"I'm 83 and tired" - Bill Cosby

I make absolutely no apology for posting this - it's not new, it's been around the block a few times, but he's right, dammit! Bill Cosby "I'm 83 and Tired" I'm 83. Except for brief period in the 50s when I was doing my National Service, I've worked hard since I was 17. Except for some some serious health challenges, I put in 50-hour weeks, and didn't call in sick in nearly 40 years. I made a reasonable salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, it looks as though retirement was a bad idea, and I'm tired. Very tired.  I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.  I'm tired of being told that Islam is a 'Religion of Peace,' when every day I can read stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honour"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offence; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.  I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in Australia , New Zealand UK, America and Canada , while no one from these countries are allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country to teach love and tolerance. I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses or stick a needle in their arm while they tried to fight it off?  I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of all parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.  I'm really tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.  I'm also tired and fed up with seeing young men and women in their teens and early 20's be-deck them selves in tattoos and face studs, thereby making themselves un-employable and claiming money from the Government.  Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 83. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter and their children. Thank God I'm on the way out and not on the way in.

An open letter to the Muppets at Westminster...

To David Cameron and Ed Milliband

You two guys really worry me! In fact both of your parties worry the hell out of me!!!

Over the last three years, I find myself becoming more and more fearful of the pair of you, as between you, you are turning this country into a place that I no longer feel at home in, or feel a part of! I watch you in parliament (and no, not just the two of you, but every politician that I see) stand up in parliament sneering at each other and shouting and behaving like children! (Although if you were my children, I would be ashamed of you all – what an example to set!)

Although you would like us all to believe that you are putting the interests of this country at the forefront, neither of you are doing that, you seem more interested in oneupmanship, in scoring points off each other and denigrating each other, to the detriment of this country and its people. It seems to be all about you as individuals, not about what you can do for this country!

It is fast becoming a place that I do not recognize, as the place I always thought, was the best place in the world to be !!! But no longer!

You are not listening to the people of this country.

I am watching the wholesale deterioration of living standards in this country, and yet according to you, on a world stage we are doing better than most countries. Really? The gap is widening between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. I see homeless people on the streets, our hospitals under-funded and understaffed, our health system in an absolutely disgraceful state, and yet I see billions of dollars being spent aborad, in aid to other countries, before attending to this country's needs !

I see the selling off of water rights to foreign interests – why? Especially when you go to great lengths to tell us that water is a finite resource, which supposedly we must all be careful with how we use it, so that we ensure we have it for the future?

You have instituted a Carbon Tax( which you know is just another tax ) which will make no appreciable difference to carbon emissions at all, since the main culprits will simply buy carbon offset points from third world countries!

A tax, which in spite of all your arguments for it, you are doing alone, as other major countries neither believe in it nor embrace it!

Now let's talk about multiculturalism. People have come here from other countries, for a better life, for more years than I have been alive, and I am 60 years old.

Pre- and post-war immigrants came for a better life, settled in and became wonderful contributors to this country. All have contributed to the rich diversity of this country, and some descendants have even fought for this country. They have become UK citizens and were glad to, and they had no handouts from the Government either, they worked bloody hard for everything they’ve got!

I have never before had a problem with any race of people coming to live here, but I do now!

Please tell me why we have areas in towns and cities, on large estates all over the country, where police do not, and will not go, for fear of their life?

Please tell me why we can no longer have religion in schools for fear of offending someone?

Please tell me why religious Christmas observances are no longer allowed in some schools for fear of offending someone?

Please tell me how Christmas decorations in some stores might offfend someone?

Please tell me why we have to have segregated days in some swimming centres for fear of offending someone?

Please tell me why Christmas has been replaced by ‘Winterval, for fear of offending someone?

Please tell me why we have some radical clerics demanding Sharia Law in this country when if we were in their country, we wouldn’t even be allowed to build a chapel or church, let alone live by our own laws?

Please tell me why our laws need to be changed, so as not to offend someone?

Please tell me why we are fast becoming a minority voice, in our own country, because of political correctness?

Please tell me why Britons cannot legally wear a motorbike helmet covering their head in a bank and yet it is ok for a foreign visitor to wear a Burqa which covers the whole of the face?

And please tell me why, when those people who want asylum here wreck our detention centres, they are still accepted here ?

What does that say about this government's priorities?

The British people I speak to have genuine concerns about becoming a second class minority in our own country, and many of the reasons for it are listed above. Are you so blind that you cannot see this?

And no, this does not make me a racist! If I did not like Catholics or Protestants would I be considered racist? Of course not!

Why is it then, that if we object to what is happening in our country we are immediately labelled ‘racist’ in an attempt to shut us up?

We are fighting radical Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq , are we not? And I hear you say ‘yes but the Muslims we have here are "Not like that"’. Well how would we know? Do we hear any of them coming out and speaking up against radicals ? No, because they’re afraid to – and who can blame them

 Islam is not compatible with ANY of the values that we hold here in Britain! Are not the experiences of France and the Netherlands examples of that? Why do you think it would be any different here? We even have a British born radical whose message is that Britain will become a Muslim country, under Sharia Law, and that we had ‘better get used to it’.

Will both of you please grow a pair, and start sticking up for this country and its people?

We are the people who elected you and pay you to look after our interests!

And you are not doing that by any stretch of the imagination!

I would appreciate an answer from both of you, if only to convince me that I am not talking to a brick wall (although to be honest, the brick walls behind which I live do at least stand up for me)!

Anyone reading this, (since I doubt if TweedleDave and TweedleEd ever will) please let’s get this out to as many people as possible, and keep forwarding it and reposting it.

And if you have people in the press or if you know Politicians – let them know we are dis-satisfied with their behaviour !

Francis F*****g Maude - genius in waiting!

Well, there you go - I've done my bit to ensure the country, not to mention my family, keeps on motoring.

I've just filled up the wife's little red runaround (her car - my God you've got a filthy mind!), which cost not very much, and the 4x4, which cost not far short of three figures (but is so much fun when you go off-road!) as instructed by the Hon Francis Maude. What I haven't done, in direct defiance of this paragon of self-deluding egotistical twattishness, is fill my garage with little plastic bombs. And here's why....

It's a long time since I worked in the insurance industry, but I do distinctly remember, from my days four decades ago dealing with insurance for Motor Traders, that petrol is pretty dicey stuff. Well, no, to be accurate, petrol vapour is pretty dicey stuff.

It is, for instance pretty damned difficult to set light to petrol (please don't try it - sometimes it's quite easy!!) It is however, amazingly simple to set light to petrol vapour. Your mobile phone will do it, if it rings at the wrong time. That tiny little spark between your finger and your car door will do it if the concentration is high enough (like in your garage at home, for instance).

I remember seeing a video, all those tens of years ago, where they threw a lit blowtorch (they being firemen, or pyromaniacs, or some such) into a full fuel tank - not a little 50 litre tank mind - no, this one was a petrol station-type tank holding in excess of 25000 litres.

Result? The flame on the blow torch went out when it hit the liquid petrol.

Then they emptied the tank, waited a while, and threw a match in.

Result? Several tens of square metres of concrete took off vertically at a speed a Harrier Jump Jet would struggle to keep up with, to the accompaniment of a ball of fire that topped out at about 50 metres across and 150 metres high. It was impressive. It was petrol vapour. It was, to be honest, bloody terrifying.

And Francis Maude has just suggested that up and down the country, in tiny villages, rural areas, and crowded housing estates, we should all store some petrol in our garages in jerry cans.

And sadly, there are eejits out there, right now, while you're reading this, who are doing exactly that.

And I imagine, in the middle east, Al Qaida bosses are saying to themselves: "Well that'll save the cost of a few suicide bombs. Thank you Francis - thank you."

You couldn't make it up if you tried. Really.

Night Skies

Just got back from taking the dogs out for a stroll, and am reeling from what has been, even by the standards I've got used to, an incredible star-spotting experience!

The sky is absolutely pitch black (apart from the usual light pollution from our nearest English city, Plymouth), and the stars are so clear, and bright, it's like looking at an SFX-enhanced film slide.

To the North, both the Big Dipper, part of the Ursa Major constellation, and the Little Dipper (ditto) are  clearly visible, with Polaris in the Little Dipper giving a clear indication of North for those of us who don't carry a compass.

60 degrees to the east, the setting crescent moon is so bright it almost destroys your night vision, and just below the line joining the bottom horn of the crescent to the top, and apparently only an inch or so away from the top of the crescent, Venus is doing its best to outshine the moon. Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky after the moon, but tonight it's a really close call.

There are loads of constellations visible too - apart from the Dippers, Orion is still visible above the Eastern horizon, and there's also Casseiopia, Gemini, Ursa Major and Minor, and some whose names escape me.

In Orion, Betelgeuse is a big orange blog up and left from Orion's belt, the line of three stars supposedly circling the hunter's waist, and the bright blue star down and left from the belt is Sirius, thought by the ancients to be the eye of Orion's hunting dog.

Almost directly due south, and about 60 degrees above the horizon is the daily-diminishing red spot that is Mars, past its closest point of approach to Earth, but still clearly the red planet.

I don't always appreciate taking the dogs out at 11o'clock at night, but on a night like tonight, living in an area with minimal light pollution (thanks again, Plymouth) - well, it's hard not to enjoy the free, best-ever science programme around.

And I was spared Dr Brian Cox standing on the nearby hill staring wistfully outwards - I got to do that for myself.