Six days in life and politics

Throughout May 1831 the coal miners and others who worked for William Crawshay took to the streets of Merthyr Tydfil, calling for reform, protesting against the lowering of their  wages  and general unemployment. Gradually the protest spread to nearby industrial towns and villages and by the end of May the whole area was in rebellion, and for the first time in the world the red flag of revolution was flown. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merthyr_Rising

On a personal note, I had ancestors living in Merthyr at this time and probably working for Crawshay or one of the iron masters. My g.g.g.grandfather John Abrahams died there in 1849 of cholera, a typical illness of the poor working people.

Sunday: Other Half and I take the 200 mile trip to our other home on the other side of the country, having posted by postal vote over a week before in the consituency of our main home.

Monday: Fifty year relationship disappears in less than fifty minutes. Ah well.

http://hippydaysarehereagain.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/on-being-dumped-after-50-years.html

Tuesday: Start to empty out the second home of 23 years. Not discussing yet how I feel. Massive support from family and friends.

Wednesday:  Afterwork, Eldest Son arrives, loads car up and brings me home.  Four and a half hours drive each way. Arrive home to get to bed about 3am and he is off to work again about 7.30am.  BTW I have bronchitis. My bed has never felt so welcoming.

Thursday:  Youngest daughter texts to say once more her new house purchase has been delayed and the mortgage offer may not be renewed. Trying to sort this out, whilst feeling like crap from bronchial problems and drop mobile 'phone down loo. Watch it disappear around ubend with all contacts and photos on it. [Eventually buy another on ebay, heart in mouth, but cannot keep in touch with my kids who do not have landlines, without a mobile] 

One of my author friends describes my writings as:  '[Her] humour and spirit are indomitable'. Well that will do for me..

Have been looking forward to watching the election results although I had thought I would do it whilst over looking the South Wales coast, as in previous elections. Never the less set to to make my vegan fruit case which will be nourishing through the night as well as healthy and delicious. Halfway through cooking find all my vegan margarine is in the refrigerator over 220 miles away and have to settle for a vegetarian cake instead. Not - by any means - the end of the world.

As the election results begin to roll in realise this is not going to be a country where it is wise to be old, ill, poor or vulnerable. Dose in front of the TV, eventually fall asleep when reassured that at least the constituency in which I have voted is not going to fall to UKIP as predicted and the returning Tory MP is one of the better ones although of course I voted for my old mate of 40+ years who was standing for Labour.

Friday: Wake up to even worse results than I had feared but at least FARAGE WAS NOT ELECTED.
Bronchitis even worse and decide to take it to the doctor's whilst we still have an NHS.

Three party leaders resigning. A historic time. Nigel Farage blusters, Nick Clegg made probably the best speech I have ever heard him make, Ed Miliband made a  grand speech, very dignified. Some lovely people who have been good comrades in the Labour Party over the years are now wondering how soon they can start campaigning for their re-entry into the House of Commons in 2020. We activists are ready to go, although I think I will need antibiotics first!

Well, I am not going to give in on any front.  Watch this space!

A Summer of Disconnect

Well, the Elizannie/Other Half entourage arrived home last night after nearly a month of cliff dwelling above the Bristol channel. It was a lovely time, being with so many family and friends but although as always we were sad to leave it is also good to be back with more family and friends, here over looking a different stretch of water: the Thames Estuary.

As always I like a good pun so the blog title refers to quite a few things which happened during the August weeks whilst we were in the West Country. The first and most annoying disconnect refers to the fact that the broadband and telephone signals in our bit of the West Country were even worse than usual. One day I 'phoned Eldest Daughter just to tell her about my pure joy that I had managed to get a telephone signal! However it did mean that I had to desist from angry rants on twitter and facebook about various government and politicians' pronouncements which ultimately meant that I could have been a more placid person with whom to live!

There also seemed to be a complete disconnect at times with several politicians/government bodies and the general public. Just a quick list [leaving out some, obviously....]

[a]ATOS sponsoring the Paralympics [even Jonathan Swift could not have written this, surely? However Mark Steel writes a really good piece on this.]
[b]Examination boards changing the criteria for marking GCSEs but without telling teachers or pupils until the results were published. Head teachers not being sure who to sue? Pupils who had worked really hard - and teachers ditto - devastated.
[c]Virgin trains NOT being awarded the West Coast Main Line rail franchise renewal despite having built the service up over their previous franchise which has run since 1997. Virgin now taking legal action.
[d]Tim Yeo asking if David Cameron is a man or a mouse made me choke on my holiday weetabix. Suggesting that rats are leaving the sinking ship seems to be mixing metaphors when the ship in question is a runway for Heathrow airport. Sending Justine Greening to answer that she strongly opposes this seemed to offer her up as a sacrificial lamb and http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-urged-to-ditch-justine-greening-and-expand-heathrow-8084806.html suggests she may indeed be offered up for Sunday dinner very shortly.
[e] Nick Clegg and George Osbourne seem VERY disconnected over Clegg's idea of an 'emergency tax' on the rich!

The very last disconnect which had me really very cross within minutes of walking through my front door last night was the fact that the bank which I am leaving because they have made such a hash up of my bank account this year [Santander] have done it again and not passed on one of my direct debits to my new bank [The Co-op] Since this was to my union [Unite] I am even more annoyed!

The photograph above was taken in the West Country by Eldest Grandson, aged nearly seven. Any resemblance to any politicians is purely coincidental.

Is the Government writing Comedy Scripts?

Other Half and I like a bit of comedy. Life can be gloomy enough without watching on TV/listening on the radio to dark dramas, especially the type where someone ends up tied up with blood streaming from various bits of the body whilst others are screaming and running about with guns. Yes give us a good comedy show, the more silly, satirical or anarchic the better.

So last night promised to be a good night, the Now Show [satirical] on Radio 4 followed by later on ITV Benidorm [silly] and on BBC2 Twenty Twelve [satirical and slightly anarchic?]

Of course I laughed at the Now Show, always do - as 'Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis dissect the week's news with comical precision' [as the website puts it] But last night it was obvious that the script had almost written itself. Or rather the Government had written a lot of the best lines. From the budget induced 'pasty crisis' to the more serious petrol 'shortages' situation.

Benidorm was reassuringly silly and Twenty Twelve had us laughing until we cried. But the worrying point about the latter programme - which is a spoof documentary about the 'organisers' [and that in itself is a loose term] of the forthcoming Olympics] was how easily statements to the press and others by both these 'Officials' and 'Government advisers' sounded impressive but actually said nothing. Have you listened to real news bulletins and interviews lately and thought the same thing?

Which brings me back to the fiasco which has been the result of Government statements this week. We have a women in hospital with 40% burns through decanting petrol in her kitchen which then exploded. Whether she did this as a result of David Cameron & Francis Maude's advice is obviously unknown. And although the poor woman was obviously unwise to have done what she did, she is paying for it in the most dreadful way. The Government were more than unwise, they deliberately unleashed a wave of panic buying to demonise the union and the tanker drivers. And what Francis Maude suggested was - if not actually illegal [when we lived in Germany this would have been illegal btw] it was really foolhardy to put it lightly.

And as for the pasty and sausage roll farrago, no leading politician looks good on that one. I don't care whether any of them eats cooked pies or not - but I do care that once again the poorer sections of society are being disproportionately affected whilst the better off sections have probably never been into a Greggs..... David Cameron's recollections of when he last had a pasty and advertising which make it was were as cringe making as watching Ed Milliband and Ed Balls stopping off at Greggs for a quick snack.

Then came an important story in the Daily Telegraph which suggested that David Cameron's pasty story may in fact be untrue. What other secrets are we about to discover? Well the same article reveals:

Nick Clegg has also eaten a pasty “in the last few months at Paddington station”, according to his spokesman. Sources close to Baroness Warsi said she “loves pasties” and often eats them when on trips round the country.

This is enough to make me strike pasties from my shopping lists, although I do really like them and Other Half particularly enjoys the veggie ones we buy in Glastonbury. But as we are not politicians I don't suppose you want to know that.

Quick where's the TV listings guide magazine. Are there any comedy programmes on tonight?



The photograph is from the Twenty Twelve website