Poetry corner revisited

24 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by in Poetry

≈ Leave a comment

Here’s the latest ode from my friend Skimbleshanks…

Chorus:
Ohhhhh! We’re off to see the Wild West Show!
The elephant and the kangaroo–oo-oo-oo!
Never mind the weather, as long as we’re together,
We’re off to see the Wild West Show.

Verse the First
And in the first cage, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have …. the Thinkie-Tankie Bird.
The Thinkie-Tankie Bird? It’s fantastic, it’s incredible! What the Bloody Hell is it … ?
The Thinkie-Tankie Bird, Ladies and Gentlemen, is a marvellous beast whose cognitive activity is firmly in inverse proportion to any actual achievements. So if he Tanks, he Thinks, but when he Thinks, he Tanks!
Chorus

Verse the Second
And in the next cage, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have Andrea Leadsom.
Andrea Leadsom? It’s … etc
Well. I’d like to tell you, Ladies and Gentlemen, but I can’t. Yes you’ve got it, young feller-me-lad – Mum’s the Word!
Chorus

Verse the Third
And in the next cage Ladies and Gentlemen, we have …. HS2 Action Alliance.
HS2 Action Alliance? It’s etc
HS2 Action Alliance, Ladies and Gentlemen, is a most mysterious beast. You might call it two-faced, because you’re never quite sure which end is talking. When it goes to the Select Committee, it’s all serious and authoritative. But at the same time, it spouts nonsense like “£6.3 billion cuts to existing services”, “HS2 will cost £138 billion” and “Rugby will lose all its fast trains to London”. Listen carefully, and you will discern, Ladies and Gentlemen, that it’s HS2AA’s Directors doing a bit of freelancing from the other end. Don’t get too close, Sir, it stinks.
Chorus

Verse the Fourth
And in the next cage, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have …. HSUK.
HSUK? It’s etc
No-one really knows, Ladies and Gentlemen. Some say it’s related to the Chameleon, some say to the Cheshire Cat. The one thing we do know, Ladies and Gentlemen, is that if you ask it a question, it disappears.

Verse the Fifth
And in the next cage, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have …. AGHAST.
AGHAST? It’s fantastic, it’s incredible! What the Bloody Hell is it … ?
Dunno. Haven’t seen it today. Sure it was there yesterday. Or maybe the day before.

Ohhhhh! We’re off to see the Wild West Show!
The elephant and the kangaroo–oo-oo-oo!
Never mind the weather, as long as we’re together,
We’re off to see the Wild West Show.

Corbynwatch (No 1)

23 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by in Corbynwatch

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

St Jeremy of Corbyn has been addressing his loyal disciples in Manchester today. The Manchester Evening News was there and duly tweeted one of his claims.

Corbyn claims

 

So, Labour vanquished UKIP in Thanet did they? Many of us who’ve opposed UKIP for years knew this was baloney. A quick look at the Thanet District Council website confirms this.

thanet

The only reason UKIP suffered was when five UKIP councillors defected to a Democratic Independent Group over September and October 2015 (nothing to do with Labour of course). The latest election was on the 1st of July this year and UKIP beat Labour to win that seat.

Thanet july 1

So, not only is Corbyn’s claim false, there’s a double irony. The Labour Party won control of Thanet District Council with a total of 45 seats in May 1995. They held it until they lost it to the Tories in 2003. Those were the Tony Blair years…

Social media is now suggesting what St Jeremy was REALLY talking about when he claimed that Labour had “taken” Thanet was actually the result of an election to this Parish Council seat.

Parish council.PNG

If true, then frankly, that’s not only dishonest, it’s also bloody desperate…

 

Respect democracy we’re told, but why should you respect a lie?

26 Sunday Jun 2016

Posted by in Brexit, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

I’m on my way to London before heading off to Germany tomorrow and (like most people) I’m trying the make sense of the political and economic chaos that’s engulfed us since the Brexit vote. I share something else with many people at the moment too – I’m angry.

I’m angry that I’m repeatedly being asked to ‘respect’ a referendum result that was secured by the most monumental, bare-faced lies.

This wasn’t the cut and thrust claims of everyday politics, or the manifesto promises of general election campaigns. This wasn’t a result that could be corrected at the next general election when the deceit became plain, no, this was weapons-grade dishonesty of the most breath-taking kind that was meant to settle a question once and for all time.

I’m talking of the ‘we’ll save £350m a week and spend it on the NHS’ claim, not to mention the ‘Turkey is joining the EU’ claim, or the one that appealed to many – that immigration would be ‘controlled’. In fact, the ridiculous campaign slogan “Vote Leave, take control” now seems like a sick joke when it’s obvious the UK is now completely out of control, both financially and politically! The horrible truth is the Brexiteers had no plan – just lies – and now it’s all starting to become clear as one after another, they’re forced to admit they lied and that the promises they made to secure their victory can’t be delivered.

So, why should I or anyone else respect the result? This wasn’t democracy in action, this was fraud.

Even some of those people who were taken in by the fraud are expressing their anger and dismay now that Brexit leaders are finally admitting their claims were false – but only after the results are in of course…

Meanwhile, two of the architects of this destruction, Gove and Johnson are looking rather sick. Cameron has left them holding the Brexit baby. He’s not going to trigger Article 50 and the process that would end of our membership of the EU ( and almost certainly lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom). Instead he’s exposed the fact that none of the bold Brexiteers actually have a plan!

If this wasn’t being played out in the real world it would make a gripping political drama. As it is, it’s a bloody nightmare. It’s real. It’s affecting millions of people and the world’s economy. No wonder they’re looking sick. Johnson’s hubris is about to cost us all dear.

So yes, I AM angry – and I know many other people are too. Our elected representatives need to understand that anger, rather than talk glibly about ‘respecting’ a referendum result secured by lies. So let’s stay angry folks, until we find politicians who have the guts and honesty to sort this mess out.

I went to sleep in Gt Britain. I woke up in little England

24 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by in Brexit, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

I write this with a terrible sadness. I have a feeling that I’ve just witnessed the most tragic act of national self-mutilation my generation will see. Great Britain has voted to leave the European Union and I have a horrible feeling that this will be the last national act the United Kingdom will ever make. Already, there are calls for Scotland to have another referendum on leaving the Union. There are also calls for Northern Ireland to join with the Irish republic as both they and the Scots voted strongly to remain.

Now, we start to face the consequences of the vote. “Project Fear” now looks more and more like “Project reality check” as the effects people were warned about but chose to ignore come to pass. Already the pound has nose-dived and the stock market has lost 7%.

My fear is that this really is a case of turkeys voting for Christmas. The old and the fearful have selfishly set the future for the young. The poor have been gulled by the millionares and media magnates, not understanding they will bear the brunt of the consequences as our economy takes the hit. How long will it last for? No-one knows. We are all in uncharted territory here.

Of course, it’s not just us. The shockwaves will be felt outside the UK too. We’ve plunged the world into uncertainty. Have we triggered a new world recession? I sincerely hope not, but the signs are not looking good. I’d love to be proved wrong on that.

What now? None of us really know, although I have a nasty suspicion that this will lead to a much more fragmented and divisive society. Sooner or later, those who’ve voted out on the promise that it will end immigration and ‘free’ the UK from the economic shackles of the EU will realise they’ve been fooled. Already Farage has admitted that the £350m claim the Leave campaign trumpeted as the weekly ‘cost’ of the EU was actually untrue. Gove and Johnson have asked Cameron to stay on as PM – presumably because they don’t want to take responsibility for the shit-storm they’ve just unleashed, and because (as we knew) they don’t actually have a plan.

The old Chinese curse has come true. We’re living in ‘interesting’ times…

The senseless murder of Jo Cox MP

16 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by in Brexit, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

After a lovely day with community rail friends in Glossop, Dawn & I were shocked beyond measure to hear of the brutal & senseless murder of Jo Cox, the MP for Batley & Spen. We knew Jo. We met her at the founding meeting of the friends of Batley station just before she was elected as an MP. She was bright, friendly, committed & compassionate. She knew how to make things happen and she did it with both winning ways and good humour. It was obvious from that first meeting with her that she had a great political future ahead of her and that Batley (and politics in general) would benefit from her being in Westminster. Instead, she’s been killed in a senseless, politically motivated murder. I’ve written before about how the present political campaign has opened Pandora’s box & released a terribly poisonous mix of resentments. This is obviously part of that mix. I always thought the UK was better than this. Today, I’m really not so sure. All I can hope is that this tragedy makes some people stop and think about the direction this country may be heading. It’s time to reject the divisive folk & the philosophy that talks of its fellow citizens as traitors & accuses them of treason before it’s too late. These fools have just deprived both us and Batley of a compassionate and caring MP and her husband & children of a wife and mother. It’s not too late to step back from the abyss…

The big Brexit myth of an ‘undemocratic’ EU.

24 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by in Brexit, Politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

The bedrock of the Brexit campaign is the myth that the EU is “undemocratic”, so to “get our country back” (a nonsense phrase if ever there was one) we have to leave the EU. The lynch-pin of their argument is that European Commissioners aren’t elected – ergo the EU is ‘undemocratic’.

This argument falls for a whole host of reasons. Firstly, the European Commission is the equivalent of the British Civil Service. Have you ever voted for a civil servant? Of course not. We elect the people who direct the Civil Servants and the EU is exactly the same. Here’s a diagram of how EU democracy and oversight works.

EU make laws

 

As you can see, no legislation can become law unless the elected MEPs agree. If they don’t the legislation is sent back to the commission where it’s either redrafted in the light of MEPs objections or it’s binned. The Commission cannot pass laws themselves. So, there’s genuine democratic oversight.

There’s another thing. Brexiteers are either incredibly ignorant of how Parliamentary democracy works in the UK, or they’re deliberately ignoring it. Here’s why. Have you ever heard of the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury? Or the 2nd Earl of Liverpool? As they’ve been dead for years you probably haven’t. OK, let’s try someone more modern. Lord Young? He served in Margaret Thatcher’s government. No? OK, let’s try someone bang up to date. Lord Adonis? He was Transport Minister in the last Labour Government. He’s now head of the Infrastructure Commission.

So, what do they all have in common? None of them were elected. In office they were unelected members of the House of Lords. Not only that but two of them actually served as Prime Ministers! All of them have done the very thing that gives the Brexiteers an attack of the vapours – despite being unelected they were responsible for making laws. Plus, let’s face it, you can’t get more politically powerful in the UK than by becoming Prime Minister.

Nor are these coves unique. You might have heard of another one, he’s one of our most famous Prime Ministers. His name? Benjamin Disraeli.

Oh, another thing. Who invited Disraeli to be Prime Minister and form a Government? None other than Queen Victoria. Now, just who elected her?

The Brexit camp claims that the EU is undemocratic are baseless. In fact, as history shows, by their own definition, the EU is more democratic than the UK!

The Brexit debate is a depressing insight into humanity

20 Friday May 2016

Posted by in Brexit

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

I’m on the train to London & finally found a spare moment to blog. Today’s chosen subject is the referendum on the UK staying in the European Union (or Brexit for short).

I’m unashamedly pro the UK staying in staying in and I’ve been voicing that opinion loudly on social media. Of course, that’s made me a target for the the Brexit camp – and what a depressing insight into humanity that is.

Social media has become the modern refuge for the old green ink brigade as it’s given them a voice they never had before. Most newspapers & magazines (unless they were desperately short of copy for the letters page) would normally spike the most extreme rants, deluded nonsense and Walter Mitty fantasies. Plus, they wouldn’t risk publishing the full fledged racism for fear of falling foul of the  law. In contrast, the internet is far more of a free for all, which is what appeals to these characters. What also attracts them in their droves  is Brexit. Why our membership of the European Union attracts such extremists would make an interesting study into the human psyche – because there’s plenty of material to study!

These people are easy to find because they find you! All you have to do is tweet something in support of remaining in the EU using a hashtag like #Brexit or #StrongerIn. Within minutes you’ll have some anonymous creature with a name like “nocash no dash”, “Una Discamus” or “Roddytherobot” (they’re all genuine examples by the way) bombarding you with paranoid nonsense and made-up ‘facts’ about the EU. I do wonder why if the Brexit argument is so strong these people have to hide behind fake identities and spend all their time lying. Here’s another (genuine) example.

Millar

An American ‘survivalist’?  God help us…

One thing they all seem to have in common is an unhealthy obsession with Hitler and Nazi Germany. The irony here is that they love to label the EU as a ‘fascist’ state & compare it to the third Reich. Of course, the EU is so ‘fascist’ and we’re so controlled by it that, err, we’re able to hold a referendum on leaving!

Apart from attracting those with an unhealthy obsession with fascism, Brexit also seems to attract the Walter Mittys. Here’s a prime example.

Haseler

This one bombarded a few of us with a stream of Tweets along these lines, so I spent a few minutes on Google and found this. As soon as I posted the link Haseler blocked the folk he’d been bombarding and ran away!

All this would be funny were it not for one thing. Many of these ‘characters’ will be real people and a lot of them will actually have a vote in the referendum. Paranoid nonsense, Walter Mitty fantasies or not – they could help propel us out of the EU and wreck the future of the UK. They don’t just exist on social media either. The other day I had a depressing ‘discussion’ with one such individual who’d swallowed all the newspaper garbage and genuinely believed Tony Blair had sold a UK warship to a secret EU navy (I know, I know – but try telling them..)

That is why I’m no fan of referendums – especially on complex issues such as membership of the EU. Our future could be decided on by the paranoid, the ignorant or the plain delusional!

This is why I’m appealing to all right-minded people to make damned sure they get out and vote in the referendum and leave nothing to chance. I’m also appealing to younger people (who are less likely to vote). After all, the future is yours – but you could find it’s set for you by a bunch of fearful old people who’re more likely to vote than you are, and once we’re out, there’s no going back…

The anti Hs2 mob live on another planet…

08 Sunday May 2016

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, House of Lords, Hs2, Hs2 petitions, StopHs2

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

When is applying the long-established rules of Locus Standi (The right or capacity to bring an action or to appear in a court) and the letter of the law “undemocratic”, “dictatorial” or trying to “over-rule 750 year history of representation”?

Never – unless you live in the weird parallel universe inhabited by Andrew Gilligan and the rest of the anti Hs2 mob!

As I predicted in my last blog, the petitions to the House of Lords are facing far more Locus Standi challenges than the earlier petitions to the Commons. 414 of the 821 are subject to challenge. This has provoked squeals of outrage from stophs2 campaigners and the usual fact-free rubbish from Andrew Gilligan (see here) and Joe Rukin (here).

Of course, what they all neglect to say it that whilst this is the Govt and Hs2 Ltd bringing the challenges, it’s up to the House of Lords Committee to judge if those challenges should be allowed. The Committee is Chaired by Lord Walker of Guestingthorpe, who just happens to be a QC with a long history of senior judicial appointments which include being a High Court judge, Justice of Appeal, Lord of Appeal and Justice of the Supreme Court of the UK. With such an august legal mind Chairing the Committee it’s going to be almost impossible for Hs2 antis to get away with screaming ‘foul’ on this one – hence their anger.

StopHs2 campaigners know this was their very last throw of the dice. Yet again, they’d hoped they could bog-down the process of the bill with repetitive petitions only this time, they weren’t going to be allowed to get away with it. The Govt and Hs2 Ltd had been very generous in the commons by challenging so few petitioners. In their final report the House of Commons Ctte had this to say about Locus Standi;

audience

So, what’s happened shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The Govt and Hs2 Ltd are simply exercising their legal right to challenge petitioners standing and a very senior and experienced legal mind is chairing the Committee that will rule on their validity.  Expect the majority of the challenges to succeed.

 

You can’t hide the tumbleweeds…

06 Friday May 2016

Posted by in Hs2aa, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

The past few months have been awful for the Stop Hs2 campaign. It’s been rendered pointless by Parliament voting through the Hs2 bill with a stonking majority. Its woes have increased as the bill continues to make solid progress towards Royal Assent. The bill also passed 2nd reading in the House of Lords. Now the Lords has chosen the members of the Committee to hear the 827 petitions. As expected, HS2 antis have stuck in as many petitions as they can, hoping the tactics that failed in the Commons will achieve something in the Lords. The composition of the HoL Ctte (it’s chaired by a QC) makes this far less likely as the committee will be no pushover. They’re expected to be far tighter on procedure than the Commons so expect far more Locus Standi challenges.

Meanwhile, the organised anti Hs2 campaign has fallen apart. In 2010 there were four main groups opposing Hs2, this has been reduced to two (Hs2aa & Stophs2) but only the latter is still active. Apparently skint and demoralised, Hs2aa have retreated into representing the Nimby interests of their Directors. Hs2aa have tried the fact by blaming their lack of action on a serious denial of service attack which had taken their website down for a couple of months.

hs2aa

Silence them? What they neglect to mention is they still had two other options with which to continue their campaign: Their Facebook page and their Twitter account. So, what’s happened? Nothing. Neither account has seen any action since March 6th!

hs2aa FB.

The truth is, most Hs2 antis have given up, even on social media – which has been their main campaigning tool for years.

This is yet another lesson in the pitfalls of social media for other campaigning groups to learn. Social media is a mirror on your soul. It can reflect your strengths but it can also expose your weakness. You can’t hide the tumbleweeds…

 

 

 

Time for a few words…

27 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by in Travel, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

I’m sitting on a Grand Central train which is taking me back to London for the second time this week, so I thought I’d snatch a few minutes away from work to scribble a few words.

I’ve very much been back on the road this past week, so even slide scanning has had to take a bit of a back seat as slide scanners aren’t the most portable bits of kit, then again – neither are slides!

Last week saw me spending Wednesday conducting a series of interviews for a book. This involved one on-board a train to Wakefield before I hot-footed it across the Pennines to Longsight depot in Manchester, then moving on to Preston for the final interview in the trilogy. Sadly, my journey home was delayed at Blackburn due to some poor soul threatening to commit suicide on the line. This time, the outcome was a happy one. I wasn’t so lucky on Thursday when I had to travel to Oakham for the funeral of Ray “Matey” Towell. The outward journey was fine. I started from Huddersfield with a trip along the Penistone line in absolutely glorious weather. Even the fact that the trip was done on a Pacer couldn’t take the shine off things. For once, I eschewed keyboard swiping on my laptop to soak up the scenery – and the sunshine. The onward trip from Sheffield was to Leicester was done on something a little more comfortable as EMT provided a Class 222 Meridian. Because they’re fitted with power points I had no excuse to avoid knuckling down to do some picture editing. I’d planned to get the train for the final leg to Oakham but a few minutes browsing social media informed me that a number of the ‘brothers’ (oh, and a solitary sister) were converging on the town with the idea of sharing a charabanc. Thus, I found myself with Messers Pridmore, Brennan-Brown, Morris, Hughes and Howard for a laughter filled trip to a place we’d all really rather not have been going…

That said, Ray’s funeral was a fitting send off for such a popular character. Around 160 people filled All Saints church to celebrate his life. There was laughter and tears in equal measure as memories were shared and poems read. Afterwards, most of us adjourned to a local hostelry. After all, it’s what Ray would have wanted.

Time conspired against me as I couldn’t stay for more than a few minutes thanks to a prior engagement in York, so after a swift half and a few farewells I legged it to the station for a train to Peterborough and an onward connection to York. That’s when it all started to go wrong for the second day in a row. A glance at the Peterborough information screens told me that the East Coast timetable was in disarray thanks to a suicide at Stevenage. My train was going to be late but i’d no idea how long I’d have to hang around. VTEC staff were doing their best to keep passengers informed but some questions they really had no answers for. For me, time was of the essence as I was volunteering at the Railway Benefit Fund spring ball that evening. The ETA of my train began to slip as news came of further delays due to what we were told was a trespass incident near the suicide site – exactly what no-one needed*

In the end my train arrived 50 minutes late. Having left myself some recovery time I still managed to arrive before the event started – although I had to change into my tuxedo in the NRM toilets rather than at the hotel (my partner, Dawn was also a volunteer, so she’d carried it with her)! The fun of the ball made up for the days more sombre & sober events. Everybody there had a wonderful time with the added glow that we’d raised thousand of pounds for the RBF.

After a weekend of work and walking around home I was back on the road on Monday when I headed back to London to add to my picture library before attending a Eurostar community event in the evening (more of which later). Yesterday was a little different as I joined the ACoRP team on a visit to my old home town (Southport) to ‘recce’ the venue for the 2016 ACoRP community rail awards and discuss arrangements with the venues staff. We also selected the menus for the evening and tested what would be on offer (I know – it’s a tough job!) We can confidently say that those attending won’t be disappointed…

Today I’m back on Grand Central as I’m due to shoot portraits of the new Senior Management Team of a well-known railway company in London. This evening I’ve an engagement in Huddersfield and tomorrow I finally have a day at home -but only the one. After that Dawn and I head up to Scotland for a long weekend with a bunch of friends that will involve archery, quad-biking and driving tanks. Oh, and maybe the occasional libation..

*Earlier this week I was chatting to one of the crew from the train which suffered the suicide. I’m not going to name names but I think this is a good illustration of the random nature of these tragic events and how fate can deal the cards. The Train Manager is the only one from his depot to have suffered a suicide. In fact, he’s had two. After the latest incident he was on the empty stock returning to depot up North to be checked out and cleaned up. On their way the driver spotted someone lying in the four foot ahead of them. Thankfully for all concerned this person ‘chickened out’ at the last moment and moved onto another track – thus preventing the train (and some of the crew) having two suicides in one day.