What happened to … ‘Living within your means’ ?

When I was a child I was taught to save my pennies if I wanted something, and never to borrow money.

 “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”… My mother would quote to me, and by and large I have stuck to it, with the major exception of a mortgage to enable me to set up home and the minor one of the odd item of furniture purchased on the ‘never never’ hire purchase system back in the early1960’s, so that my new wife and I would not have to sleep on the floor.

If I fancied a holiday in Bournemouth or later Benidorm, it was a case of putting so much per week away in the old Post Office savings account, and it took bloody years before I could afford my first car.

At times I have been short of a few bob and payday often seemed a long time coming, but I rarely resorted to ‘my flexible friend’.

Now it seems that in our ‘must have it now’ society millions of people are in what is called a ’spendemic’ which is largely fuelled by their desire for an instant ’celeb’ lifestyle.

A new report reveals a huge rise in the amount that people spend on ‘non-essential’ items, which includes restaurants, hotels, jewellery and holidays, and during the last ten years a typical person’s spending on these items has increased by 65 per cent. During the same period the number of credit cards in this country has doubled.

It would seem that while many people in this country struggle to ‘make ends meet’, millions of others … “are caught in a spiral of conspicuous consumption”.

It’s being called the ‘Hello ! factor’ after the magazine for people who never read. I presume that …

…   must also include their bank statements.  

Wanted ! Radical action, not rhetoric.

Never were truer words spoken than those of Helen Newlove, the widow of the man kicked to death by young thugs, when she said …

“Until this Government puts into place an effective deterrent, the youths of today know all too well they can play the system and get away with it”.

Now I may have missed it, but I can’t find any response to this statement from Jack Straw our Justice Secretary (or whatever he is known as these days) amongst all the waffle in his speech about judges … “desperately difficult decisions” …  “independent judicial decisions” .. and .. ”the integrity of the judiciary in a free society.” One thing he got right was when he said … “I appreciate, of course, that none of this will comfort Mr. Newlove’s family.”

Our esteemed leader of the opposition, speaking from planet ‘Dave’, (remember ‘hug a hoodie’) has said that our streets have been “lost” to the yobs and has come up with his usual daft suggestion of …  a voluntary “national citizen service” for over-sixteen year olds. Why is it daft ? … The word ‘voluntary’ gives it away: for does he really believe that the sort of brainless feral youths that think nothing of kicking someone’s head in will rush to volunteer ?  

So, what is an ‘effective deterrent’ ? … Well, Firstly these yobs must know for certain that when they are caught,  they will be punished ! … Not with a fine, an ASBO, a ’slap on the wrist’ warning, tagging, or community service, but by being really punished ! … Secondly they must be punished in such a way that they will not want to return for a ’second helping’.

It’s that simple !

I read that young German tearaways are being sent to Siberia (where the temperature drops to minus 55c) to live in a building with no running water, no toilet, no central heating, no TV, no telephone and no internet. This may seem extreme, but I bet none will want to renew this ’intensive educational experience’ by returning to their old ways.

I’m afraid that our government is even more cowardly than these young thugs, and is unlikely to come up with an effective way of curbing out hooded hooligans, for they still regard today’s disaffected youths with their anti-social behaviour as the real victims whose ‘human rights’ must be protected, and will only continue to dream up half-baked schemes to redeem them … so I’m sorry to say it, …  but …

… Don’t hold your breath Mrs. Newlove.

‘Troubled waters’.

Does anyone remember the ‘Gulf of Tonkin incident’ ?

Well I don’t suppose that many people in this country do, as it happened in 1964 and took place on the other side of the world off the shores of a little known country called Vietnam.

Yes, it was the ‘incident’ that gave the US government the excuse to bomb Vietnam and set in motion events that would eventually lead to the loss of 58,000 American lives.

The so called ‘Battle of Tonkin Gulf’ was the sole basis for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which was the entire justification for the United States’ war against North Vietnam.

The ‘incident’ involved an attack by North Vietnamese gunboats on US warships. Except that the ‘attack’ almost certainly never happened !

Sound familiar ? Well it should, because a similar ‘incident’ has recently happened in the Persian Gulf between some small Iranian craft and US warships.

I’ve just watched conflicting videos on the BBC news and quite frankly it is hard to say which side is telling the truth on this one, but the difference this time is that the world can see, at least to some degree, what actually happened.

Anyway, let’s hope that old George, who is keen on starting wars for non existant reasons, remembers that he is on a peace mission to the Middle East at present and resists the urge …

…  to “accomplish” another kind of ”mission” ! 

Military minors.

During World War II my uncle Charlie ‘borrowed’ his older brother’s birth certificate and joined the army. His mother (my grandmother) tracked him down and dragged him back home, but he later ran away again and joined the navy (left). 

Charlie followed in the footsteps of around 250,000 underage boys who joined the army during World War I.  It is estimated that half of them were killed or wounded. These were impressionable young lads who were, in many cases, motivated to ‘join up’ by the ‘misleading’ tales of the recruiting sergeant and the ‘glamour’ of the uniform.

Now it seems that a report by The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has accused the Ministry of Defence of once again giving young children a ‘misleading’ and ‘glamourised’ picture of life in today’s armed forces.

It has always been so ! … for as long as there have been wars the British Army has recruited young men to fight in them. Sometimes very young men !

The days of the recruiting sergeant’s devious ways of getting, usually poor, young men to ‘take the King’s shilling’ are long gone, as are the eleven year old drummer boys, but it is still possible to join the army at the age of sixteen, so recruiters target schools and have expensive advertising campaigns aimed at youngsters. They even have a web site where kids can play computer games and watch videos of such military activities as skate boarding.

If we have to have an army, surely our soldiers should be fit young men and women who are old enough and experienced enough to make informed decisions about putting their lives on the line in defence of their country, or taking the lives of others in some bloody mess of a war like the one in Afghanistan.

So let us hope that when these kids swop their trainers (sneakers) for heavy boots and are shouted at by a big man with stripes on his arm, they use their mobile phones to call their mothers and are ‘dragged home’ …

…   just like my uncle Charlie.

Anyone seen (Sir) Rudy ?

I’m afraid that I don’t know too much about American politics, but like many people in this country I always find the run up to the American Presidential elections fascinating, even if I do get confused by the caucuses, perplexed by the primaries and roar with laughter at all that ridiculous ’razzamatazz’.

Now that Barack Obama is ahead in the race for the Democratic party nomination it looks like America could be almost ready for it’s first black president, although I’m sure that a few ‘good ole’ boys’ down in Alabama are cutting eyeholes in the white sheets and oiling their hunting rifles right now.

Whilst I would like to put my money on Mr. Obama (he has always opposed the invasion of Iraq), I feel that Hillary Clinton (or should I say the Clintons) is going to take some beating, for although the USA has a pretty good democratic system for electing it’s presidents, it always helps to have a bottomless bag of bucks and an army of advisers and ad-men on hand.

Now old bull-nosed Bill used to be Governor of Arkansas as did the leading contender for the Republican Party nomination, Mike Huckerbee, or should I say the Reverend Mike Huckerbee ? For I believe that this Republican is a fundamentalist Christian minister, and unlike here in the UK (as Tony Blair stated recently), being a religious nutter in America, seems to be a positive advantage when it comes to getting votes.

Blimey ! Look at ‘born again’ George, he said that God told him to invade Iraq and … 

…  he still got re-elected. 

Time for a new tune.

The former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, who is leading Gordon Brown’s review of British citizenship, has called for ’God Save The Queen’ to be made ‘more inclusive’.

More inclusive ?  … Well I suppose that they could make our immigrant community feel more at home if they spiced it up a bit by including some Bhangra rhythms and a little Roma fiddle playing; with just a touch of ‘gangsta rap’ to give it some ’street cred’, and a hint of Polka to keep our plumbers happy. Blimey ! Anything would be better than our present dreadful dirge of a national anthem.

If I was a Frenchman I would happily sing the Marseillaise (even if it is named after a salad dressing), and I would be proud to click my heels when “Deutschland Deutschland über alles” was played if I were German. I could even see myself scratching my left breast at the sound of The Star-Spangled Banner, as Americans are prone to do; but ‘God Save ‘er Maj’ just makes me want to emigrate.

My only memories of being effected by our national anthem were when they used to play it at the end of cinema shows and I would …

…     lead the scramble for the exit !

It’s hardly a ‘Storm Over The Nile’.

I see that the Muslims of Sudan are supposed to have ‘got their knickers in a twist’ (that’s if they wear any), over a teacher allowing one of her young pupils to call a teddy bear Muhammad, which just also happens to be the kid’s own name.

According to press reports Gillian Gibbons, the teacher in question, faces all sorts of punishments including flogging, despite there being no apparent intention to offend Islamic sensibilities or defame the honour and name of the Prophet Muhammad.

What amazes me is that Google is showing over 1,000 news items on this, to quote The Sudanese Embassy in London, “storm in a teacup”. Blimey, I shouldn’t think that Khartoum has had such attention since poor old General Gordon came to a sticky end there in 1885 at the hands of fanatical Islamic rebels led by the ’The Mad Mahdi’.

Despite Ms. Gibbons being charged under Article 125 of the criminal code, spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, said … “I am pretty certain that this minute incident will be clarified very quickly and that this venerable teacher who has been helping us teach our children will be safe and will be cleared”. 

Well let’s hope that he is right, but let us also not forget that al-Mahdi said …

…     that nothing would happen to Gordon.  

Dropouts ‘on the dole’.

When I left school in 1955 at the age of sixteen, there was no problem about finding employment, for as I recall, I was offered a number of job opportunities by an advisor from what I believe was then called ‘The Youth Employment Service’.

In those days I really don’t believe that young people ever thought about not working for a living, unlike today where it seems we have a new type of unemployed youngster who is classed as a … ’NEET’ … not in education, employment or training. In fact at the moment we have some 200,000 16 and 17 year olds currently in this category.

Now I’m sure that among that number there are many who find it difficult to get a job for one reason or another, but I’m bloody sure that there are plenty who are very happy to sit on their arses all day living on ‘benefits’ provided by the tax payer.

A few years ago I ran a small workshop in a poor area of South London where unemployment was high. I employed half a dozen skilled and semi-skilled men; and at that time the government was offering cash incentives to employers to take on young people, so I requested the local ‘Job Centre’ to send along any likely young candidates who were prepared to help out around the place with a view to picking up a few useful skills. The pay wasn’t bad and there were opportunities for further training.

Almost immediately I started to get phone calls from the youth employment office about young men ’on their books’. I made appointments to interview more than twenty of the applicants during the following week, and at the end of that time I was asked  … ”Have you selected someone for the job yet ?”

My reply was … “Not yet, but I’ll give the job to the first one who actually turns up for his interview !”

Now it seems that the government’s answer to this sort of behaviour in the future will be …  a piece of paper known as an ‘attendance order’ (that’ll scare the shit out of ’em !)  or .. as usual, a £50 fine !

Now assuming that they will even ’bovver’ to pay the fine; where do you suppose they will find the money ?

Yes, of course … It will come out of …

 …     those same bloody ’benefits’ !