Beautiful Day
I begun the day watching a dredger clear away the dock at Felixstowe Port. It left me wondering what happens to all the little creatures who lost their homes this morning. Soppy? Probably, but it is the Eurovision Song Contest tonight and if you've heard our entry you'd already be feeling rather low.
I've cycled everywhere today, the sun is shining, I was caught in one or two very small showers and the wind is blowing with great gusto but it made me feel good to be alive. I'm grateful for that because I upset someone very special this morning, and I'll make no excuses, it was my fault. I was not being deliberately malicious but had just made (another) silly mistake.
That made me rail against our local council, who in cahoots with a developer want to build hundreds of houses on floodplain land along the coast. The whole scheme is daft, and the council have already rejected their own scheme (which was daft in itself). Now they are withdrawing from the appeal against that rejection. Why? You may well ask. I suspect it is so they can submit another application, one that the council will rubberstamp this time, and the local people will be faced with awful blocks of apartments, where now there is a wonderful Edwardian building. The council want to knock that down.
Is there sense in all this? Politicians eager to save money would suggest there is - I'd say it is just another reason many of us don't trust them as far as they can be thrown.
Contact
Recently my web servers have been seriously attacked by viruses - deep-seated devils that have destroyed mother boards, and sophisticated servers. Thanks chaps, you have proved the point now go away.
If you need to contact me during these dire times try lert060-edit@yahoo.co.uk that seems to get through.
It's interesting how intolerant folk can be. I'm struggling to get the act together. I do as much as I can each day, but there is a lot that remains to be done.
I shall strive to make you happy. In the meantime, look at the trees, marvel at the flowers, laugh with the birds, animals and insects that surround you and be thankful you are alive.
Death could last a long time. Who knows?
Respect
It's the word of the week. George Galloway, the MP who knocked down the Congressional Committee, has a political party called Respect. Tony Blair, beloved leader of the British, has decided that we all need respect and so he is about to tackle the yob culture that now controls our streets.
Yobs, young men (and increasingly women) are threatening. They chew gum, spitting it on the streets (an awful habit), they wear strange clothes - including hoods that they use to cover up their faces from the myriad selection of cameras that now dominate our streets.
The lack of police on the streets are given as the real reason why we face such problems. Nobody remembers the mods and rockers of the 60s & 70s. They also fail to realise that one major factor is the Crown Prosecution Service: a collection of ill-trained solicitors who have replaced experienced police sergeants and inspectors in deciding what offences the miscreant should face. Now they want reports, in my day we placed charges, took the offender to court where, in central London, a stipendiary magistrate judged the situation, rapidly. It was justice. Sometimes rough, but never damaging. Yobs knew how far they could go, and only rarely exceeded those limits. Police officers were respected.
Now young yobs know there is no limit to their actions as penalties are meaningless, doing little but add to the clan kudos they receive. Police officers know longer sort out yobs, by insisting they move on or get nicked. Lawyers of all types grow richer. The populace feels threatened. That is not justice.
Let the police handle the streets. Make them walk alone, without reflective jackets. Let them face these young people and build respect, save in the knowledge that the system of justice will back up the police officer who appears to act properly.
Above all do not let lawyers get involved with that end of the law. Scrap the CPS today.
