Month: March 2011

Brian True-May – The 223rd Midsomer Murder


What do the folk at All3Media and the ITV think they are doing ?  Trying to appear to be PC when all they have really done is make total arses of themselves

Midsomer Murders is a show which has been airing since 1997 with over 80 episodes under its belt. It works to a formula and represents a side of Britain that has all but disappeared. The formula obviously works.

Brian True-May was expressing the view that changing that formula would change the character of the show. What had been suggested to him during an interview was tantamount to that the  characters in Coronation Street should speak with plumbs in their mouths, should all sound like they were educated at Eton.  Did anyone suggest that Last of the Summer Wine be changed to reflect a more balanced ethnic mix, of course not.

I think the idiots at All3Media and the ITV  have blundered and they should fess up and withdraw their comments and reinstate Mr True-May.

Midsomer Murders race row: Fans defend show as co-star suggests ‘black gardener’ | Mail Online.

Helpless


Helpless is what I feel as I watch the news of the Japanese people struggling to deal with the disaster that has hit their country. Not only have they had to contend with the initial earthquake and resultant tsunami but they are under threat of further after-shocks and potentially further tsunami. And then when you think things couldn’t get any worse they are now having to confront the very real issue of a nuclear disaster.

Words cannot describe what they are experiencing.

All aspects of what you or I might call normal life have just been wiped out for thousands of Japanese.

As you go about your business today just compare what you are doing and try to compare that to survivors from the fishing village of Yuriage or any of the other devastated towns and villages along the north-eastern coastline of Japan.

Patient Who Bought His Own Food While In Hospital Wins Compensation


Michael Cooper spent two weeks in Southampton General. Rather than eat the hospital provided food,  every day he made his way to the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch and tea. He described the hospital food as “not fit for pigs”.

Both my wife and I had the misfortune to have a stay in the Queen Alexandra (QA) at Portsmouth. The food there is also disgusting.  Between us we experienced some sort of Gammon/Ham which was grey in colour, sandwiches where the butter/marge had been applied to the outside of the sandwich and I was not sure what was on the inside. Lets say it didn’t taste like chicken. A rubber omelette and vegetables that had been cooked to within an inch of turning to mush. In general  all offerings were totally bland, flavorless.

I understand that when you are not well you have a depressed appetite but surely the purpose of the food should be both to sustain and also to encourage you to eat. My experience is that the food supplied does neither.

Mr Coopers stand and court case success is to be admired but it should not be necessary. We keep hearing about the Jamie Olivers of this world working with the hospital caterers to improve the food supplied to patients. But we also keep hearing that the hospital food revolution is failing along with the other hospital services.

I accept that standards in some NHS hospitals are very good. But doesn’t creating a standard mean that all NHS hospitals should perform to the same level.

It isn’t happening !!!

No Wonder He Has A Bad Back !!!


Described in one newspaper report as “Britain’s most feckless father…” Keith Macdonald is about to become father to his 11th child. He already has eight children by eight different women and apparently three more will be born this year.

Macdonald is claiming £68.95 per week in disability benefits because he has a bad back.

I wonder why ???

Sign Of The Crimes


Thieves who stole the copper from a school roof forcing the school to close are now to be warned off the unsafe roof… in case they are injured !!! Even though they should know that the roof has been made unsafe by their own actions.

This is just another indication of how ridiculous our country is becoming. Any criminal injured during the course of their nefarious activities deserves everything they get. They have no rights to medical treatment, no rights to fair treatment and certainly no rights to claim compensation.

Copper thieves who forced school to close warned to keep off gaping roof… in case they are injured by their OWN destruction | Mail Online.

ECHR – A Well Worn Trump Card


There it is again, the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights),once again being used by a criminal as a “get out of jail free card”. Thankfully the judge, Noel Lucas QC, is not being diverted from handing down a custodial sentence. Good man.

Crooked bank cashier tells judge ‘You can’t jail me it will violate my baby’s human rights’ | Mail Online.

Japan earthquake and tsunami – My thoughts and prayers go out to the Japanese people


My thoughts are with the Japanese people following the enormous earthquake and sunami that has devastated many areas of the country.

I have to say that I did breathe a sigh of relief when I found out that friends and relatives in Japan are safe. At the same time I feel a little guilty for feeling like that when obviously so many people have lost their lives or have had their lives and homes wrecked.

Japan earthquake and tsunami: Fears of massive death toll | Mail Online.

View From The Conservatory


The sun is shining and the birds are singing but I’m not a happy camper.

Why, you may ask, am I not happy ?

Well its because I have had a tooth removed. Here it is gone midday and I haven’t had a bite to eat. With no prospect of having anything substantial before tomorrow. Currently I have a gob full of wadding and the right side of my face is numb.

This situation is not helped by my granddaughter texting me that I should have eaten before I went to the dentist.

Well I know that now Miss SmartyPants.

I have also had to bale out of two teleconferences since just listening isn’t very helpful and my joining in is probably reduced to the level of  mumbling and drooling. Nice !!!

 

Listen Up – Yell Fire


Yell Fire – Michael Franti & Spearhead

A revolution never come with a warning
A revolution never sends you an omen
A revolution just arrived like the morning
Ring the alarm we come to wake up the snoring

They tellin’ you to never worry about the future
They tellin’ you to never worry about the torture
They tellin’ you that you’ll never see the horror
Spend it all today and we will bill you tomorrow
Three piece suits and bank accounts in Bahamas
Wall street crime will never send you to the slammer
Tell all the children in the arms of their mammas
The F-15 is a homocide bomber

TV commercials for a pop a pill culture
Drug companies circling like a vulture
Ameriraqi babies with a G.I. Joe father
Ten years from now is anybody gonna bother?

Yell Fire, yo, yo, yo
Here we come here we come
Fire, yo, yo , yo, yo
Revolution a comin’
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo

Everyone addicted to the same nicotine
Everyone addicted to the same gasoline
Everyone addicted to a technicolour screen
Everybody tryin’ to get their hands on the same green
From the banks of the river to the banks of the greedy
All of the riches taken back by the needy
We come from the country and we come from the city
You play us on the record, you can play us on the CD

All the shit you’ve given us is fertilizer
The seeds that we planted you can never brutalize them
Tell the corporation they can never globalize it
Like Peter Tosh said Legalize it

Girls and boys hear the bass and treble
Rumble in the speakers and it make you wanna rebel
Throw your hands up, take it to another level
And you can never, ever, ever make a deal with the devil

Yell Fire, yo, yo, yo
Here we come here we come
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo
Revolution a comin’
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo
Fire, yo, yo, yo, yo

Give this a listen

View From The Conservatory


Well its dull and grey outside and the wind has its dander up. Pushing and shoving the trees about. At least it’s not raining.

Just having my breakfast, Tea and Tablets. Don’t worry, they are legit, for my blood pressure. Just part of the daily routine, five in the morning and one at night. God I hate that little white one. It starts to dissolve as soon as it hits any part of your mouth and hangs on for dear life. It tastes disgusting. Half a cup of tea has not gotten rid of the taste.

Radio Paradise is serenading me as usual …. currently “Cold Shot” by Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Man he was good. Just thinking of all those guitarists that have passed over, what a jam session they must be having. Oh and now another favourite of mine…”Keep The Streets Empty For Me” by Fever Ray. The vocalist, Karin Elisabeth Dreijer Andersson,  sends tingles down my spine with this number.