WOOTTON BASSETT

Have just been watching the BBC evening news and another lot of hearses passing through the small town of Wootton Bassett which I used to pass through quite often when I lived not very far away and visited Swindon in the 1970s/1980s. Our soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan have for the last few years been brought to RAF Lyneham (before that it was Brize Norton) and Wootton Bassett is the first town on the hearses the route. The good, decent, and ordinary people of Wootton Bassett had a tradition of quietly lining the route and silently paying their respects to the fallen. It seems to have started in a very informal way almost by accident and gradually grew as shopkeepers closed for a few minutes whilst the cortége passed. A very humbling and moving experience. Until that despicable organisation the BBC got hold of it and started to publicise it. So the event is getting the "I want to be on TV" treatment. Clearly many of todays crowds have no connections with Wootton Bassett or even Wiltshire. They are there to be on TV. Today some of them even clapped. Clapping at a funeral. What is this nation coming to? Thanks to the BBC and its mission to entertain rather than inform Wootton Bassett is now a on its way to becoming a funfair. I did read a press article just a few days ago which led me to believe that many townspeople would prefer the old informal quiet showing of respect to our fallen troops rather than publicity induced razzamatazz. A townsman pointed out that it has been suggested that "High Street" should be renamed "Highway of Heroes". The suggestion came from a person living over 300 miles away. Unfortunately my belief is that the decent people of Wootton Bassett (and England) are going to be submerged by a mass of people who want to turn a once dignified demonstration of respect for the dead into a funfair.

BBC MOSTLY

So today that wretched organization we know as the BBC is being a little snide about Royal Expenses. The BBC has just sent 400 (yes, that's FOUR HUNDRED) employees to the Glastonbury Music Festival — a small event for weirdos who like to shag a lot in rain and mud. That's not much short of what they sent to the Peking (sorry, Beijing — have to be totally PC where BBC is concerned). Of course they're all Guardian readers. The fact of the matter is that if the head of state was chosen from the ranks of the BBC or Parliament the costs would be far more. Just imagine Tony and Cherie as Lord Protector/Lady Protectress. There is no limit to the greed of many of our MPs.
And I see Madoff got 150 years. What a fool!! If he'd come here he could have killed and raped and dozens and our lily-livered judges in red dressing gowns would never dream of such a sentence. Huntly Open Prison and out in 3 (years not centuries).

OLD AGE PRISONERS

There were lots of hands up in a Coventry police station a few days ago when the sergeant asked for volunteers to capture an 86-old on behalf of social services. Much better than dealing with real criminals. The old lady, Betty, had been put in a nursing home by social services but was not enjoying it and was discouraged from wlaking in the garden. Her daughter took her home to live with her and the rest of a close family. The house had been kitted out to suplly her mother's needs. Her mother's outlook on life took an immediate upturn. Then after just a few days social services arrived with police in tow. Betty was bundled into a wheelchair and into a waiting van. Then off to prison — nursing home. How can this sort of thing happen?. Of course if Betty was a fanatical terrorist and illegal immigrant Shami Chakrabati would have her out in quicksticks but no-one cares about the Bettys of this world apart from their families.

PEERS OF THE REALM

I see the MET, Britain's so-called premier police force, have decided not to follow up charges of corruption against four Labour Peers in the House of Lords. Well what a surprise! They seemed to think that Parliament would put so many obstacles in the way, as has happened in the past, that it wasn't worth the candle. We live in a banana republic run by a bunch of spivs and no way are our police going to get on the wrong foot with their political masters.

CRIME PAYS

Many people were killed during the troubles in Northern Ireland. The families are now to be given some compensation — £12,000. Or at least that is the proposal. And so are the families of the murderers. Some killed by their own bombs, some shot by government troops. A banana republic idea that could only be made by people unable to differentiate between right and wrong.

ADOPTION

Here we are back in so politically correct banana republic Britain. A couple have been looking after two of their grandchildren — a 5 year old boy and his younger sister. Apparently the mother had a heroine addiction. Naturally the old couple (well he's 59 so hardly a dodderer but suffers from angina which is being managed and his wife is diabetic) love the grandchildren and can be relied on to provide them with a good, loving and caring home. Edinburgh social services have decided that because of their medical condition and possible death sooner rather than later they cannot be regarded as totally suitable. So they are taking the children away and having them adopted by a homosexual couple. Of course being a deviant doesn't guarantee everlasting life and one or both could fall under a bus tomorrow. To borrow a phrase I read recently of all social groups the one which is most dangerous to children is social services.

CORRUPT PEERS

So four members of the House of Lords have been accused of using their position to enrich themselves. Basically offering to influence legislation in return for money. Naturally they deny it and we shall have to wait for more information before sitting in judgement. But I am not surprised. The old (post-war) House of Lords was a mixed bag of characters with some peers being convicted criminals, drug addicts, rogues, colourful characters as well as a good number having a wide experience of life in business, the armed forces. Of course many chose not to sit in the House or did so only on a few occasions. I suspect that although the ones who did sit were also a cross-section of humanity (apart from their blue blood of course) they were probably skewed towards those with positive characters and many served their country well.
Now the House consists mainly of people elevated from the Commons together with other placemen chosen by the government. They are not elected. As the Commons has a large number of rogues, slime dogs, scum, scoundrels it is obvious that a chamber derived from such a source will be equally squalid. Ad so it has proved.