What, No Corks?

One of my interests in life is being able to ‘knock back’ a glass of ‘plonk’ every now and again.  Probably, more often than is good for me.  It has been noticeable that more and more wines are coming with screw tops, rather than the traditional cork. 

One of my favourites, and one of the few whites I drink, is a nice rezina which comes complete in a litre bottle and screw top. However, I was surprised to see that popular Aussie wine Jacob’s Creek is changing to all screw tops next year. 

Whilst I understand that this may aid consistency and quality, it doesn’t seem right.  Having given this great thought, the only advantages I can see are that whites and roses will be able to fit back in the fridge (without putting it at an angle) and that you shouldn’t get the odd bottle with mouldy or acidic contents. 

The advantages are far more important.  Better wines need some oxygenation for aging, and not having the excuse to finish the bottle as I’ve ‘accidentally’ discarded the cork. The introduction of screw tops for wine is definitely one advance I don’t welcome, and am seriously considering to boycott any company that tries to introduce them.  

 YAMAS!!!

Dutch Courage?

I’ve probably been rather unfair in some of my recent comments about the French. However, I have been nice about the Belgians, so I feel it would be rather unfair to class me as an anti-European. Heaven forbid for people to think that of me!

The Dutch have always had the propensity to make me laugh. For a people so conservative in both their political and economic outlook, they never cease to amaze me with their social liberality. Prostitution is legal in Holland, with the Dutch government never missing an opportunity to tax the earnings of their citizens. They’re very efficient in this, and obviously the prostitutes of Amsterdam should prove no exception to the rule.

Unfortunately for these hard working ‘ladies of the night’, the city authorities have now decided to close 20% of the sex clubs in the red light district of Amsterdam by the end of the year.

Is this change resultant of a new found civic morality? Unfortunately not! Those flat-footed Dutch coppers have recently discovered that a number of these sex clubs were involved in naughty financial dealings such as money-laundering.

So, there we go! Prostitution has been found to be related to organised crime, and that may come as a surprise to some of us. But this relationship doesn’t matter, unless you defraud the Dutch government. Then that liberality just turns to good old fashioned conservatism.

Labour Duplicity When Dealing with the Armed Services

As British troop losses continue to mount in Iraq and Afghanistan, Labour has once again shown its’ complete contempt for our Armed Services. 

Several weeks ago Tony Blair promised to provide our operational forces with any equipment that they required.  It is well known that our troops have had to buy their own equipment or borrow from other allied forces.  The RAF has been forced to use inappropriate munitions, due to shortages, when attacking the Taliban and, as a result, risking the lives of our troops on the ground.  The Royal Navy cannot function due to overstretch, and is now totally useless as an operational force.  Tony Blair then rather un-surprisingly back-tracked on the earlier promise, and claimed that the Ministry of Defence would only listen carefully to the commanders on the ground. 

So, it comes as no surprise that Labour Defence Minister, Derek Twigg, has admitted that 4,000 marines serving in Afghanistan would be “disappointed and upset” that they would not now be receiving a £3,000 bonus as promised by the MoD.  No kidding!  What an astute assumption on his part.   

More surprisingly, Twigg also claimed that he “… understood how they might feel” No he doesn’t!  If he did, and appreciated their contribution in trying to make sense of the mess that is Labour foreign policy, the promise of the additional £17 a day for a mere 6 months would be honoured.   

Still, when did the Labour Party show anything but contempt for those in the Armed Services?  If more Labour politicians had served, or had family members, in the Navy, Army, or Air Force I feel that they might be a little more honourable in their dealings. 

Derek Twigg; hang your head in shame for your duplicity when dealing with our troops!   

The Last Week

The last week has seen me out and about.  As a result, I’ve been unable to post any blogs and have actually missed the experience.  I don’t know if anybody else finds it a cathartic process to ‘get things out of the system’, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do. 

Three personal events that have taken place over the last week may be of little interest to the wider public, than other things going on in the world, but demonstrate what things I tend to get involved in. 

Firstly, I had to regretfully resign my position as a Portland Town Councillor, of which I have been for just under a year.  Having been unable to find suitable work in the area, I now have to prepare myself for employment elsewhere on the impending completion of my Taxation Masters.  However, I intend to keep my interest and voter registration in this constituency as South Dorset will always remain home. 

Secondly, I had the opportunity to meet the new Conservative candidate for South Dorset.  It is a shame, of the Conservative Party, that this rural coastal area is represented by a New Labour ‘yes boy’ in Jim Knight.  No doubt, Tony Blair’s imminent demise will also bring down those most closely associated with having pushed through his iniquitous legislation.  Our next Member of Parliament – Richard Drax – is an ex-Guards’ officer and journalist.  The fact that he is local, and had made it clear that he won’t be subservient to the current Conservative Party ‘urban regime’, will no doubt win back the seat at the next election.   

Oh for the days when Viscount Cranbourne had a majority of over 15,000, and we were considered one of the safest Conservative seats in the country!  It just goes to show that a party can never take the support of the public for granted, and should never force local constituency parties to accept party yes-men from outside.  This time, the Conservative South Dorset Constituency Party has taken the bold step of ignoring pressure from outside and selecting someone who should be considered electable by the majority of voters. 

Finally, I spent a few pleasant days in Belgium.  I have travelled through
Belgium on a number of occasions, not having had any reason to stop there.  However, I had the opportunity to visit the European Commission and European Parliament buildings in Brussels, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.   

The time spent in Brussels gave me a chance to use some long forgotten French, although the locals seemed to have a far greater command of my language than I of theirs.  I also had the opportunity to visit Bruge, which is in the non-French speaking part of Belgium.  Like the vast majority of Europeans, I have no command of Flemish but was once again saved by their ability to speak English, and their refusal to speak French.  It seems that the Flemish peoples are very keen on separation from their neighbours, and dislike the French far greater than the English could ever do.  Maybe the English have more in common with our fellow Europeans than I thought!!!  

Two Reasons for the UK to Celebrate

Sometimes it is very easy to feel proud of one’s country.  No more so, for us, than when it shown that we can still excel at a high level of industrial output.  From the country that succeeded in controlling world trade and brought the world its’ first Industrial Revolution, two more significant entrepreneurial achievements have been highlighted over the last couple of days. 

The first achievement was that the UK had been labelled the card fraud capital of Europe.  A survey by the European Security Transport Association found that almost 20% of adult Britons had been subjected to either credit or debit card fraud.  This equates to an approximate total of nearly 7 million people, compared with a total European figure of 22 million.  With comparable credit/debit card fraud figures showing 11% of continental Europeans affected, this means that British nationals are almost twice as likely to be affected. 

Leaked figures sent to the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addictions give cause to the second achievement.  Britain is also now the official cocaine capital of Europe.  Under the Labour government, cocaine use by those between the ages of 16 and 24 has more than doubled.  For all adults, the usage has almost tripled.  Crack cocaine seizures, since 2000, have risen by 74%.  No wonder the UN reported, in September, stated that “Britain had the highest levels of serious drug abuse in Europe.” 

So what is the Labour response to the aforementioned achievements?  Today saw the unveiling of new additions to their ‘successful’ social engineering programme.  We will now have compulsory parenting classes for failing parents, and 80 ‘super-nannies’ to teach parents how to stop their children committing crimes and anti-social behaviour.  Well, I reckon that will work.  Mary Poppins to the rescue of the British Nation!!!

Super Mario Runs Scared!

A follow up to my earlier post today.  Mario Scaramella, the contact who provided the list naming the Russian killers behind the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, has now gone into hiding.  An Italian political source, of Sky News, is reported to have said that “Mario is very scared at the moment”.  Nothing like stating the obvious, and passing it off as news I suppose!

Furthermore, President Putin’s press agency has been doing the rounds this afternoon.  Dmitry Reskov, on behalf of the Russian government, has said that “… claims originating in London are bordering on raving madness and are not worthy of the Kremlin’s official reaction.” 

Old Dmitry has obviously missed the point in that he has done exactly that.  He has voiced an official reaction, but chose not to deny what all, but the extremely gullible, know has happened.  Something tells me it’s just not Dmitry’s official non-response smelling fishy.  And, I don’t mean Litvinenko’s sushi!!!

Has President Putin further poisoned the UK-Russo Relationship?

Yesterday morning, it emerged that Scotland Yard had launched an enquiry into the attempted poisoning of a Russian defector who had just gained British citizenship.  He is currently under armed guard at an unknown London hospital.  Litvinenko is a former colonel of the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB), and has become an outspoken critic of President Putin and his regime. 

Litvinenko is regarded as a traitor in Russia.   His billionaire friend Boris Berezovsky is claiming that the FSB had attempted to murder him.  The attempted murder of Alexander Litvinenko is understood to have taken place 19 days ago at a London Japanese sushi bar. 

It has been confirmed that thallium was used in the attempted murder which, as it happens, was the same poison used in the attempted murder of Viktor Yushchenko.  It has been widely assumed that the Ukranian Premier, Yuschenko, had been targeted by the FSB because of his pro-Western policies. 

The attempted murder is reminiscent of the London murder of Georgi Markov, the Bulgarian author and broadcaster.  Markov was killed by the KGB, the predecessor of the FSB, who injected their target with ricin contained in the tip of an umbrella. 

So, why is this important?  There are a number of reasons why the West should be concerned about Russian antics that hark back to the Cold War. 

Firstly, Litvinenko was investigating the brutal murder of Anna Politkovskaya.  Politkovskaya was a liberal Russian journalist who, it is widely suspected, was murdered by the FSB under the direct orders of Putin.  Do you see a link here?  It must be remembered that Putin is not a democrat, but an ex-KGB official.  Can it be reasonably expected that Putin has no control over the FSB, or that they would act without orders from the Kremlin? 

Secondly, thallium is now the chosen poison of the FSB.  Thallium is a product of the Middle East, having originally been developed as a rat killer.  The FSB have a record of using thallium to terminate the ‘rats’ undermining the Putin regime.  Putin, himself, now has a long record of helping the Iranians develop a nuclear capability, and vetoing UN actions to exercise sanctions against dictatorships like Iraq and Iran.  Why should Putin be so intent to give such unpredictable allies a nuclear capability, and protect them financially from irresponsible behaviour? 

Thirdly, England has seen a large rise in the number of Russian émigrés setting up home here.  London has become the city of choice for those wealthy Russians who want to live, and run their businesses, in a safer environment.  Putin, through the FSB, has sent a message to all those émigrés that we cannot protect them.  If they speak out against Putin, then they should consider themselves unprotected targets.    

Finally, it should tell all those Western powers, who believed the Cold War was long-gone, that this was a precipitous assumption.  With the attempted murder of Litvinenko, Putin has shown that his intentions and actions now extend far beyond the Russian border.  We should all be very afraid as to how far Putin will now go to maintain his power base, and weaken the West by his support of militant Islamic states.  

Global Warming?

Unfortunately, my new ‘blog’ will have no new entries for a few days, as I head up to the frozen wastes of the north-west this evening. 

Thinking about how cold and wet the north-west of England is, compared with the sunny climes of the south-west, one does wonder how much climate change is hyped-up in our media. 

During the days of Roman occupation, and colonisation, Britannica was famous as a source of wine for their Empire.  As a country that is just returning to wine-making, in the south-east, one wonders exactly how much scientists really know.   

All I know is that global warming has yet to reach those dark satanic mills of Lancashire.  Let alone as far north as Hadrian’s Wall and into Caledonia!

A Week of Shame for French National Sport

The previous week was one of shame for French national sport.  Two former captains played a central part in the French media, with murder and hypocrisy to the fore. 

Marc Cecillon, former captain of the French national rugby team, was convicted for the shooting and murder of his wife in 2004.  The murder took place whilst he was purported to have been in a drunken rage and, for which senseless act, the French judiciary decided to ‘bang him up’ for a paltry 20 years. 

This embodiment of French masculinity had reputedly been drinking heavily at a wedding reception, in southern France, before manfully “slapping” an unidentified woman.  Having been asked to leave, he later returned with a Magnum revolver and shot at his wife several times before killing her in cold blood.  Her mistake had been a refusal to leave with him. 

This led me to ask myself several questions.  Firstly, how did it take so long to convict this French icon?  Two years for bringing a successful prosecution in an ‘open and shut case’ seemed somewhat casual and inefficient, even by French standards.  Secondly, how did he get away with such a lenient sentence?  A mere 20 years for murdering his wife seemed particularly generous for someone who, according to his two daughters, had previously turned family life into hell with his behaviour resulting from alcohol abuse.   

No doubt, they took his persuasive defence into account.  He claimed that he had only wanted to intimidate her.  Well, that’s alright then!  By all means, walk around France with a revolver and intimidate people all you want.  If you should accidentally shoot your spouse, who chooses not to be intimidated by your display of Gallic masculinity, then we’ll put you away for a token term.  I wonder how many years before he’s actually back on the streets.   

That brings me onto a somewhat more amusing incident; unless you’re Mrs Zidane of course!  There had been speculation for weeks that Zinedine Zidane, the former national football captain, had been playing away from home with chanteuse Nadia Zighem. 

Now, it must be admitted that both the married father of four and Miss Zighem had denied the rumour.  Indeed, even a Hands off Zidane campaign had been organised, but one does wonder why poor Miss Zighem wasn’t accorded the same respect.  The pair even went as far as denying the rumours, claiming that they had only met once at a charity event.   

Unfortunately for Zidane and Zighem, a French celebrity magazine Voici didn’t believe their story.  Last Wednesday saw the magazine publish two photos of the pair entering an “apartment building in a chic district in western Paris”.  The pair had cunningly tried to disguise themselves; she with a pair of dark glasses, he with a woolly bobble hat.  Subtle; glasses and woolly hat, I bet that’s never been tried before!   

So, the truth is out.  France is now involved in a soul searching debate over whether Zidane’s god-like status should be re-evaluated.  Can the French be serious when they talk about a debate?  A multi-millionaire betrays his wife and four children after portraying himself as a simple family man, a man of the people, a man whose family comes before everything.  Come on, the guy’s a hypocrite who’s portrayed himself as one image and lives the life of another.  What is there to debate?  Then I remember; he’s French!!!  

Normal Programming to Resume Monday

For obvious reasons, my tabloid approach has not been adopted this weekend.  However, Monday morning will see an expose titled A Week of Shame for French National Sport.  A must for all those Zinedine Zidane fans out there!