Whither Democracy?

I'm currently ploughing my way through the writings of Tom Paine (The 18th century Radical - not this guy), and one thing strikes me; one of the problems with democracy is voters. The people who will support a particular party no matter what, or people who have insufficient reading skills to understand the issues. Those who vote for a specific candidate because they're told who to vote for. They all warp the process.

Paine appeared to believe in Rousseau's postulate of the 'Noble savage', and advocated the extension of voting to everyone over a given age. Which is where the major problem with Democracy lies. We humans aren't all equal. As I have probably posted before, only 15% of a given human population can be described as fully self aware all the time, and thus cognisant of the effects of their choices. Most people aren't. We do things like substitute behaviour response loops or opinions for thought, and often can't tell the difference. Democracy needs people capable of thinking clearly to work effectively.

Longrider had a bitch about a silly Grauniad posted proposal to give two votes to pregnant women, and I'm inclined to agree. So I posted the following comment;

I’m increasingly of the opinion that the franchise should only be extended to those who can pass a voter comprehension test. Say a simple paragraph and ten related questions, in English (Or the host language of your country), to be completed when you turn up to vote. You pass, your vote counts. You don’t, it doesn’t. Simple.

This way the opportunity to vote could be safely offered to 16 year olds who have sufficient comprehension skills to understand some of the issues.

Or of course be 'bovvered' to turn up to vote. This way those who want the franchise and are capable of participating can do so. Such a scheme may result in fewer votes actually counting, but there are advantages to that, too.

Journeys

There is a trite little aphorism that states "The future is a journey". Our futures are always journeys of one sort or another, from simply walking down the street, to stepping onto a flight to a new way of life in a new country.

This article in the Tellytubbygraph annoyed me with its patronising assertion that satellites or robotic probes could do everything mankind needed outside of this thin little biosphere we call home, and that manned spaceflight is simply showmanship and hubris.

I felt moved to leave the following;

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky once said; 'The Earth is the cradle of mankind, but mankind cannot live in the cradle forever'.

This was the promise of those early orbital flights. It is also said that "The future is a journey". This rather begs the corollary that "If you don't try, you won't ever go anywhere." Satellites alone won't do that.

At least China and India are trying.

Although I may have warped the original Tsiolkovsky quote slightly. Nonetheless, the truth of it remains.

This is what occasionally gets under my skin when talking to people who think we should 'take care of problems here on earth first'. To me, the people who trot out such sayings are short sighted, narrow minded, and don't understand much about the nature of humanity at all. They're not very historically astute, either.

Voices from the anti manned space flight faction would have you think that mankind will, or can actually deal with things like world poverty, famine, and the other excuses they trot out. They don't seem to get that the main drivers of poverty and famine are the self same people they claim will provide the 'answers'. This is the lesson of History, and gets repeated rather too often for my liking.

I've said it before, and I'll keep on saying it as long as I have breath; we are an expansionist species. It comes from our hunter / gatherer heritage. Humans need space to expand into and exploit, because if they didn't, well they wouldn't be human for a start. Manned space flight isn't a luxury item, it's an essential. Because if we don't at least try to get off this rolling ball of rock and take a look around, then we as a species are just marking time to extinction.

The next Tolpuddle Martyrs

Back in the real bad old days before protective associations and Trades Unions were allowed to exist. A bunch of 19th Century agricultural labourers in Dorset, so ticked off with their treatment, formed a 'Friendly society', refusing to work for less than a set rate. The leading members of this association were James Brine, James Hammett, George Loveless, James Loveless, Thomas Standfield, and John Standfield. For their 'crime' of standing up for themselves, they were arrested and sentenced to Transportation in 1832. Their trial and sentences were essentially a warping of the law to serve a vested interest, seeing as the legislation forbidding such associations was repealed in 1825 (But what's really new about that, eh?).

History has a tendency to repeat itself in slightly different ways, because the mistakes made have a tendency to be forgotten by those who consider themselves to be in authority. In like fashion I see this 'Lawful rebellion' thing sizing up to be the basis of a similar movement. Of course the Martyrs were only one of many such groups looking to protect themselves from overweening authority, but they put their checkmark in the History box before all others.

In similar fashion, Ranty and his growing band of like minded people are busy using the legal system to fight everything from excessive council tax bills to a parking ticket. Facing arrest, Bankruptcy and other serried consequences, they have picked up the mostly quenched torch of liberty and blown on its embers. I foresee their actions making great changes sometime in the future. So long as they stay on topic and don't alienate people by wittering on about stuff better left in the X-Files.

However, I make this one caveat. It took generations before the Martyrs actions brought about a better life for their heirs and successors. Their beginnings changed the socio economic landscape between employer and employee, master and servant. In some ways for the better. In others, their nascent movement was hijacked by those with a more sinister, destructive political agenda.

To conclude; There is a paradigm shift beginning. Away from the inefficient, incompetent collectivist ideals of the 19th and 20th centuries, perhaps towards a more 'people centric' future where grass roots movements hold the balance of power. I'm not sure where the 'lawful rebellion' movement is going to end up, but I have the distinct feeling that a smart young politician who hitches his coat tails to this particular comet will go far.

Discussion topics

“It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”

Samuel Adams

“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”

This Samuel Adams, not this one, although I am quite partial to the odd bottle.

Back later. Talk amongst yourselves.

Electric cars

This post has been generated by three cross currents of thought. The first was seeing one of those conspiracy theory 'Documentaries' about how wicked 'Big Oil' killed off some whizzy super electric vehicle supposed to replace all those pollution spewing Internal Combustion Engine propelled cars and trucks. The second was a piece in the Tellytubbygraph about subsidies for Electric cars. The third was a conversation I had about practical technologies with a work buddy.

Now electrically powered cars have been around a long time. Over 100 (One hundred) years. The technology is relatively simple. Electro Magnetic Force (Electricity, or plain old 'leccy' as the transfer of electrons along a conductor is known) translated into rotary motion by magnetism acting on coils and windings. Yes I know that's an over simplification, but this is a blog, not an encyclopaedia, for goodness sake.

Electric motors work. So long as there is sufficient electricity, they work very well indeed, and quite efficiently. Ideal for driving a vehicle you might think. Well, yes and no. The thing is, that while electric motors are a relatively efficient means of converting power into motion, independent electrical storage media (a.k.a. batteries) have not attained this level of utility. The major issue is recharge, and the time it takes to recharge the storage media without it blowing up.

Batteries are in their simplest terms Electro-chemical devices used to store and release electrical energy. They do this by a chemical reaction which releases electrons from atoms, which in their turn barge into the electron shells of other conductor atoms, thus creating a 'flow' of electricity. Again, this is an over simplification of the process, but my previous point about this being a very generalist blog still applies. It may surprise my reader that power storage devices of this nature have altered little over the past couple of thousand years. Two differing conductors and an electrolyte are all that is required. Modern batteries have come a long way from the old Lead / Acid contraptions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. but they still rely on the same principle. Charging too fast will overstimulate the chemical reaction within the battery and make it overheat, and even explode. So recharge times must be adhered to, lest you end up with a recharge station full of toxic chemical sludge and fast moving shards of metal and plastic. Short of some form of fast electrolyte recharge, where the old fluid is pumped out and replaced with fresh (Which doesn't replace / repair corroded anodes and cathodes incidentally), there is the major issue with electric cars. Not function, but recharge and recharge system longevity.

Perhaps some other process which 'refreshes' the electrolyte and shifts those pesky ions (Charged particles) to the correct end of the battery might be an idea. Whether such a process could be made to work or not would be down to whomsoever could crack the chemistry. Then you've opened the environmental can of worms about what you do with tonnes of exhausted battery electrolyte, which would be a by product of all those chemical recharges.

Until the electrical storage issues I have outlined above are resolved, the truly practical Electric Car will remain an expensive short range vanity item not worth spit in cold weather. As far as I'm concerned, the five thousand pound subsidies are worthless because the batteries need to be replaced for around $9000 (about six thousand quid) a pop after five years (or even less). God alone knows what the resale value of such vehicles might plummet to.

There's also a big question mark over how much pollution these things are responsible for. As far as I can see they simply defer, rather than produce no emissions. Power will still need to be generated to drive the things, and that will require a more robust energy grid, should the recharging business ever be solved. Then there is the pollution from Rare Earth production that goes into making modern batteries. Maybe that was why GM etc crushed all those leased EV1's, because the cost of battery replacement outweighed the economic benefits of leasing, and the future state-imposed costs of recovery / recycling. When it comes to the Electric Car, I still think Edison had it right over a century ago.

The various screw ups and bad curry-like repetition of the Electric car idea is what happens when people who don't understand technology manage high tech projects, or make ill-informed rules to buy votes. No conspiracy, just everyday human cock-up.

So this would mean.........?

Sorry to harp on like this, but I feel a sermon from the pulpit of Jesus Christ the bleeding obvious headeth this way.

Yea and verily brothers and sisters! For in the year 1854 a ship was lost in the high Arctic. A ship by the name of HMS Investigator was once sent to find a previously lost expedition. Its crew beset with scurvy, this sailing vessel was caught in pack ice off Bank's Island and the wreck has now been located.

The graves of some of the crew were found on Bank's Island close to a chache of buried supplies. Now the seasonal ice melt has allowed this discovery to be thoroughly investigated. Let's think about those two factually true statements for a moment before continuing. Ready for juxtaposition Cap'n? Engage.

Around 150 years ago, those waters were ice free enough to allow the relatively slow passage of a sailing vessel. The ground was soft enough to allow graves to be dug for the men who died of scurvy. Right. Errr... so that would mean that logically that particular bit of sea is open for navigation every so often. Like in 1903 when Amundsen first navigated the North West Passage. So this ice melt thing some people claim is all mankinds fault has been happening for, er, 150 years at least. Before all those ungreen SUV's and suchlike.

Never mind the open leads of water at the North pole which have been used by surfacing Nuclear Submarines since 1959. Even discounting the uncertain claims that a Chinese fleet commanded by Zheng He may or may not have 'found' the North West passage in the early 15th Century. What is certain is that the North west passage is open periodically. Since before all this 'man made climate change' malarkey. Ergo, it is not unreasonable to assume that ice coverage will 'recover' as it has done throughout the centuries. Atmospheric trace gases notwithstanding. Current global, Arctic and Antarctic ice coverage stats sourced from all the major providers can be viewed via this weblink.

Hallelujah! We're not all doomed then. The ice will be back. No need to panic. Until then we have the Summer. That reminds me, I've got a salad to prepare and some cold beer to buy. Here endeth the lesson. The liquor store is open and school is out. TTFN.

So what happened?

With NATO troops going off to Afghanistan and some not coming back, and others not coming back in the same state they went in, my question is; what's it all for? Especially when you read of how far the Afghans had come in the fifties and sixties. Hospitals, female emancipation, burgeoning industry and a growing economy. Then it all went pear shaped in the early 70's, and by the 90's had reduced the place to a wasteland full of warring tribes. The Soviets came in '79 and got driven out; then there was the Taleban, and what did they achieve? Now? The CIA factbook entry is hardly complementary.

Afghanistan as it was;Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan...by Mohammad Qayoumi

Well maybe 1950's and 60's Afghanistan wasn't 'perfect' in the eyes of some, but until the crazy people with guns decide it's time to call it a day, or are all shot, their country will forever remain completely fucked.

(Shakes head in saddened disbelief)

H/T Harry's Place

Twas ever thus

Re Cleggsky and Jonah talks for a new Lib-Lab pact;

In the words of an olde English ballad, originally bemoaning the banning of Christmas celebrations by Puritans following the English Civil War;

Listen to me and you shall hear, news hath not been this thousand year:
Since Herod, Caesar, and many more, you never heard the like before.
British voters are despis'd, new government devis'd.
Democracy is kicked out of Tow
Yet let's be content, and the times lament, you see the world's turn'd upside down.

With more than a nod of the head to the original English ballad 'The world turned upside down' as sung post Naseby.

It is of little consolation to note that Lib-Lab pacts have always ended in tears. Like the song, it's almost a tradition.

Heavy sigh.

He's no Robin Hood

"It's me, Robin Hood" claims actor on a binge. He's not though. His Archery style looks like it was learned using a kiddies archery set. Not that the politically correct TV travesty he was in could get even a major historical detail like a flaming longbow right. As I've pointed out before, the style of bow the actor uses is a short recurve of a Turkish, Roman or Magyar pattern. Funnily enough not widely known in English medieval folklore or literature. Historically speaking, the Yew longbow superseded the Welsh Elmwood bow some time in the 11th century, at least as far as the English were concerned, and the Welsh pattern wasn't a recurve. A short recurve pattern bow was unknown in England at this time. We know this because no-one has ever found one in literature or sculpture. This does not say much for the period detail or research required to play the part of Robin Hood convincingly. 'Robertus Hoode' was a sodding longbowman widely thought to have annoyed local Yorkshire law enforcement during the 12th Century FFS!

Despite the aforementioned I actually like short recurves, and prefer them for bush or field shooting. There's less chance of the lower limb snagging in the underbrush and throwing your aim off. This modern Maple and Fibreglass model shoots very fast and flat, which amuses a purist Archer like me as I prefer to shoot without sights. There's a knack to field shooting with one of these smaller bows, as the classic slow draw and hold you learn for target shooting (and portrayed in the movies - try drawing and holding even a 40lb competition recurve for more than five seconds at full draw and you'll know what I mean) isn't the best technique for shooting a 45lb+ pull bow in the field. My own technique is to tend to keep the bow at half draw during the latter stage of the stalk, and draw slowly to two thirds for sighting, then final draw and release all in one motion. Looks like you're showing off, but it's actually very effective. Endless practice is the key.

Anyway. Russell Crowe shoots far better. At least he actually took the trouble to learn how to shoot a longbow.

I used to like Doctor Who as well (Until Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford), but like Terry Pratchett, who is still sharp despite early onset Alzheimers, I don't think the current BBC incarnation can honestly be called science fiction.

The patron saint of England

Used to be this chap. Who did actually live and preach in England. Currently serving as patron saint of Northumbria.

This fellow however, never did, and probably never heard of the place.

On the other hand, would the country of my birth have ever reached its one time ascendancy within the panoply of nations with the battle cry of "For God, King Harry and........ St Cuthbert?" Ah.

Maybe it's just as well.

Now I normally don't like Rap, but.......

Intelligent stuff like this between competing economic ideologies is sooo good.


H/T The Last Ditch

Good to know

Mrs S is now staying with my mother for a few days before jetting home to Canada. Am pleased to know that Ma Sticker has taken my advice from earlier in the year and stocked up on logs for this bout of chilliness currently coating the UK. She is toasty and well provisioned which is good news to me, confirmed during our conversation on Skype this morning. We played word games, which my side of the family are quite fond of.

We are a practical bunch, and have no truck with all this airy fairy rot about global warming / climate change / ocean acidification. The general Sticker family view is that if you believed all the scare stories in the press, you'd never get out of bed in the morning. The matriarch of our clan speaks thusly; "We've all seen this before. Happens every ten to fifty years or so." Which to her sons is sage wisdom superior to all the unhinged pseudo-scientific ranting from the green lobby. Why? Because it was only a generation or so ago that our family made its living in agriculture, and if you don't pay attention to weather patterns in that job, you can lose crops and income. Never mind what some desk jockey tries to tell you. If Russian, our little clan would be classified as Kulaks. Which were the backbone of Russian agriculture, until collectivisation in the 1920's and 30's screwed Russian food production and people starved to death in their millions. So much for 'top down' political philosophies.

Any old road up, that's all in the past, and now my mother is happy to see one of her sons gradually making good in a new land. Laying foundations for the next generation so that they can live better than their parents. When it comes down to it, that's what family life is all about; teaching your children what you know so that they can profit from your experience and live better.

Of course there are times when the kids get a bee in their bonnet and won't listen, and it's no good trying to lecture them when their ears are closed. Then your job as a parent becomes simply to catch them when they fall. Our girls trip up occasionally, but with a little background support they're doing well, all things considered. We built foundations of trust and set clear boundaries in their support mechanisms, and it seems to have paid off; or to put it another way, so far so good. This parenting lark is an inexact science, but what the hey, so are people.

Off to a very nice supper at neighbour folks house this evening for conversations about travel, family and friends. They invite me, so I go. Good 'ere innit?

The night the wall fell

The Berlin wall and the evil of state sponsored communism began it's final dissolution on the night of November 9th 1989. I remember watching the events in Berlin unravel on the TV with a growing sense of hope, and dare I say it joy.

For some reason I always associate this song with the fall. I think it was popular around 88-89 and my convoluted consciousness made one of its jump cut attributions. Funny thing, memory.

Good song though. Reminds me of old friends from my wilder days. Hi ho. Nostalgia, not what it used to be, eh?

The English countryside, an expatriates perspective

Woke up early this morning and began to peruse the online Telegraph while trying not to burst out laughing and wake up Mrs S. Prince Charles and various others seem to have been complaining about various things pertaining to 'the death of the countryside', the dearth of fast Internet, the destruction of 'change' etc.

What these folk fail to appreciate is that the countryside has changed many times over the past few thousand years and yet the land still seems to be there. I personally know places where field boundaries have not changed since before the Enclosure acts and before.

Anyone with even the faintest appreciation of Archaeology will be able to 'read' a landscape and identify features which indicate the presence of many 'lost' villages and farmsteads. A lot of folklore often wrongly attributes the loss of said villages to something like the 'Black Death' when the truth of the matter can be found alluded to in Parish records and contemporary accounts. Industrialisation, the Enclosure acts of the 1700's, Landlords throwing tenants off their land for economic reasons like creating sheep pasture. The Spencer (Relatives of Saint Diana, or so I'm told) family from Wormleighton in Warwickshire seem to have been rather good at this back in the late 1500's. The dissolution of the monasteries was another, monasteries at the time being conclaves of early industrial activity. With a monastery gone, the villagers, serfs, villeins and cottars that served it had to move on, be moved on or starve. Generations could be uprooted by a change in ruling dynasty and ownership of a local manor. Earlier in English history, both pre and post conquest, raiding warbands of whatever faction would lay waste to whole communities, never mind the Vikings or Saxons.

My point is that the British countryside changes, and you either embrace that change or suffer. Current 'predations' include various botched government interventions (Foot and mouth) put a number of friends of mine out of business. Eco-Warriors put people out of agricultural business and ironically force food production into areas where they aren't so fussy about 'animal cruelty'. I will cite a particular poultry farming friend who was having trouble with his contracted feed supplier bringing him poor quality feed. The nature of his contract meant he couldn't source another feed supplier that year. Said poor quality feed resulted in vitamin deficiencies in his birds which resulted in brittle leg bones. A bunch of these soi-disant Eco-warriors heard that he was having trouble of this nature, did their customary hundred metres conclusion jump, and besieged his premises making accusations of 'animal cruelty'. On several occasions said eco-wariors let his stock out, where the local foxes and predators had a field day on the 'liberated' fowl. A year later he sold up, his farm was converted into someone's country palace, and the land is in the process of being parcelled out to 'developers'. Last I heard, his customers were sourcing their poultry from countries now where they aren't so fussy about 'animal rights', and of the only poultry farmers still running in the area, one is of Asian descent, who the eco-warriors won't touch for fear of being branded 'racists', and the other is a keeper of large unfriendly dogs, whose premises sport a first rate security system. His lawyers are known to be quite aggressive, too.

Barn and farm conversions have become popular where farmers have been forced out of existence by Defra incompetence (Commonly referred to as the Department for the Elimination of Farming and Rural Affairs), EU Common Agricultural policies and associated influences. Oh yes, and local council planning policies have occasionally played their part.

During the late 90's, and early 2000's the only people making any money from farming in the area where I grew up were the auctioneers selling off bankrupt farmers farm machinery and premises. Whole families, who'd farmed an area for generations, simply dropped off the map. Sometimes you'd hear that they'd emigrated, occasionally you'd hear of a suicide and penury.

Urban living people don't seem to appreciate how fragile an existence farming in the English countryside can be. Rats, Foxes, ignorant politicians and Animal Liberationists can decimate poultry sheds, a storm at the wrong time can half flatten cereal crops, blowfly and similar infestations can ruin herds and flocks, late frosts prevent fruit development, 'inspectors' can (rightly or wrongly) demand the destruction of livestock and the compensation (if any) will always come too late. Media 'food scares', Supermarket buyers, changes in dietary fashion, scares over the price of oil or any basic commodity all impinge on how much of a crop farmers can sell and at what price. Interest rates can change and a 'bad year' or run of them can easily put mortgage repayments on land or machinery out of a struggling farmers pocket.

A farmer may 'own' land, and thus be considered 'rich', and some canny operators have become so by selling up and putting their money elsewhere. Some may even have have accrued cash reserves, but those cash reserves can and have been easily wiped out by any or several of the aforementioned causes. I've seen it happen.

Re rural Internet; being a techie, and understanding something about Internet Infrastructure, I know that there will always be places in England where fast broadband will never be found. The reason? Distance and lack of subscribers. It just won't pay. Economic circumstances are stacked against current levels of technology, although there is a case for directional antenna and wireless bridges.

Here in Canada however, the cable companies appear to be allowed to use the electricity and telephone utility poles to carry their cabling. Thus houses like ours, stuck way out in the boonies, can get cable TV, Digital Telephone, Internet and all the conveniences of modern electronic life, with only the downside of biannual well inspections and septic tank emptying every other year. In the UK, BT and the electricity companies would never countenance such arrangements without charging a virtual arm and a leg. Until that situation changes, 256k DSL, dial up or satellite is all you will get.

Happy Moonday part 3

First Command Module docking to Lunar Excursion Module ready for extraction from third Stage followed by footage (Which I never saw before) of Buzz Aldrin entering and checking out the LEM.




It's just like being a kid again.

Late 20th century UK political history, a perspective

I first wrote this a year ago, but never posted it: Prescient or what?

Well, it’s happening. Mrs S and I knew we’d have to leave the UK because a) the kids were all growed up now and wanting to stretch their wings, and b) Six years (then 2002) ago we could see that Britain was going to hell in a hand basket no matter which way you cut it. ID cards, the reduction of Civil rights and the growth of the all powerful ‘State’ (Again).

Now I’m old enough to recall the mess successive Labour governments have made before this. If there’s anyone out there who remembers the 1970’s like I do, you may be persuaded to agree. Massive industrial unrest exacerbated by a complete governmental inability to manage the proverbial piss up in a brewery, and an ineffective looking opposition. Sound familiar? Not yet? Read on, the list of scandals throughout the 20th century is enlightening too. Tories seem to get caught (Predominantly) with their trousers round their ankles, Labour (Mainly) with their fingers in the public till. Why do we trust politicians?

Historically speaking; from 1964 onwards, when the Wilson led Labour government was elected the economy wasn’t in bad shape. There had been a few ‘scandals’ with the predictable public outcry (Does this sound awfully familiar?) and the MacMillan Government was unpopular because of events like the Profumo scandal. It wasn’t all sweetness and light, but economically speaking, things weren’t all that bad.

Post 1964, after a honeymoon period the economy began to slide because of industrial unrest and increased social budget requiring ever higher taxation; major prestige high-tech projects were cancelled on cost grounds (Blue Streak, TSR-2) putting people who might have generated more economic activity out of work (‘Backing Britain’ indeed – Hah!). A torrent of new legislation poured out of the new government, but to little benefit. On to 1970, and the centre ground Conservative party led by Edward Heath was elected because the economy wasn’t so hot.

Following the conservative election victory, the economic situation did not improve. At least partially due to politically motivated industrial unrest as well as a Middle East oil crisis. The economic slide began to turn into a nosedive after the second election of 1974 and we were treated to power cuts in the middle of Winter, one of the factors which eventually forced Edward Heath to ‘Go to the country’, which showed it’s dissatisfaction by narrowly voting in a Labour administration. Matters (again) did not improve, and at one stage in 1976, the UK (Labour) government was forced to go to the IMF for a £2.8bn loan to bail the whole country out.

Following massive industrial unrest and the notorious ‘Winter of Discontent’ a new conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher was elected, promising more freedom for the individual and less state intervention. This decentralising agenda proved a very messy business. The highly unprofitable, overmanned and inefficient nationalised Coal and Steel industries were mostly reduced and sold off. This pattern was repeated throughout much of the manufacturing sector. The highly government subsidised Rover (Previously British Leyland) was privatised and reduced. The financial industries were partially deregulated, beginning a renaissance of Britain’s economic fortunes. Taxation was eventually reduced. After two ‘boom and bust’ cycles the economic situation began to stabilise and improve. The north sea oil boom revenues helped restore UK fortunes.

Now let’s have a quick fast forward to 1997. There was the ill-fated Major government. Unpopular because of repeated scandals such as Aitken and Archer, and the aftermath of the poll tax protests and other inner city unrest. Yet the British economy was in moderately good shape and pretty stable, despite the recession of the early 1990’s. There were some ‘stealth taxes’ but these were manageable. Jobs were relatively easy to find; but as I watched the election results come in, I wondered about emigrating there and then. "Things can only get better"? Oh the bitter irony.

Since 1997, not only the economy has come in for a battering. The UK constitution is in a complete mess. Most power seems to be ceded to Brussels, and the House of Lords; to many a bunch of over privileged old duffers who seemed to like to get in the way of 'progress', has been emasculated. I think it was a shame. Love them or hate them, the Lords was a constitutional bulwark against poor legislation. The ‘old duffers’ had a collective constitutional memory that went back centuries “Tried that in the 1700’s – didn’t work old boy.” Sort of memory. Under the guise of ‘reform’ this constitutional memory was reduced to the point where the House of Commons (and Brussels) can railroad through almost any legislation they like, and there is no one to stop them. The British were promised some form of elected upper house, but have ended up with a bunch of political appointees and unelected peers who seem only accountable to the ruling party. The torrent of poorly drafted legislation increased. Despite the creation of new laws and 1000 new ‘criminal’ offences, (and fudged figures) lawlessness increased. Despite the 1998 ban on hand guns; gun crime and fatal shootings happen more often than they ever did before the Dunblane inspired ban.

Moving forward ten years, in 2007 Britain has a similar economic situation to that of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, economy on the downslide, bureaucratic inroads into everyday life, increasing regulation, industrial unrest, and a weak 'centre ground' opposition. It’s all looking depressingly familiar. There’s no sign of anyone with the statesmanlike nous to give the whole mess a thorough and much needed shaking (And for embittered Socialists to blame everything on twenty years on). There’s no substantial North Sea Oil revenues to fall back on at present, despite the recent West Rinnes discovery and hopeful articles in the financial press.

Upon very careful and sober reflection, I think Mrs S and I have made the right choice. Things right at the moment of writing aren't so hot for us, but there are signs of an upturn out there, and from a personal perspective I think we've ridden out the worst of the economic storms. Canada is our future, and providing the current Harper Government are fiscally prudent enough over the next year or so, it will be a prosperous one.

Happy Moonday part 2

Watched this bit at school, as we didn't break up until the 18th of July that year. Saw the landing on our old black and white set at home on the following Sunday. Still holds me riveted.

Happy Moonday (Not a typo)

Forty years ago today, I was allowed to hog the family TV and watch the launch of Apollo 11. Four days later on the 20th of July 1969 I repeatedly goggled at footage of the successful lunar landing. They showed it at school, I watched it at home, the word 'awesome' (Not that it was in my vernacular at the time) would not pass my lips because I was too thunderstruck to say anything but 'wow'.

Like a lot of other boys my age, I dreamed of becoming an Astronaut, and in my imagination I have soared out of Earth's atmosphere on voyages of discovery. Regrettably, the Apollo programme was curtailed due to budgetary restraints, and manned space exploration became restricted to Earth orbit. Hearing that, for me, was a very sad day. We were not going to Mars, or anywhere else in the Solar System. The magic faded.

I consoled myself by following the Voyager programme, but it wasn't the same. In a way I felt cheated. Cheated of the chance of seeing mankind soar to new heights and follow a path that would take us out to the stars. Cheated by hearing bone brained conspiracy theorists saying the moon landings were a massive hoax. Then again, said conspiracy theorists seem to have a very poor grasp of basic physics and probably all believe that Al Gore has a brilliant scientific brain, or every neo-malthusian prediction will come true. If they only knew how pointlessly ignorant and pathetic they sound.

I have a dream that in my lifetime science will become less politicised, and that we can stop wasting our time on 'Green' technology. If we put the money into proper Nuclear Fusion research instead (Not just Tokamaks), the dream of near limitless energy might be brought about. Maybe a sideline of that research would provide clues to a workable faster than light technology and we as a species could branch out to the stars. I may never see it, but it's a dream worth having.

In the meantime; here's one of my all time heroes, Edwin Eugene (Buzz) Aldrin, putting the record straight with one of those wastes of space who thinks the moon landings were faked.


Well, it makes me smile. Happy Moonday.

Told you so

Looks like the grandiose UK ID card scheme which would be used to 'fight terrorism' has crunched into the rocks of reality. Then again, I've been one of the myriad voices pointing out the inconvenient fact that all the most notorious terror bombings Like 9/11, Madrid, 7/7 etc, have all been performed by terrorists with valid, government issued ID cards. That and the other inconvenient fact that such a project would provide the mother lode of all sources for potential ID thieves, terrorists included.

As an immigrant myself, I appreciate the need for controls on people entering and leaving a country, especially in these economically straitened times. There should be an unstated requirement that no country should import poverty in a time of overburdened public purse strings, regardless of 'human rights'. If you can support yourself, all well and good, but if not, sorry; Full. This is never more true than now, what with the world economy still contracting. It should be a given that non natives indulging in terrorist activity against a host country and / or it's citizens should get the perpetrator instant deportation after a lengthy prison sentence, and the permanent stripping of any residency, work or citizenship rights. If not, why not? Human rights pleas are all very well, but those who harm others should not be afforded such privileges. Human rights legislation should be there for the weak and powerless, not as a catch all 'get out of jail free' excuse for every nasty scrote out there.

There is a saying by George Santayana that "those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Yet those who hold the reins of power seem to often disregard this axiom. Even Karl Marx acknowledged that "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce." The repeated failure of Socialist doctrine being a case in point, so he was right about one thing at least. However, to fight terrorism effectively, which is what the cards were supposed to do but couldn't, you have to strike at the root cause. There are acknowledged strategies to successfully fight asymmetric wars ('Terrorist' tactics like Hit and run guerilla tactics, suicide bombings) in which ID cards do not figure strongly. Said tactics derive from the writings of Sun Tzu and latterly John Boyd, who had some interesting things to say about it. Personally, I'm quite relaxed about terrorists about to commit mayhem being 'offed' before they have a chance to do so (A.K.A 'Doing a Gibraltar'). Or if you want the Monty Python version Llap-Goch.

Now the parlous state of the UK economy has dictated that a lot of these grand projects will have to be dumped because the government has run out of taxpayers money. Ahem. Told you so... (snigger).

Update: They're going to ditch the cards, but the odious database is to be kept as an ongoing project. When the next tranche of money runs out, that will have to go, too.

Midsummer madness

Every year I see the various new age groups 'celebrating' solstice. In amongst them, there are a number of people calling themselves 'Druids'.

I would like to draw my one readers attention to the following; they aren't real Druids. None of them. They're all fakes. Every last single one. Either unemployed, or frustrated Junior Accountants, or low level Council Workers to a man. Especially those under the age of twenty eight. There is no such thing, or ever was if you adhere to the strict letter of the Lore on these things, as a Druid under that age. Three simple reasons;

First: A would-be Druid must first be a Bard, an acknowledged singer of songs who must be able to rhyme and scan - no blank verse, that's cheating. No girls either. Which is bad news for the feminists because there are no recorded instances of genuine female Bards in Druidic culture. This training traditionally began with boys at the age of fourteen and took seven years entailing a number of sacred rituals like being left to survive the night lying in a swamp (Don't ask why - they just did). At the end of this seven years the would be Bard must prove their ability by singing in front of a council of his peers, all of whom must be either acclaimed Bards or proper Druids, and satisfy them of his ability and suitability for future training.

Secondly: The would-be Druid then has to undergo seven more years of training to learn the folk medicine and sacred rituals, some of which he must undergo himself as a kind of examination. Think of them as kind of high risk mid term exams. There was only one penalty for failure and that is death, usually during the ritual in question but sometimes after as a human sacrifice. Oh, and no sex, although I suspect quite a lot of that generally went on, humanity being what it is.

Soooo.... Fourteen plus seven plus seven equals...... twenty eight.

Ah, and there aren't any real Druids left because the Romans slaughtered them all back in the first and second centuries AD. Mainly because they were a pest and source of resistance against the Roman occupation of Britain. Romano British chronicles of the time tell us that a Roman army cornered and hacked a large contingent into dogmeat back in AD 60. See the contemporary writings of Tacitus, Pliny and Agricola amongst other sources. After that, the last of the Druids were hunted to extinction over the next two decades. Ergo, no more Druids, and no more documented or otherwise sources until a Victorian 'revival' when idle people with nothing better to do dressed up as Saxons, Danes or Celts and made up huge swaths of 'ceremonies' as 'historical recreations'.

Oh, and if these guys are real Druids, how come they get the date wrong; Solstice is the 22nd to 23rd of June, not the 21st or 22nd.

Why would you want to be an adherent to an extinct sect anyway? Is it something to do with exclusivity, like it's my sect and I'll sacrifice if I want to? Poor identification within your family and the search for identity within a peer group? Hated parents, and wants a peer group surrogate but isn't tough enough to join a gang? Maybe they just hate the tyranny of wearing trousers? There are clubs for people like that. Who knows, who cares. I just hate it when people get things wrong and make stuff up to fill in the cracks.