The Yoof Of Today
On Friday evening my son, Evan, said “I’m going to a party tonight Dad but I’ll get on the train and come down to see you tomorrow. I’ll be there in time for the rugby”.
On Saturday at about 2.00pm (just before kick off) he rang again, (loud music in background) “Uh, I ‘m still at the party Dad but I’m definitely coming down tonight, alright?”
At about 4.00pm he rang again, (loud music in background) “Uh, Dad, I’m still at the party. Can you look up the train times for me please?”
At about 7.00pm, (loud music in the background) “Uh, I’m still at the party Dad”. We agreed that he’d be best off to go home and get some sleep. “I’ll put roast pork in for lunch if you ring in the morning and tell me what time you’re leaving.”
At about 8.30am this morning, (loud music in the background) “Uh, Dad, I’m still at the party”.
At least in my day we had the decency to hide the full extent of our debauchery from our parents. Not any more!
Fraud, Deceit And Death
For the second week running a member of the “Question Time” audience, the parent of a serving soldier, has complained that they have had to pay for equipment for their son or daughter to take to Afghanistan.
Our Brave Boys
There can be no greater condemnation of the funding of our troops than this. In the face of doublespeak and accounting tricks from the government, this is a true insight into reality.
The deception that Gordon Brown is running about defence spending would not pass the most provincial test for petty fraud. He must be recalled by Chilcot to explain himself. He must be cross examined, as a hostile witness, as if he had stolen a credit card.
We learn this grubby and sordid truth about our prime minister while our boys bleed to death into the soil of a foreign land.
Mephedrone – I Told You So
Last year the formerly intelligent and sensible Alan Johnson got himself involved in the misinformation campaign against cannabis and several members of the Advisory Council On The Misuse Of Drugs resigned. The ACMD is now unable to function and the real concern that there now is about mephedrone (see here) cannot be properly addressed.
I said this would happen but I take no pleasure in being proved right. It is just another example of the idiotic and irrational way that our politicians deal with the drugs issue.
So while I think it is essential that the safety of mephedrone is examined, the hysterical, hang ’em high, lock ’em all up, stop them having fun brigade is out and proud yet again.
The two boys who died in Scunthorpe had also taken methadone which is an opiate substitute and known to be lethal. I wonder what the real cause of death will prove to be?
If there is any intelligent life left in the government perhaps someone might wake up to the fact that, generally speaking, politicians and legislation cause more problems with drugs than they solve.
There is common sense to be found in the debate on drugs. See Transform Drug Policy Foundation.
The Prince Of Darkness
Just An Evil Old Man
What more shame and ignominy can the Catholic Church bring upon itself? Now it seems that the present Pope is guilty of overlooking what seems to be the favourite hobby of Catholic priests – the sexual abuse of children.
According to The Times last Saturday, in 1980 the then Cardinal Ratzinger approved a decision to send a priest for therapy in Munich after he forced an 11 year old boy to perform oral sex on him. Later the same priest abused more children and the only answer the Cardinal and his cronies could come up with was to relocate him. Now the Church is desperately trying to disassociate the Pope from this scandal, saying that he had left decisions to lower-level officials. See here for the full story.
The Catholic Church has been responsible for as much evil in the world as any other institution. Now we see that it goes to the very top and continues.
Too many have died in the name of Christ for anyone to heed the call.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
It is time that this outdated institution was outlawed. Criminal charges should be brought against the Pope and all the cardinals, priests and other apologists for sin and wickedness. How can we in the West complain about the evil influence of Islam until we put our own house in order?
Vince Cable For Tory Chancellor
Mr Common Sense
What wonderful common sense and wisdom was heard from Vince Cable at the Lib Dem’s conference today. Here is the only man justified in saying “I told you so” about the financial crisis and the only man who seems to offer a plan for the future that makes sense and has integrity.
The Lib Dems will not form the next government. Neither will Labour. Whatever wobbles and uncertainties there are in the next couple of months I have no doubt that David Cameron will be our next prime minister. He would do well, if necessary, to get down on his knees and beg Vince Cable to join his cabinet. Not only would that be great news for the country but, I believe, it would be great news for the Tories. If David can’t see that then I suspect his wife probably can. I am certain that Samantha will be a great asset in the election campaign. She could start by inviting Mr & Mrs Cable to dinner.
BBC Endangers Bulger Killer
Caught On Camera
Some may say that he deserves everything he gets but the BBC’s strenuous efforts to find identifiable photos of John Venables are to be deplored.
I say he deserves everything he gets within the law but this 27 year old man has now been recalled to prison and the BBC is going hell for leather to dig up every photo of him it can find. If he is identified by his cell mate or by others in jail with him I dread to think what the consequences will be. Whoever is behind this at the BBC is behaving quite improperly and they should be stopped. It seems to me that they too are risking jail for contempt of court.
Nothing can excuse what Venables and his partner in crime did and I am dubious about the justice of having released them from custody. What the BBC is doing though is just piling another wrong onto this sad history. This by an organisation that is usually ridiculously oversensitive to things. It seems that you can’t mention the brand name “Marmite” on the BBC but you can try to identify someone who the Court is trying to protect.
Invictus
The Real Thing
This is the new film, directed by Clint Eastwood, about how the South African rugby team, the Springboks, won the Rugby World Cup in 1995 and helped to reunite the country on a wave of patriotism just five years after Mandela was released. Morgan Freeman is simply mesmerising as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon is superb as Francois Pienaar, captain of the team.
I’m a complete believer in the idea that international rugby is more important than most things in life so, granted, I was almost certain to enjoy this movie. I didn’t expect to be quite so emotionally overwhelmed though. This film is a wonderful, triumphant experience and a lesson in life. See here for an excerpt.
Invictus bears no resemblance to the anodyne pap that Hollywood has fed us this year. It is a work of art, a political manifesto and an inspiration to the human soul. The title comes from William Ernest Henry’s poem of the same name in which Mandela found comfort while in prison:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
If “Up In The Air” is up its own a*** and an insult to its audience; “Avatar” is an adolescent technogeek’s fantasy, terribly badly realised; “The Hurt Locker” is just another good but not great war movie then “Invictus” is a wonderful, uplifting story that deserves all the praise, all the admiration and all the awards.
The Movie
After The War On Drugs
This is well worth 10 minutes of anybody’s time.
The extraordinary impact that “The War on Drugs” has on our world should not be underestimated. The ludicrous and failed idea of prohibition means that 95% of all street crime and 75% of all organised crime is as a result of illegal drugs.
Legalise all drugs. Regulate, control and tax the supply chain. Pull the rug from under organised crime. Remove the necessity for drug victims to rob and steal. Save billions of pounds/dollars and millions of lives. Transform our society.
Transform Drug Policy Foundation is an extraordinary organisation whose time has come.
Cannabis Cover-Up Fails Again
"I told you so!"
Whoever Alan Johnson appoints as Drugs Tsar it seems it makes no difference to the truth. As Professor Nutt heads off to start his own “Independent Council On Drug Harms”, his replacement as Chairman of the Advisory Council on Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), Professor Les Iverson, has said that cannabis is “one of the safer recreational drugs” and has been
"Cannabis Is Not Dangerous"
“incorrectly classified as dangerous”. He also confirms that cannabis is less harmful than tobacco or alcohol.
Who's The Nutt?
Johnson’s irrational behaviour in sacking Professor Nutt has paralysed the ACMD which has a statutory role in drugs legislation. So many members of the Council have resigned in protest at the sacking of Professor Nutt that the Home Office says it will be several months before the Council can operate again. This is delaying the introduction of legislation on new designer drugs such as mephedrone which may really be dangerous.
It makes you wonder about the way politicians’ minds work doesn’t it?
Peter Reynolds 