Tag: travel

That day may never come…..

In the opening scene of The Godfather, the local undertaker, whose daughter has been dishonoured by some local thugs and the courts haven’t punished them appropriately, makes a deal with Don Corleone (“The Godfather”) in order to get his revenge. Essentially, he offers his ‘friendship’ and an implicit agreement to help The Godfather at a later date. As the Big Man says,

“Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter’s wedding day”.

Over the next few days the thugs do get their (very severe) justice, and later in the film the undertaker is asked to prepare Don Corleone’s own son for burial.

It’s a nasty story, but one with a serious moral: with the exception of good friends and family, people don’t generally do things for you without expecting something in return.

Which brings me on to Keir Starmer…. Now I know they’ve all done it over the years – accepting gifts and presents from supporters, that is – and in moderation there’s no harm in it, but ultimately people don’t give presents to other people without expecting something in return. This isn’t necessarily a dig at the current government since it’s an established practice, and there’s a register so Members can declare donations and gifts they receive. So technically, nobody has done anything wrong. In fact, he said as much in an answer yesterday,

“The important thing in all of this is that we follow the rules.”

Well, yes Kier, but that’s the barristers answer – the one you might give when defending a client at the bar. But the court of public opinion will think differently. What we expect is that our leaders demonstrate good judgment and set an example, rather than indulging themselves at every opportunity. The prime minister has declared over £150,000 of gifts in recent years – that’s concert tickets, football tickets, clothes, holidays etc – and it does start to look a little excessive. Especially against a backdrop of removing the Winter Fuel Allowance from some of the poorest pensioners in the country, and being a millionaire many times over already.

It’s simply the look of the thing – it’s really not good. How can he now talk with any authority about ‘Tory sleaze’, or claim that Labour is the party that represents the poor. It’s a shame, I was hoping for better.

Update 22 Sept 2022 afternoon.

Not surprizingly, Mr. Starmer isn’t the only one. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, has confirmed she recieved a £7,500 gift for clothes, and the education secretary, Briget Phillipson, has confirmed £14,000 for some birthday party costs and some Taylor Swift tickets.

Asked about the donations from Lord Alli, Ms Phillipson told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips:

“So I received that money from Waheed Alli, who’s a long-standing Labour peer. “It was used to fund two events, all of which was declared properly and thoroughly – that’s why that information’s in the public domain. The first event was ahead of my birthday, so I was turning 40.

“I thought it was a good opportunity to get people together in a professional context – so it was journalists, trade unionists, education people, MPs and shadow Cabinet. The second event was an event that I held also, again, for Lobby journalists, for people in the education world, as part of a reception. It was in a work context.”

Yup – good one Bridget! Just curious though – did you invite any, you know, err, teachers to your party, meeting?

Update 27th September 2024 Evening.

It’s just been announced that ‘Free Gear Kier’ (to give hime his real name) also recieved £16,000 from Labour Lord Alli: £10,000 in October 2023 and £6000 in Febuary 2024. He declared it as ‘money for his private office’.

Oh dear!

Pubs in crisis.

As I understand it the Turks Head, Hasketons currently shut pub, has recently been sold for a figure slightly north of £600,000. I’ve got no idea who has bought it, but the now infameous Red Cat pub company (the current owners) have failed to make it work as a business and have decided to bug out. Prior to the whole COVID business it was a very successful gastro-pub, but Red Cat seem to have pulled off the impressive feat of running it into the ground in a very short time.

So far, so bad, but the problem seems to be nationwide. In todays paper I read that ‘Stonegate’, Britians largest pub chain, are struggling to service a £2.2bn debt. Given that they run about 4500 outlets (i.e. pubs, bars etc) that means that the average debt of each outlet is about £490,000. Now it’s possible the average value of each outlet is also about this figure, so the company might just be worth…. oh I don’t know, maybe, err – nothing. To me that seems completely bonkers – the business model must be completely broken and the owners asleep at the wheel for this situation to have arisen.

But if this reflects the current state of the so called, “hospitality industry”, we can expect a lot more disasters are going to fall upon Britians pubs. This is a great shame – I like pubs. They’re relaxing, pleasant, social places and I tend to feel good in them.

But the problem is quite obvious really – they’re just too damn expensive. I mean, over £5 for a pint of beer!!!!!! For goodness sake, that’s over 10x the cost of the ingredients. Over £7 for a modest glass of wine: they’re out of their minds if they expeact us to pay that – it’s more than I usually pay for a bottle! See my analysis of the price of a pint for a better insight. And then there’s the food – I’m sorry, but I’m not paying £15 per person for a meal I could cook myself. Not happening!

But in reality, the pub owner needs to make a profit, and the venue has to pay the wages of the staff. That’s probably 3 people. And there’s the problem in a nutshell.

Cast your mind back 150 years. (OK, that’s impossible – how would you know?) But take Samuel Moss as an example – he ran the Turks Head for about 50 years from 1859. By profession he was a thatcher. OK, it’s not really clear how much thatching he did during that period and the economics of the day were very different, but the point is, he didn’t have to rely on pub takings for an income.

So let’s go back to basics (as John Major said – ha ha, no , don’t laugh!). The British village pub started in an organic way – people, mostly women, brewed beer at home and sold it from or in their houses to all-commers. The whole business grew from that. No licencing laws, business rates or insurance in those days. Just do it! There were also ‘Inns’, which were stopping places for travellers: a different market, but the principle is similar – a simple supply and demand situation.

And maybe that’s the model for the future. We all become more sociable in our own homes. I, for example, enjoy brewing my own beer. Maybe I should make modest changes to my domestic arrangements and ‘entertain’ friends with my own brews on a more regular basis. Convert my workshop into a ‘man den’ where we can all relax – by invitation only of course. No need for anything formal (for obvious reasons), but payment in kind, bartering, favours, etc become the order of the day. Under the radar sort of stuff – not that I’d anything actually illegal, but maybe just see how far the current rules can be pushed.

Of course, the new owners of the Turks Head might play a blinder and we end up with a nice village pub again. Then the problem goes away. But it’s good to start thinking about alternatives….. Cheers everybody!

Oh dear – I’m a racist!

No – really, it’s true, and it upsets me greatly.  You see, I’ve always seen myself as a nice guy doing his best to be fair, who takes people as he finds them, and whilst almost certainly a little flawed, is essentially one of the good guys.  But I got up the other morning to find that I’m not just racist, but a product of “white British cultural values”, which rather points the finger at my family and friends too.

But before you start cancelling me for being the monster I clearly am, I’m sorry to have to say that if you live in the countryside (and presumably that includes Hasketon), you’re probably one as well.   

How do I know this?    Well an organisation called the ”Wildlife and Countryside Link”, which is a charity umbrella group whose members include the RSPB, RSPCA, WWF and the National Trust, made the claim in evidence provided to Parliament on racism and its influence on the natural world. The report makes claims such as:

  • the British countryside has been influenced by “racist colonial legacies” which have created an environment some fear is “dominated by white people”.
  • The country’s green spaces are governed by “white British cultural values”
  • The perception that the countryside is a “white space” prevents people from other ethnic backgrounds from enjoying the outdoors.
  • “Racist colonial legacies continue to frame nature in the UK as a ‘white space’”.

Obviously, it’s nonsense. In fact, it’s ridiculous beyond words.  Nobody I know would even remotely qualify as a racist, and I’m pretty sure I’m not one too. I mean, where actually are these colonial legacies?   The customs post in Blacksmiths Road; the checkpoint on the B.1079, the Boulge Road vigilantes?   Madness.  It’s woke inspired claptrap coming from people who like to knock British traditions, history and way of life and then in the same breath encourage us to be tolerant towards people who in some cases extend little tolerance towards us.    The irony is that in most towns there is more open public space than there is in the countryside.  It is more spacious of course, but most open spaces are farmland either under crop or being grazed, and you better stick to the footpath if you don’t want to upset the farmer.

I think a large part of the problem is that there’s far too many ‘activists’ these days.  You know the sort of person – the people who feel strongly about their cause but aren’t really interested in taking part in a democratic process to further it.   So, they shout loudly instead of seeking to persuade, block roads, wave placards or throw soup over paintings in order to gain attention.  They’re simply annoying most of the time, (though they did happily prevent some people getting their child to a hospital appointment) and achieve very little apart from making themselves feel virtuous.

The slightly more intelligent activists find a way of worming their way into positions of influence on QUANGOs, charities, PTAs, Trade Unions etc. The head of the Wildlife and Countryside Link is a man called Richard Benwell, who very much fits this picture. People like him are more of a problem since they’re focused, cunning and driven. They’ve usually no useful contribution in the form of practical ideas, but they are good at what really turns them on, which is gaining and exercising power – especially over other people.

But here’s the thing:  I, and many others, donate money to these charities because we like to see animals protected, we enjoy watching birds, we consider the natural world to be important, the countryside is important to us.  What we DON’T do is donate money so they can use it compile a report that seeks to make us feel guilty for being white.  It’s mad. I’ve not yet resigned my membership of the RSPB, but I’m seriously considering it.

So, everybody out there, please DO come to Hasketon.  We’re all very friendly, and it would be a pleasure to see you!