In 1945 the developed world looked around and saw the devistation that had been caused by greed, power hungry people, and the establishment that created war for profit.
Men and women who had sacrificed for their freedom saw the struggle ahead, and to use a british maxim "rolled up their sleeves and got on with it".
Despite the reverence that Churchill was held in, he was voted out, the country knew it needed a reforming Government, one that listened to the people.
The most Reforming government ever to hold office came in, This was the birth of the NHS, not free as people now think, but payed for by the people. If you worked money was taken directly from your wages to provide health insurance, it was even called National Insurance so people understood it was payed for.
It did not stop there, The country was devistated by war, infrastructre and housing was damaged, Industry had to re gear to peace, People had to get work. So The Council house was conceved. Government built housing, of a reasonably high standard to allow people to live with dignity, This was also not free, you paid Rent.
A fair wage for a fair days work, the minimum wage was conceived. If you went out to work then you earned.You had a contract, the company received your work, you recieved a living wage, with taxes taken at sourse so that you did not have to deal with forms and accounting, the monney you would earn was told to you.
Water,rail,electricity,coal,even comunications in the nature of Phones were deemed to be essentials and therefore to be owned collectively and run for all.
Now this did not make large profits, it spread the wealth, so some were not happy. Why should the profitable be out of reach?
We, the people, slept.
We listened to the idea that "everyone should be able to own their own home", an idea that was insidious. This resulted in council housing shortage, and ex council houses now 90% owne by Buy to let landlords.
We listened to " the NHS is inifficient and needs reforming", this resulted in managers upping their wages at the expence of services, piecemeal privatisation, and a real term reduction in funding.
We were lulled in to Share ownership for all, and let the gvernment sell us what already belonged to us, and because we did not understand we lost it.
We listened to the idea that Buisness needs to have freedom to inovate, so now we have zero hour contracts, food banks, the idea that you can work and still need a top up benifit.
Now there is a backlash starting. Gaining support.
It is not left wing to realise there needs to be a balance. It is not left wing to realise and spport the idea that an MP should have some idea of the working mans life. It is not left wing to support the premise that if a man or woman works, they deserve to be able to afford decent, liveable housing, Affordable utilities,nourishing food, and a fair chance to improve their lot.
 

There are times when I truly believe there is someone up there watching over us. And they have a mean, malicious, twisted sense of humour.

 Which Kind of appeals to us bikers.

For the last couple of weeks, on my doctor’s advice, I have been making the application for the Blue Badge. Not PIP, Or any other of the benefits, just the Blue badge to allow me o use the Dasabled parking bays. I have looked at the PIP etc. and have decided I am suffering enough without letting the government numnuts join in……Yet.

So Following the links and getting to the .GOV site of the local council, I started the application process, many times, many, many times, and lo and behold the site kept locking up. 

Now, Thinks I, as I am taking the Missus in to town for a Dental appointment, I will take the chance to go to the Library for assistance, like wot it says on the site.

 (Plonker, I know, Thou shall not believe one word of an official government website)

After hobbling (generous description believe me), to the library from the closest parking place available, I was met by a nice young lady who asked me if I had tried phoning the council. (Did not have the heart to get sarcastic yet so said yes, but haven’t had any joy), she handed me the phone from her desk saying “we have a direct line”, Ok, right, let’s see if this helps.

 Listen to the ring tone, listen, listen, “coroner’s office “comes the dulcet tones at the other end of the phone.

I hang up, Pass the phone back to the deceptively helpful young lady who I now know is a minion of the Devil in disguise, and say “look love, I know I look a bit decrepit today, but I hardly think the Coroner’s office is where I need to be referred to yet, I am actually still moving, all be it slowly!” 

Giving a good impression of looking mortified at her mistake, whilst ther work collegues behind her, adn two elder gentleen in the queue behind me fall about laughing,  she apologises insincerely and offers to escort me to someone who can help, “ok”, thinks I “might help, might not, what’s to loose?”, 

Remember, Plonker.

SO along a corridor, two rest stops later and a lift up a floor I am told to wait while she talks to another woman, much muttering and looking my way (not helped apparently by my looking startled now and again and looking frantically around as they stare at me) then she comes back and tells me that they are not allowed to help me fill in the form! Must be something to do with the leather jacket and sleaveless thinks me.

At this point I give up, thank the young lady, most insincerely, for her “help”, and go home to call the council help line myself, who after a ½ hour wait tell me they are aware of the intermittent fault on their service. Keep trying. SOOOO Glad I am keeping some people gainfully employed.

  

In America at the moment, they are going through the long drawn out process of presidential Election.
So I thought I might attempt to explain the process, from a British point of view. Please feel free to correct any mistakes, or misconceptions. Because believe me, I have reason to believe I may have got the odd fact or process wrong. After all, it is a tad complicated.
Over in America they are going through the long and painful process of electing a President.
As far as I can tell, it is a complicated way of going about things.
At this stage, Since April of last year,and for the next few months,the people who want to go in to the Oval office have to convince people not to vote for them but to vote for the people who will vote for them, called deligates
 Not to be confused with Congressmen, representatives, or Senetors who are elected officals, or Govenors who are head of States,(litteraly, they decide on Death penalties, they have their respective national guard units etc in all matters really they are mini countries), but delegates to the party Convention. (got that?) so when the media reports that Clinton, Drumph, Saunders etc are doing well in a certain state they are actually saying that they have managed to convince the people who are part of their own political party, to vote for someone who will vote for them.
 With me so far, good, try to keep up.
Next there will be a Republican and Democratic meeting, (seperate, called conventions). where all these delegates (remember the ones they are voting for now), will vote for that parties candidate for presidential election. Apart from in the democratic convention where they have slightly changed the rules and previous presidents and some others get to be called SUPER, and dont have to be voted for to be able to vote. (a slightly non democtratic democracy), And under the rules, they do not have to vote how their district wanted them to vote, but most probably will.
 Right, so they go. and if they can't get a result after the first vote then the candidates are whittled down, and then the deligates are courted by the remaining candidates.
At this stage, over a year in, they have only nominated a candidate to put to the country for their election. Thats right, Nobody has been voted in to office, Just voted in to candidacy.
Once the candidates are chosen, and they have chosen their potential vice president, then the whole country gets to vote again for one of them. State by state.
This is where the Republicans, and the Democrats fight it out.
Now it becomes Republican against Democrat, and it is entirely possible that candidates who won a state in the nomination race can loose the state in the election.
So the next time you are listening to a party political broadcast, a few months before our UK elections. be thankfull that our elections take a few months at most, and not the year and a half that the americans take.
And believe me, there is a real chance that the next choice the Americans Face will be between Donald Trump, and Bernie Saunders. No matter who wins that there will be people in America who call it an Apocoliptic vote.

WInge of the day

People

Earlier I tried to get people to take that step back, and look, watch, or just notice the world around them.
This must be difficult when you are trying to herd children around a shop, admittedly. It seems we spend most of their formative years trying to stop them from killing themselves in inventive ways, then along come the teenage years and we wonder why we put in so much effort. Dont worry some of them turn out ok.

Lets examine the thoughtless actions we all do that we can, perhaps, change.

First of all, I know I have been on about this before, but MOBILE PHONES. Ok, they are a part of our life now, and most people, especially teen girls it seems, would go in to an absolute fit if they were without them for a day. But People, remember, it is not up to other people to get out of your way when you are in your own word. If you must stare at the screen, do it whilst stationary, or sat down out of the way. Not walking across the road, not walking around the shops, and most definately not when on a busy Pavement. And do not give the affronted stare when someone bumps in to you because you were not looking. Mobile phones are NOT to be used for texting whilst driving! Or when leaving a pavement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl0JojWH1rQ

On a related matter, When you get of the bus or train, please take a few steps away from the door. Other people want to get off as well and standing in front of the door is bloody anoying. And why is it, that people think that a doorway is an ideal place to stop and have a conversation whilst holding the door open. You ever been in a coffee shop or cafe when someone is doing this, and all the cold air rushes in to cool down your food, or you have just managed to get warm and wham, open door conversation.

Right on a roll now.

Is it that difficult to find a parking place in an empty car park, that you HAVE to park next to the only other car there? A shopping center at evening, plenty of empty places, someone parks so that they can actually get in and out without doing the spinal contortion dance. So what? your car may get lonely?You want to be able to claim on the insurance when their door scratches yours? or maybe you think that they can cuddle up to keep warm?

The we will spread out to take all the eisle in a shop brigade. The store has wide eisles, great lets push out trolley, our pram and granny side by side so no one else can get past. Lets stop and hold a conversation group at the junction of two eisles. I know, we can stand in front of the shelves and give people mucky looks when they want to get something of them.

Full grump mode now,

Seriously people, let us start taking a little responsibility for our own lives and our effect on others. People Pushing the pram out in to the road then Looking is not the correct way to ensure your child survives. When you are the passengerin a car, and the car is at a junction this is not the best time to start asking the driver questions and demanding answers, seriously. Your mobile phone does not have an app for telling you when a car is about to hit you, This app is called common sense and road safety and comes fitted to your BRAIN.

Grump done

Following on from my rather long post earlier in the week.

After the second world war there were many ex service personel returned to their civilian lives. The demobilisation of these men was handled, if not well, then at least better than is done today.

Society, and by this I mean Government, realised that there was a whole generation of men who had fought for their country and way of life, now comming home to a country almost bankrupted by the war. The Empire had for all intents and purposes, Gone. The cities were Bombed to unrecognisable states. Industry, which had geared up for war, now had to retool and find a way to survive in a post war era.

So these men were, in most cases, Handed their wage, any back pay due, A Suit of admitedly Questionable taste, (the Demob suit), and sent home to make a go of it.

Many firms took back these returning workers, Unfortunately they laid off the women who had been doing their job, and finding a bit of independance.

Councils started the long drawn out process of Clearing the rubble, building back the city centers, Constructing Council houses, Even if they were the basic "prefabs". Unions started to press for a more equatable share of the profit for their labour. Society worked, to build a better life out of the ruin.

I am not saying it was a paradise, there were many social and political wrongs, but on the whole things improved. A worker who knows his job will pay, and his family can be looked after, will produce with pride, thus the industry he works in will prosper.

But the signs were there, Big industry was looking at decline, Ship building, steel, mining, agriculture. all had competition from abroad.

One of the Major failings successive Governments made, was to allow subsidised foreign industries to compete on unfair terms with ours. So called Market forces, slanted towards produce and services subsidised by foreign governments also trying to redevelop their countries economy slowly destroyed our ability to compete. Of course this was not helped by the Unions of the time becoming more and more demanding of wages for less and less work. Whole industries, and governments (heath), were brought to their kneees by over zelous militancy.

Our Merchant Navy, who fought with the main forces, who kept the country fed, fueled, and brough in the raw materiel needed to keep the country in the fight. Well that went in to decline in the 60s/70s and never recovered. Now there are more "british" tickets given to foreign nationals than British nationals. The ABs and ordinary seamen have little chance of a job with companies allowed to fly the flag of any nation, and employ the nationality that demands the least pay. The Coal industry, destroyed as a political endevour to Destroy unions, because Thatcher never forgave them for the humiliation of the Heath government toppling after the three day week, and the winter of discontent. The Steel industry, a victim of unfair foregn subsidies, and neglegent Government oversite. The Cotton, wool, Manufacturing, and car industies, where are they now?

For too long the scales have been tilting towards the better off. The people in power, our governments, have systematicaly sold of their main responsibilities, Things such as Rail, Water, Electricity, Gas, Social care, Health care, Land management, Public building management, Even security for major National events, all have been farmed out to Buisness. Leaving us with the question.

If Successive governments have Sold off all this, reduced their responsibility for all this, and Upped their remuneration above what they were willing to do for others. Why do they still have a job? Why should we listen to them? At what stage will there come a time when the common man says " ENOUGH!"

Do you watch CSI, or other American police series?

Have you noticed the fact that they say "you have the right to stay silent, the right to an attorney?"

Well, The Tories have made sure that you don’t.

 That’s right, you have the right to silence in the UK, but anything you DONT say that you later rely on in court may harm your defence, have you ever been in an argument and later thought of the perfect response, Tuff. In other words, in America the prosecution has to reveal to the defence ALL its evidence before trial, Defence does not, In the UK The Defence has to.

 Now the Tory party is working towards a surveillance society, where your emails and Phone communications can be monitored without warrant. Take a look at London, the most CCTV cameras per square mile than any other city in the world. Cameron has already, publicly stated "For too long we have been a passively tolerant society telling out citizens that if you obey the law we will leave you alone", examine that, it means they want to be able to persecute you even if there is no evidence that you are doing wrong, just because you may have said something they do not like.

Systematically, slowly, like water dripping on a rock, the Tory party, and in this I include those pink Tories of Labour (Blair and such), have eroded civil liberties. Take a look at what the common man has lost.

The Right to stay silent and not be regarded as criminal.

The right to a Lawyer if they cannot afford one, (not in criminal cases admittedly but legal aid has been cut to the bone)

The Right of protest, yes if your firm has ANY money from the government then its employees cannot write, speak, or otherwise officially protest against a Government policy.

The right to Strike in sympathy. Gone under Thatcher.

They have also passed a law that stops NGOs or other like organisations such as 38DEG (the petition site), from taking out adverts, or other publicity matters protesting government policy, or of a party political nature, once an election is called. Wondered why charities and such are not advertising or otherwise giving their opinion on the EU exit? That is why!

Like I said yesterday, if you are not angry yet, there is no hope for you.

Today I am going Political.

In the UK, Ok in England. Under the Feudal system, a lord or member of the aristocracy owned the land, and all on it, including the peasants. He had right of life and death over his subjects and could call on them to become cannon fodder in his disagreements with other lords. Among his tenants were Freemen. these were Men who had Earned their freedom, they could move to another lord’s land or anywhere without having to seek their lord’s permission.
Fortunately, most of this is gone now. But how fortunate are we.
Tenants or peasants had to give their lord 3-6 days’ work a year. That’s right 3-6 days a YEAR.
Let’s move forward a few centuries.
In the late 1900s there was a social movement rising in Britain. One of its most famous advocates as Dickens, his graphic descriptions of the conditions that the poor and destitute lived under, his bringing to the forefront the Tenements, the open sewers, the child labour, gin palaces, Workhouse and homelessness, helped to shape the Labour movement and social conscience.
After the first world war when so many of the best and fittest young men were killed due to incompetence and arrogance of the aristocratic generals. Followed by the depression, then the Second world war. Ordinary men and women had had enough of the bankrupt assumption of high birth being always right. Great social engineers like Bevin produced a National Health service, built on the premise of Free healthcare from cradle to grave, paid for with National Contributions. Free dental care for the young, the poor. Free eye tests and subsidised care for those that could not afford full price. Councils were given the order to provide affordable, well built, social housing. Council houses, as they came to be known replaced Many of the tenement houses that were such a blight on the cities.
This social contract produced a benefit of workers fit to work, who went home to decent shelter. Trade unions fought for and got decent living wages, so the men and women could afford to spend on other produce which increased the turn over for the whole country.
Then along came the swing to the other way.
The right to buy, decimated the housing supply for poor and less well of people, 70% of ex council houses are now owned by Buy to let private Landlords.
The systematic reduction in funding to the NHS, the introduction of a Whole level and more of burocracy and management, to the detriment of front line services, the undercutting of NHS trusts to allow private businesses to pick and choose parts to buy, like vultures at a dying body. all this has brought the NHS to the brink of collapse.
And the NHS is not the only part of the Social contract that those in power have whittled away.
The police are underfunded and overworked, forced to target the motorist to find funding for the tasks they are charged with doing.
The fire Brigade has been pared down, and pared down.
Councils have had their funding from government reduced to the point where basic services are cut and even stopped. Garbage collection at two week intervals, Social services reduced, Council buildings and property sold to reduce costs. Parks and recreation areas cut back.
Yet whilst this has been happening, it’s time to look to the other end of the spectrum.
Wages in the Big banks have risen to astronomical amounts, Utility company bosses are on 6 figure sum wages, NHS managers earn more in a year than most departments get for their running costs. Whole wards could be financed for a year, inclusive of operations and drugs, nurses and junior doctors, with what a manager takes home in wages and bonus.
Our Politicians have floated the gravy train to such an extent that some claim expenses in excess of 3 times their actual yearly wage, before tax!
The disabled and sick get more and more money taken from them to Incentivise them to work, yet the same people who voted for this took and voted themselves a pay rise of 10% plus. excuses for this took the form of " It is to discourage fiddling expenses", " people need to be given an incentive to work harder, a pay increase does this " one rule for the haves, another for the have nots.
If all this has not made you angry, then there is no hope for you.