I despair. I know it’s not new, but media matters seem to have taken a distinct turn for the worse, creating stories out of nothing and spinning faster than a whirling dervish.

Take today, the dentist story. I don’t know the truth of the matter, but the line about the person “who said they had removed 14 of their own teeth with pliers” is picked up reported everywhere, mostly to make it sound as if it was happening up and down the country (Radio 4 did it straight). Why? WHY???? We know this guy is a nutter, probably working on a self-vasectomy right now. What does it add tot he story? Why has it any validity, beyond salacious titivation. How is that responsible journalism?

Take politics. (I wish you would, I am apolitical) The current mantra from the Conservatives, “Labour are stealing our policies” gleefully picked up by all the media as touted as somehow being a bad thing. What? WHAT??? Why the heck should it be seen as a bad thing if one party decided to adopt whatever policies were best for the country (and of course, themselves) no matter where they came from? As voters, we have the ability, right and duty to vote for who we belive is most able to act in our best interests at elections. Like it or not, that’s democracy., at least as practiced in this country.

Take the Middle East (I wish you would, they are all as bad as one another). It is a horribly mucky area, and there is no side that has acquited themselves well. But whatever the rights and wrongs, and there are an awful number of those, I am amazed with the current spin on reporting. Israel, we are being told, carried out a “land grab”on the Palestinians in 67 & 73. Hang on. I remember those dates. There was little doubt at the time that the arab countries were the aggressors, their stated desire at the time was to eradicate the state of Israel, as is still the intention of Hamas, and they lost. No way can one paragraph do justice to the situation, but that was no anschluss. History being rewritten before our very eyes.

Is it just me?

Dear Mr UK Payments Organization, I’ve just stayed in a Hotel in France and they wrote my name, address, card number and security code on a piece of paper with a list of lots of others. That’s wrong. What can I do?

Dear Mr Gub. Every time you give your number over the phone you have to trust that they will deal with it properly. So that’s OK.

Dear Little Ms UK PO. That’s a cop-out. I know about the regulations - this is a breach.

Dear Mr Gub, You can complain to your card issuer. But don’t expect too much because they are in the UK and the hotel was in France. Signed Senior Mr UK PO.

Dear Senior Mr PO. Thanks, that’s what I needed to know, and that’s the exact problem. Card fraud on UK holders is rising most quickly on the continent since the introduction of Chip & PIN. I know not much will happen but the only way things will improve is if people say something when there is a problem.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Lets get this straight, blogging wasn’t always a rambling quasi-diary or photo album. In its first guise it was a way of sharing what you had found on the net. Those were the days when compuserve was king (or at least, the only place you could be certain of finding the content you wanted) and out in the wild Internet frontier was all the rest of the stuff. Browsers had only got to Version 3 and hopefully the site you wanted to view was optimised to load on your brand new 9600 baud modem. Newsgroups and offline readers were the order of the day, so it made some sense to share the good stuff that you found, only not really enough for me to bother with. When I re-discovered blogging two years ago, it had changed out of all recognition.

However, it is still good to share the interesting stuff you find out there, and having just found a quirky cartoonist that makes me smile, I’ll share it with you all: The Rut.

It’s a Belgian farting pig cartoon.

And it’s a perfect accompaniment to my prediction lots of people are going to get married.

Hello World. The Pig is back.

No great secret, and very shortly I will have a reason to make it public knowledge (more of which as the days go by). The reason for the absence was that the Old Sow was a little poorly with cancer, or more specifically poorly through the breast cancer treatment and time was a bit of an issue. That, and inclination. I’m pleased to report that the treatment (2 ops, 6 months of chemo and 5 weeks of radiotherapy) is now concluded. Somewhat surprisingly there is no test for healthy, so we have to adjust to the uncertainty and just get on with life.

Time availability is not that much better than it was (actually it is worse) but the inclination is. So expect odd irregular posting. Nothing changes.

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Harrumph……testing testing testing, 1, 2, 3.14159265 (after all, pigs like pies)

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Due to circumstances entirely beyond my control, this blog is going into suspended animation. If you’d like to be notified in the event of a resurrection and Second Coming, leave a comment. Thanks for stopping by.

Gub Gub

Now you can see, (This is a clicky one, too.)

It Can Be Done.
Why? Awww…. you had to be there.

Would like to share with you an image of the well known November flowering Clematis. What is going on?

We (that is you and I) get given stuff. Like this ‘ere big house, and works of art, and stuff. This is Kingston Lacy in Dorset. We visited when we were down over the weekend and it is truly astonishing - each room has a “wow” factor, each room is different. The art collection is phenomenal: Reubens, Van Dyke, Titian, Breughel, Reynolds. Some of the wood carving would blow your mind - some of the largest Grinling Gibbons pieces I’ve ever seen. (mind you my favourite of his is a “piece exemplar” of a rose in Chatsworth). I could go on about the frescos, the furniture, the fittings but you probably have got the picture. The entire house and contents is as it was left to the National Trust. And now its ours. Isn’t that nice? I don’t think that would have happened without the spectre of Death Duties. (If you are National Trust members, you get in free, too.)

Unfortunately, no photographs allowed in the house, but there are large numbers of staff who are helpful and enthusiastic sharing their knowledge. Put it on your list of “must see” places for the west country, really. You won’t be disappointed.

This week we are being urged to make wills. This pig has been contemplating the meaning of life and inheritance and would like to float the following bold statement. The principle of inheritance - passing on acquired wealth and chattels - is at the heart of just about all that is wrong with society and at the same time, all that is best.

Today I’d like to suggest that inheritance tax is good, and that being able to pass money to children (or others) is ine of the most socially divisive things that can happen. It can only serve to increase the gulf between the rich and poor, the have and have nots. These days, it may be the only way that some people might hope to own their own home, but surely the constant drip of inherited wealth into thehousing market is what makes homes so unaffordable. How else could such a gulf open up between the average cost of a houseand average earnings? This link shows it at 4.3 x in 2000, it’s 4.9 x now.

So, tax inheritance more heavily and redistribute. I wonder if this attitude is inspired by the chances of myself or the old sow receiving any substantial inheritance being close to zero.

Some people are like Slinkies…
Not really good for anything but they still bring a smile to your face when
you push them down a flight of stairs.

I recommend this clip from an American comedy show.

How come “Teenager” has three syllables?

I was going to do a short post, musing about blogging and how - unfortunately - this blog is the first thing to disappear under pressure. Sort of an apology to the few who take the trouble to visit, that updates don’t happen more regularly. My first first love really does have to take precedence. As that can be time consuming, my opportunities to create what may be interesting or informative posts are restricted.

However, I have just discovered that London Daily Photo has just made it into the top 50 most influential UK blogs (on a manaully created list). Zowie. In at number 50 but only 7 behind the mighty DG. In the same room as the Londonist. Gosh.

Well, I had to tell someone

I have my suspicions about this, but the execution is good. Come to think of it, execution might be good.
Talking of execution, I couldn’t bring myself to embed this one, I suspect that these folks may be planning an assault on DG Towers. Look I’ve warned you, if you click on it it is your fault, OK?

I found this which I thought was quite clever.

Well, I have had a couple of emails, so here are the rest of the songs from that tape.
Tex Delaware
This song was inspired by the odd tendency in the midlands and north working men’s clubland to generate home grown Country and Western performers. Best described by Pete (in a line I remember from way back then) as “Driving round in a Reliant Robin with a Cadillac emblem bolted to the front.”
This song is an affectionate and humourous parody, a combination few achieve.

He fixes TV’s in the daytime
but at night he treads the boards
He knows 10,000 cowboy tunes,
He only needs three chords
Tex Delaware

This next is about being a stage hand in a show where Jean Laportaire sung Edith Piaf.

I’m the shadow of a shadow show
Jean Laportaire

Now two songs about love coming to an end, served up from an interesting angle

We’ve been falling out all over town…
Falling out

Me I don’t mind falling,
But I’m tired of landing on my head
Falling on my head

For completeness, a “Miss you” song, called appropriately enough Miss You.

I don’t have time to do this post justice right now, so I’m going to split it. This is the first post about the music of Pete Scott who, it turns out, is back in the singing business again. Rather than blather on, I’ve put up a few songs. These tracks are from a demo casette tape which he gave me (at a best guess) 25 years ago, which I havenow recorded.

I liked his songs because they are a unusually competent blend of good writing with humour, quite often about the human condition. Although they are notionally folk, if you like lyrics, I would recommend you to try them. Here are a few and dependant on the reaction I will post some more and fill in some details of the story as I know it. Let me know what you think.

Song 1

For slow hunger we’ve got fast food
Everything we need

Song 2

I’ll sing you my story, my brief history
A list of my hangups in the key of C
Blues in C

Song 3

How can you go, when there have been so many goodbyes….
So Many Goodbyes

I saw this headline today and had to share it. Aloong hte lines of dog bites man, more than man bites dog.
Sorry for general busy-ness and absence folks.