Connections

I'm starting to see a common thread in my on-line observations on Facebook, eGroups and comments on daily newspaper stories.

Those who are attacking Harry and Meghan have a massive overlap with the constituency that is set on a War With Woke, ending lockdown immediately (against all scientific advice) in favour of getting the economy going and unerring and fanatical support for Brexit, ignoring the evidence of their own eyes. It's by no means a total overlap, but very large.

Let's start with the Harry and Meghan story, where hypocrisy raises its head. Now the anti-lockdowners use the argument that national mental health is suffering as part of their armoury, yet when Meghan says she was suffering mental health problems and had suicidal thoughts because of press attacks on her, she's accused of lying, demonstrating they don't actually give a fig about mental health and are using it tactically. When you think about it, there's only one way of testing whether someone is lying about suicidal thoughts - criticise them or call them a liar; that's bound to get you a result.

To the American eye (if you've kept a lookout on the American press, which I do), with the exception of the Trump supporters, it's inconceivable to them that we're having a conversation about whether a discussion about a mixed heritage child's skin colour is racist or not. To Americans it most definitely is.

To divert for a second, Prince William may say the Royal Family is not racist, but the Royal Family is wider than the direct offspring of the Queen. Princess Michael of Kent has previous in this area.

Woke entered the lexicon from the American black community and is defined as an awareness of social injustice and racism. The War on Woke brigade attempt to bring all manner of other issues into the definition, from chest milk instead of breast milk and birth-giver instead of parent. What these issues have to do with social injustice and racism is beyond me, but again it's a tactic to redefine Woke to suit their purpose; a straw man to attack antiracism and the left, but under the cloak of their redefinition of the term Woke - it's an old lawyer's trick. What they're dragging into the debate as a diversion is another of their shibboleths - Political Correctness Gone Mad. No doubt Health and Safety Gone Mad will also come under the umbrella of Woke before much longer.

When all is said and done, none of what they complain about affects them one iota; they're not forced to use what they consider crackpot terms and are free to use whatever terminology they desire. They just feel the need to huff and puff with self-righteous indignation that someone they've never met has the temerity to raise a subject for debate. Their ilk is typified by the likes of  Piers Morgan who is professionally outraged on behalf of perennial Colonel Blimps.

Unless you lacked basic humanity and empathy, or are utterly devoid of a moral compass and refuse to accept evidence-based observation, why would you not support an awareness of social injustice and racism? Why do you get angry when a footballer takes the knee in support of anti-racism?

Let's turn to the 'rewriting history' trope. History is historical fact, not some whitewashed version that attempts to hide the more worrisome bits. The Germans heroically faced up to the horrors of the Nazi era, yet a huge swathe of Brits on the right of the political spectrum try to hide Britain's involvement in slavery and systemic racism, portraying it as some benign and philanthropic gesture that financially benefitted the poor and uneducated in Britain, as well as the architecture. A eulogised statue of some slave trader is not necessarily the best method of teaching history; instead it's a continuing public validation of someone who did some terrible things. 

Their obsession with pickling a mythical view of Britain in aspic, and accusing those not sharing that view of hating their country, is borne of not love for their country, but an infatuation with it. There is a very big difference between infatuation and true love. Infatuation is when you first see something and idealise it, ignoring any faults or flaws, whereas love is knowing the good and bad of something and still loving it all the same.

The best way of defecting attention from those who have their boot on your neck is to focus on statues, the BBC, race, Wokeness and, inexplicably, equating BLM with Marxism. As someone once said; "History is not there for you to like or dislike, it's there for you to learn from and, if it offends you, so much the better because then you are less likely to repeat it. It's not yours to erase; it belongs to all of us."

"What do we want in our National Trust properties?"

"More history!"

"What do we call more history?" 

"Censorship and rewriting history!"

Unbelievable...

Marcus Rashford was attacked mercilessly in the tabloids for attempting to get disadvantaged kids fed during school holidays. Why? I don't actually believe this was anything to do with racism (although there were overtones from some), but the right wing press not wanting anyone to highlight government indifference and yet another diversionary tactic.

The War on Woke presses emotional buttons - the very same buttons that brought us the delights of Brexit. It's nothing more than a re-election strategy that has worked previously and diverts attention from government incompetence. Why focus on the multiple disasters this government has been responsible for when there's a footballer over there on one knee and he's telling you you're a racist. Who wouldn't get angry if that was whispered into their ear by the gutter press? I'm being told by apologists for the gutter press that seeing footballers taking the knee is creating racists - quite what logic is being used there is obtuse. However, there's a truth to it when you consider the press' role in gas lighting its readers. We are all susceptible to it to a greater or lesser degree. 

What does make someone a racist is a privileged, Eton educated white guy telling you that a bunch of black people over there are calling you a racist. Start Behaving like a racist and you're a self-fulfilling prophecy. Get it?

Anyone who believes they're not racist is fooling him or herself. We may not be consciously racist and may struggle to overcome racist tendencies, but our cultural programming is unconscious and leaks out occasionally - who can honestly say they haven't embarrassingly sniggered at a racist joke? It can be a constant struggle to repress your racism, but a struggle that must go on for it to eventually become culturally unacceptable.

Under the initial tutelage of Dominic Cummings, the forces of psychological manipulation are being used by the governing class to turn us into squinty eyed, misogynistic xenophobes, which will benefit no one but the wealthy. Bottom, which used to be an excellent Conservative code word for gravitas and competence from the days when the Conservative party actually possessed it, has been replaced by charisma, allowing the holder of that magical attribute to wreak whatever havoc they wish on the country and the body politic in the pursuit of profit.

The American Republican party has been using emotional hot buttons for decades to win elections. I advise you to read The Political Brain (the role of emotion in deciding the fate of the nation) by Drew Westen, an American political strategist and experimental psychologist. It was published in 2008 and thus predates the Trump era, but forecasts it accurately. The strategy is now embedded within the political right in the UK and, without some careful thinking, the left is powerless against it, as truth simply doesn't cut the mustard when your emotional buttons are pressed, as we can see on a daily basis from those who deny factual observation.

Pfizer Fingers

It's exactly a month now since I had my first Pfizer jab - I'm still waiting for the appointment for the 2nd one.

All in all, I've had no serious adverse effects, but there wave been two effects that are curious and may or may not be related to the jab.

1. I have a constant feeling that I've had a thorough workout, which I haven't, and
2. My fingers and finger joints have swollen to the extent I had to remove my wedding and signet rings about 2 weeks ago and haven't been able to get them on to my fingers since.

The workout sensation is getting much better, but the fingers are still like sausages. It may be nothing whatsoever to do with the Pfizer jab, but I can't think of any other explanation.

Hay has received her call-up papers for her first jab now, but rather than visiting the local walk-in centre, she has to trek into Bristol.

Squabbles

I made three observations about the Harry and Meghan story yesterday, but I think it's worth repeating them before adding to them.

Just an observation on the Harry and Meghan story; while not all people who bandy about the words; "Playing the race card," are necessarily racists, racists, however, use them all the time. It's also an observation that those who feel most compelled to look up to a certain class of people also feel to need to look down on another class of people in order to feel their position in the hierarchy of the class system is secure. Another, final observation; Harry and Meghan are holding up a mirror to the Royal Family, the press and the nation - the more you see the nastier side of yourself, the angrier you will be.

The gutter press narrative is that they are seeking privacy which, given their actions in courting attention, is hypocritical. However, the issue is not privacy, but consent. There's a huge difference between controlling press access to you and press intrusion. There's nothing at all hypocritical about them being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey at their invitation, especially as they didn't ask for or receive a fee. That said, they're probably on a hiding to nothing and the gutter press will hound them to their dying days.

The interview was Harry's No.6 moment, as I call it. The moment where Patrick McGoohan's character from the 1960s TV series, The Prisoner, shouts; "I am not a number, I am a free man." All the rest of the inhabitants of The Village maintain the pretence of their existence and abide by the rules of the game within an artificial environment where they are not allowed to express themselves freely. Imagine not being able to have an opinion; it must be a hideous existence for which no amount of privilege can compensate.

That's not to say there isn't a valid reason why those in the line of succession can't have an opinion. In days past, monarchs and princes had a lot of opinions, but it was in the days when the monarch chose the government of his or her liking and the franchise was restricted. A head of state who cannot be removed by democratic means becomes dangerous when he or she express an opinion that's contrary to that of the elected government - you don't vote for kings. But that, in and of itself, makes a mockery of an unelected head of state - it's a purely ceremonial position.

Harry and Meghan were appealing to the reasonable, rational and nuanced elements of society, which are sadly becoming fewer, with an emotional honesty that the Royal Family is not allowed to exhibit and the result of which bit them in the bum when Diana died. They are living in a system that's an anachronism.

Then there's the American Effect. Americans are not used to bowing and scraping before people who hold their positions by an accident of birth - they treat people on the basis of what they have achieved. A class system based on birth is alien to them and curtseying to your grandmother-in-law, even in private, must seem humiliating.

Meghan was such an asset to the Royal Family in bringing it into the 21st century and rekindling its relevance. I am no royalist, having republican leanings, but an opportunity was sorely missed for the Royal Family to jointly say; "Proud to be woke."

As for that arsehole Piers Morgan - he sullied what reputation he had with the phone hacking scandal, for which he never paid the price, which should have been jail, rather than simply losing his job. Why he's allowed anywhere near a TV studio with his faux, populist, intentionally inflammatory, pantomime comedy villain remarks, which are both racist and misogynist, is beyond me. Good riddance to him. The likes of him give licence to the undesirables in a civilized society and is the type of person the Sussexes were complaining about, and rightly so.

Bronze, Rope, Steel & Harry & Meghan

Just an observation on the Harry and Meghan story; while not all people who bandy about the words; "Playing the race card," are necessarily racists; however, racists use it all the time. It's also an observation that those who feel most compelled to look up to a certain class of people also feel to need to look down on another class of people in order to feel their position in the hierarchy of the class system is secure. Another, final observation; Harry and Meghan are holding up a mirror to the Royal Family, the press and the nation - the more you see the nastier side of yourself, the angrier you will be.

Through an old school friend in the leisure boating business, I've managed to find an outfit that supplies bronze shackles. 

I haven't dared ask the prices yet; however, none of them are wide enough for the shackle required. I need 30mm and 25mm C lengths. Might have to simply paint the stainless shackles to make them more harmonious with the bell.

I also need a new bell rope - the current polypropylene one is rather scratty. Now I could have a go myself, as at nautical school (late 60s) we made bell ropes, knotted straps for canvas bags and knotted lanyards for band instruments. However, I've not had any practice for over 50 years. Probably better to buy one, like this.

In Dutch they're known as a dog's dick, for obvious reasons. Don't look it up on Google Images if you're of a sensitive disposition - you'll get something else.

I took the kono grill's oversized damper to my friend, Stuart, the fabricator. The first thing he said to me was; "So you sold your table then?" Our old dining table had a stainless steel centre leaf that Stuart had made for us some 6 years ago, and we sold the table just before Christmas when we got a smaller, round table. Stuart was in a house (I'm not sure whether it was a friend of his or a job he was working on) and spotted the same table. How synchronicitous is that?

Anyway, he's cutting the damper down to size for me and giving me a quote for a cradle in which I can put half an oil drum as a party-sized BBQ.

Projects

 Hung the bell yesterday.

Works a treat, as someone delivered a package yesterday while we were way up the garden and rang the bell to alert us. As I said, I'm going to try and find some brass D shackles to replace the steel ones - although obtaining brass ones that size seems to be a challenge. The TV antenna clamp stays for now, but will be changed at some point.

The stainless steel base for the kono grill arrived on Saturday, along with the American made air damper.

Snipped the stainless steel with my pneumatic metal cutter so it fitted snugly into the base, but the damper is far too large, as can be seen below.

I'd done my usual mistake of not fully reading the advert and assumed the headline size was the size of the whole contraption, whereas it's the size of just the slider - the whole thing is about 4 times too big. I could cut it down a bit in length, but the height it still too large. I have an acquaintance who made our bespoke cooker hood and will get him to adapt it by cutting off the slider rails from the main body, creating two Z shaped channels, and slicing the slider itself horizontally. I can then position the rails where I want. I may even get him to make one the right size - it's not a complex shape, just fiddly if you haven't got the right equipment.

Actually, while I'm at it, I'll get him to make me a cradle for half an oil drum that I intend to turn into a huge BBQ for a large garden party. When I was at sea, the engineers would knock up one of these for a ship's BBQ of 30 odd people. A bit of engine room grating over the top was the cooking griddle. 

I'm dropping heavy hints to Hay about a sliding, double bevel mitre saw for my birthday in a couple of weeks. 

The next large project is creating a new workshop out of a defunct greenhouse frame, using OSB. That's one for the summer though. My current workshop is at the end of a shed that's used for all those things that litter the place, but you think may be needed at some time. Hay's the worst offender - we have boxes full of rusty, old tools that belonged to her long dead relatives. Utterly useless, but she likes restoring them and using them as ornaments in the house. The area I'm left with is no larger than a small toilet and is totally inadequate. Any time I want to do something, I have to collect the tools from the shed and do the work outside.

Hay's willow wand arbour is coming on well. It was planted two years ago, using bare willow wands she bought on eBay. Every single one of them has rooted and been interwoven to form an impenetrable egg shape. It'll look brilliant once the leaves come out.

The Golden Egg

Took a detour yesterday and discovered it's goose egg season once more.

Yummy.

Reasons to be Cheerful

A pet food manufacturer has to fill in 72 pages of health declarations to export to the EU and our fishermen can no longer export shellfish to their customers in Europe, all because we were instrumental in drawing up the rules for 3rd countries, knew the consequences and ignored them while the government blames the EU.

The UK has the highest per capita death rate of countries with populations over 20m.

The government acted unlawfully in not publishing the details of the PPE contracts and their relations with cronies (and still haven’t published the details, despite a pledge to do so).

We have the worst hit economy in the G7 because of government incompetence in handling the pandemic, necessitating the largest recovery spend of almost any country.

Priti Patel's department has to pay £340k to a public servant she was found to bully in contravention of the Ministerial Code and which Boris ignored (as he did Dominic Cummings’ Baynards Castle trip), a code that Scottish Conservatives have a hypocritical, new-found respect for in relation to Nicola Sturgeon.

Peace in Northern Ireland is under threat because someone didn’t read the deal Boris signed and hustled through Parliament.

£37bn is allocated to an utterly useless track and trace system.

The mother of Boris Johnson's latest child spends £200,000 on redecorating Boris's flat.

The £350 million a week promise to the NHS as a Brexit bonus turns into a measly 1% pay rise for nurses. 

Hang on though, there's a footballer over there on one knee, the statue of a slave trader who you've never heard of is being taken down and a mixed-race woman married a British prince, which the millionaire, offshore, tax avoiding tabloid owners, who tell you what to think, have taken offence to as a diversion from the unmitigated disaster that Brexit has become – now that’s something to really get angry about.

Tariffs & Freeports

I sometimes wonder whether the solution to Brexit is prohibitive import tariffs such that, if any foreign company wants access to the UK market, they have to set up a factory here which will provide jobs. OK, profits would be repatriated to the company's country, but it would certainly be a boost to jobs. The downside would be tit-for-tat tariffs on our exports - except, perhaps, from countries that have businesses that set up in the UK. A natural extension of that would be the creation of a Free Trade Area of like-minded countries who committed to a set of standards for products and labour laws. Such countries could even allow free movement.

Not sure about this Freeports concept - they bring benefits solely to large companies and work to the disadvantage of smaller manufacturers and exporters. They also simply move jobs from one area to another, rather than creating jobs.

Clangers

Overheard in the bedroom - in a whisper:

Hay: "Badger, what time is it?"

Chairman: "Dunno - about 5?"

Hay: "No - surely it's about 3?"

Chairman: "Could be. Why are we whispering? We're the only people in the house."

Regular readers will remember that I was given a racing bell from a Bristol ice skating venue about a year ago - it may have been more. I've been thinking about what to use to hang it from for ages and finally decided to do some upcycling, utilising a suspension arm from the scrap bin of the local Ford dealership that I managed to salvage several months ago and thought looked promising.

I tacked it yesterday - cut off one of the bushes with a grinder as it spoiled the symmetry, gave it a good rust treatment and painted it with lacquer. I used a TV dish U bolt fixing to attach the lower part of the arm to the plank - not elegant, but effective.

Bolted it to a plank of wood and I now just need to trim the plank, paint it and then bolt the plank to the house. 

All the shackles I had for hanging the bell were either too small or too large - finding the right size for the suspension arm upper bush was a pain, as suppliers like ScrewFix and ToolStation go just by the size of the pin, without any reference to the width and depth of the D.

To make it easier, I hammered out the rubber bush, which gives me more freedom on selection of shackles.

Ignore the vent cover in the background - it's a paint job for a mate. The kono (also in the background) is waiting a sheet of stainless steel to insert in the base, which should arrive today.

I'm not best pleased with the lower fixing of the suspension arm and may reconsider that - will probably round off the profile with the grinder and see if I can dream up a more aesthetic method of fixing it to the plank. Any ideas welcome, but I'm thinking of a countersunk coach bolt from the rear of the plank into the point where the suspension arm touches it, drilling and tapping a suitable hole in the arm. That way the fixing will be invisible. The cantilever nature of the arm means the fixing isn't necessary for support, but simply to stop the lower arm sliding from side to side.

The Full Poirot

Since just after New Year I've been cultivating a rather luxurious moustache. At the start of every year I always have a little play with the beard.

The idea came from the Kenneth Branagh portrayal of Poirot, where he sports a magnificent upper lip decoration. In Branagh's case, it was enhanced by having mohair woven into it, whereas mine is unenhanced, except for a bit of Tash Wax.

I have the benefit of being quite hirsute high on my cheeks, so there's a lot more to play with.

The secret is to grow the bit around the septum so long that it reaches almost the full width of the tash, which takes a considerable time. Most people get fed up with it before it reaches that stage and end up shaving them off. I reckon another 6 months might do it, although it could be more.

Hay isn't impressed with it. I may have to invest in a tash hammock for night time...