Granddaughter Chloe off with school friends in a stretch limousine for a school "Prom", meaning a meal in a restaurant to celebrate the end of school - at least until the VIth form.
"If Jesus were alive today, we would kill him with lethal injection. I call that progress. We would have to kill him for the same reason he was killed the first time. His ideas are just too liberal."
The late Kurt Vonnegut in "Armageddon in Retrospect", which I am now reading. He should have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but his ideas were just too liberal.
FRIDAY 11 JULY
My 74th birthday, meaning that I am now four years into extra Biblical time. In a way I do not feel old, but I am mindful that I am as old as people think I am, and for granddaughter Chloe's generation I must seem like Methuselah reincarnated. At least, touch wood, I am relatively healthy, apart from teeth loss and a touch of arthritis in my knees that gives me a wonderful excuse not to walk anywhere. I still have my hair, and am fortunate that I do not need glasses, not even for reading, but I am aware of the Biblical injunction that warns of looming dangers if I survive after the allotted fourscore years and ten: "If by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."
I put my survival down to never eating vegetables; taking no exercise whatsoever; and avoiding those fetid germ-filled health clubs like the plague or a Labour female politician. I do not even go around like those silly people with a bottle of water; neither do I eat that butter substitute that tastes and looks like Castrol XL, showing that I am not conned by the commercialism that masquerades as healthy living. Furthermore, I have never heeded the edicts of that worthless Food Standards Authority, whose officials have to think up a food frightener every month, usually changing its opinion a year or so later.
Presumably the one great fear of old age is of ending up watching television in the evenings, no longer having the mental effort to read or do anything worthwhile. At the moment, I do not watch any television programmes, only looking at the weather forecast and the financial pages on Ceefax now that the programmes on the idiot's lantern are intended for the Great Unwashed and an audience with an I.Q. under 90.
Nevertheless, by way of compounding my fear and a portent of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, I shall have a free television licence when I reach 75 next year. At least it means that I will no longer have to pay for all the rubbish, not having to see those giggling wimmin on the Breakfast Show on BBC1, surely the nadir of the lantern's meagre offerings.
By way of celebrating my birthday, we invited Neighbour John and his wife in for breakfast. John was telling us that, as a result of the water leak repair in our shared drive, his lavatory was full of silt, and silt also came out of the taps. He tried telephoning Anglian Water, but could not get through, so therefore sent an e-mail, receiving a reply saying that his query would be answered within the next ten days!
John was also telling us that the new neighbours next door have been trying to contact BT to have a telephone installed, the previous residents having taken their telephone and number with them to their new house in the village. Unfortunately, despite several attempts at telephoning, going through innumerable menu options, they have been unable to contact the
firm, so they have had to write. This seems a somewhat bitter irony for a telephone company, but this is the way things are in this country. It would seem that the telephone is now more useful for private calls, rather than for contacting firms.
After the breakfast, a friend took us out on his narrowboat, two other couples joining us, for a journey down the Roman-built Fossdyke canal into Lincoln, where we had a meal at the Mexican restaurant Chimichanga. As might be expected in this wet and cold summer (thank heavens we did not take the authority's advice to plant Mediterranean plants, for they would now all be shrivelled up and be dead), the weather was chilly with rain for the journey home, but we have come to expect this in climate change that has brought us even wetter and colder summers, not unlike the winters. We can now be described as an equitable climate - i.e. it is equally miserable all the year round. As the photograph shows, our noble helmsman, having to stand outside in the rain, was drenched.
Chloe before setting off for the "Prom".
Despite the rain, it was a thoroughly enjoyable occasion, and there were further celebrations when we went to spend the evening with daughter Kate and her husband Steve, daughter Caroline and her husband joining us. Chloe was with us for the first part of the evening, when several school friends arrived at her house in preparation for setting out in a stretch limousine for what I believe is called a "School Prom" to have a meal in a restaurant just outside Lincoln, some of the teachers also attending the meal, to celebrate the end of school - at least until going into the VIth form. I gather that these "Proms" are an import from America, most schools in this country having one these days.
I took quite a lot of photographs of Chloe and her friends, but unfortunately we had to take the photographs indoors as it was still raining outside in a summer that begins to look as if it is going to be every bit as bad as last year's, so incredibly cold and wet. Indoor photographs, having to use artificial light, are never as good as those outside in natural light.
We were back home about 10.30 p.m., when I switched on Ceefax to see how the financial markets had performed. The FTSE, having gone down another 145 points, is now officially in a bear market, defined as a 20% fall in 12 months. Wall Street is also in a bear market, having fallen by 128 today. As might be expected, the £ continues to fall against the euro, now down to 1.24. We can now say, without much fear of contradiction, that this country is now approaching a recession, though the full impact will not be seen until about October when unemployment will be taking its toll.
Mr. Soros, whose book "The New Paradigm for Financial Markets" I finished reading on Thursday, fears that the prospects for America are grim, saying: "We are facing a period of greatly increased uncertainty where the range of possible outcomes is much broader than in normal times...the United States is facing both a recession and a flight from the dollar. The decline in housing prices, the weight of accumulated household debt, and the losses and uncertainties in the banking system threaten to push the economy into a self-inflicting decline."
Mr. Soros attended the London School of Economics when I was a student there, not that I knew him. What is so interesting in an age of equal opportunity for all is that he went on to make billions, gaining enormously when we were thrown out of the ERM because we were not good enough, whereas I became a glorified local authority clerk, now having to pay the ever increasing council tax by instalments. When those silly Guardian columnists write about the need for more equality, they are really whinging and whining about everybody not being of equal intelligence.
In the post this morning I had a further communication from H.M.Revenue & Customs about my income tax assessment, saying that I had overpaid tax by £41.54. I immediately thought that the refund I was notified a week ago, amounting to £376.8, had been reduced to this figure, but when I telephoned the office, having to wait ages to get through to an adviser, I was eventually told that this was in addition to the earlier amount, so I now have a refund of £418.40, which will go some way to paying for the oil delivery next week.
SATURDAY 12 JULY
I was most impressed when asking for a balance of my current account today that the refund I mentioned yesterday had already been paid into my account. I often write about the laxity and incompetence in this country, but at least this organisation seems to show some spirit
During the morning I took the cards from two of the digital cameras that I had used to take photographs of Chloe and her friends yesterday to a shop for processing in Lincoln. The photographs are of far better quality when printed out commercially, rather than when printed out at home. It saves a lot of bother, too.
No meeting of our Saturday morning drinking group this morning, so I used the time to catch up on various items on the computer.
I was amazed that a birthday card posted to me first class in Lincoln on Thursday did not reach me until this morning - two days to travel almost as many miles. We must have one of the worst postal services in Europe, having to allow two days for even the shortest journey by first class, and goodness knows how many by second class. Indeed, there is very little difference between the two services. I continue to believe that deliveries on a Saturday will soon be cancelled on the grounds that people do not undertake much work in offices on Friday, being far too busy preparing for the weekend.
In today's "Times" I read that Bunker Brown is going to do something about knife crime in this country, four men having been stabbed within 16 hours in London yesterday. Our Bunker really is an incredible man. He is going to do something about the ever rising price of fuel and food; is planning to sort out climate change; and has sent that rotter Mugabe a very stern warning, even though China and Russia have vetoed in the Security council any sanctions against the tyrant. Additionally, he is going to lead us out of the recession, saying he is the only person capable of doing so, presumably because he got us into it.
Our Bunker really is an incredible man, obviously having a lot on his plate. No doubt as he looks out of the windows at No. 10 he can see pigs flying past, and there are probably fairies at the bottom of the garden to whom he can send notes. Oh, the daydreams, there apparently being no realisation that our politicians are totally impotent in dealing with problems that are mainly global, being about as much use as a one-legged footballer.
The veto used by China and Russia, effectively putting a stop to sanctions against Mugabe, must surely be yet another reminder of the worthlessness and hopelessness of the United Nations, every bit as ineffective as its predecessor, the League of Nations, which Hitler had the good sense to leave. Perhaps we should leave the United Nations, saving our money and not wasting time on a dreary talking shop that never achieves anything, and never will.
The helmsman on the boat yesterday, at the tiller in the pouring rain to take us home. Was there ever such an awful summer as this one?
Another miserably chilly day, the temperature at 15 C at 2 p.m. It is all so depressing, having day after day of cloudy skies and vast quantities of rain. At least the water companies will not be able to make water meters compulsory, thereby increasing my annual bill by a third, so that is a good thing, something I think of when the rain beats down on the conservatory roof nearly every day.
In the evening, whilst sitting in the conservatory with the heating fully on, I made a start on reading Kurt Vonnegut's "Armageddon in Retrospect." Sadly, he died last April, a great American author who achieved fame with his book "Slaughterhouse Five", based on his experiences as a prisoner of war during the bombing of Dresden, which brought him instant fame. He describes it as a barbaric and unnecessary bombing, a war crime.
With his wonderfully humorous style, he is one of the few authors who makes me laugh out loud, and I delight in his pertinent view of life, as for example his comment: "Your parents ruin the first half of your life, and your kids ruin the second half." Although I agree with Philip Larkin on the role of parents, I have found my two daughters immensely caring in their father's old age, particularly when Mrs. Copeland is on her foreign hls, so that is a good thing.
I felt in a somewhat sad mode today, possibly a hangover from the enjoyable birthday celebrations yesterday. One of the things that I find increasingly in my old age is that things get me down, sometimes finding it difficult to cope with more than a few jobs. This, of course, is a well known characteristic of old age, when you become more anxious and worried about life, whereas it might be thought that the experience of the years would make for a better understanding of life.
Part of the trouble is the decline in mental and physical abilities, everything slowing down and everything taking so much longer than in younger days. I realised this when daughter Kate helped me with the painting of Mrs. Copeland's house earlier in the week: she would paint a wall in a fifth of the time that it took me to complete one. This is why old people in retirement say they have never been so busy, and wonder how they ever found time to go to work.
With lower productivity, even lower than a Lax Britannican worker, unfinished work piles up, and stress sets in. For instance, I found it difficult to find time to write this diary during the house renovation, and our own grass needed cutting, making me wonder how on earth I was going to find time to do everything, even though I have all the time in the world at my disposal. Even manana seems a bit of a rush in these Third Age days.
SUNDAY 13 JULY
Following on from Bunker Brown saying that he was going to sort out knife murders, our appalling Home Secretary, Mrs. Smith, says that she is going to shock youngsters into not carrying knives by showing them the victims of knife crimes in hospital. That must be wonderful for the victims, a nurse saying: "Wake up, Mohammed: you've a lot of visitors who've come to see your nasty wounds."
Do we laugh or cry at this stupid woman, surely the worst Home Secretary we have ever had, even worse than Woy Jenkins. Unfortunately, the silly little woman, whose time might be better spent at home doing some ironing, does not seem to understand the reason for all this rapidly increasing knife crime - namely, that most of the knifings are racially motivated, not that we are allowed to utter such heresy for fear that the Stasi, the bloated, bigoted and biased Commission for Equality & Human Rights, will impose the ducking stool treatment for such wickedness.
From the BBC news that is e-mailed to me each day - a truly excellent service, making me wonder why I bother to take a daily newspaper, there was a report that Pope Benedict XVI, about to visit Australia, says he will apologise for Church sex abuse scandals. It really does seem an irony that the Catholic Church, so severe on sex, not even permitting contraceptives for fear their use may result in fewer worshippers being born, has to apologise for his priests interfering with choir boys. Presumably the trouble is that it is against nature for men to be celibate. Give the priests a wife and the troubles would soon end - or rather, rather different problems would emerge.
There was also a report that, "Iran will target Israel and 32 US bases in the Gulf if the country is attacked, says an aide to Iran's supreme leader." I am sure that this is no idle warning, meaning that there will be even greater chaos in the Middle East if Israel and the Bushmen attack Iran's nuclear capability. What I can never understand is why Israel is allowed to have an almighty stockpile of nuclear weapons, whereas Iran is not permitted to have them. Consequently, I worry far more about Israel's presence in the Middle East, financed by America whose Jews are said to determine US foreign policy, than I do about any other country in the area, the Jews imposing a Nazi-style brutality as an occupying power in Palestinian lands it has no right to be in, as well as ignoring the resolutions of the United Nations and the World Court.
David Smith, who writes the highly amusing "Economic Outlook" column in "The Sunday Times" (Mrs. Copeland pays the £2 price plus 20p delivery as I refuse to pay for all the rubbish), says today that unemployment is not as bad as it might be. "A jobless rise, but not a bloodbath," he assures us, apparently blissfully unaware that the impact of unemployment takes several months to take effect at the onset of a recession.
Our Dave contends that 400,000 people are now leaving the country every year, presumably disillusioned with the appalling lifestyle in this broken and violent little island where the sun seldom shines, and that this migration will ease the unemployment problem. Apparently many of the immigrants, especially the Poles, are now returning home as the economic conditions in their native lands improve, while we go ever down into recession.
Apart from Pangloss-Smith's ever present optimism about the state of the economy, other sections of the paper had grim news, with warnings that the worst was yet to come. Credit card companies, for example, are finding that arrears in payments are soaring, and the building societies are almost all in deep trouble, thank heavens. I was amazed to see that some of these societies charge £1,098 for renegotiating a mortgage - a scandalous service that makes the fees of lawyers and charges of plumbers look reasonable. Thank heavens I finished paying my mortgage 20 years ago when I retired, having nothing further to do with those greedy and grasping societies. Long may they remain in difficulties.
In America, where things go from bad to much, much worse every week, Mr. Bush has had to bail out the two biggest mortgage lenders referred to as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, who deal with half the mortgages in the US. Bearing in mind that Mr. Bush is an avowed supporter of extreme right-wing capitalism, believing in the working of the market, it seems rather odd that state funds have to bail out unsuccessful and over-greedy private enterprise. This, though, is the mantra of that political catechism: that when things go right, private enterprise can rip-off its customers to its heart's content, but when things turn bad, then the state has to come to the rescue.
Maybe there is some credence in this departure of the immigrants, but the trouble remains that we are going to be left with the appalling Afro-Carribean contingent that causes most of the crime and disorder in this country, all the better educated immigrants having the good sense to get the hell out of this nasty little country. The consequences for crime in our streets therefore becomes even more frightening, even if knife-carrying youths are given the fright of their life, possibly even worse than finding mother at home, by seeing cut-up victims in hospital.
Apparently, credit card companies here and in America are also in financial difficulties as a result of thousands of customers being in arrears with their repayments, but there is no doubt that the companies are entirely responsible for their difficulties. One example in the newspaper today mentions a part-time hospital porter on £12,900 a year who was granted credit amounting to £22,000 on five different cards, and now, surprise, surprise, cannot pay back the money. Were the credit card companies entirely stupid, or was it that their greed overtook all sense of reason and responsibility? Let nobody feel sorry for them. Long live the recession!
At least there was one article in the newspaper with which I agreed - a piece condemning the unbelievable awfulness of the newly introduced ebooks, on which you read books on a screen instead of a hardback. The columnist, rightly saying he would never use such an appalling device, comments that, "We don't buy many books - seven per person per year (and they are probably those horrible paperbacks).....The truth is that people don't like reading books much anyway: a 2004 survey of 2,000 adults found that 34% didn't read books at all."
Before the recession, I bought about 50 books a year, three or four of which were presents, but now in the forthcoming recession I have only bought 17 (three as presents) so far this year, having had to cut down on the expenditure as a result of the rapidly rising inflation that continues to devalue my pension each month. However, I still agree with the columnist when he says that, "For readers, a wall lined with books is as attractive as any art we could afford to put up there." Amen to that wise sentiment.
Having been cheered up by David Smith, as I am every week when he tells us that everything is coming up roses in the economy, things not being nearly as bad as they seem, it made me laugh out loud to see an advertisement in the appointments section for a "Head of Parking Operations" on £75,600 including bonus, presumably also a free parking place, in the borough of Kingston and Chelsea. According to the advertisement, "our aim is to keep traffic running freely whilst maintaining the vitality of the area......If you've proved yourself, your leadership qualities and your ability to put customer care at the heart of everything, it certainly needed be in a similar role".
What a wonderful job, presumably sitting at a computer all day, occasionally shouting out: "There's a free place on the 3rd floor of the multi-storey in Boris Johnson Street." Judging by this advertisement, it seems that local authorities, awash with money, cannot think of ways quicker enough to waste their surplus funds. Indeed, it would not surprise me if one of the loony Labour boroughs soon has an advertisement for a "Letter-Opener" on a six-figure salary. Ability to slice envelopes open in one stroke would be a distinct advantage. Preference given to applicants of an Afro-Carribean extraction. Whites need not apply.
The Hog Roast at the Club this afternoon - a most successful and enjoyable occasion.
With the sun shining at last, Mrs. Copeland and I went at 2 o'clock to the Club's "Hog Roast", or Pig-killing, as I prefer to call it, going with a most attractive former Conservative female district councillor whom I had invited to join us. She was wearing an extremely low cut blouse, prompting Mrs. Copeland to say later: "If she'd bent over they'd have fallen out." Alas, this did not happen.
It still amuses me that when I was chairman of the Parish Council I always had her sitting beside me, only to receive a sharp reprimand from our Clerk saying that district councillors could not sit at the table with the parish councillors.
To hell with that, I angrily replied. As I was not a Member of Parliament, having no opportunity to fiddle my expenses and thereby boost the housekeeping by thousands, at least I should have the perk of sitting next to an attractive female, touching her from time to time to see whether she had fallen asleep during the endless discussions on dogs fouling footpaths; cracked pavements; and other such items occupying the minds of the local philosopher kings and the odd queen.
In former "Hog Roasts," one of the men cutting up the pig turning on the spit used to delight in asking the wimmin: "Do you want stuffing?" Bearing in mind the average age of those attending the function, it seemed like a noble, not to say impossible, question.
It proved to be a most successful event, which I greatly enjoyed, coming home about 10 p.m.
Amazingly, there was no rain at all during the day, the sun even shining from time to time. The event will no doubt help the Club's finances enormously at a time when it is under considerable pressure, as are so many pubs and clubs as the recession takes hold.
MONDAY 14 JULY
Although we have made considerable economies in the use of the oil boiler, only switching it on for two hours a day for hot water, I have nearly run out of oil, having to order a supply today. The cost for 1,000 litres, which usually lasts me for about 5 months, would be with the 5% tax imposed by the Conservatives, £704.34, whereas at the beginning of February the cost for a similar quantity was £449.19. So much for inflation at 3.3% - oh, that it was as low as that!
Believing that that price of oil may come down now that America and this country are almost in recession, I decided that I would order a smaller amount, so I will be having 700 litres at a cost with VAT of £493.04. We will have to continue economising, indicating yet again that the best way to preserve the world's resources is the price mechanism, rather than all that conflicting nonsense about going green.
Although I have resolved so many times not to read Anatole Kalestsky's articles on economics in "The Times" as their Panglossian optimism, believing that everything is all right really, make me so cross, I always seem to end up reading the polemics, departing from the resolution yet again today in reading his article headed: "We have a financial problem, not an economic crisis". This is rather like saying an ability to balance the housekeeping budget has nothing to do with income.
The reality is that the credit crunch has affected nearly every aspect of the economy, and bearing in mind that our supposed economic growth was principally based on the rising house prices and the financial deals in the City, our growth not surprisingly has stalled, almost amounting to zero. To say that it is not an economic crisis is totally ridiculous, a magnified distortion of the truth in what appears to be Kaletsky's a one-dimensional assessment of our present troubles.
Back on the 14th January of this year he told us in "The Times": "Goodbye to all that: the worst is over for the global credit crunch". Yet last week Mr. Bush had to bail out the two big mortgage companies in America that had become the latest casualties of the crunch. I really must be more resolute in future and not read his column, for it only upsets me. As the old saying has it, when the clock strikes 13 it is as well to doubt its accuracy.
Amazingly, the FTSE rose by 38 points today, though Wall Street continued its downward path into bear country, falling by 45 points by the end of the day. The question now is "When cometh the really big fall on the stock markets?" My guess is that it is still some way away, but come it will. As Lord Rees-Mogg says in his column in today's "Times": "Recession could easily slip into depression", arguing that, "The debt crisis, the banking crisis, the property crisis, the oil crisis, the shift to Asia, the bear market in stocks, are huge global adjustments that have all come together at the same time" - considerations that seem to have escaped our Anatole's notice.
Despite having asked the former tenants at Mrs. Copeland's house in Lincoln that I have been working on for the past month to have their mail redirected to their new abode, they have obviously in their laziness not bothered to do this, for mail keeps arriving each day. Much to my annoyance I send on the mail, except for the items of junk, most of which I throw into the recycling bin, but some items I open.
Last week I saw a circular from Littlewoods, saying: "Choose a loan from £1,000 to £25,000," loans for whatever you want; decision in minutes.- "Start putting your plans into action." According to the repayment table, a £2000 loan over 48 monthly repayments would make a total of £3,165.12 repayable. Maybe it is because I was brought up to buy things only when I had enough money, but I find it quite incredible that anybody can get themselves into such fearful debt, and not for essential items.
At the same time, it seems surprising at this time of the credit crunch, when we are almost in recession, that this credit is so readily available, despite the gloom that I mentioned yesterday over credit cards. Oh, that we could bring back the credit restrictions, limiting loans to a certain percentage, that we saw during my younger, more responsible days.
Our former Conservative district councillor, who came with us to the Hog Roast at the Club yesterday.
I continued work on Mrs. Copeland's house in Lincoln today. Much to my annoyance, Mrs Copeland's searching quality control has identified some small sections of walls on which the paint has been missed, so rather reluctantly I had to redo the offending items. It reminded me of one of the birthday cards I received on Friday (I had 23 cards in all, which I greatly appreciate), showing a husband who has been decorating storming out of the room after lobbing a section of wallpaper over his wife, the paint brush on her head. The caption has the wife saying: "It was constructive criticism". Don't I know how the husband felt!
Fortunately, another three days should see the end of the work, when everything will be ready for new tenants, always assuming the agents can find any in a saturated market in a city that is seeing hardly any increase in population, probably likely to see a reduction in the years ahead, mercifully being too far away and with no jobs for the immigrants. Today I noticed four houses to let within a radius of half a mile, the city suffering from an excess of supply of housing provision over demand - something that will get steadily worse in the years ahead. Thankfully, the builders who have put up scores of apartment blocks in Lincoln have caught a nasty cold, many of the apartments remaining empty as demand has fallen substantially.
I find it upsetting that the Lincoln Odeon cinema shows such an appalling programme of films during the summer, presumably taking the view that only young children and teenagers go to the cinema during the summer months, the season for adults not starting again until September. This week, for example, the cinema is showing "King Fu Panda" (PG); "Meet Dave" (PG - contains mild language, violence and toilet humour); .and "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Casbian.", not to mention other unsophisticated American offerings that are totally unsuitable for geriatric gentlefolk.
Were it not for the Film Society that I run at the Club, selecting the films to be shown each month (I do not believe in a committee choosing the selections, never having been at all keen on democracy that ends up with the worst of all worlds in a compromise), we would not see any of the intelligent films on release. However, I am coming under criticism from some quarters, principally from the wimmin, for showing "gloomy films." What is wanted, so I am told by this fraternity, is some happy films.
I am not, of course, going to take any notice, for the principal purpose of setting up the Film Society, now having a projector overhead, a proper screen and even surround-sound, was to show films that were too intelligent and thoughtful to be shown at the Lincoln Odeon.
To bow to this hedonism would mean that we would end up screening American domestic comedies, the term being a contradiction in term, rather like Groucho Marx said of military intelligence. (I have always liked his quip: "Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member" and "One morning I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How he got into my pyjamas I don't know".) So for at least until the end of this year I will go on selecting the films. Thereafter, I shall have to look at my options, as they say, someby else taking over to show Micky Mouse films.
At home in the evening, reading "The Times" after tea, seeing that the new female chief executive (a Ms, as might be expected) of our very own Stasi, the bigoted and biased Equality & Human Rights Commission, had come to the amazing conclusion that the equality laws, which will be giving a whole year's maternity leave by the end of this Parliament, "are now holding women back." In other words, faced with the massive disruption of a pregnancy, employers are now avoiding the appointment of wimmin of child-bearing age and who can blame them?
In grossly overstaffed organisations such as local authorities, a year's maternity leave causes no problems, but in many small commercial firms it must create an enormous burden for the employer, faced with the difficulty of finding a replacement on a temporary basis for a year - and after that the woman might not come back. The Ms went on to complain that generous maternity benefits had "entrenched the assumption that only mothers brought up children and failed to hasten a social revolution where both parents were equally responsible for caring for their family" - and thank heavens for that, say I.
There is no denying that both parents should be involved with the children, but biology has ordained it that the female should be responsible for the child in the early years, certainly the first five years. No doubt there are families on low incomes where the wife has to work because of financial necessity, but it is a nonsense for wealthy middle class families to hire a nanny so both parents can go out to work. It is an irresponsible neglect of responsibility, showing little thought for the children.
The Ms seems to have little understanding of economics, telling us that, "There may well be a cost [to business], but as a society we are already thinking in terms of wellbeing as well as take-home pay." The point, surely, is that the take-home pay determines wellbeing, the success of a firm deciding the take-home pay. When a firm is weighed down by all manner of maternity and paternity leave, not to mention all the restrictions of health & safety and the scive of flexi-time, competitiveness declines, and unemployment results, as we are now seeing.
The real problem, which the Ms obviously wants to ignore, is that a woman cannot do two jobs - bringing up children and working full-time, and all history shows that the husbands (or partners as we should call them these days) are not prepared to forgo their own careers for child-rearing. Instead of rabbiting on about equality, it might be better if the Ms considered the wellbeing of the children - something that is noticeably absent in the debate on equality.
From the League Against Cruel Sports (I have yet to renew my membership), I saw that a number of prosecutions for illegal hunting were pending, some brought by the police, others from private individuals. We all know, of course, that these sick people who enjoy inflicting pain on animals, loving to see them being torn apart by hounds after the thrill of the chase, will have friends on the bench who will either dismiss the cases for insufficient evidence, or impose a meagre fine.
The League makes the point that the very real possibility of a Conservative Government will overturn the hunting ban, allowing the redcoated rascals to gallop again across the country after a real fox, instead of the pathetic drag-hunting. Yet the League makes the point that a Mori poll recently showed that "7 put of 10 electors opposed foxhunting," not that this will in any way worry the Boy David and the Cameroons in what they have earlier called their new found compassion (single mother excepted).
Recently, I have been taking a rather different view of the redcoated rascals. Instead of persecuting them for their barbarism and cruelty, I am now taking the view that they are sick and mentally retarded people, more in need of being taken to a psychiatrist than a court of law. Certainly the hunters I know are most uncivilised and unpleasant arrogant people, none of them having read a book since leaving school.
That anybody could enjoy shooting the pheasant that I feed each day in the name of pleasure seems incomprehensible to me. If the shooters were hungry, that would make some sense, taking the birds home to their starving families. But the rural terrists are always from the wealthy classes, able to afford the immense costs of keeping a horse to hunt with.
I had not seen my pheasant for five days, making me wonder whether the shooters - some of whom have a scant regard for the close season or the law - had murdered him, but much to my joy he turned up for his supper at 7.45 p.m. today, his usual meal time. Last time I saw him he was looking very bedraggled, soaking wet and seeming very sorry for himself, but today he was all right. Surprisingly, though, he seemed somewhat wary of me this evening, backing away when I took out the bag of feed. Perhaps he is starting to worry about the start of the shooting season, not so very far away now.
Afterwards, I read some more of Kurt Vonnegut's "Armageddon in Retrospect," which I am enjoying.
One of my regular correspondents has disagreed with my comment last week that Bunker Brown is the worst Prime Minister since the war. He writes: "Thatcher and Blair are generally regarded as successful Prime Ministers, yet apart from being good at winning elections, they were both mediocrities. Thatcher's 11-year premiership began and ended with the two biggest recessions since the 1930s, thanks to her voodoo economics.
"The country still has not fully recovered from the damage she inflicted on British society and British industry, again thanks to New Labour continuing to believe that industry is unimportant and that slick men in sharp suits can be trusted to cook up smart financial wheezes to compensate for our lack of proper, wealth-producing businesses.
"Now two predictions. First, Brown will hang on as Prime Minister until the election in 2010, simply because in a Cabinet of mediocrities there is no obvious challenger. In fact I am reminded of R.A. Butler's reply when a reporter asked him for his opinion of the then Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, another lame duck. "He's the best Prime Minister we've got", was Rab's answer, which could be taken two ways, of course.
"Second, if you think Brown is bad, just wait until Cameron is Prime Minister! Nice smile but no substance - and he's never run anything in his life." I would not disagree with the two predictions. There is nobody to replace Brown, the others in the Cabinet being even worse, and there is no doubt that Cameroon, lacking any parliamentary experience, will quickly flounder. But then it is my view that this country has disintegrated to such an extent that politicians are irrelevant, having no powers to put things right in a global economy.
I did not feel all that well in the evening, being very much under the weather and not feeling myself, as the term has it. Mrs. Copeland was unwell for 48 hours last week, making me wonder whether I have caught the bug that has been going the rounds in these parts.
TUESDAY 15 JULY
On the wireless whilst still abed at 8 a.m., I heard the Boy David giving his views on how to get us out of the recession. Oh, dear, such deplorable stuff, the lad obviously having no idea about economics. I begin to think that my correspondent quoted yesterday is right when he says that the Boy has no substance. Sill, I continue to maintain that nobody could be as pathetic as Bunker Brown. At least, though, in doing something about climate change, he made the sun come out today.
There was also a report today the BT was "pumping £1.5 bn into broadband" over the next few years, presumably to make it workable and reliable. Maybe when this considerable investment is completed I may consider having broadband, but it is certainly not worth having it now. Every week without fail I hear some lament about the failures of wobblyband, as I prefer to call it, including poor speeds and cut-off connections.
On Ceefax I saw that inflation had reached 3.8%. In terms of the Corrected Inflation Index (C.I.I.) for essential household services, calculated by multiplying the stated C.P.I by 3 and adding 3, the figure comes to 14.4%, which is about the amount I find I am having to pay.
Although I was still feeling somewhat unwell, I went on a boating outing with the local Retired Gentlemen's Club, being a virtual re-run of the outing I enjoyed on my birthday, travelling along the Fossdyke Canal to Lincoln, where we had a meal at the Mexican restaurant Chimichanga, having a table outside and sitting in the sunshine.
Whilst we were on the boat journeying into Lincoln, a Lancaster bomber past overhead at low altitude, a truly magnificent sight and sound, one that I remember from the Second World War. Much to my disappointment, by the time I had reached for my camera and opened it, the plane had almost gone, as shown in the photograph below. To have photographed it when it was almost overhead would have made a magnificent photograph, but alas I missed the opportunity - the story of my life.
The Lancaster we saw flying overhead when we were boating into Lincoln today. Alas, by the time I had got my camera out, the plane was a long way away. A great shame to have missed it.
I was reprimanded today for criticising the local Parish Council in this diary, the comment being made that these adverse comments upset people. I have never doubted the dedication to duty of the parish councillors, worthy men and wimmin who try to protect the village from the developers and the district council, but I remain convinced that the meetings are largely a waste of time, a mere talking shop, not unlike the United Nations.
Over the years the district council has seldom taken any regard of our objections to local developments, as for example the new massive estate on the outskirts of the village. Although this development went against every principle of the Local Plan, involving building on a greenfield site, it still went ahead, and several other houses have been built despite the opposition of the Parish Council. It could, I suppose, be argued that the Parish Council does at least keep us informed of what is going to happen to us, giving us an early warning in seeing the plans submitted by the developers.
Within the next few weeks the Parish Council will receive the plans put forward by the Lincoln Rugby Club for setting up playing fields, including a large car park and club house, on a field in the village that forms part of the green wedge, the idea being that these wedges protect the countryside against such unwanted developments. No doubt the Parish Council, reflecting the hostile views of the villagers, will oppose the plans, but in all probability the district council will allow the development. Certainly it will be allowed on appeal, the Inspectors allowing nearly everything, no doubt arguing in this case that the country is short of playing fields at a time when the Olympic Games will be taking place in 2012. Matters are not helped by the daft Lincoln City Council allowing building on the playing fields in the city.
WEDNESDAY 16 JULY
Although it is somewhat early for unemployment to be affected by the recession, it seems that the rise has already started, the number claiming unemployment benefit having risen by 15,500 in June, taking the total figure to 840,00, described as "the biggest jump since December 1982" as more and more firms lay off workers as a result of "rising energy costs, failing consumer confidence and the property slump." The figures showed what a nonsense it is for Anatole Kaletsky to say that we have a financial crisis, not an economic one.
The recession is now affecting all aspects of industry and trade with the double whammy of a credit crunch and rapidly rising inflation, effectively the worst of all possible worlds. It sounds intelligent, a new interpretation of events, to say we have a financial rather than an economic crisis, but when analysed it means nothing, almost a one-dimensional reckoning of the present state of affairs.
Local authority workers began a 2-day strike today, having stupidly rejected a 2.45% pay offer. It would seem that these council workers - who will not be missed except for the refuse collectors - are not aware of the drastically changed circumstances in this country, namely that we are approaching a severe recession, in which they will be extremely lucky to retain their jobs, let alone go on strike for more money. In terms of the already rampant inflation, there is "no way" that the Government can give in to these higher wage demands, and we will therefore have to put up with the strikes. In the end, the council workers will come to their senses, knowing that they cannot win in the present economic climate.
I continued working at Mrs. Copeland's house in the morning. Tomorrow, when I have a few touching-up jobs and when Mrs. Copeland tidies the garden, should see the completion of the work that has taken nearly five weeks. One of the problems is that having concentrated all my efforts on the house, I now have a big backlog o work at home. At least it gives me something to do in the doldrums of retirement.
A section of my books. According to a columnist in last week's "Sunday Times," "For readers, a wall lined with books is as attractive as any art we could afford to put up there." Amen to that sentiment.
As I mentioned last week, I like our new neighbours immensely, especially as they are of a similar age. What surprises me, though, is that husband and wife spend every minute of the day together. This would not be to my liking, for Mrs. Copeland and I go our separate ways during the daytime, meeting up at lunchtimes and in the evening. I suppose retirement is a question of getting the balance right, between excessive togetherness which leads to a smothering of individual interests , and being too far apart, Mrs. Copeland even going on foreign holidays with a female neighbour instead of me, loathing holidays as I do. Maybe we tend to verge too much towards apartness, but it does at least enable us to do our own thing, "having our own "space", which I greatly value.
It was Bernard Shaw who said that, "A man who has no office to go to - I don't care who he is - is a trial of which you can have no conception." The real trouble in retirement can come when the man retires, ending up being at home all day with a wife who has hitherto enjoyed her independence at home alone. Suddenly, her space is invaded, and it is not an easy thing to accept.
After my labours, I spent the evening reading in the conservatory, finishing Kurt Vonnegut's "Armageddon in Retrospect", which I greatly enjoyed. I have now started on "Standard Operating Procedure" by Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris, described on the flysheet as: "It is the story of American soldiers who were sent to Iraq as liberators only to find themselves working as jailers in Saddam Hussein's old dungeons, responsible for implementing the sort of policy they were supposed to be fighting against."
Although the FTSE continued its downward passage, the Dow Jones rose by 276 points today, making no sense at all, unless the big boys are manipulating the market, which is probably highly likely. I suppose I have to admit that I have never been able to understand the stock markets, failing to realise that it is one big casino, alternately motivated by greed and fear. No doubt I shall learn tomorrow about the greed that brought this hefty resurgence.
THURSDAY 17 JULY
According to a report on Ceefax, the reason for the dramatic rise in the Dow Jones index yesterday was a rally in the banking sector. I find this utterly incredible, for the banks have had to be bailed out by the injection of billions of dollars by the Federal Reserve, yet they now seem to believe that they can continue being as greedy and irresponsible as before. What happened, though, to that essential tenet of capitalism that it should be free of state interference? It would seem that this rule only applies when times are good; that immediately there is a downturn as a result of the greed of the bankers overreaching itself, the firms go cap in hand for state aid.
Here in this country it is being suggested that the Government should compensate those investors who lost a lot of money in Equitable Life. But these were the people who invested on the assumption, albeit a totally misguided one, that they were in for a quick buck. Now that their investment has lost them money, they appeal to the taxpayer for help. What a nonsense this is. Let us have capitalism, meaning that if firms fail they go under, without being bailed out by the taxpayer.
I went in to Lincoln this morning to purchase a Nikon Coolpix S210 camera, the idea being that this will fit in easily in my top short pocket, enabling me to take a camera around for much of the time. I have been wanting a smaller camera for a long time, and now that the rapidly increasing inflation is steadily devaluing my savings, I have decided to reduce them. At my age, I do not need savings of more than £20,000 to cover emergencies. There is also the consideration that at he age of 74 I do not have much of a future, not many years to go.
I checked that the camera was not made in China, finding to my relief it had been made in Indonesia, so that is all right. Wherever possible, I try to avoid Chinese products, knowing that they are poorly made, most of the goods being rubbish; indeed, I think I would rather go without than buy those cheap and nasty products from that unpleasant and brutal country.
In going into the town I was amazed by the number of shops that have closed down. It means that with Lincoln's population now static, the future is likely to be a marked downturn, probably quite a substantial one now that the city has to depend upon poorly-paid service industries, mainly providing work for wimmin. The University helps the economy considerably, but the loss of former famous manufacturing industries has been a great blow to Lincoln. One way and another I can see that it is going to be very difficult to let Mrs. Copeland's house in this troubled time.
Not surprisingly, the business section of "The Times" today had a heading: "Hundreds more jobs to go as rise in unemployment rocks economy." Rising unemployment usually takes about six months after the start of a downturn into recession, but in this recession the rise has started a good deal earlier, though the main impact is still to come, possibly about October time.
Although I obviously have every sympathy for the thousands who are going to lose their jobs over the next few months, other than any sorrow for the overpaid wideboys in the City, there is no doubt that the lasting recession could bring enormous advantages to this country. Today, for example, Ryanair announced that it was going to cut down drastically its flights from Stansted airport over the winter, meaning that, as other airlines similarly cut back, there will be no need for an additional runway either at Stansted or Heathrow, thereby greatly reducing the "carbon footprint."
Although it may be partly an expression of my "glass half full" attitude to life, I continue to believe that this country is unlikely to ever recover from the recession, but in terms of the future of my daughters and granddaughter, I can possibly see this as a "good thing", as Pooh would say. As the country declines in economic terms, many of the immigrants will go home, the trend already having started, and no new immigrants will come into a depressed country.
It could therefore be said that we will settle down to a more modest existence, possibly not unlike Switzerland, at last accepting that we are a Third World country, mercifully no longer a world power that believes it can still afford to fight hopeless wars overseas. The population will fall, and we will end up with a far more contented country. Although I will no longer be here, the country could therefore improve considerably over the next two decades, propped up by the European Union as a little offshore island, of no consequence any more. It happened to the Roman empire, so why not to us?
The Nikon Coolpix S210 that I purchased today, compared with the size of my Nikon 8800.
I finished working on the house today. It has taken nearly five weeks, and working quite hard, too. At my great age I have found the work immensely tiring, and this is the last time that I shall "do up" one of the properties. In future, Mrs. Copeland will have to use commercial painters, always supposing she can find one. By way of celebrating the completion of the house refurbishment and repairs, we will be going out to have drinks this evening. From now on, I can get back to working on our own house, having to do some essential repairs and redecorating.
The FTSE rose by 135 today, and the International Monetary Fund has raised its levels for the world's economic growth for the rest of this year, saying the credit crunch was not as bad as expected and that the worst is over. I must store these comments in my scrapbook of predictions.
Life in Broken Britain today .
"New measures to tackle youth and knife crime will be announced next week after four men were stabbed to death in London within 16 hours. Another man is fighting for his life."
