Strait Jacketing the Sane ??

Once upon a time the UK was regarded as the epitome of freedom. Freedom of speech has always been the true reflection of democracy both in the UK and the US, who like to see themselves as the defenders. It was what our soldiers fought for in the dark days of  WW1 and WW2 and all the wars since  such as Korea and Vietnam.  A fight against the invader and its subsequent oppression of free people throughout the world, wherever that may be, except such as Zimbabwe, where there is no oil, and Ruanda where nobody cared what happened.

Our soldiers are, and have been fighting to maintain true rights and freedom against the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Saddam Hussein was overthrown in order to gain the control of the oilfields in that country....and to get a strong strategic foothold for maybe the next war against Iran........ .er ........to free Iraqi people from dictatorship and to impose democracy.  

Meanwhile back in the UK, immense security systems have been put into place 'for security reasons', 'for people's safety' 'to fight against the War on Terror' 'to fight crime','to observe people's every move', in case they might have some kind of expression on their face that they may be thinking of doing something anti-social at the very least ! How long will it be before brain readings are incorporated into the surveillance system ? The surveillance society, supported by CCTV and covert social network monitoring in the UK has become so out of control it is incredible...or perhaps not. It is always easy to sell such an idea to the UK population. Yes and we are paying for it ! Does everyone feel safer? Is there justifiable proof that the billions spent is worth it ?  According to Big Brother Watch the answer is a resounding NO ! It is often said that if you have nothing to hide then why complain about the CCTV. In my view this is the usual passive non resistance you get in the UK, those who believe this are missing the point of the principal: that the fact we are being spied on is by nature is an invasion of privacy; an intrusion of our freedom to wander at will through a so called free country.
It seems it is fine for  authorities to spy on our every move but what if I suspected my neighbour might fly off the handle and commit a strange crime ? Could I install a camera on the coming and goings at his/her house. No, because that is illegal.

The abuse of cctv is already happening, for instance :-

Body Scanners at airports offer the opportunity for covert voyeurism by staff. 

Automatic Number Plate Recognition by Local Authorities etc. It would be expected that these are installed to record vehicle accidents or any street crime. I personally know of two instances which give another story. One of an accident at a major crossroads in London. Cameras did not record the accident. They were trained on parked cars just beyond the junction, no doubt to fine people who overstay or who are  not permitted to park there. Secondly a mugging in West London. Once again cameras were pointing at parked cars. Money is obviously more important than safety.

Cameras have been put into schools, including school changing rooms and toilets,perverted or what ? Also cameras are trained on teachers to assess their competence. According to Big Brother Watch there are over 100.000 cameras in our schools.The point here is that as far as I am aware, there is very little information as to who has access to the surveillance.

Local Authorities have also been keen to install cameras into dustbins to check on what is being thrown away rather than recycled.

Cameras in pub toilets trained on the urinals...perverted or what ?? One example, Wetherspoons in Epsom, Surrey.

The prospect of widespread Aerial Police Drones is a further attack on our civil liberties.

Add to all these the GPS systems which allow employers to track their staff.

There has also been a recent move to have cameras on the streets which will be able to identify peoples faces up to half a mile away. 

The internet social networks hold a wealth of information about our private lives. We offer it up voluntarily, but who actually knows where the details go ?

So all in all there is a massive behaviour monitoring system that has been put into place and will continue to grow. 

Whatever happened to dear old England ?? The sweet pill of technology is being used by the people. The bitter pill is that the people are also being abused by it ! The mass surveillance, the pressure of an over materialistic society, high costs of living and peer pressure which rejects individuality, has every chance of turning the UK people into robots. Perhaps this is their plan ? But who is it that think total behaviour control is necessary ? 

Relating to this post, in my other blog www.uktobulgaria.blogspot.com I write about surveillance in London and how it has affected my daily life in the capital.

Wheots....and Lord Bichard

Once again the British public has been subjected to an outpouring of  insensitive opinion spouted by a member of the Establishment. This time it is Lord Bichard who, to a Lords' committee, suggested that pensioners should be made to work, maybe in the community or voluntary work, or risk losing part of their pension. He does use the word 'encourage' in the context of his suggestion. However when the phrase  'or risk losing' follows in the same statement, there is an unsavoury feeling of ultimatum about it. Since his original statement he has pointed out that he did not make a formal proposal but merely 'floated an idea'. However he has not made any apology for the offensive nature of his 'floatation of an idea' which has, not surprisingly, angered not only pensioners but many working people across the UK. Also let us not forget that the Retirement Pension is an entitlement NOT a benefit. 

Here are a few snippets :-

Retired people could be encouraged to do community work such as caring for the "very old" or face losing some of their pension, a peer has suggested.

 "imaginative" ideas were needed to meet the cost of an ageing society."Are there ways in which we could use incentives to encourage older people, if not to be in full time work, to be making a contribution?," he asked the rest of the committee.

And although such a move might be controversial, it would stop older people being a "burden on the state".

I find the last phrase "burden on the state" particularly inflaming. Pensioners have contributed for years to earn their entitlement. Because of the ineptitude and greed of the Banks and Financial Institutions, coupled with the  the politicians' self interest, thousands now have to work an extra year or more beyond normal retirement age. I personally have known too many people who have gone to war for this country, who have worked hard for many years, who died and never saw their pensions. Plus others who were too ill to draw more than one or two payments before they too died.

To put things in perspective and I give due respect to his professional talents, with also due regard to a large slice of obsequious behaviour necessary in such circles, Lord Bichard KCB rose from Local Government to become a high ranking civil servant. His positions include Permanent  Secretary of the Department of Employment and Head of The Benefits Agency. He became a Knight of the Order of Bath in 1999 and in 2010 he was created Baron Bichard of Nailsworth in the House of Lords.....an unelected undemocratic institution as we all know. It could be said that he has been a burden on the state. He retired in 2001 at the age of 54 on a large state funded pension i.e. paid  for by you and me, which I am assured is part of an unsustainable financial burden on the UK economy and National Debt.

In case no one has realised what the acronym 'wheots' means, it stands for:- We've had enough of this Shite ......and I find this particularly relevant to Lord Bichard's repulsive speech. He has had a very successful career at the behest of the taxpayer, but obviously does not possess the grace of a gentlemen to remember that the country's taxpayers are the ones who have paid his salary since he entered employment, and who are still paying his pension to the tune of  £120.000 per annum !

New Blog

Well it has been even longer than I anticipated. Many things have been going on during the past few months. I have now left the United Kingdom and I have moved to Bulgaria. The sole reason I am writing this is to draw your attention to my new blog--- www.uktobulgaria.blogspot.com Before you all start rushing over there, it only has a title at present.  The aim is to inform those interested about what it is like to conceive of an international move to Bulgaria, proceed with the decision, then carry it out with   determination to try to ensure everything goes according to plan. Then there is matter of settling in, getting used to new foods, customs, attitudes and culture.
www.uktobulgaria.blogspot.com for first hand information, experience and travel in the beautiful country of Bulgaria which is virtually unknown to the average tourist.
So until next time ..........

Energy and resources and a new religion ?

This is a subject that has thundered its way to the forefront of daily thought. It makes sense to conserve energy of course. Or does it ? Earth has infinite sources of potential energy with her oceans, winds, rivers etc.doesn't it ? The Sun sends it every day. The Moon reflects it to us every night. And what about the inner core of our planet ? Now that is something that is not mentioned very often. The Sun has phenomenal energy. As I write, I believe that the Earth is being bombarded by Solar Storms. If only we could harness the tremendous power that is arriving free on our doorsteps. Of course by the time it would be harnessed, what has been provided freely by the cosmos would need to be paid for by we who use it, by way of those who channel it to us, ie the power companies plus the inevitable taxes. But money makes the world go round, with a great deal of stalling via governments, wars and bankers before it benefits the people.
The basic need of humanity is energy. Our human bodies are designed to produce energy by breathing. We also need fuel. This of course comes in the form of food which we digest to sustain us, incidentally on a planet which we inhabit, with no idea as to why we are here.
Apart from our physiological processes, we need to use other forms of energy to produce our food.
Since the days of the assumed low population of the planet many thousands of years ago, to these days of six billion or so on Earth  (and counting), more and more resources have become necessary to maintain humanity's hold and to follow our destiny. Funnily enough we don't know what that is either ! So organisations such as the various religions offer the explanation of the afterlife in paradise. Do we really believe these people ?? But surely it does makes sense to make every effort to keep going, just in case there is a paradise in the next world or a paradise here on Earth awaiting, maybe just after the next beneficial invention......ohhh ok... the one after that or errrr mmmm ??? Do we still believe this ?? Oh and by the way has anyone defined paradise yet ?
I might appear to be digressing, but the two subjects of energy and religion seem to me now to be connected.  As I say, since time immemorial humankind has needed to understand the reason for our being.  Indeed in these global awareness times that eternal question has still not been answered convincingly and we are still waiting and pondering. Religion seems to me to have become somewhat stale. I am not criticising peaceful ways of life via the world religions. But for years now since the first mention of greenhouse gases, the snowball has grown for a global thought gathering to accompany the Globalisation. To regain the ground lost through apathy for religious causes.
So !!! With a resouding drum roll !!! Enter Global Warming/ Climate Change/Energy Conservation and Renewal Taa Daaaaaaaa !!!!! The whole planet is now subject to this new belief and this religion is run by the State. I would like to know where the idea came from that we are actually running out of energy; that the Earth as we know it will cease to be because of climate change. The climate has always changed as has the Earth. Records have only been kept for a very short time when compared to the life of the Earth, unless you are a creationist that is, so I contest the scientific claims, as of course do many scientists.  Maybe oil has a doubtful future but as I said earlier there is infinite energy available. So the new regime of energy control comes into existence, with the usual weapon used ...guilt. The tool of religion from day one ! We are bombarded daily by this through the governments, local authorities and the national and local media. Being made to feel guilty if we do not recycle. Guilty if we drive our cars. Guilty if we travel by air too often. And there is a veritable army of inspectors ready to fine homeowners if they do not follow council rules. What a rubbish attitude !! This new religion is insidiously working its way into our lives, our minds and with its perceived momentum, into our consciousness and sub consciousness. It only takes a couple of generations to achieve this. Do we really have to endure another tyranny ?
Let us not poison our planet. Let us develop clean energy, but let us also remember that Carbon Dioxide is not a poison.  It is highly likely that the earth will become more fertile if Co2 emissions are left unchecked because of the extra moisture held in the atmosphere. And it just maybe that Co2 increase is in fact a part of our meaning of life, part of our destiny. Who knows ?

How long does a Zeitgeist last...How long is a piece of string ??

So ...what is the Zeitgeist ?...by definition it is the current way of thinking, or rather an aspect, a particularly driving aspect of thinking that manages to be assimilated into the everyday thought and behaviour of the people. Driven by Politics, the National Media, by RevolutionaryThought ?.... it then seeps into the common (pardon the word) consciousness and the way of thinking. The Local Media perpetuate the new way and it spreads to the pubs and cafes according to what has been said about such and such a thing ....or how such and such a person has behaved.......did you see that in the paper the other day ??? and ohhhh how wrong is that? Or how good is that ? How often do we hear positive media statements, unless it conforms to the current Zeitgeist ? However certain fashionable ways of social thinking are liable to disappear, or rather likely to to so. Times change. The superpowers and other subtler forces, by economic, cultural or military influence, change the everyday consciousness of the populace. Opinions change, often with repression or fear acting as the tool. For instance, we now know, and have known for a considerable time actually, that Germans do not eat babies. This was something put about in the war propaganda,and was it believed by an uneducated, impressionable class.  So I began to think that just like every dog, every Zeitgeist has its day. I also began to think how these invasive trends of influence have affected our lives. Also on how many levels does or do the Zeitgeist (s) influence, and for how long ? And when does a Zeitgeist stop being a Zeitgeist ? The most influential body of thought must surely be religion. It has been entrenched in the human mind since time immemorial. Oddly enough with no proof it seems, that there is an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent god or gods that actually exist.
I would say the Zeitgeist's lifespan to be variable. That religion is not a Zeitgeist but that the Zeitgeist of Victorian principles was. That lasted for over a hundred years in the UK, until the people from those times had little influence on people's lives, mainly caused by them dying. I am also thinking that there are flippant Zeitgeists...triviality !! Those that the popular tabloids plaster all over their pages until the next trend is pushed from the press. These may last a few months or longer. So without going on forever here, I have concluded that a Zeitgeist is a temporary influence on social thought which lasts a relatively short time. It can move from generation to generation.  If it does not last long after that, such as with Victorian standards, then it is a Zeitgeist, or has been one. If the thinking becomes permanent then it loses its identity. What do you think?
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Well it has been while....so why not start 2012 with a little controversy

This is the link to send ...

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/58555-david-icke-the-bloodthirsty-bloodline

Health and Safety hahahahaaaaa.... serious end :(

Some time ago I bought a another taxi. I was not quite sure how much diesel was in the tank, but I drove home and parked it overnight. The following day I set off to the local petrol station to fill up. The petrol station is exactly half a mile away from where I live...but ....splutter... splutter..... the fuel ran out on the way. Fortunately I was on the top of the small hill and I rolled onto the forecourt with a silence that must surely have been admired. I filled up and then...in case anyone is not au fait with clearing an airlock, which is what happens when a taxi runs out of diesel, I lifted the bonnet and proceeded to pump the diesel. This clears the airlock so that the engine will start. At this point I was approached by one of the employees of BP, who said that I could not do what I was doing because it was against HEALTH AND SAFETY. Against HEALTH AND SAFETY to start your engine on a BP forecourt!  So I asked him where do drivers start their engines here? Do they push their vehicles out onto the street before they start them?  I wanted to say more but I sincerely did not want to offend of course. I prefer to ridicule !This idiocy took place at the BP Station, Ewell Surrey.
You might think that I am going off at an illogical tangent but I think that this is an example of the state which England has reached. I am ashamed! My father, who was a regular soldier, mainly because of the depression and the threat of the Nazis during the 1930s, almost died in service of this country. By the 1970s he said England would have been better off under Hitler. The day to day erosion of freedom in this country particularly since 1979 is deplorable. Too much power has been given to those who work in our local authoriites. Supposedly they work for us, paid by us, but those who elevated them know that these people were never going to achieve, so they could be sure that they would revel in their authority, and bat out their time in subservience until retirement.
Where will the next OCCUPY movement begin ??