold that Hindu India has on the almost wholly Muslim State of Kashmir. Kashmir, occupied with overwhelming and brutal force in the blood-shed which went under the heading ‘Partition’ which cost literally hundreds of thousands of lives when Hindu and Muslim found that they were living on the ‘wrong side’ of a border line imposed by force. The British Imperial forces left India virtually unscathed, with only seven recorded casualties. The resulting religion-based ferocity was worse than anything which had happened before, mainly because no planning had taken place to keep the millions on the move separate from one another. India has fought three wars with Muslim Pakistan, and also fought innumerable smaller conflicts. The only thing which stops these two Powers from commencing another war is the fact that both nations have nuclear weapons, and delivery systems ready and available.
As I stated before, how’s about the Search for Intelligent Life on Earth?

When you first realise you’ve lost; blame everyone else.

They didn’t understand the question!

 

The ‘Leave’ voters were too thick / too old / too insular / too nationalist-oriented / too ready to believe the ‘Leave’ propaganda.

 

I wish we could have another ‘go’ at a Referendum, because I feel sick at the prospect of my kids not being able to experience Europe.

 

And now, from a bunch who really, really should know better:-  “It was all because of the RUSSIANS!”

I readily admit that I voted to Leave; but I honestly did not believe that I would be joined by 17-odd million more, inclusive of hundreds of thousands of Labour voters; who simply, like me, had had enough of the European bullshit, of the lies, of the sheer autocracy, of the built-in inability to listen to anybody apart from the ‘Effing Colleagues!

High Crimes and Misdemeanours?

We read of the sheer audacity of a man who just wants to live his life without even the possibility of embarrassing either himself or his wife by stating that he doesn’t dine alone with women or attend parties where alcohol is served without his wife. Vice-President Pence lives by his standards, which include a Christian fidelity to his wife, and has indicated that he will not even give the impression that he is even ‘looking’ outside the bounds of his marriage vows. His actions and demeanour represent the old-fashioned ideals of the Billy Graham Rule; which was the practice of married men and women avoiding being left alone with a member of the opposite sex, not being uncommon in Evangelical households.

So, because the Washington gossip brigade have found nothing else to smear or carp at about this decent, upstanding public servant, they have come up with the line that he demeans and insults the women whom he works with, by removing himself from any area which might give credence to rumour of infidelity.

Galen Sherwin, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, said the vice president is guilty of “discrimination under the guise of chivalry.”

“Of all the shockingly retrograde views about gender that the past year has brought us, a top contender is the revelation of Mike Pence’s policy of refusing to dine with women unless his wife is present,” Ms. Sherwin wrote Thursday on the ACLU’s “Speak Freely” blog.

She said the practice “deprives female employees of critical opportunities for networking, mentoring, and face time.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council said, “I suppose the simplest morality is the most confounding for liberals.”

So, with the heroes and heroines of the Democrats and lefty-liberals including names such as both the Clintons, we watch as they twist and turn, trying to find a wedge which might work.

Shake it all about!

Been having some trouble with either R.S.Injury or Carpal Tunnel thingy: don’t know which, but really painful: the result of too much mouse and trackpad work, and keyboard hammering. Wrist really painful, upper arm and muscles also painful. Bought a tiny little powerball exerciser which seems to be doing the trick as towards pain relief, but as the problem stems from twenty-thirty years of incorrect hand position and mouse-clicking; I assume it will be a while.

 

Bought a mouse- / track-pad which comes with a wrist rest, and also a gel-filled wrist rest for my keyboard. Both fairly mundane things, but I am more than happy to relate that both were manufactured in Taiwan; and not in the blood-soaked arena which is of course mainland China, otherwise masquerading as the People’s Republic.

Death: where is thy sting?

The first casualty of war is Truth, the second is objective journalism. The first part of that sentence is taken from Aeschylus, a Greek philosopher, and the second is a paraphrase of a speech by John Pilger, the journalist and commentator.

Let us consider two deaths. One death caused by a massive explosion of a barrel-bomb, of fearsome power and noise; delivered with precision by a hovering helicopter. Death is almost instantaneous, with limbs severed, with massive trauma to both the skull and the upper torso; massive blood loss and severe blast damage. No hope of survival, even with swift and competent medical aid.

The second death came almost silently, delivered as it was by a missile carrying a nerve gas. Sarin symptoms are as follows:-

• Runny nose
• Watery eyes
• Small, pinpoint pupils
• Eye pain
• Blurred vision
• Drooling and excessive sweating
• Cough
• Chest tightness
• Rapid breathing
• Diarrhea
• Nausea, vomiting, and/or abdominal pain
• Increased urination
• Confusion
• Drowsiness
• Weakness
• Headache
• Slow or fast heart rate
• Low or high blood pressure
• All of the above, closely followed by certain death. Intervention, if immediate, is possibly successful, but on a very limited percentage; some would quote figures of 10% or lower. The casualties are still dead; but the dying is drawn-out and lingering.

 

The two types of death have been balanced, by observers, and the second death, or rather deaths, warranted 59 precision cruise missiles from two American destroyers obliterating large parts of a Syrian airbase from where the missile was carried. The first described death has been suffered by thousands who have been either fighting for the Syrian regime, or sheltering within rebel- and terrorist-held positions and ground.

My question is why now? Both victim types are equally dead. Both deaths are, to my mind, equally abhorrent. So why the discrimination in response? For over four years, the Americans have remained virtually mute within Syria, placing all their considerable force against the legitimate targets of Islamic State. But now, because the Syrians have allegedly used Sarin or equivalent on a village, Trump sends his cruise missiles in a ‘proportionate’ response to level an airbase. Against the regime of Assad, the one man who was responsible for the protection of Christians in Syria, who may have been a dictator, but is a barrier against the ‘jihadi’ forces who would set the Middle East aflame.

 

To my mind, President Trump has reacted almost without thinking, and fired off that devastating attack without considering the consequences. Those who lay dead on the ground are still dead; so why the alteration; why the 180 degree change in policy?

 

When ya’ gonna’ learn?

The image is, or rather should be, both instantly recognisable and utterly revealing. Recognisable because of the sinister Swastika flags, evil emblem of the Nazis, in the famous photo of the first of the ‘book-burnings’ ordered by the murderous group behind a set of political and ideological beliefs which recognised no ‘truth’ but their ‘truth’. Revealing because of the mindset behind this truly intolerant behaviour; which should have warned other European Governments, long before Hitler commenced his ‘Land Grabs’, that here was a regime which sought to influence the very minds of its citizens; to the point of denying that any other opinion besides their own, even existed, never mind to be tolerated.

I write on this topic because a new breed of ‘Intolerance’ along with the thought processes resident within this ideology, is rampant in a high sector of, strange to relate, the United States of America. Yes, in the U.S.A., evidence emerges of intolerance of a breathtaking degree in the Democratic Party side of the House of Representatives in Congress itself.

A new book has been published by the Heartland Institute which lays out, in succinct and admirable detail, the science behind the work of the three eminent authors behind this book, which is named ‘Why scientists disagree about Global Warming’. It takes to task, and also proceeds to do a pretty good demolition job, on some of the more outrageous claims, of the ‘Climate Brigade’. Not so disturbing, you might think, but some of the, shall we say, more vocal of the political branch of that same ‘Climate Brigade’ have been a great deal more vocal in their opposition to schoolkids even reading, or rather being taught, about the science as discussed within this well-researched and published document.  Bobby Scott (D-Va.) of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) of the Committee on Natural Resources, and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, stated that the book ought to be thrown in the trash-can; whilst denigrating the Heartland Institute, their alleged funding and their basic programmes and theories. Their ‘trash’ directives have already been taken up by a very few, but once an avalanche begins, there is no stopping it.

It is maybe a far step from stating that a single book which attacks their beliefs and plans in ‘Climate Change’ should be trashed by all recipients;  should now be compared to the Nazi book burnings of Berlin; but just remember this: in the middle 1930’s Germany was the best-educated Nation within the Continent of Europe, and we all still remember the sea of upraised arms at the Nuremberg and Berlin Nazi rallies!

BBC-free Weekdays

With most people having either turned away, or turning away, from the sinister processes of Joseph Goebbels-thinking mind-meld as envisaged by the BBC; with only the obese, who cannot reach the ‘remote’ to change channels, staying with the bloody BBC, we should pause a moment; and think upon the lost opportunities from the totally-botched Royal Charter renewal process.

The Tory John Whittingdale’s appointment to supervise the process of renewal promised much, but after his private life was blitzed by the BBC-pro-mob, he lost all credibility and was replaced by Karen Bradley, who promptly announced her credentials by stating she didn’t watch much television anyway. Her approach was to state that the only major change was to abolish the BBC Trust, which was virtually toothless anyway, and replace it with Ofcom, the really lefty Quango whose duty now seen, it seems, is to ensure that the remaining white people who have stayed with the BBC are speedily replaced with Black, crippled, Labour-voting, single-mother lesbians who are also thinking of gender-replacement surgery.

If you think I joke; read the terrifying ‘Consultation’ document published by Sharon White (No, I do not joke; but there again, as the Bard asked ‘Whats in a name’?) which details, in excruciating detail, what this bitch has in store for the licence-payers. If you read the list of box-ticking, stolid targets and quotas envisaged by this uber-drone, you might better understand why the actions of the Salford Media City thought-police (canteen division) haven’t been brought under a wider scrutiny. Their memo, published without any consultation whatsoever, to the Salford BBC staff, stated:-

BBC North Internal Communications, as posted on the internal staff intranet – says: ‘Why are we doing this?

‘Well, to put it simply, it’s good for the environment. Skipping meat on the menu just for one day a week can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water use and land use.’

It quotes official sources and studies about agriculture-related carbon, methane and nitrous oxide emissions and land loss in rain forests caused by meat production.

The BBC also stressed the health benefits.

Their message added: ‘A plant based diet often reduces the intake of saturated fat, animal hormones, and cholesterol while increasing the intake of fresh fruits and veggies.

‘That has the potential to reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart disease,’ the message to staff adds. ‘The BBC said the policy related specifically to what is sold at the canteen on Mondays only.’

In that last paragraph, note the use of the shadowy ‘We know best what is good for you, so eat your Kale and Radishes, spread the Quinoa thickly; because Auntie Beeb knows best!!!

All I would remark is how glad I am that I am not a BBC Licence payer, being over the statutory age for that particular tax: and it is a tax, because legally you are not allowed to watch any kind of live television broadcasts, satellite or terrestrial, by tv, computer, mobile of tablet without paying this pernicious Danegeld. If you only, and I mean only, watch pre-recorded programmes, you don’t have to pay, but try and prove it! The very name ‘Licence’ is, in itself, a misnomer. What if the Guvmmint stated that if you owned a washing machine, you had to pay a yearly fee in order to operate it? That is how ludicrous this abortion really is.

The BBC, funded by literally billions of tax-payers cash, does exactly what it wants; it denigrates and abuses anyone who disagrees with its lefty-liberal philosophies and goals, and if you do not believe that statement, just enumerate the positive statements, reviews and positions broadcast on the BBC regarding this Nation’s decision to leave the EU, as opposed to the avalanche of abuse, disbelief and plain horror at the ‘Stupid Folks’ who came out in their millions, and gave two fingers at the whole ‘effing Establishment!

Returning, if you would, to the starving Salford BBC mob, in any ordinary company office, there would be barricades placed, strikers militant, and oil-drums holding brazier fires around the gates; but can anyone imagine the spineless bunch at the BBC organising anything beyond a round-robin birthday card?

Look Away……….Now!

I have often thought that the “upsetting warning’ which is spoken ahead of any tv-news slice which will show violence, or the result of violence, or anything which the network considers to vary from the usual bland crap which appears on our screens; to be actually a statement that something juicy will be shown, and you had better warn everyone that they should be watching.

But when the Washington Times advertises the views provided by the American Eagle Foundation from a couple of web-cams high up in a tree in the U.S. Arboretum to monitor the nesting of a pair of Bald Eagles, I honestly thought that it would be a straightforward broadcast study of America’s emblem in the raw, and nothing else.

How wrong could a commentator be?

Underneath the live web-cam images of the now fledgling eaglets, there appears the “upsetting warning” as shown below:-

This is a wild eagle nest and anything can happen. While we hope that all eaglets hatched in this nest will grow up healthy and successfully fledge each season, things like sibling rivalry, predators, and natural disaster can affect this eagle family and may be difficult to watch.
Death comes to everyone and everything; humans, animals, birds and fish. In Nature, death is raw, and vicious, it is the result of predators hunting and killing in order to survive: why on earth should anyone be warned not to watch something, if that screen is going to show, perhaps, one fledgling being killed by another, or by another predator.?Have we become so neutered, so mentally wobbly, that we cannot watch the true survivors in action, without recoiling in some sort of sham horror at the sight of something, or someone, actually dying?

It truly is tough at the top!

So you are into a sport in a big way. You rise to the top, and win in all sorts of tournaments; you go on to win a medal at (Gasp!) the Olympic Games: so you reckon you’ve cracked it! You have been given a fair lump of cash to ‘train’ and ‘improve’, and you came through by winning; to completely justify your hours of, well, what exactly is it that you do? You have proved you excel at hitting a piece of cork, to which some feathers have been glued, over a net towards, and hopefully past, your opponents who will also be striving to do the same once they see the shuttlecock, which is what the feather-strewn cork is named. The game is called Badminton, and a fair few people practice for many hours at hitting this object over the net. But that is what you have wanted to do for years, you enjoy it tremendously, and you have proved that you excel beyond others in, well this sweaty and presumably exhausting activity.

Then reality strikes, as the people who previously doled out that lovely large lump of Lottery cash decided that Badminton doesn’t quite ‘ring the bell’ with ordinary members of the public, whom the cash actually came from; and turned off the money spigot.

You are bereft! You, and of course your wife, are ‘devastated’! All that cash, which supported you and your wife, has just disappeared; and of course you are doubly bereft, because your wife has just told you that she is carrying twins. What shall you do???
Well, diddums, you can always go out and get a job, like the rest of us who don’t believe that the world owes us a living. That is when you recover from realising that Badminton is after all, just another game; and not too many people are interested!