Agenda 2019

A nice hotel, but we were too ill to enjoy it. We have just returned from 10 days at the Miramar hotel in Jersey. What was to have been a 10 day break after the trauma of the last four years, rather than a holiday in the sun, turned into a bit of a nightmare with first me and then Sandra, being struck with some mystery bug, complete with sore throat, coughing, vomiting chest pains etc which put certainly me out of action for the duration. However, the kindness shown by Alison, the hotel manager, and the rest of the staff  was truly refreshing as they went to great lengths to make us as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, with Alison occasionally "bending the rules" to assist with our stay. We are now back in the village, still with the symptoms which did not respond to some sea air on the trip back, and now leaves us with an appointment to see our GP. Thanks again to Alison and all those at the Miramar for their help, assistance and understanding.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44154438 All attention focuses on Windsor The big day has arrived and I am feeling much better than I felt a few weeks ago. The media and television have succeeded in their primary task, as set by the establishment and government, of taking my mind off all the troubles and woes facing this country and even the rest of the world. I and I assume millions of others, are no longer concerned with the real issues of the day as the euphoria fuelled by media hyperbole, sweeps the nation and all attention focuses on Windsor as the pomp and circumstance of the pageantry to fill the day draws closer. We have forgotten the government and cabinet chaos and division over Brexit. Our minds have been diverted from the hardships and despair caused by government cuts to welfare payments. Today, we are not concerned with the destruction of our NHS brought about by cuts and privatisation. The plight of the homeless on our streets, particularly in the Roy...

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/gaza-palestine-israel-conflict-us-embassy-jerusalem-jared-kushner-donald-trump-a8355631.html For how long are we to continue pretending that Palestinians are non-people? Robert Fisk, poses the question that many of us have been struggling with for many years. Many years of atrocities carried out by the IDF against the Palestinian people, many years of the occupation of Palestinian lands, many years of illegal settlements built on land where once Palestinians had villages and grew olives or tended sheep and many years of watching Israeli expansionism slowly strangle any prospects of creating a two state solution or reaching any form of peaceful settlement of this long running conflict. One of the major reasons for the acceptance of the status of Palestinians as, "non people", is the stance of successive American administrations since 1947, with unquestioning support for Israel. Within minutes of the declaration of the state of...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/15/palestinians-to-bury-58-people-killed-in-us-embassy-protests Global protests grow after Israeli killing of Palestinian demonstrators No Trump and Netanyahu, You are wrong. Jerusalem is NOT "the capital of Israel". The United Nations General Assembly does not recognize Israel's proclamation of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The wording of General Assembly Resolution 63/30 of 2009 states that "any actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever, and calls upon Israel to cease all such illegal and unilateral measures. In recognising Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, the United States defies the United Nations and joins Israel in another illegal act and drives another nail into the coffin of the Peace Process. At the same time as Ivanka T...

https://paper.li/f-1346065353#/ Good morning everyone Power cuts are a regular feature of life in our village and presumably, the surrounding villages in the valley. The season has started early this year however, with the first being on Wednesday evening. Flickering lights then power off for a few seconds, back on again briefly then off for another few seconds then back on and finally off leaving us in complete darkness groping around trying to find the candles. Eventually, with no television, radio or computer, we flicked off the lamp switches pressed the off buttons on the television "zappers" and went to bed. At around 2:30 am, we were awakened by the sound of quite loud voices from downstairs. Now either this was the sound of a male and female burglar having a "domestic" or the "zappers" had failed to switch off the TV. Muttering unprintable sounds, I went downstairs to find the television on, at not quite full volume, airing one of t...

https://paper.li/f-1346065353#/ Good morning everyone Summer has arrived, hasn't it? With temperatures soaring to the mid twenties or even the thirties over this Bank Holiday weekend, we may be excused for throwing off our woolies and dragging the BBQ out from the back of the garage, wiping off the dust accumulated over the past months, and firing up the coals.  Unfortunately , they are  forecasting  that it will become "less mild" over the coming week. Such is the way with Britains weather. An elderly woman waited for over three hours for an ambulance after falling in Weymouth town center this week. This is but one of a growing number of instances where cuts to the NHS have resulted in unacceptable delays in A&E departments, treatment appointments and in this case, delays in ambulance attendance. Notwithstanding that the majority of  ambulance  services are in fact operated by private companies, expenditure cuts invariably result in delay...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/may/01/pm-tries-to-hold-cabinet-together-by-delaying-customs-partnership-decision Theresa May is being urged to put the Tories on general election alert   There is a consensus of opinion in the ranks of the media, even those on the right of the political spectrum, (which of course is the majority of them), that the government of Theresa May is crumbling into a fragmented, bickering shambles of conflicting views on customs arrangements following Brexit and the never ending problem of the "hard" border between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Added to this shambolic squabbling between the factions is the continued maneuvering by some elements to replace Theresa May as leader, all of which is further complicated by the daily fallout and revelations arising from the "Windrush Generation" scandal. It is all indeed a gigantic mess. It is so bad in fact, that at least two of the hard line Theresa May ...