Rip Off Britain

Went to Chatsworth House the other day, owned by the struggling aristocracy, where one can buy a plastic garden chair, although they call it polycarbonate as if it were some exotic marble, for a mere one hundred and fifty pounds. Buy four and you can get them for the bargain basement sum of five hundred pounds.

A pot of tea for one, that is a teabag, some hot water and a drop of milk is two pounds and forty pence BUT you do get to stick your backside in a one hundred and fifty pound chair, so that's alright then. And we want to leave the sanity of Europe!

If the cost of living in the UK is getting you down you can make a little extra money at sites like this one. As I do!

Football's Battle With Morality

Football has lost its moral compass and I'm not just talking about covering up past child sex abuse. The England manager lost his job because of blatant corruption, but that doesn't stop him from finding another highly paid job in the sport without a soul. Shame on Crystal Palace and yet again shame on the FA.

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The BBC Debates The Undebatable

Yesterday the Jeremy Vine show on BBC radio 2 debated the 'post truth world'. The debate seemed to be about the acceptability or otherwise of lying. The most unnecessary debate ever. We don't like being lied to in our private lives, we don't like spouses, partners, offspring, friends lying to us. It causes hurt, resentment, loss of trust and conflict. Lying is wrong and not just the absence of lies, we want the truth, it's why in court we ask for the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Lying in public office has potentially greater consequences than the loss of trust in a family or between friends; lying in public office has national and even international consequences. And yet there were callers defending lying. Has the world gone mad?

Brexit voters saying don't patronise me I knew they were lying, but I still wanted to leave the EU, or words to that effect. Well, I won't patronise you, but I will insult your intelligence, what you've done is handed power to liars and opportunists. You wouldn't want to be lied to or deceived in your private life but you've handed governmental power to the untrustworthy.

Some people of course believed the lies and are now bitter about being lied to, one such person phoned in. Brexit was founded on lies going back thirty years in the media, but with new lies mixed in about Turkey and about money in particular. Liar in chief was Boris Johnson now destroying relationships in Italy, Germany and The Czech Republic. He'll do far more damage before he's done. #notmygovernment #notmyforeignsecretary  #notmyrpimeminister

Still, on the bright side Christmas is coming.

It's About Their Future, That's What Concerns Them, It's Not Rocket Science

Mrs May gets my goat, but I bet she gets the goat of our European trading partners and allies a lot more. Demanding Britain play a full role right up until we leave is arrogant rubbish. It's about the other twenty seven now, not about us. The decisions being made are for them, not us. The more she stresses British rights and forgets British responsibilities the more anger she will engender and the tougher it will be. My sympathy is with the EU, not with the Tories or UKIP MEPs who created this mess.

The one thing worse for the world than the UK Govt is the UN in its current form.

Only Now Do We See The Scale Of It!

It's October, the tenth month of the year. Eighteen women have died in custody in the jails of England and Wales so far this year. That's one point eight deaths, or, call a spade a spade, nearly two every month and only now it's making the news! A shortage of staff, drugs in jail, what is going on? Who is running our jails, private firms? It's a bloody disgrace. The only party we haven't really tried for years is the Liberal Party, can they do worse? I doubt it personally.

If Britain's government is letting the UK down the UN is letting the world down!

Justice Or Talk - Take Your Pick

The conservative party 'justice' minister talked out a bill yesterday. Talking out a bill is an immoral device to prevent a vote, you just keep talking until there's no time for a vote, if ever there's something that needs to change in our parliamentary so called 'democracy' this is one.

The motive is uncertain, it might be as simple as not wanting a private members' bill brought forward by a Scottish National Party MP to succeed. Pathetic. We have decriminalised homosexuality in this country, therefore it's obvious  that those convicted previously, men entrapped and put on the police 'queer list' should have their convictions wiped out now that the country has decided that sexuality is not a crime.

In fact the bill wasn't even asking for the convictions to be wiped out, annulled as it were, it was simply asking for a pardon. No justice from this justice minister, it was talked out. You can have a pardon when you're dead according to Mrs May's government, so if you're an elderly gay man and you want a pardon suicide would appear to be the only option. Of course that's a crime too, so you can't win. Vote Liberal as thousands did in Mr Cameron's constituency by-election, not enough but a big swing.It's become the only sane choice.

My petition to try and make the world a better place.


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There's Nothing Cool About it

There is two million square kilometers less sea ice in the arctic this year. The ice at the poles reflects the sun's rays and helps to keep the planet cool. Forecasters suggest all the arctic sea ice will have gone by 2045. I worry it may accelerate personally, as less and less sunlight is reflected.

Even if all governments keep to their agreed, inadequate quotas on greenhouse gasses etc, which they won't, then the future looks very uncertain, especially if you live on a low lying island, or in a low lying area near a coast or river.

We are not bequeathing the next generation a very cool outlook. Still, if recent outpourings from Boris Johnson are anything to go by we may confront Russia militarily and end the human race. Then maybe the planet will eventually recover without us. A bit of common sense would be better though.

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Hopeless And Heartless Bureaucrats

The migrant camp just across the English Channel in Calais is about to be dismantled. Monday in fact. Within the camp are close to two hundred minors, or children, alone and at risk of abuse and kidnap, even death. Some eighteen have recently gone missing and more before that you can be sure. Many will have been raped and worse. Many of these minors have a right in law to come to the UK as they have relatives here.

We are still a part of Europe for the moment even if we didn't sign up for Schengen. And anyway even if we weren't part of Europe what's happening here is incredibly and seriously wrong.

People need passports and bureaucracy must be appeased, it's the way of the world, I know that. However, if a white middle class British child lost a passport in France you can be sure something would be done about it and swiftly.

Children are at risk of abuse, exploitation and death and it's left to people like Juliet Stevenson to do something about it. Yet again politicians in this country have no idea, no heart, no soul, no integrity, no feelings. You can do it May, Johnson et al; so send someone to get them you idiots, you don't even have to get your hands dirty, process the papers here or there, but go over there and save them while there are still some left to save.

Blaming the French is not good enough.

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Nice One Gary

We think about Clinton and Trump as the only Presidential candidates, but there are others out there, if only to make a point. One of them is Gary Johnson, supposedly a Libertarian although what that means to him is anyone's guess. As a former Republican Governor of New Mexico he's unlikely to be liberal in outlook.

Asked in a televised interview what he would do about Aleppo he responded 'what's Aleppo?' The interviewer couldn't believe the scoop he was getting I suspect. A man running to be President of one of the world's largest economies and of one of the world's most militarily powerful countries, is genuinely that ignorant. No really. He got it was Syria eventually and then suggested cosying up to Russia.

As astonishing as it is worrying.

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Don't Try To Change History

Those seeking to revise history once the eyewitnesses have died get my goat. A move to create a museum at the derelict factory of Oskar Schindler is meeting strong opposition in the Czech Republic. Many Czechs see Schindler as a traitor who spied for the Nazis, that's as may be. He was of course a German speaker from Sudetenland. It's just a part of history that Czechs come from different ethnic backgrounds and had different allegiances.

Schindler was a gambler, womaniser, opportunist, he wasn't an angel for sure, but for a Czech MP to say there's no evidence he saved Jews is madness. There were literally hundreds of witnesses once, it's a fact that a flawed man did good. Maybe he wasn't actually so flawed, don't many of us want to have fun, make the best of things? Whatever your individual view of Schindler he did save lives, the holocaust happened and we should learn the lessons not try to deny it.

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Corruption In Banking?

Thank goodness for whistle blowers. Long, long time ago I remember writing about Royal Bank Of Scotland. So many small business owners were complaining they'd been deliberately forced into insolvency by devious, underhand tactics, in order that the bank could strip them of their assets that it just couldn't have been a coincidence.

Of course there was no proof that it was a deliberate policy, there would always have been some businesses which would have failed anyway and so on. As compelling as the circumstantial evidence was, and it was very compelling, proof beyond any doubt was just about questionable. Although in certain individual cases the behaviour of the bank was so very blatant that it probably was actionable, if there had been any money left to take action.

Years ago Vince Cable, then a minister, ordered a report on the seemingly nefarious doings of RBS, it's never been published. If it does attempt a whitewash they won't publish it now that the truth is out there. The leaked documents point very strongly indeed to an orchestrated campaign to force good entrepreneurial businesses into bankruptcy, to steal their buildings by reducing valuations and then calling in loans, that sort of thing, defaults which weren't defaults at all, seems to have been another strategy. Special 'assistance' to push costs higher and higher.

Some businessmen used the money from their homes to prop up their businesses and lost those too, marriages broke up and good, hard working people had breakdowns and mental health issues. Last night RBS managed to find an executive willing to try and defend the indefensible on television, one of the guilty clutching at straws? I cannot say. It was not impressive however.

People and businesses which purchased property wrongly repossessed by RBS cannot be made victims too and sorry to say it's the taxpayer who will end up paying, but compensation must be huge; the value of all assets lost plus interest, lost earnings plus interest (at the rates from then, not now) and proper compensation for hurt and suffering. That could literally be millions of pounds per victim and there are certainly hundreds of victims, maybe more.

That's one heck of a bill, it's also justice and just maybe those victims will go back into the business arena and make things, or provide services, or regenerate run down areas, in other words make a contribution to society, something RBS has done the opposite of.

It would be nice if the Queen could strip them of the title 'Royal' but there's another Bank Of Scotland so that would cause confusion, maybe we could call them CBS, you can work out what the C stands for I'm sure.

Malcolm Snook author, blogger and sailor.

Intellectual Stimulation

The Daily Mail has got my goat for years now, whilst I'm all in favour of freedom of speech, naturally, it seems to me to be largely fear stories, things to make people angry and anti European propaganda. However the truth came out this last weekend as to how they see their readers. All were given a Lego toy; perfect for the four to six year old intellect!

Malcolm Snook writer and blogger

Seven Years For Failure

Katrina Percy has quit her 'advisory' role at Southern Health. She got that role after conspicuous failure as Chief Executive, with no cut in her remuneration.Far too many patients died and there were pitifully few inquiries or improvements. Now that she's finally going she's walking out with one year's salary. That's one year for her at £190,000, which, just so you know, is more than seven years salary for the average working Briton! And they say the health service has a funding crisis, not in the south it would seem.

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Something to Be Proud Of?

Seen the value of the pound today? We had the best of both worlds, we kept our precious Sterling, but were still EU members. The pound will be nothing to be proud of at this rate and we can all stay home and moan about pesky foreigners. What the hell is happening to this country?

A way to top up then!

Investigate McClaren Too.

Yesterday I blogged about Sam Allardyce getting my goat. Former England striker Alan Shearer has bemoaned the state of the beautiful game and the disrepute attached to it due to the actions of men like Allardyce, he's right.

His Match Of The Day colleague Gary Lineker has called for a police investigation. Lineker was a clean player on the pitch and like Shearer makes an honest living as a commentator, I wholeheartedly support the call for a police investigation.

It's not the first time highly paid players or managers have been caught trying to skim a bit more off the top. Where there is corruption there's crime. I've heard the figure of four hundred thousand pounds bandied about and I've heard rumours of a million pound payoff for Allardyce.  He reckons he's paying for his 'mistake'. Huh!

If his pay off exists, and you can bet that contractually it does, then the FA should publicly give it to Children In Need, or Cancer Research or McMillan and see if big Sam is big enough not to challenge that decision, he'd become a pariah, even more than he is now.

Lineker is right, there should be a police investigation and former England manager Steve McClaren who has supported Allardyce and said 'it could happen to any of us' should be investigated too, out of his own mouth.

These people live in a different universe from the British football fan working to pay for his or her ticket and the constantly changing strip and club regalia. All the money swilling about in British football attracts corruption.

You can bet someone who doesn't care that Allardyce is corrupt will give him another chance, another highly paid job. It doesn't just get my goat, it's disgusting and fans are too loyal to vote with their feet, but two weeks of empty stadia countrywide might force the FA to think twice.

The position of England Manager is an honour, and a highly paid one at that, even if some Premiership clubs pay even more. The least anyone who lands the job can do is apply themselves to it, not spend time trying to milk it.

Malcolm Snook Writer and Blogger

Where Greed Meets Stupidity

I'm not a huge fan of media stings, but I'm even more anti corruption, greed and abuse of position or power, how small does Sam Allardyce look now? English football has been a disgrace for years the FA and the England team. Can't help feeling this is just a symptom of the money, greed and stupidity that's endemic in football, but it still gets my goat.

Malcolm Snook Author And Blogger

Our Clown Prince Of Chaos

Boris Johnson got my goat yesterday (again). He's obviously enjoying his seat at the table in the UN as Britain's senior diplomat, his consolation prize for not taking the top job in government. He was talking on British television about the great role Britain plays at the UN and in the world, how no one wanted to talk to him about Brexit but about WORLD matters. Jumped up poseur.

Does he not see that he now has a seat at the table of abject failure? Rhetorical question obviously. The UN has spread disease, denied it and claimed diplomatic immunity when caught, it has failed to protect women being raped just a few miles from the door of one of its bases, it failed spectacularly in Bosnia and is failing humiliatingly again in Syria.

I mean no disrespect to the heroic people serving on aid convoys and dying for humanity, but I have utter contempt for the hypocrites at the top, especially the Security Council. With the likes of Boris, our very own clown prince of chaos at the top table the failure will go on and on. The UN requires a new constitution, not a large Johnson.

He was questioned on his absence from a recent meeting with President Erdogan of Turkey, a man he has mocked, in which he might be correct for once; although in this case it's no laughing matter. He made light of his missing that meeting, pointing out that he has relatives in Ankara. I and many people are well aware of Boris's Turkish heritage, but......

 A momentary look of  'oops what have I just said' passed across his normally merry visage, but don't worry Boris, your Turkish heritage is still not known to most, just as your utter hypocrisy in using fear of Turkey, a most unlikely candidate for prompt EU membership (as you well know) to try and bring down Europe still goes un-recognised by the majority of the great British public.

One day though, you'll be seen for what you truly are, maybe we can incarcerate you on Boris Island in the Thames. You posturing, self aggrandising idiot.

Malcolm Snook Author

Thirty Years Of Failure And No End In Sight

Female Genital Mutilation has been a crime in the UK for thirty one years. It took thirty years to bring one unsuccessful prosecution. It's a scandal and a national disgrace and that gets my goat. Research suggests one hundred and thirty seven thousand women and girls living in England and Wales were affected in 2011 alone.

It's a crime which, in some communities, is probably carried out daily. And still the police and crown prosecution service are getting nowhere with it at all. Get a few burglars to admit to crimes they didn't do in return for a lesser sentence and catch a few motorists, that's easy, helps the statistics along, but a vile crime which involves cross cultural difficulties, real victims of real violence, the hell with that sunshine, let the victims suffer, too difficult for us. That's Britain today.

Malcolm Snook

Oh Really!

George Osborne, Cameron's yes man with thwarted designs on number ten has said he will not follow his leader into retirement, but will stay and fight for the 'liberal mainstream majority'. He'd better defect to the real Liberals then if he 's actually now concerned to do what's right and not just power crazed. If they'd have him!

Malcolm Snook

The Arrogance of Assad and the Stupidity of Cameron

Recent reports have confirmed what we already knew, that Cameron standing on a platform in post Gaddafi Libya saying we (the UK) would stand shoulder to shoulder with the new government and the people to make it work (or words to that effect) was just a load of hot air and waffle. Will Cameron be bracketed with Blair? You can bet your house on it.

The report suggests that British actions in Libya contributed to the rise of IS and the calamity in Syria, I'd go further and say our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed too. The lack of a strategy for the peace is staggering beyond belief, we appeared to learn from the mistakes of Versailles and re-built Europe after World War Two, but the lessons are lost on our current idiotic (on the whole) politicians and given the referendum result on many of the post war generation too.

Russia has a strategy, they want Assad in power and they're going after it militarily, such that Assad, once on the brink of defeat used the tenuous ceasefire to announce his intention to take back all of Syria, as if it was his personal estate. This does seem the most likely outcome and the highly expensive missiles and bombs thrown around by the second most indebted country on the planet will simply have claimed a few more lives along the way.

Yes, that gets my goat.

History gifts.

Lock him up, lock him up!

We locked up Anjem Choudary for inciting racial hatred, quite right too, perhaps in the light of the murder of Jo Cox and recent violence and threats against Poles we should take a long hard look at doing the same to Messrs. Farage, Johnson and Gove. Perhaps the Americans would like to take a look at that nice Mr Trump too. Lock him up, lock him up!

Malcolm Snook

Sexist Or Just Fun?

More a jokey one today. Has anyone noticed the TV ads for the Ford Fiesta ST and the Ford Focus ST? When you look at the power figures for these cars they do look mighty impressive, especially at the price.

However the Fiesta (smaller car) ads feature a lady, a recent bridesmaid in a dress she seems not to like much, hence she deserves to treat herself to a Fiesta ST, you know it's quite a girly ad which is fine but not much doubt about the target audience.

Then there's the Focus ST commercial (larger car, even more power), the ad shows a guy sitting with his girlfriend in a cinema full of women watching a weepy movie. On which basis he thinks he deserves a new Focus ST, not much doubt about the target audience there.

Am I the only one who thinks Ford might be being a little bit stereotypical and sexist?

Malcolm Snook Writer

Brilliant Customer Relations

Yesterday I blogged about mistakes and idiocies by Scottish Power, they're not the only company hide bound by rules, narrow areas of responsibility, procedure and stupidity, but they proved a good example and their actions affected someone close to me in a very personal way.

I then tweeted my blog post and hey presto Scottish Power tweeted me back, apparently trying to help. Unfortunately the person affected doesn't use Twitter, but said she would like to take matters further, in view of Scottish Power's response. They then went on to prove that there is no common sense involved and that individuals have their narrow areas of responsibility and cannot step outside them.

It would appear that if you're on the Scottish Power social media team you can't pick up a telephone for example. Here's how the Twitter conversation went, starting with my public Tweet linking to yesterday's blog post and then the conversation with Scottish power:

Thingsthatgetyourgoat The Power To Make People Sick http://thingsthatgetyourgoat.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-power-to-make-people-sick.html?spref=tw … #scottishpower #bigbusiness #callcentres #bereavement #music


@sailorsnook Hi Malcolm, we'd like to look into this for you, could you DM us your account details please?  -NA



@SP_EnergyPeople I will ask my partner if she wishes to take it further.



@sailorsnook Okay, if you would like our assistance with this, please get back to us. -NA



@SP_EnergyPeople H***** would like to take this further by telephone *********** act ***********



@sailorsnook Hi Malcolm, we'd like to discuss this with the account holder here. We'd need you to DM us with more account details.


@SP_EnergyPeople H***** doesn't use twitter phone her and sort it out if you want to but don't make matters worse by wasting people's time

@sailorsnook We can't arrange call backs but our website has a free call back feature, if you would like I can book one here for Hilary? -NA






Which brings us full circle to the telephone people who were a large part of the problem in the first place I guess. Brilliant customer relations, outstanding.



Malcolm Snook

The Power To Make People Sick

Scottish Power get my goat, sending erroneous bills to a bereaved daughter, even though they've been informed, having a broad Scottish accent is just one of those things, but talking more quickly when you've been politely asked to speak more slowly so you can be understood is pretty bloody stupid. Playing emotive songs often used at funerals when you put someone who's bereaved on hold is also pretty stupid and being unable to deviate from the script is just pathetic. Yep, Scottish Power aren't the only big business that's arrogant and stupid, but they are especially rubbish as these things go.

Malcolm Snook

He Who Divides Wants Us To Come Together

Self serving, dishonest Boris has joined a new Leave Europe campaign group, possibly to keep up the pressure on the misguided PM who made him Foreign Secretary. He says he wants Leave and Remain people to work together. The very existence of this group demonstrates just how split his own party is. I think Boris has no conception of the even deeper division in the country, which he fostered with his lies and propaganda.

A few, bend with the wind, remainers might pay lipservice, but the division will not go away. TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady is concerned that worker's shouldn't pay the price for so called 'Brexit' whilst most of the TUC leadership seem to acknowledge that many of their members voted that way to give the establishment a good kicking. Labour is equally divided.

What we see is self interest groups all panicking that their share of EU handouts might be lost or that their members might suffer. If it all goes pear shaped in three years, everyone is going to blame someone else and the easiest scapegoat will be pesky foreigners. Pathetic. If May can make this work she'll be one of the greatest PMs ever, on current performance I have little optimism, well, none actually.

Politicians meddled with my education growing up and all she seems to want to do is meddle again, whilst others around her meddle with the health service, the economy and on and on. By the way did anyone think Theresa May meeting Donald Tusk in a short split skirt was appropriate or attractive?

Malcolm Snook

Blame The Father

A twelve year old American girl was recently seen on social media posing with a giraffe she had shot dead on a hunting trip to Africa with her father. Giraffes, the gentle giants of Africa, have declined by 40% in the last fifteen years, mostly due to loss of environment, but brainless hunters teaching madness to their kids don't help.

Malcolm Snook

The Evil Of Assad

A couple of days ago we learned that a group of British clerics and members of our esteemed House Of Lords went to visit that friendly looking President Assad, you know the charming man in a suit, married to a British doctor's daughter with British kids late of Acton.

Last night we see a tiny girl shivering with fear, clutching an oxygen mask, the victim of a chemical weapons attack. Russia may choose to support this monster, we should not be dignifying his regime with visits, shame on us too. Churchmen and Lords, no more use than our politicians.

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BBC get it right please.

I may be an old fogey, but I'm not against change, I have no problem with regional accents and I don't care what the ethnicity of a correspondent is. However, when a BBC correspondent on a major news show thinks the plural of deer is 'deers' or when another pronounces Le Touquet with a hard 't' at the end I wonder what's happened, et tu, Brute.

I don't know what these people get paid, but I'm sure I'd like the job, do they not rehearse, does no producer, director or anyone else check they know the basics? Standards BBC, professionalism please.

Malcolm Snook

UN Report On British Hate Crime

The Brexit campaign fuelled  racism and lied on an industrial scale. I think Farage and his racist barrage did a great deal of harm and that the whole thing was appalling. I'm not unhappy that the UN has reported on the issue BUT the UN needs to look to its own laurels in a range of areas, something I've been blogging about here.

0.01% A Rate For Savers!

NatWest have just cut the rate on my 'savings account' to 0.01%, won't be saving a lot then! Mark Carney is trying to stimulate the economy by making it pointless to save and cheap to borrow. Spend now, suffer later. One might have hoped for greater creativity, balance and wisdom from the governor of the Bank Of England, but who knows what political pressure is applied?

Of course Mark Carney might have hoped for greater wisdom from the British people too. When no one has any savings left and the vast majority have unsustainable debts and China owns everything, then perhaps we'll wake up. Well maybe.

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Plastic Microbeads

I'd never heard of plastic microbeads until this week when the media told us about the harm they're doing to the environment and ultimately we end up eating the damn things! Apparently these little plastic balls, well tiny really, are put into products like toothpaste and shower gels and skin cleansers to make the product mildly abrasive. Well, that's dubious in itself, I mean exfoliation might have a case, but wearing the enamel off your teeth, putting them in your mouth and maybe swallowing a few, ugh.

Most of course get flushed away down the sink or shower, into our rivers and into our oceans. They are ingested by tiny sea creatures and plankton, clogging their guts and probably killing off part of the food supply our fish and whales depend on. However, moving on, many of these smaller creatures, containing the plastic balls are eaten while still alive by the fish we then catch and eat, see where this is going?

And why do manufacturers include them? I don't know, but I'll take a little wager they're cheaper than other ingredients, that they are fillers to make the product more profitable and health and the environment be damned. It's all about money until they're found out, which they have been so ban the damn things pronto I say.

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What Really Goes On Behind The Scenes?

When the recent attempted coup took place in Turkey there was a lot of anti American sentiment expressed, but now the USA is providing air cover for Turkish tanks crossing into Syria. Ostensibly they are there to attack IS, but we all know that President Erdogan's government really wants to attack the Kurds.

The Kurds have actually been very effective in combating IS and they are a distinct people with a distinct culture. Their rights have long been paid scant regard. The USA and the West choose to recognise the right of Israel to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people, the USA and the west chose to recognise the sovereignty of Kosovo, surely the Kurds, who have done as much to help us as to help themselves deserve a homeland too.

One wonders what goes on behind the scenes and it gets my goat that yet again politicians seem to do that which they see as expedient and not that which is plainly ethical and right.

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But What Do The People Think?

A member of the IOC has already said what a success the games in Rio were, which they were from a sporting perspective, despite half the Russians being disqualified for cheating before the get go and some dodgy judging decisions.
He suggests Africa soon. Did he not notice the empty seats, did he not hear the voices of people who couldn't afford to go, did he not see the protests from people living with open sewers and seeing their money spent on a one off event they had no interest in? At least not compared with a healthy environment for their kids.
Then there's the insult Brazil has thrown at disabled athletes who've trained just as hard and just as long as the able bodied, what is the IOC saying to them?
It would be great to see the games held in Africa, it would be even better to see everyone there have adequate clean sewers, healthy drinking water, a healthy diet, security and effective policing without corruption and access to education and healthcare. Learn the lesson from Rio, don't crow.

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Sports Mad Brazil

So the Team GB 4 x 400 metres relay team won their heat in the third fastest time but got disqualified. Footage of the race shows no infringement AND the organisers have not offered any explanation. This now allows the home team to advance, well they love their sport in Brazil - so long as you're not disabled. Whiff of corruption anyone?

Malcolm Snook is a writer and photographer.

Ever Thought the Government Is Out Of Touch?

The TV ads for the so called workplace pension have resumed. The same old message 'don't ignore the workplace pension', now it even features nannies or child minders, whose 'employer' could well be a working mum.

Yes, we need pension provision, yes Gordon Brown destroyed the pensions we all invested in years ago, yes there was a baby boom after the war and yes the economy is in chaos following the lunacy of Brexit.

BUT, there's a reason people are ignoring the 'workplace pension', because the government got it all wrong!

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Chilcot

Chilcot has told us in a scholarly and detailed way what we already knew, and some of us remember clearly. Weapons Inspectors were not finished when Blair and the Tories rushed headlong into line behind the Yanks. Yes we were appalled at 9/11, it doesn't mean two wrongs make a right, it doesn't mean that when America says jump we ask how high? The peaceful options had NOT been exhausted FACT,.

British troops had inadequate equipment, fact. I remember how one soldier was killed after lending his body armour to a comrade. DISGRACEFUL.

There wasn't a plan to win the peace. Obvious to us all by now. Al Qaeda weren't in Iraq till we opened the door, let alone IS. And by the way Bush Junior (never was an epithet more fitting) gave the so called rebuilding to his buddies to profit from, stripping the job from the more experienced State department. A fine friend eh Tony.

I'm not knocking Chilcot, just saying we knew it really. Chilcot stops short of calling for Blair to be prosecuted, but the one really good thing to come from his report is that never again can a British Prime Minister afford to be so blind, so stupid, so arrogant as Tony Blair, because they will be scrutinised and may be prosecuted.

The 'special relationship' just got a little thinner and if Trump gets in (not that Hilary's so great either) then thank goodness for that.

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Worth The Cost

Whether Chilcot clears Blair of criminal intent or action he still ignored all the protests, cost 179 British service men and women their lives and spent ten billion pounds to bring about 150,000 Iraqi deaths and the chaos of IS terror. Would you have him as an after dinner speaker?

Malcolm Snook is published on Nook, Kobo and Amazon

End The Wild West

What will it take for America to learn that the free and easy availability of guns costs innocent lives. Last year there was more than one mass shooting per day in the USA, 173 I believe so far this year, so nothing has changed and it's only in the news because a terrible record has been broken, no doubt tomorrow or the next day someone will try to break that record.

I've heard some American interviewees saying the answer is more guns so they can shoot it out with the bad guys, heaven help anyone in a pram that's in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I'm all for personal rights and personal responsibility but the wild west is history and they didn't have assault rifles back then either. It's not my country, but please end the carnage, most Americans I know are lovely, lovely people and I'd rather they stayed around. Whole.

Malcolm Snook

What Are They ON!

I'm strongly in favour of remaining in the European community, for a host of reasons, from peace to economy, right of abode, the fact that the world's problems need more co-operation not less and several more. I've made my feelings known, so now I get a request by e-mail to donate to the 'in campaign'. The bloody Tories cannot make their own minds up, need us to do it for them, at huge cost to the taxpayer and now people want donations to campaign as well. I imagine the 'out' mob are asking for donations from their supporters too. This country has lost the plot.

Malcolm Snook - Writer

Local Government Ripoffs

Elderly gentleman in a tiny retirement flat in Diss paying £1300 plus in Council Tax so that local councillors, who in the UK are officially unpaid but who in fact receive 'allowances' of up to twenty thousand pounds a year, can spend his money on  their pet projects. That gets my goat, Hastings is another council that's expensive, but I'm sure Diss and Hastings are not alone, just two that I happen to have experience of.

What is this passion for devolution and more and more layers of expensive bureaucracy? Has the UK has gone completely mad?

My Pinterest

Hillsborough Lies

I'm sure some late arriving fans at Hillsborough arrived with a few drinks in them, in fact I know so because a friend was in a local pub before the game. However a police force that lies for nigh on thirty years is a disgrace. The victims were probably all people who arrived in a timely fashion, they were always innocent sports fans. I've said before that the British Police Forces  in general are not fit for purpose, but South Yorkshire are quite possibly the worst of a terrible bunch. It's not just Hillsborough, but child abuse victims too. A Police Complaints official was making the point on television last night that an entire generation has come to mistrust the police. Before trying to change their minds we need to create a police force that is fit for purpose.

Malcolm Snook

Rhino Poachers Get My Goat

I find poaching of Rhino and Elephant more than a little distressing, I abhor whaling too, just for the record. Why human beings want to destroy the most amazing creations of nature is beyond me. I mean, I can understand the profit motive in the hey day of whaling, even though I don't like it, and I can understand that ivory can be beautiful, although no carved ivory can possibly invoke the wonder inspired by a fully grown elephant, but when it comes to Rhino you have to add in the absurdity of the fact that the monetary value of Rhino horn comes from grinding it down, to pander to a stupid superstition still held by large numbers of Asian people who now have the money to pay ridiculous sums for a worthless, in terms of efficacy, powder. All at the expense of dwindling stocks of magnificent animals.

I hope the Chinese and others coming to Western Universities really are learning something and taking it home because whilst I'm all in favour of more armed and physical protection of animals in game reserves, surely education is the only long term cure. There is no such thing as a cure all and I seriously doubt that Rhino horn cures anything. And if anyone can show that it does I'm sure we can make any active ingredient synthetically.

Malcolm Snook

The Great ISA Ripoff

We all love banks and bankers don't we? Well,  they certainly don't love us savers. If companies like Wellesley can do bonds worth 7 to 8 percent then why are major banks like Barclays offering a paltry one and a half percent to people with substantial savings to invest.

The banks believe they can rip people off because ISA's don't get taxed, so people feel better about them and because banks offer a government backed guarantee, and certainly that security means something in this day and age. However it does not account for the obscene difference.

My own generation paid absurdly high interest rates on our mortgages, which often rose hundreds of pounds per month in very short order. It went on for many years too. Yet now getting a good return on savings with any degree of security is become laughable.

Not that I don't have huge sympathy for young people today running up large debts for their education, that nice Mr Blair's education, education, education reform. Idiot, but that's another subject. Aside from Wellesley, Hargreaves Lansdown might be worth a look, I certainly am, looking anyway!

There is a way that the suppliers of products and services can enhance their cash flow, their profit and their customer and brand loyalty at the same time as helping we who save in preference to borrow. The idea is explained in detail in a chapter of my book 'Of Land, Sea And Sky'.

Perhaps, like Van Gogh it will all catch on after I've gone!

Of land, Sea And Sky

There's Always A Bureaucrat In The Way

British Bureaucracy drives me mad. It's one of the reasons I want to stay in Europe - it offers an escape route! I watch a lot of Grand Designs on the television, even the repeats. I find the presenter Kevin McCloud, insightful, enthusiastic and engaging. Recently I watched an episode where a couple purchased an old run down RNLI lifeboat station, built on girders above the sea.

Hell of a challenge to make a marvellous home from that, but they did it. Clever, determined, go for it kind of people. They also preserved the place. After huge investment and hard work, outside it now looks very much like it did when it was built. Inside it was just an open space with a sloping slipway. To make that a home you have to put in floors and stairs, walls and plumbing, the lot. So, preserving the interior isn't really an issue. Nonetheless, the planners, bureaucrats that is, denied the owners a hand rail they wanted. Petty.

If it was a Tudor building and someone wanted to rip the heart out of it I can see that there would be a point to stopping them, for future generations and for posterity, but what happened here was an abuse of power, I get a say so I'll use it, I have power, I will wield it. I can't see the planners being invited to dinner parties there, so they'll never see it again. The thoughtful Mr McCloud made a comment to the effect that you win some battles and lose others and that whatever you try to achieve there's always a bureaucrat standing in the way. How true. How very, very true.

Malcolm Snook

I've Been Assigned A Case Officer!!

You might think from the title of this blog post that I'm on parole, probation or accused of something, but no I'm just a small landlord who, after years of working hard and seeing pensions devalued (especially private pensions), invested in property and who provides affordable housing and is responsible about repairs etc. I use professional letting agents to make sure everything is legal and correct and of course leasehold properties also have managing  agents charging as much as they can for the upkeep of the building and communal areas.

So, on  Saturday, out of the blue I get a letter, which says it's a reminder, but which is news to me. Why does bad news always come on a Saturday when there's very little chance of getting anything done and messing up the weekend?

So, now I need a licence to be a landlord in Hastings and pay up quick to get a discount down to £185 or it will be a monstrous £460! Profiteering by a council, who could think such a thing. After two phone calls to the managing agents, one to the property management, two to the council and a lot of time filling out forms online and on the phone I've now made my application for a licence. I have a reference number to show I'm a fit and proper person as well, and the managing agent has one too.

However, as a final shot I'm told I'm being assigned a case officer and in some weeks time I MAY get a licence to carry on my business.

Along, probably with thousands of small landlords what will actually happen is that in the next two years I will sell up and probably invest every penny I own overseas, because that's how fed up I am with British stupidity, bureaucracy and stealth taxes. I don't mind anyone looking to see if I have a criminal record, because I don't, I've never even had a single point on my driving licence, but this is creating artificial jobs; bureaucrats don't make anything or any contribution to the nation's economy, if we still made stuff in the UK we'd be a sight better off. Unfortunately anyone who works, or worked, hard and invested is now a target to pay the national debt and top up councils.

We were conned into opting out of SERPS, then Gordon Brown wiped billions, literally billions possibly five hundred billion pounds, off the value of private pensions so he'd have more to spend, now those of us who invested in property to secure our futures are public enemy number one. Ironically the government is advertising on tv that we should take pensions advice from them. Too late for me but if you're thinking about trusting them think again.

The only one who can secure your future is you and politicians, national or local, of any party are your opposition! That's Britain today and by the way if you vote to leave Europe you could lose your right to live somewhere else when it all gets too much!

About the author

British Police Unfit For Purpose

Surrey Police have apologised. They did NOTHING when a mother reported her child was being groomed. Her child was subsequently murdered. This is after Rotherham, Savile and the like. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the British Police are unfit for purpose, someone needs to take a very close look, or we should start over.

Thirty Two Bags Of Poo

Went for a walk around Damflask Reservoir the other day. I think it's technically South Yorkshire, but it's within the Peak District National Park and it's a lovely spot with a footpath most of the way around and a short stretch of pavement. The whole walk is about three and a half miles. I started noticing little plastic bags on the path and by the side of it. A burst one revealed them to be holding dog shit. So I started counting from then on in. I got up to thirty two bags of poo. There are two bins especially provided for bags of dog poo and notices asking dog owners to be thoughtful and responsible, but to no avail, thirty two bags of poo. Plastic bags are not good for the environment it would be better if dogs just pooed in the bushes, what are these people on? Are they ignorant, stupid, selfish, all three? It's a beauty spot a public amenity, little kids who are inquisitive and pick things up and play with them go there too. Thirty two bags of poo. People eh!

Don't let them grind you down!

But whose job!

On the BBC news recently it was stated that 'leavers', that's those who want to leave the European Union, feel that job losses would be worth the pain in the long run. Ah, but what if it's your job? I was made redundant once years ago and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, feels like your whole world is falling apart. I'll bet most of the campaigners who think the pain will be worth it don't think it'll be themselves in pain. Think about that when you vote eh!

'Career Criminals'

The Hatton Garden robbers just received derisory sentences, because they pleaded guilty in part. Of course these old duffers are attracting a degree of sympathy from the small of intellect. Yes they might even die in jail, oh how sad. The police described them as 'career criminals' and that gets my goat. It's not a career, it's wrong doing, it's taking from others what they have usually earned. A career is where you get off your arse and work. Of the fourteen million stolen only four million has been recovered, probably more by luck than judgement and one robber at least is still at large. End the use of the term career criminals, lifetime criminals, call 'em what you like but not that. And give them a permanent term after their sentence, until the goods and cash are returned.

Claudia Lawrence

Seven years ago Yorkshire chef Claudia Lawrence disappeared. The police may not have been super efficient, hard to know, shadowy CCTV pictures are pretty useless really. What gets my goat though is that someone out there knows something and they're keeping quiet to protect a friend or relative while Claudia's family go on suffering with no closure. Keeping quiet is pure evil.

Lord Lawson Critcising Mark Carney! (Cheek of the man)

Lord Lawson accused Mark Carney of getting into political waters and effectively told him to keep out. Well, Mark Carney is tasked with achieving and protecting financial stability in this country, something Lawson signally failed to do. Well done Mark Carney for a fair and objective view.

Let's stay in eh!

The Latest Syrian Nonsense

British and American politicians are urging Putin to help them with the so called cease fire in Syria. One of their goals is to see President Assad ousted whilst the Russians are fighting precisely because they want to keep their ally President Assad IN power.  So however long western leaders spend on the phone to President Putin they're wasting their breath. Just how stupid are they?

Trump Bigotry

Bigotry, racism, arrogance and hatred all get my goat, all epitomised by Donald Trump.

Trump Machismo

UK Inequality

English teenagers pursuing a good education pay thousands for it Scottish teenagers get it free. On what planet is that fair?
Show how you feel!

Supreme Court Justice

I don't like commenting on other countries, but what happens in America affects the world and we are friends. Obama is right, a judge should be a judge, not a Republican Judge, not a Democrat judge, just a judge. What is happening to the Republican Party? Who thought we'd see extremism there? Such a shame the American people didn't vote Obama more power. President Trump is just too scary to contemplate.

Broken Promises

In the first couple of years of a parliament promises get broken all the time. They're banking on people not remembering by the time of the next election. I don't understand why people abandoned the Liberals at the last election, the coalition worked much better than giving the Tories a free rein, it stemmed their worst excesses whilst still improving the economy, what was so bad? Now we get this kind of thing (not to mention throwing the toys out of the pram in Europe!) Hit 'em when they're down, by Mr Morality-Smith!

Ticketless Trains

Train companies have announced they want to get rid of ticket machines at stations, and of course staff selling tickets. The idea is that you use your smart phone with a barcode or similar to swipe in. So, if your phone gets lost, stolen or simply breaks down you'll be going nowhere. You could say that about a lost ticket, but it's easier to replace a ticket at a moment's notice than a phone.
Then there's the plight of older people who don't have smart phones; I know older people who not only don't want the complexity of a smartphone, but who also have simple phones with large buttons they can actually see instead of a big screen, which of course leads us on to blind people and others who need assistance at stations with no staff. Not to mention the job losses, safety and security for all travellers and on and on.
Anyone who eschews tech and the internet gets to pay loads more for things as it is, especially utilities, and already buying train tickets is a minefield, they tell you you've saved x and then you see the same ticket cheaper elsewhere. Actually I think it's a national disgrace and although I don't like governments telling businesses how to operate as a general principle, fairness needs to be legislated for. Still you can't knock progress eh!

Government Advertising

Driving home the other day I saw a poster that said 'Don't Join The Army - Don't Make Friends For Life!' The temptation to add something like 'it may be a short life for you or for them' is great, unfortunately I'm too well behaved. I'm told there is another which says something like 'Don't Join The Army - Don't Learn New Skills' as if you can't learn skills at college, at university, at work, as an apprentice. Unless you want to learn how to kill, everything else is available elsewhere. Same applies to the Navy, currently advertising for recruits on TV. You can't trust politicians and your life is not your own once you sign, so don't do it. Peace is better.

More Government Advertising

The government is running a TV campaign to recruit teachers - all very necessary, but why? I know a lady locally who is a brilliant teacher, but she's changed to being a supply teacher because the conditions she worked under as an employed teacher were intolerable. My father was a teacher and I know things have changed in that profession, and not always for the better. Instead of just advertising for more, perhaps the government should look at why teachers are quitting!

BT The Communications Company That Doesn't Communicate

Two doors up lives an elderly lady, she has lung cancer and her husband is now in a nursing home. She has an emergency system to call for help called 'On Call' which utilises her BT landline. Her BT landline is suddenly out of order. Her nephew called BT but their help line, whatever it is, is all automated, can't talk to a human being to tell them that a sick, elderly woman on her own is cut off. He tried 'On Call' too, but BT won't speak to them either. The automated response seems to suggest it could be four days to get an engineer on the case. BT stands for British Telecom, you can't talk to them, they're the communication company that doesn't communicate and leaves vulnerable people cut off and at risk. That's Britain today, that's British.

Update
Later that evening the lady's nephew found a BT engineer working on a box in a street nearby, he talked to her and explained the problem, she checked the line and found the fault was at the exchange, since she was going back to the exchange she looked into it, found some wires had become dislodged and fixed it. So BT that's what can be achieved when people talk to each other, human being to human being and not to a machine!

Advertising that gets your goat.

That nice Rob Brydon is advertising P&O Cruises. I've nothing against cruising, I've been on one and enjoyed it. I recognise the strengths and weaknesses of cruising though. Stops are generally short and you get to do a nice little recce of a place you might want to come back and see more fully another time. Life on board is generally luxurious and fun.

I also spent a lot of my life travelling on a small yacht and stopped at many harbors where cruise ships also dock. I've seen them disgorge up to two thousand passengers who then swamp places like Ephesus and Pompei before returning to eat and set sail again asap.

So it came as some surprise, when watching the telly, to see dear Mr Brydon and his other half sitting virtually alone in a Romanesque theatre with  him humorously uttering a line like 'lucky to get a seat'. If you think that's how it is, think again. Misleading.

John Lewis Has The Honour To Be First

Bought a toy from John Lewis as a Christmas present for a three year old. John Lewis recently asked me for a review so I told the truth, the toy was attached to the packaging with tiny cross head screws and chunks of plastic, the mother didn't have a suitable screw driver and the child was very upset he couldn't play with it on Christmas Day. The packaging didn't have any warning on the outside, saying tools were needed. John Lewis thanked me for my review but said they wouldn't be using it. They gave me a link and asked me to change it, but even if I wanted to the link didn't work. So if you see good reviews on the John Lewis website do remember the bad ones are censored out. Just so you know.

About This Blog

All sorts of things wind us up, getting it off your chest is good for you, especially when taking on major corporations and politicians. Facebook is one way but if you're complaining all the time to your friends that may not be a good thing and the share button there doesn't allow you to tweet.

So, I've created 'Things That Get Your Goat' to get things off my chest and on Blogger the share button allows me to tweet and more. If life winds you up sometimes, be it call centres, arrogant companies, even more arrogant politicians, injustices or Japanese Whaling, why not make a blog.

Good luck and best wishes to all the decent people in the world - that's most of you. Don't let the bastards grind you down. Nil bastardum carborundum, or something to that effect.