Change my dear, and it seems not a moment too soon

Afternoon Mugs

As long time readers will know, I am a Whovian. Yes, you can bundle me in with nerds, geeks and whatever you like for the fact the I am a Whovian. And a Trekkie to boot. But I don't like Star Wars. Not everything that is science fiction is good. Far from it. But Doctor Who...in general ...is very good. 

I go back as far as 1961 which means I can just about cloudily remember the very first Doctor Who, William Hartnell. I can even now remember the regeneration scene for his transformation to Patrick Troughton and thinking 'this isn't Doctor Who' before falling into Troughton's cleverly played clownish spell. I remember the change to Jon Pertwee and the court hearing of the Timelords exiling the Doctor to Earth and him choosing his new look.

I don't pretend to have understood much of this and this was many decades before the internet and such ideas as 'canon' and backstory became freely available to edge Whovians like me. I just knew that this iconic show kept me spellbound, thrilled, scared and anxiously awaiting the next episode during those formative years. I remember being at a cousin's house where tey had a cupboard for coats. It was always our TARDIS though. Many a happy time was spent there fighting Daleks and Cybermen and Ice Warriors as a young boy. Those old episodes haven't always worn well due to the production values and technology of the time, but they can still be watched and enjoyed with that modern day context in mind. I'm still saddened to this day as to how the hawaiian shirted wankers such as john Nathan-Turner and his ilk allowed the programme to become the butt of jokes through piss poor stories and dreadful effects. They had no inkling that good stories don't need effects. Less can be more. 

The rebooted Who from 2005 is a very different animal though. Budgeted beyond the belief of most Whovians it was written with vast story arc concepts building through apparent stand alone adventures. It was sharp, witty, convincing and above all introduced the very human element of emotion. It was in a word....sassy. I along with many Whovians on the edge of geekdom were very pleasantly surprised (having seen the rather dull Paul McGann film). Christopher Eccleston bought gravitas to the role with humour some of which was very dark. it introduced backstory intrigue with the 'last of the timelords' and 'time war' arcs. it gave Billie Piper the role of a lifetime and her character Rose brought the Doctor closer to millions of younger viewers. It was a huge success. 

Over the years that followed it has grown and become a staple of BBC success worldwide in the same way Paramount had global success with Star Trek. Not many programmes can claim that. It's had it's wobbles in my view. Some appalling episodes (The Peter Kay one and the living fat one for examples) have crept through the filtering process, although both of those I note were very popular with younger viewers, so maybe this was deliberate. Matt Smith never really grabbed me like Tennant and Eccleston until the 50th anniversary episodes and his exit episode when his true 'tour de force' as the Doctor arrived. I was never enamoured with Amy Pond and Rory as companions either. But then....then came Peter Capaldi. 

In all my years as an fringe Whovian, no-one has come as close as Capaldi in representing the Doctor. Eccentric, cranky, detached, compassionate, dark and light. Capaldi seemed to harness everything that was good about most of the preceding Doctors. The last series was quite simply the best to date, not least of all because of the inspired additions of Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole (Matt Lucas) along with the continuing presence of Missy (Michelle Gomez) and the reappearance of The Master (John Simm). The last 2 episodes had everything from humour to tragedy to darkness. As an ensemble piece it was superb from start to finish with true moments of horror. But at the centre was Capaldi flexing every acting muscle in his body to put in a truly inspiring and emotional performance as the Doctor coming to an end. I genuinely had tears in my eyes at the ending for both Bill (yay) and him. 

And so it moves on and in a brave and welcome move, we have Jodie Whittaker as the first woman Doctor. As changes go, its merely a variant on all thats gone before. I don't know much about her as an actor but I'm sure she will nail the role. It's shame that it appears to have bought a lot of closet sexists and misogynists to the fore across the media and various web forums. Some of them have made me feel ashamed to be a man. A programme predicated on the changing nature of its main character has merely made a change to reflect an increasingly egalitarian society. Jodie Whittaker should be measured on her ability to play the Doctor, her ability to 'pretend' as actors do and not on her gender. I for one welcome the change. Break a leg Jodie. Welcome to the Tardis. 

Later Mugs

Blame Thatcher for Grenfell

Morning Mugs

Well, that's been a roller coaster few weeks.

But overshadowing even unnecessary elections we have the spectre of Grenfell. Very few events leave me searching hopelessly for words. 9/11 certainly did, just for the scale of what unfolded 'live' before our eyes. Before that it seemed terrorism was really confined to IRA bombs in the UK and sporadic embassy incidents abroad. Then came our own version with the events we now know as 7/7. As horrific as they were we didn't see them unfurl before our eyes, we just merely witnessed the dreadful pain and sadness of the aftermath. Since then we've seen mass murder take place in Nice and Paris. In Berlin, at a market myself and my better half had been visiting just a week earlier. We've seen Manchester impacted in the most vile way, Westminster Bridge and just weeks later Finsbury Park Mosque. All leading to the futile waste of innocent lives on the back of some misguided dogma, whether religious (a fairytale then) or pig ignorant right wing hatred (equally stupid as religion). In all those cases though the perpetrators would justify the fatalities and injuries as related to their moronic cause. 

With Grenfell, there is no stupid religious or right wing dogma driving the impact. No what drove this was incompetence and the insatiable thirst for profit maximisation. It was the ultimate failure of allowing the market place to manage people's lives. 

Whatever you think of state intervention as a political creed, it can't just start and finish with collection of taxes, the NHS, defence and roads. Many years ago people lived in council houses, maybe tower blocks, maybe smaller blocks of flats, terraced or semi-detached dwellings on council estates. Yes, snobbery existed and will always exist between those who rent and those who choose to buy. But ostensibly, those people on the council estates were proud, normal, working class families who knew that having a roof over your head was the most important thing for your family. Then Thatcher destroyed that ethos. Or tried to. because she was the first major politician to whore herself (yes I mean that word) to the supposed freedom of the market place. She famously once said 'there is no such thing as society' and then used the sale of council houses to ensure that mantra became the lead force behind selling those houses on. People were persuaded it was good. it was the future. It was 'better' than renting. 

And now we have no new council houses being built. Councils can't borrow to build and then rent. House prices are rising as they have ever done. First time buyers can never get the deposit to buy, let alone the mortgage. People are forced to rent in an uncontrolled market, self governed by landlords who have constantly lobbied for reductions in red tape (i.e Health and Safety) to ensure they can maximise profit. Thatchers work. Social housing is now run by management organisations as with Grenfell, again forced to run things on a lowest cost first basis rather than a best value ethos which may not necessarily be the cheapest option. People have to pay rents in excess of what their mortgage payments would be but are refused mortgages on UNAFFORDABILITY grounds despite years of proven payments of more expensive rent payments. Where's the sense in any of this? 

A combination of these factors, especially the 'lowest cost' ethos when refurbishing the Grenfell block will be used to explain how and why this tragedy occurred. Lets hope this weak and hopeless government finally act to change this entire public housing ethos. Allow councils to borrow and build. Allow them to prioritise council housing for those who live and were brought up in the area. Allow people to build their communities within these new estates and encourage pride by making them places to be proud to live in. Remove the pathetic stigma which creates the divide between buyers and renters. Look to Germany for how to do this. But lets push for change. It's time the people really did speak and the market freedoms were put on a leash when it comes to housing, transport, education and the NHS. 

Later Mugs, GJ 

What Can We Do?

Afternoon Mugs,

It's difficult to know what we can do to stop acts of sheer evil such as seen in Manchester on Monday night. If the work was that of a lone wolf then it seems impossible. If a team of group coordinated it then surely they'd give something away that the intelligence services would pick up on?

Events such as this often invoke knee jerk reactions from people, especially across social media. Social media gives people a platform we never had in the 70s and 80s when the IRA were often involved in indiscriminate bombing of innocent people. The views expressed by me then were along the lines of why are we accepting this? Why do we say we'll just carry on regardless? Back then I was in favour of  'shoot to kill' for terrorists, or for interment with nothing other than suspicion being the criteria. I was young and hot-headed back then and those arguments are easily pulled down by anyone with a brain who can use 'reducto ad absurdum' to do so. 

I also understand the disenfranchisement people feel when these horrific incidents occur and the seemingly slow course that justice takes. Back then , intelligence was via leaks, tip offs, via infiltration of the organisations, tapping phone calls or intercepting letters. Nowadays we live is a technology driven world where it's nigh on impossible to live, let alone transact and plan a terrorist incident without something being spotted or tracked or recorded.

As a champagne leftie I would be uneasy about Draconian methods of stopping such incidents BUT would accept interment based on intelligence showing intent, a plan to intend to do something, and yes.....public radical statements and actions would fall into it. When these fanatics, Muslim extremists and Far Right nutters, walk our streets under the banner for free speech we can see the 'intent'. Their statements should be treated in the same way as someone making a joke about a bomb when going through security at an airport or port. We should recruit the illicit hacking groups with huge sums to spend their days getting into suspects computers, smartphones and tablets. 

If and when sufficient evidence comes to light via this snooping, then arrest, inter and deport as appropriate. 

Will that cure society of such horror? No, but it's a deterrent and added to stricter checks at borders for anyone returning from the middle east it might just minimise the chances of someone getting away with it. 

Later Mugs, GJ

Dear India......

Afternoon Mugs

Dear India,

I quite like the idea that you're a tiger economy. I think Indian culture has an awful lot to offer the world. I think your people have massively contributed and influenced the UK in terms of many things, not least of all food, art, fashion and music amongst many things. 

I grew up in the 60s and 70s when many, including myself through ignorance treated many of your people as second class citizens and were frankly racist to you. As I said, it was ignorance and institutionalised and inherited views that made me that way until I was about 12 or 13.  Education opened my eyes to the folly of discrimination and racism. it let me smash urban myths and downright lies amongst my equally misguided friends and colleagues, who like me knew little better. Of course some remained vehemently anti anything 'not British', but fuck 'em, they're proper wankstains.

However, please, please do something about the scourge on yours and our society of exploiting people to work in call centres, and tasking them to cold call people in the UK with lies about the performance of their PC (when like me they don't have one). Add that the other rubbish about surveys or other products we don't need or want and it all becomes a bit pernicious, especially to vulnerable people who might be lonely or old or have mental health issues. 

In other words, stop this shit now. Until then, a plague on all your houses.

Later Mugs, GJ 

Accepting Your Place

Morning Mugs,

So the fuckwittery of the Trump administration continues with the village idiot Sean Spicer actually making Trump look intelligent as he stumbles over the right wording to use when discussing Hitler and Holocausts.

Holocaust centre? Yes he meant concentration or death camp. I mean, why even try to change what they were? 

'Even Hitler never stooped to using chemical weapons'  - yes because that Zyklon B was such an organic and nice way to kill people wasn't it?

I don't buy the holocaust denial theory here, I just buy the theory that this is a massively stupid bloke who spends every moment he's alone screaming and drooling amongst the tears of pain at knowing he is a massive spunkbubble who is massively out of his depth. It can't be easy knowing you're a complete amoeba brained cunt can it?

He reminds me of this guy, but hugely stupid and ignorant, whereas this poor chap was merely the wrong man in the wrong time and wrong place. 

BBC Interview Taxi Driver in error

On top of this we have the fuckwitttery of King Fuckwit himself, Boris Fuckwit Johnson, stomping around in his Foreign Fuckwit Secretary role, trying to influence the G7 into applying 'more' sanctions to Syria (yes that will help the ordinary people dying) and Russia (like they give two fucks). Sadly for Boris, such is the UK's (which I will forever now refer to as the DK - Divided Kingdom) diminished standing on the world stage, the G7 basically told him to fuck off and refused to sanction the ....err....sanctions idea. They've unsanctioned your sanctions you Eton educated fat mumbling prick. 

On a more serious point, we have to note that the way ahead for the DK is of course diminishing importance and relevance globally. The idea that we will cosy up to the US might be true, but at the expense of our close ties with the EU. It's the equivalent of a 7 year old in school who chooses his or her best friend on a daily basis based on the amount of sweets they donate. The US won't give a fuck about us any more than someone who's put their ageing gran in a home. Yes, they'll say the odd nice word here and there, yes they'll talk about the 'special relationship' which is special to us only, not them. But eventually the US will look at it's biggest markets and it's strongest allies....we won't be there. 

And don't give me the bollocks about our history making us deserving of our place on the world stage. Our Imperial history plays some part in the roots of the world's problems now. If you want to know where the DK stands around the world then look at the England football team. They are no power in the world of football. Bugger all influence on UEFA or FIFA, a team of perennial underachievers living off of past glories (glory). England are a team of hopefuls saying the right things and then being spoken of in amused tones by the true giants of Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil etc. No-one is scared or worried about England. Ditto the UK. Nobody cares about us. Nobody listens to us. We are increasingly irrelevant.

And this may be no bad thing. As a Chelsea fan I know how draining being hated constantly can be, despite the bravado of saying 'nobody likes us, we don't care'. But after the decline of last season, we became a non-news issue.   Irrelevant. We were shit. And people stopped talking about us. And I loved it. This season, a polite and seemingly passionate but decent man is in charge. The same with England. Both are quietly building something different, something with managed expectations. Humble, yet slowly rebuilding confidence. 

Maybe that's what the DK needs. Someone elected (not you May, you can fuck off as well) who can establish our new place in the world and convince the Oxbridge/Eton muppet brigade and the Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells mewling masses that being mid-table is fine. We'd become a Sweden, a Norway, a Portugal. A mini Canada, which is much nicer than a mini-US.  Quietly plodding along in the world, much as every ordinary person does in life. Barely noticed, minding it's own business, doing the best it can in a tough world. Expecting little and enjoying every gain more. Anonymous. 

Yeah that would be fine. 

Later Mugs, GJ

The Importance of Art

Evening Mugs,

I reckon it was about 18 years ago when it suddenly dawned on me that although I'd always been interested in science (specifically physics) and technology, that the one aspect of my life which I'd never allowed to grow, or to even acknowledge was a love of Art. Not ll art of course, you can shove any form of dance up your pert backsides, alongside modern jazz....come to think of it....you can include most old jazz from what I've heard. Near enough everything else in terms of art now warms my soul. I wondered if it  was something that I'd hidden subconsciously but now I veer towards thinking I never knew it existed within me. 

So why write about this? Well.....it's my blog, so I'll do what I want, selfish bastard that I am. 

I've reached an age where I'm beginning to think I've heard all the great music there is to hear. If I find a track or album I want to listen to then it's by accident, or by the fact my musical taste is snobbishly locked to knowing what I like and who makes the stuff I like. Like Manic Street Preachers for example. I always liked them from a distance and then in 2015 I was wandering around Spotify and decided to give an album called Rewind The Film a listen. Did it win me over immediately? No, the best albums never do and in a lot of cases the best art in terms of paintings or sculptures rarely do. But after a play or 3 it hooked me and this then led to finding Futurology, an album they released around the same time. That in turn led me to rediscover a back catalog I hadn't dusted off in a few years. That in turn made my mind up to go to my first festival and see them live. That in turn has made me want to go to more festivals and be myself, because aside from Stamford Bridge, the festival was the first time the corporate me, the stoic patriarch of my family, the man trying his hardest to be alpha male disappeared. 

The mask fell away. 

For the first time in years I was cheering not because of a great goal or win, but because I was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the atmosphere and the tidal wave of .....well....happiness of the day but also of the atmosphere and the fantastic performances of the artists, even from music genre's that I wasn't really into. 

I digress....the best music takes work and effort to get into. the same applies to any art form in my view (again, except bloody dance in my case). It doesn't' blow you away (often) but it does have a powerful hook, sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious. And that hook has some strong elastic attached deep into your soul. And that elastic pulls you back to listen, look or touch again. You been deeply harpooned and the more you try to get away, the more embedded the harpoon becomes. It's like falling in love. Just 19 years ago, the Jackson Pollock above would have had me describing it as a hyperactive 5 year old with some paint who's gone mad. But look again...it has a symmetry and a pattern to it. It's indecipherable and that's why I take great pleasure in looking at it. It's as though subconsciously my mind thinks it will crack the puzzle of meaning even though that's impossible. 

Like great music and lyrics, great films, TV, plays and other paintings and statues (yes them too) , each is open to the viewer's eye and interpretation, even if the artist is explicit in their description of the piece. Yeah, whatever you say Artist...I'll be the judge of that thanks.  As many of you will know I love to be at Stamford Bridge watching my beloved Chelsea, but the surprise is I could spend the same time equally enthralled at the Tate Modern, the Louvre or the Guggenheim. So, Jack, at the ripe old age of ...ahem.....50young.....feels more rounded because of my love for science, for great technology, great design and great art. Just look at the picture below of Michelangelo's Pieta in Rome and its hard to believe it's just a piece of stone. 

And so to mention TV. Yes, it is art. Whatever the snobs and toffs and art critics might say. TV has amongst some true dross, produced moments of sheer greatness and made them available to the masses cheaply even if they didn't appreciate it. Just recently my own TV tastes have been sated by one great crime drama which forces the viewer to think and then twists and turns the viewer to a point where you are unsure what is wrong, what is right, who is good and who is bad and at times does all of this within one episode. Take a bow Line of Duty .

Then follow that with two of the greatest anthology genre series you will ever see. The dystopian brilliance of Charlie Brooker and his wonderful Black Mirror which looks into the not too distant future and extrapolates where we are going , often resulting in a bleak, sad, poignant, violent, funny and very rarely an upbeat vision. Even the episodes which are 'clunkers' will still make you think and surprise you. But 15 Million Merits, White Bear, White Christmas, San Junipero and Hated In the Nation from across all 3 series to date are watchable again and again. 

And finally, a little lauded treasure from the team who made The League Of Gentlemen and Psychoville, called Inside No9 . This absolute gem , which has just finished series 3, tells a different 30 minute story each week, each relating to the number 9 and each revealing something twisted and unexpected. Yes, a modern day Thriller (one for the teenagers there) or Tales of The Unexpected. Again, even the less good ones of this series are still very good, each beautifully written, shot and performed. And one episode in particular, with no spoiler link , called 12 Days Of Christine, with the world class Sheridan Smith in the lead role is one of the greatest pieces of television ever made, now or in any other era you can think of. 

We live in strange times, the right is growing, intolerance pervades our everyday lives and people feel more isolated, threatened and insecure than ever before. Great art, in whatever shape or form has never in my lifetime been more important than now. 

Later Mugs, GJ 

Scandal? What scandal?

Morning Mugs

The latest non scandalous scandal then....David Moyes, the Sunderland manager is currently being tried by the kangaroo court of the British media with Sky News, the normally sane BBC and the media baron owned right wing press blowing the story out of proportion and underpinning the maxim that the more you tell a lire, the more people will believe it.

Now let's get something straight here. I am not  misogynist. I am not sexist for the best part, although being male does mean you will unwittingly be sexist from time to time because...well you know, you may hold a door open for a woman, or insist on helping them lift something heavy. If that's institutionalised sexism then so be it. I am not in the habit of demanding a woman 'puts the kettle and and make me a cuppa' .

It transpires that a few weeks ago in a post match interview he make some off the cuff comments to the woman reporter along the lines of 

'just watch yourself there, you go a wee bit naughty at the end there.......you might just get a slap even though you're a woman......be careful next time you come here'

Now in the cold display of words on a screen you could make a case for this seeming to be rather sinister. Then you hear this 

David Moyes slap comment.

And on listening you can hear something else. Laughter. Yes laughter, from the reporter and from Moyes. In fact so threatened was the reporter that she never actually complained about the comment to anyone. No, in fact someone other bleeding heart decided this 'off air' comment was worthy of being brought to the public's attention , not hours or days but WEEKS later. During which time the reporter had taken a call from Moyes privately, accepted it and decided she didn't want to make any more of it, and to her credit hasn't spoken about it. 

But in these days when shifting newsprint is getting more costly and less profitable it gives the papers a chance to colourise the issue and put it on the front pages to elevate it's prominence and therefore start to drive the story even harder, thus inviting comment from right on feminists and pompous sports and columnists across the now strangely and suddenly righteous free press. 

I mean it's not like they've spread much hate about lately is it?

Note, the omission of 'right wing' there because even the two remaining left leaning papers The Guardian and The Mirror have picked up on this and decided it's a thing. I've also seen at least two prominent women claiming this was a serious on air threat of violence from a man to a woman. Two women who presumably have no concept of the idea of context? 

This was patently nothing more than a bit of banter, a bit of joshing, the sort of thing that is said daily between men whether on the building site, in the office or in the pub. 

As I say, I have no truck with violence against women. I pretty much have no truck with violence against men either. Lets just say violence is not my bag shall we? But in a world where women rightly expect to be treated as equals, with equal respect, equal pay, equal rights and equal access to any job, then they should expect equal treatment and then not moan when they are included in an incident like this, that had the reporter been male wouldn't have even grown a toe, let alone legs to be given it's current media prominence. 

Later Mugs, GJ 

Brexit Bollocks: An ongoing view.

Evening Mugs,

Happy Brexit Week. Yay , the good ship SS Great Britain sails off into the distance singing sea shanties and striking trade deals around the globe for silk and spices and tobacco...........the United Kingdom rejoices in freedom and control. People will be able to leave their front doors open again, scruffy children will play in the streets and pubs will be full of people standing around upright piano's singing songs of Blighty's greatness...........

Meanwhile, in the corner of our country that hasn't been injecting LSD directly into its veins, 48% of the country are sitting there thinking 'what was so bad before Article 50?'. We're watching helplessly on the sidelines as the UK starts a bonfire of its own vanities. The current course we've plotted is to step back in terms of wealth and freedom. And if we speak out? if we challenge? Then we're 'remoaners' , 'lefties' and to some we're even traitors. This is the lurch to the right the UK is moving to along the political spectrum. 

I was bloody furious about the referendum being called, then I was furious about the pathetic 16 word question, dumbing down to the ignorant and stupid and witless a major national issue. I was furious over the outcome knowing that the most impacted people were the ignorant and the have nots. People convinced by rich and landed career politicians that everything was the fault of Johnny Foreigner and the invading hordes of Turks....sorry not Turks......Bulgarians....sorry not Bulgarians .....Poles etc etc. The British populace was conned by rich, educated, power crazed people for whom the cozy white privileged life was threatened by hordes of educated proles with a sense of fairness and decency and community. The true globalists were the ordinary working people. The real nationalists and xenophobes were the privileged classes and their right wing press robber barons. 

Those generally decent people were mugged off. 

So this historic week is not a week for ranting (although I reserve the right to rant freely), but a day when I believe the UK will start to dissolve. The decision to leave was an English one and one that belittles the Union as a whole. After all, why is one political union Ok, but not the other? Especially if the other is one created from force rather than collaboration. Cultural similarities? Do me a favour....the Scots have a far more distinct character and national identity than the English. Northern Ireland is less mired in sectarian politics than ever as the younger generations, borne of a tiger economy and internal and external investment see that jobs and prosperity will come from Europe rather than England. 

And Wales...the elephant in the UK room sits there mystifyingly as a country that has seen more EU investment than any other nation in the UK and decided to vote out. Good luck with that when the United Kingdom of England and Wales dishes out the cash in the years to come, because if you think the politicians in England give a flying fuck about you then you're more deluded than even I thought.  

I have no doubt deals will be struck, but the idea that we'll get better than we have now is nonsense. Yes we can strike deals with Australia, New Zealand, Gambia and any other number of developing nations as well as other commonwealth nations. But China? The USA? India? Do you really think these economies will look at us rather than a trading bloc of over 500 million people? One that can use enticing tariffs to tempt buyers where we won't have the economies of scale. Wait until the exodus of manufacturing and banking happens.  And people like James Dyson can set up cheap labour factories in Africa whilst keeping a token design force in the UK all they like, but in the end the days when UK PLC could rule the waves as a trading nation have gone. We make less stuff you see. Therefore we have less to sell. And if you're a German car maker, and the bulk of your customers are on the european land mass, and the people want and possibly need less money then how likely to stay in the UK are you?

So good luck SS Great Britain, hope the sails can keep you moving. But don't be surprise when those former upstart nations such as India and China decide that really, you have nothing of much interest to them. And good luck Scotland when you take the inevitable plunge to independence - a different subject of course, but another I feel close to. After all if one union isn't good enough then why should any other?

Later Mugs, GJ 

Social media muggery

Evening Mugs,

I'm 55. Yep 55. Mid-fifties. Middle aged. On the downward slope of life. 

It's interesting to me that since this blog started way back in about 2004 how it was a key part of my life, like diary writing for the middle aged who couldn't be arsed before.   Then as other social media came into play it faded when faced with the might of Facebook and Twitter. Yeah there were brief occasional witterings full of bile, possibly admiration, maybe even happiness, all laced with hints or promises to get back into writing. I even convinced myself that it didn't matter who read it, if anyone did at all because the joy and cathartic nature of putting thoughts into writing was enough to keep it going. At the start the creative juices were plentiful and the mind was constantly moist. 

Sadly it wasn't to last and over time laziness became the overriding maxim when I came to writing. I just couldn't be arsed to rant, or to find moments of interest in an otherwise ordinary and dull and increasingly contented  life. That and being 'discovered' by friends and family which meant despite the anonymisation of them via nicknames, some were upset for reasons of 'fuck-allness' but by doing so immediately marked themselves as sensitive drama queens that I could do without in my life. Some would then relate anecdotes to me about them for inclusion and of course some who would then try and act weird or wacky in order for me to include them.  Anyone who acts weird or whacky, or describes themselves as such is just suffering from John Major Syndrome. 

Facebook is nowadays, for me, merely a dad joke and picture upload forum with occasional comments, and perhaps it's best served as a mechanism to keep in touch with friends old and new without the hassle of actually speaking to them. Facebook is OK but it doesn't sate the need to vent, rant, praise, critique or opine in full. Twitter, with it's 140 character limit feels similar, a place to speak freely unless of course you speak against the crowd, after which it becomes a lynch mob of nappy shitting keyboard warriors with a genetically missing sense of context and the lack of basic intelligence with which to debate any subject or opinion with subtlety or nuance. Twitter is odd because it allows anyone to join a conversation irrespective of whether they have been asked or invited. You don't even need to use a polite 'I couldn't help overhearing you....' interjection to bring you into someones chat. Despite this, I have nearly 2000 'followers' which massages the ego nicely, and for the most part they are all Chelsea related and I have made an awful lot of good friends in real life by blind date meetings with them in pre-football match venues. In TwitterLand, when you meet for real,  everyone has 2 names, the one you introduce yourself by (@grocerjackuk) and your real name. 

Snapchat? I have no idea how it works or what it could do for me (pissed old hack baffled by new technology as Private Eye used to say). 

Instagram is OK, and I like the idea of a photo upload system and a social media based on that. Instagram can convey a moment much like Twitter and Facebook, with the added bonus that the underlying nastiness of Twitter has yet to pervade it. Safe, nice and maybe a bit dull. 

Where Facebook is extraordinarily tedious is with people sharing stupid hoaxes, promises of free Range Rovers, SUVs, Lodge Holidays and any number of crap cod philosophy quotes or unfunny videos. No matter how many times I post a friendly 'hoax' warning, there are still people seemingly so dim that they genuinely think someone has a warehouse full of iPads they need to give away for free because of over-stocking. Yes, because giving away £400 tablets because of an over-order that they, the seller, has had to pay for is  a very sustainable business model isn't it? 

And don't get me started on the like-farming wankers who post stock pictures of disadvantaged or ill people and then ask for 'likes' or even more sickeningly an 'amen' comment. These are just cunts, and sadly the people who spread this stuff, well intentioned or not, are the equivalent of the morons who used to pass on chain letters at secondary school. They are fuckwits, unwitting and gullible maybe, but fuckwits all the same. 

Anyway I digress. It seems the lure of writing has tentatively returned. I've been inspired by one person, who shall remain nameless but their ability to write fascinating historical tomes at what I'm guessing is a tender mid-20s age, or to write blog articles about my beloved Chelsea FC post match, whilst simultaneously doing an impression of a gin hoover is nothing short of deeply impressive. For someone so young, they are pretty 'old school' and almost entirely down to their drive and example that finding and making time to write is the key to .....errrr......writing,  I have decided to try, once again, to come out of retirement and kick start this old blog.

I've updated a few rules of the Guild , a few of the occasional 'cast' and some rules of my Liberation Political Party which the UK is crying out for under my benign dictatorship :) 

See them here

The ornaments lining GrumpyBloke Hall's dimly lit passages are being dusted down, the fading incandescent light bulbs being replaced by new shiny bright LED versions, the carpet is due to be 'shake and vac'd' , doors, skirting and frames given a lick of paint and walls given a new coat and a steam clean. Money is ready to be loaded into the meter and new pictures hung on the newly painted walls. All my old posts, good, bad, funny, unfunny, hateful and joyous are still sitting on the virtual bookshelves. The Guild of Grumpy Blokes has opened it's eyes......

All in all, this time, it's worth a try.

Later Mugs, GJ 

A Life of Fear?

Afternoon Mugs

Well, yesterday the event we feared in the UK but hoped would not happen again, did in fact happen. At the time of writing it looks like a radicalised lone wolf has decided that his God is so weak, so ineffective and so fucking hopeless at protecting all of his faithful flock that he decided to help him out and kill some infidels. 

This time using the blunt instrument of a large car, and the rather more sharper yet equally deadly knife. 

I could harp on about the terrorists not winning, about the bravery of the police and emergency services, of the fellow people who helped out, tourists and normal people doing their normal business, about the fuckwittery of taking selfies at the scene and the mixed morality of live footage and photo's but I won't. Virtue signalling isn't my bag though and all of the sympathy and thoughts should be yours and my default stance. 

Actually on that last bit ...I will. I would not want to see a dead friend or relative on social media and that be the way I found out about their demise. But i don't want to be denied the horror of what has happened. Like many this is what spurs us on to be stoic and outraged. if we weren't then what would we be...mere automatons robotically carrying on with no compassion? There's a line here, such as blurring faces for a start, something simply done but seemingly beyond the lazy and stupid insensitive bastards rubbernecking any type of human tragedy. And just based on human compassion alone, why not just picture the scene not the individuals involved? But get off your collective high horses about those who do take the pictures and publish, be they passers by or media corporations. Blackouts don't work and will never happen in this modern smartphone, social media instant gratification, on-line 'connected' age unless we willingly allow suppression of free speech and thought.  I have yet to hear the same complaints regarding pictures and footage coming when the atrocity happens abroad in Berlin, Paris, Brussels or Damascus, Mosul or Ethiopia. Pictures of dead and starving children are fine are they, but not of people in the midst of a terrorist incident? I'm not saying I agree with the pictures broadcast yesterday but I do sniff double or mixed standards here. 

My main gripe is that yet again the twisted and poisoned dogma of religion claims yet more victims and that is where my issues with religion come into play. Through the years I have moved from Roman Catholic born and indoctrinated/brainwashed/raised, to stroppy questioning teenager, after all what sort of *God wants me to go to Church when I WANT to play football with my mates? I then sauntered to the safety fence of agnosticism but questioning the morality of a God that promises unconditional love whilst applying the condition of undying and unswerving worship? After reading The God Delusion and a book called God: the Biography (By Alexander Waugh) the sidestep to atheism was completed.  I am about to start God Is Not Great. I suspect it will reinforce my benevolent form of atheism even more. As an atheist I know that every bad thing i do is something I have to live with, and not something a few mumbled words in Church will assuage through God's alleged forgiveness.

I know **people will take umbrage on my view that religion in general is bad, but it is. And the bad outweighs any good because NOT ONE person should die for or because of religion.  Religion should not be 'mostly good' it should be completely and unambiguously a force for good. It should be un-corruptible. It should be crystal clear. There should be no ambiguity. No doubt. And it should be optional. Every religion should have one overriding message that you can choose not to join and take your chances at your end. Simple as. As things stand and have always stood where religion is concerned, it looks to suppress and control people by the imposition of fear through threats of eternal burning and agony and servitude to the purveyor of the religion's ideals of right and wrong. 

What sort of God would sanction that level of alleged hellfire punishment for people acting on the very frailties he built into his creation? Why give people the ability to hate or be mad or to despise and then allow them free reign to use them? If he's a God and omnipotent in the true sense of the word, then he could either limit those frailties, or allow them and use a mechanism to ensure it doesn't lead to anyone's death. If he created us then why not build a DNA algorithm into us which physically and genetically prevents every human from the taking of another life? No more murder, genocide, matricide or people being blown up by remote control. Surely as the ultimate creator of our complex world he could have done that? 

But he didn't did he? 

Either he couldn't do that because basically he's a bit of a shit 'Life Creation Engineer', or he didn't do that because he doesn't  care what his creation does. Instead he's fallen asleep on the job. He's a seagull God, who flies in, hangs around a bit, shits on people (Adam/Eve anyone?....punished for eating a Granny Smith?)  and then fucks off. While he snoozes he wittingly allows his 'disciples' to bastardise his alleged teachings (sorry folks, teachings written by liars and conmen) and then act unilaterally on his behalf. He allows these fuckwits to become judge, jury and executioner and allows them to carry out their acts of madness with impunity. He does nothing. He's asleep in the corner of a celestial party having knocked a few bottles of Deity strength Jack Daniels over. 

God, if you exist, and you believe in judging people at the end of their life why not have the decency to allow them to live their lives to their natural end, and not have their lives ended at the hands of people acting in your name? Just think God, how lovely it would be for your creations not to have to live a life based in fear, but in joy and hope. And think where that might have led us. 

I won't hold my breath waiting for your answer. 

Later Mugs, GJ

*Note - I have used the gender 'he' to refer to God, because not one religion I know of has promoted the idea that a woman might have been God. And let's be honest, women would never be that fucking stupid or vindictive, or come to think of it, that lazy or ignorant so as to ignore the actions of their creations. 

**If you're offended by this, then good. I don't really care. But know this, be religious if you like. I am all for freedom of choice, but you should in turn respect my right to not believe and not feel it is your duty to convert me. That way we can have a nice drink and chat with no problems.