Under Wessex Skies
Well, another lesson learnt. For the first time in a long time, I had to boot into Windows 10 on my PC. It was a salutary reminder as to why I made the switch to Ubuntu Linux.
Windows is so slow whatever task is asked of it, whereas Ubuntu just does it in a snap. No fuss, no bother, simple and efficient.
Unless you're a gamer, I can see no reason whatever why you would want to stay with Windows.
Did you know that the forerunners of the modern day police in Britain were the Bow Street Runners? They were formed by Magistrate Henry Fielding in 1749 and worked for him from his office at Bow Street Magistrates Court. Their role was to serve writs and arrest offenders as authorised by the Magistrates.
At that time, and elsewhere around the country, enforcement of the law was in the hands of elected unpaid parish constables. In addition, members of the public could pay thief takers to catch criminals and bring them before the Magistrates. There was very little Government involvement in law enforcement, and the apprehension of criminals was often left to private citizens.
My question in writing this article is have we come full circle? Is the apprehension of criminals again being left to those who have been the victims of crime?
A friend's workshop was recently broken into and about £50,000 worth of equipment stolen. Eleven adjoining businesses were also ransacked. The matter was reported to the local Constabulary, but they have not investigated, and it has been left to my friend to check with other local businesses and establish if there were any witnesses to the incident or if it was caught on their CCTV.
My friend's situation is by no means unique. Almost daily one hears stories of police disinterest when it comes to investigating crime, and yet they always seem to have the time to dance at Pride events, paint patrol cars the colours of the rainbow, and harass people who have the temerity to express their opinion online.
So I have to ask, what is the point of the police? If they are no longer doing the job they are paid to do, what useful purpose do they serve? One of the Peelian Principles of policing states;
To recognise always that the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.
I do not know of a time when the existence, actions and behaviours of the police have ever been questioned as they are today. However it is becoming ever more apparent that they have lost the respect of the public, and I believe the time has come for a complete overhaul. They need reminding that it is us, the public, they serve. I am not proposing that the police should be defunded, but the current force should be completely dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up in accordance with the original Peelian Principles. I want to see bobbies back on the beat, local police stations reopened, and the re-establishment of closer connections with those communities they are supposed to be serving.
Well, that didn't take long. The latest scare story: monkey pox.
Would anyone like to bet on when the next lockdown will be announced?
It seems I was wrong about at least one of the fires on Tuesday. ITV News is reporting that a fire that destroyed 5 homes in Barnsley is thought to have started in a garden shed and was electrical in origin.
Not arson then, but then neither was it climate change.
Aside from the article on the ITV website, this fact has generated barely a ripple in the media. Why am I not surprised?
The BBC reported that the UK's heatwave and scorching 40C temperatures sparked wildfires across the country Really? Is it not possible the fires were started by arsonists, as has happened during warm spells for as long as I can remember. Don't take my word for it though, some of those earlier incidents have been reported by the BBC, and can be found on their web site.
Here for your perusal are just a few examples;
13 March 2010 – The number of deliberately started heath fires goes up as the evenings become lighter, the fire service said
26 March 2008 – About 170 firefighters spent three hours battling that blaze, during which more than 100 local residents had to leave their homes
13 April 2006 – Not only is it absolutely devastating to the countryside but it puts lives at risk.
Search, and you will find many more examples.
It has been uncomfortably hot these last few days, but even at 40c grass and trees do not spontaneously combust. It seems however that facts don't matter to the media. Over the last few years a level of hysteria has crept into the MSM. Gone is any attempt to explain and discuss, to discover what actually happened. Now every major incident is treated as if it was Armageddon, and the likes of the BBC, ITV and Sky are quite happy scaring the population because it fits the narrative they are pushing.
The fires over the last few days were not sparked by the heat wave. I'm betting though that when the actual causes are discovered there will barely be a mention of it in the media. They will have moved on to the next scare story.
Yesterday the Tory MPs voted in the next round of their Party leadership contest. Of the four candidates, Kemi Badenoch received the fewest and has been knocked out. She was the one person with genuine Conservative beliefs, the one person who could have injected the party with new life. As it is, the three remaining candidates are much the same as has gone before. Bland, uninteresting, and with no discernible political convictions.
Nothing will change, it will be more of the same. This country is set to continue its spiral into oblivion.
They’re at it again. With a severe heatwave likely to hit England by the end of this week, the MSM is full of warnings. Stay inside, remain hydrated. The heat is a killer, be careful out there.
When did we in this country lose all sense of perspective? What happened to the stoic British character? Anything out of the ordinary is now met with warnings of impending doom. Since Covid have we become incapable of thinking for ourselves? Are we so reliant on the Government that we are now unable to make common sense decisions?
How do you think your parents and grandparents coped when it got a little hotter than normal? What would they think of today’s society that has become so utterly dependant on the State for guidance?
The word that springs to mind, the one that best describes the current state of society: pathetic.
Rishsi's decision to impose a windfall tax on the energy companies, and to hand over a good part of that money to taxpayers is surely pointless.
Fine, the money may help some people with their upcoming bills (although some might prefer to spend it getting pissed down the local boozer), but what happens next winter, next year? Relations with Russia will not have been normalised by then, and energy prices will not fall. More importantly, whatever the state of the relationship with Russia, this country has a shortage of power plants. Due to shocking mismanagement by Governments over the last twenty years, we have no replacements for the coal and nuclear powered stations that are being shut down. Green energy is simply window dressing, and is years away from being able to provide a dependable energy base.
On the news earlier, there were warnings we might face black outs in the winter. Why do they sound surprised, this has been on the cards for years.
Forget Partygate; what they need to investigate is the origins of the energy crisis. Governments over the last twenty year have displayed a criminal dereliction of duty; surely someone should be held to account?
Another shooting in America, more children and their teachers killed in a senseless massacre of the innocents. There will be the usual wave of sympathy, calls for gun reform, candles lit. But soon enough, like all the previous shootings, it will be forgotten. Nothing will change, nothing will be learned. And in a few years time it will happen again.
Despite the trappings of modernity and civil society, humanity remains as barbaric and destructive as it ever was. Perhaps it would have been better if humanity had been wiped out by the pandemic.