JULY 2003
I was down in Oxford at the end of last month teaching
at a course that the Oxford Hov was arranging. Never let it be said that you
don't get proper attention at a Stav seminar; we were six instructors teaching
three students. At least it was a lot more relaxing than usual. I had a lot
of spare time so I started browsing through an old Harry Potter book, the first
in the series. I didn't find it particularly well written, but somehow one gets
completely absorbed into the world the writer has created. I have now finished
the first three books and am looking forward to the next ones.
We've all got it wrong. According to the chairman (or should
that be the chair?) of the Strategic Rail Authority there is nothing wrong with
the railways; it is just our perception that there are problems that create
problems. So it is all our fault, then. Sorry about that; will try to do better.
Whenever the Dear Leader is going through a bit of rough
time in the Commons we know that the "Hunting with Dogs" bill will be put on
the agenda again. The lack of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq has riled
the backbenchers of the People's Party no end, and the Government's plan for
so-called Foundation Hospitals has not excactly gone down too well, either.
So, as usual, the hunting bone has been thrown to the slavering pack; all hunting
with dogs has been outlawed, and only the Lords now stand in the way of the
act actually becoming the law of the land. The signs are that the Government
this time will be forced to use the Parliementary Act to push it through.
The plan for Foundation Hospitals were passed this month, and the Dear Leader
was found totally innocent of any wrongdoing regarding Iraq. Surprise, surprise.
All this seems to have been the straw that has finally
broken the camel's back out in the countryside. Here the talk is now of open
revolt, and Yorkshire seems ready to seccede from the Union. The hunts have
declared that they will ignore the ban completely, and the Chief Constable of
North Yorkshire has warned the Government that she will not waste police time
on any enforcement of the bill.
The Dear Leader has now announced plans to set up a national
FBI style police force to deal with organized crime. One would presume that
if foxhunting will in the near future be a crime, the hunts will be regarded
as organizations. Tally ho.
The Home Office is getting tough on bogus asylum seekers
and has been accusing the police of not doing their job properly to find and
deport people who has gone A.W.O.L. after having been denied refuge in the UK.
So it must have been rather gratifying for the coppers to arrest one chap the
other day as it turned out that he was working as one of "Blunkett's Bounchers",
the neighbourhood eyes and ears of the Home Office (which supposedly should
go through a thorough vetting as to suitability)
We went up to Edinburgh for Aki's graduation this week-end,
and a jolly good time was had by all. However, Aki mentioned that out of the
98 vets that graduated this year, 96 had been educated at Private schools. This
looked like a prime example of discrimination against the working class, so
I had a word with some of the professors. It seems that the problem was that
even very gifted Comprehensive educated students were completely deficient in
critical thinking. They were excellent at memorizing textbooks, but were not
able to question what they were being taught. Which, one presumes, is why the
Universities are now being put under considerable pressure by the Government
to stop teaching students to think. In the Brave New World of the People's Party
we need technicians, not thinkers.
Around Edinburgh they call it the ultimate experience;
going off-road with Aki. Your only hope of survival is that the car will
break down before you do. Her own Land-Rover undergoing repairs, she borrowed
a Series III from the estate where she keeps her livestock, and off we went.
Luckily she knocked out the transmission 10 minutes up a mountain.
Their Lordships have just done the decent thing and thrown
out the bill trying to abolish our right to a jury trial. Talking to one of
our local peers I got a new insight into why the jury system is so important,
and why the Dear Leader wants it scrapped. While it assures that one is tried
by one's peers, it also preserves the independence of the judiciary. It is much
easier to put pressure on a single judge than 12 jurors. The Government's argument
that criminals could blackbail jurors into aquit is just a very sad admission
that they are completely unable to protect us. (Though they somehow don't seem
to draw this rather obvious conclusion.)
Finally, after three years of obstruction and sheer bloody-
mindedness, the East Riding Council has thrown in the towel. This week we sent
in the bulldozers to start work on the Swinemoor Youth Project. When finished
we will have a soccer pitch, a handball pitch, a grafitti wall and a roofed-over
meeting place for the local kids. (Unofficilly we will also have an all-weather
training ground for Heimbu, but that's another matter.)
The Council has also handed over the keys to the Residents'
Association for an office. We now have the funding in place to start up a furniture
recycling company employing at a start five people.
Son Erling has come up with a neat solution to finance
his University education. The plan is to buy a house, live there rent-free,
and rent out a couple of spare rooms to fellow students. He has just told us
that he has just had an offer for a house accepted and could we please send
him a cheque for £50,000.- We got a phone call from our bank manager a few days
later stating that they would honour the cheque, but could I please indicate
when any money would go into the account. I might have to consider looking for
gainful employment for a while.
Who are "the dark forces playing games" in this country?
Both the Queen and Dr. Kelly, the scientist found dead in a wood near Oxford,
have alluded to them.
Regarding Dr. Kelly's appearent suicide it seems a lot
of forencic medics have serious doubts wondering whether it is in fact murder.
(I have been asked not to quote anyone on this; in fact several people I have
talked to seem to be afraid of having any opinion at all)
According to the Centre for Policy Studies the taxes under
New Labour has risen by £100 billion a year, that's £4,000.- for every household
in the UK. And where has all the money gone? We look in vain for any sign of
improvement in our schools, our hospitals or our transport systems. However,
between 2000 and 2003 the numbers of people employed by the Government have
increased by 300,000, while people employed in manufacturing declined by 465,000.
So engineers, technicians and craftsmen, who create wealth, are being replaced
by Real Nappy Outreach Co-ordinators and Social Inclusion Awareness Advisers.
As any biologist can tell you, the trick pulled off by a successful parasite
is to draw nourishment from its host without actually killing it.
It is a lesson the Government would do well to learn.
They are out to get him. And I'm not just talking about
the travelling community. The Norfolk farmer Tony Martin was finally released
from prison after spending every single day of his sentence inside. Just co-incedently
of course, the burglar he shot and wounded was released 2 days before Martin
after serving 1/3 of a sentence for heroin dealing because he promised he wouldn't
do it again, despite the fact that he has 70 convictions for various crimes.
He is of course sueing Martin for damages and needs to be out so that he can
have easy access to his lawyer who will bill the tax payers.
Martin is now under investigation because he sold his story to a newspaper in
order to afford a defence lawyer, as convicted crimenals are not supposed to
profit from their crimes.
In the latest twist of this story the authorities have now given permission
and money for a Travellers Fair on land bordering Martins property.
The Dear Leader has just jetted off to the Carabean on
his annual freebee holiday, this year as a guest of Cliff Richard, leaving John
Prescott in charge of the country. May the gods have mercy on us all.
When you read this the Summer-thing for 2003 should be
in full swing here at Heimbu. For various reasons it is a bit scaled down this
year, but a full report will be up on the Heimbu web-site next month.