DECEMBER 2002
The year is drawing to a close (in fact when you read this it will already be 2003). The political circus is getting more and more surreal every day; it's hardly worth commenting on any more. Is there anyone left in the UK that still thinks that the Parliament, the Government, the Courts and the media matters? They all seem to inhabit a different Universe than the rest of the country. I suspect the situation is more or less the same in all the so-called Western countries.
I've been doing some serious thinking lately about who is actually in charge. Politicians come and go; even the American President, billed as the most powerful man in the world, will only stay in office for a maximum 8 years, and anyway his his real influence is always limited by checks and balances. The Civil Service probably has more real power, but at the end of the day they are just employees, even if many of them haven't quite realized it.
Then there are the big, international companies, whether they operate nominally inside or openly outside the law. They obviously have more power than any government, but then, who controls the companies? Again they are mostly run by highly paid employees that can be fired at any time. The average shareholder has as much influence as the average voter has on governments, which means not a lot.
I can see two possibilities; either there is an international group of shadowy conspirators who makes all the decisions according to what will benefit the group, or no-one is in charge. The second possibility seems more logical, in fact, looking at what is going on around the world. Now that is really scary.
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." - Sigmund Freud
Qui non est hodie cras minus aptus erit -- Ovid
(He who is not prepared today will be less so tomorrow.)
The Christmas message from the Government: Save more and work longer, or you are doomed.
The Government's White paper on the pensions problem is out and it makes for
pretty depressing reading no matter your age. There are a few curious points
there. First we are told that the country is facing a 27 billion pound shortfall
in pension provision, but there is no mention of the Chancellors raid on the
Pension Funds which nets the Government 5 billion a year; sofar 25 billions
have been taken from the funds. We are only told that we are not putting aside
enough money, so if we don't want to look starvation in the eye in our old age
something has to be done. The solution seems to be that we won't be allowed
to retire. People will be allowed to keep working until they're 70 (in fact
my sources in Government say that the sentence used was that "people should
be forced to work until 70", but that was deemed to controversial for us
mere mortals to hear) The average male lifespan in the North is 69 years, so
there is obviously savings to be made here. Though one wonders what kind of
work they are thinking of. A lot of people are basically on the scrapheap when
they are 50; flipping hamburgers at MacDonald's is hardly an option, as you
will be competing with teenagers who still get paid pocket money at home.
So, what are they going to do with us? Is it a co-incidence that the movie "Soylent
Green" is never shown on the telly? (For those of you who haven't seen
it, or read Harry Harrison's novel "Make room, make room" which it
was based on, think of pensioners as a resource for the food industry.
Daughter Aki has just informed me that Edinburgh City Council has banned parents from videoing their children at schools' Nativity plays for fear that they might be paedophiles sharing the performance with likeminded people. These plays must have got a lot raunchier than when my kids were at school; what do the Three Wise Men get up to these days?
Immidate update.
The Council has withdrawn the ban after furious parents all over the city got
up in arms. A spokesman for the said Council has indicated that the ban will
be re-instated at a later date after parents have been re-educated in correct
thinking. One would imagine that former agents of the KGB are sitting on a potential
gold mine sharing their expertice with the Edinburgh Education Service.
The Government's target of reducing congestion on the roads has been scrapped due to there being too much traffic.
This Summer (after a Government minister that shall remain un-named was mugged for his mobile phone) the courts were told that anyone up for stealing mobiles in the streets were to have the book thrown at them in a big way. As a result the jails are bursting at the seams, so now we hear that only professional burglars will be given a prison term, while the amateurs will be let off with a warning and an offer of help with their problems. According to my sources anyone caught by the coppers will be classified as an amateur, as they have figured out that professionals don't get caught. So if you need a mobile, but can't afford one, remember it is OK to break into a house and nick one, but you will stay inside for a longer time than someone in for manslaughter, if you take it off someone in a public place.
Update on the Pension Problem.
It seems that there is a potential solution to finding jobs for the elderly.
There are new laws in the pipeline that will deal with the serious problem of
composting. The People's Party has suddenly to it's chock noticed that there
are no guidelines covering how we treat our garden and kitchen waste. Accordingly
laws are being prepared making it a criminal offence to mix plant and animal
waste, thus making sure that we must take soiled bedding for animals, whether
cows and horses or rabbits and hamsters, to a special treatment plant. The fact
that no such plant excist in the UK will of course not be regarded as an excuse
in the eye of the law. So there is great scope for employment for former pensioners
as a member of the Compost Police Force.
The Dear Leader sent his radio Christmas message to the Armed Forces yesterday: "PREPARE FOR WAR".
In the little town of Bethlehem Christmas has been cancelled due to an Israeli imposed curfew.
And to top it all Yule has been cancelled at Heimbu, too. I am off to Japan again on the morning flight on the 21st of December (tomorrow) with Kiyoko following on the first available flight. Hopefully I will be back in the first week of the new year.
So let me wish you all a Good Yule and All the Best in the New Year