Three Masted Sailing Ship Whitby
The UK general election is not far away, I reckon that if one of the parties were to adopt the following strategy, we might be able to put the “Great” back into Britain; I wish.
“Reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College“
Whilst strolling around York yesterday afternoon, on a dull St Valentine’s Day, I took the opportunity to get some pictures of St Mary’s a ruined Benedictine Abbey [Wikipedia reference], in the grounds of the Yorkshire Museum, the photo above is of the west wall and the return with the open arch on the north elevation. The weather turned sour and I put my camera away as I hurried back to the car, thus missing out on the opportunity to take a decent shot of the Sir Edwin Lutyens designed war memorial adjacent to the former North Eastern Railways Headquarters. The memorial is less impressive than the more famous work by him of the Cenotaph, Whitehall, however what struck me was that the memorial was commissioned by NER and commemorates the loss of over 2,300 soldiers during the First World War, all of whom were NER (North Eastern Railways Company) employees. A horrific reminder of the tragedy of war, this on the second day of our increased assault in Helmund, Afghanistan more destruction, all very distressing.
When I was at school, I recall being taught physics and it is the lasting recollections of that time that have caused me to be confused about the science of climate change; the present daily dose of verbal abuse from our political apparatchiks and the endless stream of doom from the msm (main stream media), have left me wanting to know the truth about what is happening. I say this because I have lived through times of previous doom laden predictions, all of which failed to materialise to the extent predicted. But there is a difference this time, my understanding of basic physics is being undermined.
The header picture is of the London Eye in the early evening of Friday 20th November 2009, A flight, as the promoters call it, is well worth it despite the expense!
There is much to be dismayed about in present day Great Britain [GB], many even feel that we should dispense with the term, ‘Great’ and just call the country the United Kingdom [UK], but is it a united kingdom, I think that’s debatable. Being more focused, the financial mess we are in as a nation is perhaps the most important issue to address at the moment. Little is really happening to ensure we don’t do this again. But to some extent we are all culpable, as we all take certain irregularities in our stride. For example the classic case of the plumber who can offer you a much better deal for cash, it is hard to resist a bill of £500.00 compared to £600.00 Plus VAT! This occurrs because the politicians have devised ever ingenious ways of taking our money, thus distorting the system.
A blog by Professor Philip Stott [Emeritus Professor of Biogeography, University of London], is always a refreshing read, recently however his usually productive output had slowed to less than a trickle, so how pleased to see he had started up again at The clamour of our times. If you want to read a realistic and huorous take on the daily political circus, drop by his site. Frankly you need a laugh these days, and Philip has a delightful ability to mix serious topics with excellent prose.
What’s on your mind? I’ll tell you what’s on my mind, after the debacle of the Lisbon treaty, and our inability to vote on the issue, due to the incumbent in Downing Street having no regard for democracy, despite making it a manifesto pledge at the last election, or for anyone but himself; or perhaps was he just afraid to put it to the country!
I suggest in the light of the Conservatives bottling out, that you, THE PEOPLE, should consider not voting at all for any of them at the General Election, so little regard have they (Our MP’s) for the people of this country. How else can we express our disgust at the endless crap we have to endure, expenses and all!
Daily I listen to the radio and in the evenings usually manage to catch one of the many, news related programmes; one thing which seems to permeate the entire spectrum is the desire to re-assure the listeners/viewers that things are turning around. Be patient and the troubles of the recession will be behind us, a brave new period of growth awaits us!