27th November 2022

Whether it’s yet more shootings in the US or wars between neighbouring countries, the news is depressing. It’s the lack of brotherly love that affects me the most.  So, I switched over to Sky Arts to watch a documentary about one of my favourite groups of the 60s, The Hollies. It brought back a memory of something very spiritual.  In 2008, whilst living in France, I got one of those calls we all dread. My dear brother Alan was dying. We dropped everything and rushed to the Birmingham Hospice where he lay in a coma. I held his hand and, hoping he could hear me, talked about our childhood and our shared love of The Hollies. Sadly, he never regained consciousness and within days he had passed away. Returning for the last time from the hospice, we went to the house he shared with my older brother, Robert. I sat in Alan’s chair next to the radio. Robert said he hated how quiet the house was and asked me to switch on the radio. Immediately the room was flooded with:  “It’s a long long road, from which there is no return. No burden is he to bear. He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother…”

20th November 2022

 I never liked the I’m a Celebrity TV show. It panders to everything I hate. Irrespective of who the ‘stars’ are - politician Matt Hancock, linked-to-royalty sportsman Mike Tindall, or ageing singer Boy George -  the result’s the same. Schadenfreude for the masses. I’m old enough to remember the early  Candid Camera series, where unsuspecting members of the public were conned into a situation only to be shown as stupid at the end. Others, like You’ve been Framed showed awful home videos of small crying children coming to grief whilst falling into water, or hurting themselves on a slide, whilst the canned audience laughter made me cringe. I have never, ever, been able to laugh at others’ misfortune.  Neither do I understand the current adulation of presenters Ant and Dec. To me, they’re just talentless people, earning tons of money for smirking at the camera. As Professor Sir Simon Wessely put it: “It’s the theatre of cruelty.”  Is this what mass entertainment has come to, armchair ‘knitters’ cackling, like Madame Guillotine, at the misfortune of others? And even light entertainment like Strictly is hosted by the untalented Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly, only there because of their looks. Where are today’s talented  presenters, like Bruce Forsyth or Roy Castle of old? I’m still looking….. 

13th November 2022

 At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, I observed two minutes silence to remember those who fell in both world wars. I also remembered the ten members of my own family who died during my lifetime. Yesterday I attended an annual commemoration of those from Birmingham who fell, including in the Holocaust. I found the sermon interesting as it conflated fresh bread and mature wine with the young complementing the old. Each age has a role to play in life, supporting and respecting the other. I was therefore not amused to read about food retailer KFC’s ‘push’ article, pitching its chicken to German customers, of all people (!),  celebrating Kristallnacht. Fortunately, the message caused outrage everywhere, so KFC has since apologised, citing its ‘push’ program, based on some sort of algorithm.  I know I am now old and that many young people say we should forget the past. No! No! No! It’s only by remembering what happened that we can hope to avoid it in the future. The only ‘push’ I want to see, whatever your age, is a push towards mutual respect and global peace. 

6th November 2022

As Guy Fawkes didn’t blow up parliament last night, our PM will today attend the COP27 climate meeting,  devised to find yet more stringent ways to stop man’s ‘evil’ CO2 emissions. Global warming is certainly happening but many scientists are still not convinced of its cause. And now there’s even an intelligent robot looking impassively at the problem. Scientists John Abbott and Jennifer Marohasy created a neural network to investigate temperature fluctuations since before records began. The robot’s findings? Natural phenomena such as planetary shift and solar activity, causing changes in oceanic water flows, are the most likely reason for current global warming. At least five ice ages have occurred throughout Earth’s history, the earliest 2 billion years ago, long before man appeared. I don’t believe there’s anything we can do, except organise global efforts to move people away from danger areas near coasts, rivers, volcanoes, the tropics etc, and build insulated houses on stilts. The world often gets things spectacularly wrong, e.g. convincing us all to hide away from a flu-like virus! The financial fall out will be with us for decades. Sweden didn’t shut down and doesn’t appear to have suffered a greater death toll than the rest of us. Sometimes, we need to take a step back and use common sense. Pity Mr Fawkes didn’t.

30th October 2022

 I was struck by how thin Mr Sunak is compared to the bulk of Therese Coffey, the Environment Secretary. Last week’s Sunday Times hinted at the probable reasons. Prof Tim Spector’s research proves the diet industry is wrong. Along with genetics, it’s the unique mix of bacteria, the microbiome, in your stomach that affects how your metabolism works. It’s been obvious for so long. There are families who eat the same foods, but some members are thin whilst others are fat. His research on identical twins showed that, even with the same genes and eating the same foods, often one twin is fatter than the other. For years we’ve been told to count calories, switch to low fat foods, use sweeteners instead of sugar etc. That’s all wrong. And the advice from Prof Spector? Avoid low-fat foods, which contain harmful chemicals. Eat real foods: whole fat milk, a little whole fat butter (not low fat varieties), pure honey, lots of natural (whole fat) yogurt, berries, colourful veg, mushrooms, broccoli, natural porridge oats. Eat less but high quality meat and fish. Exercise, not by running a marathon but moving around a lot. No food supplements. Cook for yourself. Choose not by price but by quality. It needn’t cost a lot. Baked beans are cheap but full of fibre and nutrients. Use small plates. Methinks - sounds like he’s been talking to the French!

23rd October 2022

What is it that British people want from their elected government? Yesterday, as rail workers held yet more strikes across the country, two Labour mayors from Manchester and Liverpool were late for their meeting because their train failed to arrive. Oh the irony, when their Party is funded by the very unions causing all the chaos. And yet, although many left-wing voters are genuinely caring people, I recall that time in 2017 when we, personally, were terrified that an apparently strong contender for leader of the Labour party had been pictured laying a wreath in Tunis alongside known antisemitic terrorists. It was as if voters back then didn’t care about people like us, at a time when we and others would have been forced to consider emigration yet again if he had been duly elected. TG he wasn’t. Fast forward, and the leading contender for the Conservative Party, and hence the PM, is a billionaire and ‘a Tory toff’ according to the media. Yet, he’s the son of Indian immigrants, who have done  exactly what the country wanted - worked hard to be an asset to the country. And me? I just want to feel safe in my own country.

21st October 2022

 The political turmoil continues. So, as an ordinary Conservative voter, here’s  what I think. Which PM candidate is most popular with ordinary voters nationally?  Answer: Boris Johnson. But, what about the Partygate affair? Answer: it was largely orchestrated by a far too intrusive media, exacerbating what was essentially a meeting of those whom the PM was working with all day anyway (as was happening in companies globally). The UK should follow what happens in other countries, keeping the private mechanisms of government away from the media. So, my preferred Cabinet?  A mix of public popularity, strong political ability, high educational background, natural warmth/personality, and hands-on stability: Boris Johnson, Ben Wallace, Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak, Penny Maudant. Do we need a general election?  No. The ones calling for one are the opposition Labour party and the SNP, for self-serving rather than national interests. How to help the suffering, lowest members of society? The King should consider selling off some of his many unused properties to help the nation, by forming a new King’s Fund to help the homeless, the long-term disabled, and first-time buyers.