It’s long overdue, but at last Bruce Forsyth has got his knighthood, so the disappointment that I didn’t get mine (one in the family ought to be enough) is offset by the joy the Bruce has his, long overdue, reward for goodness knows how many years of entertaining us.
Category Archives: serious stuff
victory is never sweet when it is at the expense of friends #vote2011
So it looks like a massive No2AV.
I voted No, but am I pleased with the result? Not especially, no. Yes it is the result I voted for, but only because I was presented with an alternative that I found even less palatable. I voted for the lesser of two evils as I saw it.
Was the No campaign persuasive? I don’t think so, in fact I would say that the Yes campaign did more damage to itself with some of the arguments it put forward. The campaign has seen some pretty stupid things said on either side, but unfortunately that is par for the course in modern, sound bite ridden, negative politics, and the result has been voted in by a poor turnout, even if it was better than some predicted.
So I sit here this evening casting an occasional glance at the unfolding vote with no sense of pleasure let alone satisfaction. And not just because of what I have just said, but also because there a few people I count as friends who were as passionate about a yes vote as I was opposed to it. As a Scottish pal once said to me, victory is never sweet when it is at the expense of friends. Their loss gives me no pleasure.
Filed under serious stuff
an atheist’s thoughts on life, death and Easter
Two ladies I know have died suddenly within a 36 hour period this week: My former mother in law passed away after a short illness on Tuesday and then a friend of my own age died suddenly yesterday, barely 24 hours after we had left her smiling and content in hospital.
We all know that death will come eventually, and, for both of the ladies, those around them knew that their days were numbered in months in all probability, but the news still comes as a shock.
I have no religious belief, but many of the bible stories that I learned as a child still convey a sense of truth in their telling. Easter carries messages of death and resurrection and, as I reflect on the passing of these two ladies, I cannot be overly sad that they are gone because they are at peace and are beyond the deterioration and decline that faced them. I think instead of the good memories that I have of having known them and of approaching whatever time I have left here with renewed intent to do good things and make the best of that time.
Losing someone who you know is always hard, but those left behind have their own lives to lead, and better to make good use of them than to mope and moan. Instead honour the memory of those who have gone by using your own lives well.
Filed under serious stuff
Grafton game fair family day – 7th May – Help for Heroes
At Wilton Water, Wilton, nr Marlborough in support of Help for Heroes amongst other causes. Check their website here for details.
Filed under fun stuff, serious stuff
christian symbols offensive? leave colin atkinson alone
Those who read my ramblings on a regular basis will know that I do not believe in G-d, but I have no objections whatsoever to those who do drawing comfort from their religion and the traditions and pageantry that go with them.
In a land that once was proud of its tolerance I am appalled that a gentle man by the name of Colin Atkinson can find himself in trouble with hie employers for displaying a cross in his vehicle.
I appreciate that it is their vehicle, and that they have to draw the line somewhere about how employees customise their working environment, but to say that it might offend is, to me, wrong.
Some 37 years ago I found myself in an early management role having to deal with customers who wanted a maintenance person to call, “but not the *****” (insert own word for someone of a darker skin). We have come a long way since those days of prejudice that Warren Mitchell parodied so brilliantly, and I am as angry about the treatment of Mr Atkinson as I was about the events of 1974.
I hope that someone sees sense here and drops this whole issue. To allow it to continue is to shame us all.
Filed under serious stuff
a final word on Yes2AV
So far in this debate I’ve not really seen much from the Yes lobby that tells me why theirs is a good idea; it has all been about the FPTP system being wrong and that AV is great, but why?
As any of you that have read my previous posts on this topic will know I am against it, but again, to be fair, why?
Well, in what will, hopefully, be my final blog on the subject, here’s why:
What is the point of your vote? It is to elect the person that you would like to have represent you. Now this has become slightly corrupted in that you probably really vote for the party that they represent rather that the person. There is a distinction, but let’s leave it at that for now.
You get the one choice, and why would you want a second choice? Now the AV lobby will have you believe that you might have a second, third, or more choice, but is it really true that someone will say “I’m voting for party A, but party D would be my second choice, and Party F my third choice”? I really doubt that.
What is far more likely is that they will say “I want party A to win and party B to lose”. Let’s face it, someone who votes Tory is going to want the Labour party to lose and vice versa, so what can they do?
Under AV they can either vote as they do now choosing their one favoured candidate, leaving the other candidates boxes on their form unticked,
or they can vote for more than one candidate and put the one they don’t want to win as far down the list as they can
or they could vote for their favourite, plus some of the others, but not the one that they don’t want.
If they take the first option then there is no difference from now. If they take either of the other options they are voting tactically.
Now we need to be honest here and acknowledge that, apart from some specific areas of the UK, there are two main parties; Conservative and Labour, then there are the LibDems, and then the rest. Can anyone really say that this is not the case? You only have to look at the numbers to see it, or just glance at history. Apart from the current coalition, or the war years, when did we have anyone other than the top two in power?
So if you are voting tactically and you want either Conservative or Labour to win and the other to lose, then you need to make your second choice one that is going to attract enough votes to push the unwanted candidate down, and the only realistic second choice for most is therefore LibDem.
In one of my other blogs on this subject someone has commented about how many LibDem voters complained last year that they had not voted LibDem to get a Tory government, but isn’t that what AV is about. I, too, remember that now and understand her point.
Persuade me I’m wrong if you can, but as I see it if someone is elected on a raft of second, and possibly third, choice votes, how is this better than what we have now? Unless you are one of those who have successfully voted tactically that is.
Filed under serious stuff
a seminal moment, 50 years on
The news that the Soviet Union had put a man into space, and then that they had got him back again, was somewhat awesome to me as a youngster. One of us, up there. It may have been at a troubled time for the world of the cold war era, and Yuri Gagarin might have been on the other side, but he became an instant hero to me.
Fifty years on I still hold his memory in high regard. Is space research a waste of time as some would have us believe? No to me; pushing boundaries is one of the things that life is all about, and to be the first to go where someone has not gone before is a special thing.
Still one of my heroes, Yuri Gagarin got there first, and he will not be forgotten.
Filed under serious stuff
more on the yes2av campaign – is there a scandal that we should know about?
I am all for a fair fight, good open debate and accepting the results at the end, whatever they may be. My own campaign against the yes2av lobby is, I hope, a good example of putting an alternative argument forward so that people can make up their own minds, albeit that I do hope that my arguments do influence people towards my way of thinking.
And so I am appalled the read via another blog quoting from The Spectator that the Electoral Reform Society, who would have much to gain financially from a Yes2av vote being successful, are sponsoring that campaign. Read the blog and reference to the article here and make up your own mind.
It is old news maybe, having been published in late Feb this year, but was news to me until this morning.
Filed under random rants, serious stuff
more on why I’m voting No2AV on 5th May
Deciding who will represent you in parliament and, ultimately, who will run the country is not a marketing survey.
If someone asks you to rate your top 5 or 10 hotel chains, supermarkets, airlines, fashion outlets or whatever then ranking them in order makes sense. It gives a feel for how people see the market and who they rate as number one. You could do the same with one of those, for me puerile, talent and reality shows to decide who to vote off.
But deciding the outcome of an election this way is, to me, completely bonkers.
Yes, I want to see electoral reform and a better way of representing the people, but I do not believe that AV has any place in such reform, so I’m voting No.
Filed under random rants, serious stuff
The Voice of the Bloke at the Back 