You can read the first part of ‘Just a walk in the park’ here
Some recent comments made by senior civil servants, local government officials and emergency service personnel may suggest to many that there actually could well be a problem with much of the public sector and any third sector organisation with ‘trust’ in its title (National Trust anyone?) which operates in the ‘not the’ United Kingdom. To be fair though, if you, as either somebody made redundant from what was until the last few months a respectable and fairly stable job in the private sector, or one of the three million people who received little comfort from ‘we are all in this together – Boris’ or ‘Dishy Rishi’s’ furlough payments, you can rest assured that, like advertising and marketing, ‘if you don’t understand the message, it’s not aimed at you’, in which case, you may like to ask why you are expected to keep paying taxes for it.
Not that government messages seem to be having much of a success at the moment; well, apart from devotees of the mainstream media and BBC and Sky News – you can tell them as they all wear face masks in their gardens, in the street and large public areas. Incredibly, I watched somebody wearing a face muzzle driving at 60 mph towards me in an open top sports car this morning, which just goes to show the power of advertising or its 2020 equivalent ‘brainwashing’.
Goodness knows what will happen next. Maybe people will be standing outside their homes at an agreed time clapping something or other in the sky and calling the people who don’t or won’t clap ‘lunatics’, which is apparently anyone who doesn’t actually think that the World Health Organization is the unbiased font of world knowledge, that government advisors don’t have any particular axe to grind and do not have vested interests, but who thinks that ‘following the science’ actually means taking cognisance of other eminent scientific thought, that the cabinet headed by Boris Johnson would have given deep thought to the consequences of what they were saying and the diktats they were issuing instead of riding roughshod over Parliamentary procedure and the rights of citizens that can be traced back to the Magna Carta. But then, as our world class educational system barely turns out anyone with a grasp of history further away than last week, why should we worry?
Well, thank goodness there are amongst us those to do worry and have a grasp of what is going on here and just what is at stake. Never would the war-time generation of whom we hear so much when it suits the government and the media, have thought for one minute that the mass of the population in the United Kingdom would give up and be cowed into submission by a virus. Our parents, grandparents and great grandparents were not frightened into sullen submission by the First World War, the great flu epidemic, the great economic depression or the trials and tribulations of the Second World War.
‘OK boomer’ you may say (as many do, not knowing what they are talking about and probably unable to cope with one tenth of what those generations endured), but we are where we are. Too right we are, and it’s been warned against for at least the last 30 years. So what has happened to change the nature of a nation that, in the life time of the baby boomers, saw the Korean War, Suez Crisis, the cold war, the threat of nuclear war, the decline of the nation’s industrial might and it’s Armed Services, The Falklands War, two Gulf Wars, the Northern Ireland troubles, various threats from economic forces and health scares; who can forget the flu epidemic that killed thousands in 1968/69, HIV Aids, ebola, bird flu, swine flu, you name it, the post war generations have seen it all. So what happened to the backbone of the nation? Certainly the age of instant 24/7 TV, manipulated news and opinion must have had some part to play but, is it as many suspect, to paraphrase the words of Harold ‘super mac’ Macmillan, too many have had too easy and too good for too long, combined with a culture of no fault, no blame, of little personal responsibility and too much instant credit and instant cash.
If they haven’t already done enough damage to the health and futures of millions, apparently scientists or government ministers are considering various new lockdown restrictions. This time it’s mooted that ‘we’ should ‘shield’ the over 45s. Well, there’s a thought. Why not make it 35 as across the age groups you can see that people even in their 50s, 60s and 70s have never ever grown up, cosseted by the welfare state, safe in the knowledge that nanny NHS will take care of their health and social service provision, narcissistic and selfish in the extreme, besotted by Twitter selfies (the clues in the name), and never ever having to face or deal with anything outside of their closeted experience, never ever having to deal with anything nasty. You can see it in their behaviour, their mode of dress, and the mawkish sentimentality that has pervaded British life since the death of Diana. Everything, every ‘tragedy’ swept away, with a bunch of flowers or pretty lights, or unimaginative sentimental comments on Twitter.
Now, for the first time in generations many adults, instead of showing clear and leadership to younger generations, cower behind face coverings, closed windows and net curtains, ready to ‘dob in’ their neighbours for not following some edict or other; they queue up in masks and sunglasses to panic buy – often anything that moves – because a teenage influencer on social media creates a panic that’s taken up by some main-stream media journalist too self-important to get away from a keyboard and actually talk to people in the street.
Thanks to the marvels of the latest technology, people can and do talk to others all over the world, and what do you find? That many are totally bemused by what is happening in the UK and by the demoralising picture painted by the British media.
It looks as if the coming months will be difficult; unemployment will cause financial hardship for many and the ongoing psychological attack by government departments and civil serpents, aided by sections of the media, on the morale of the nation will do more damage than the virus.
Odd how anyone who points this out soon comes under attack from the media, although happily it’s good to see how many others are now getting back to some semblance of normality and ignoring all the gloom and doom.
It remains to be seen if they again will be dragged down by the sullen masses often soaking up the propaganda and fear agenda from the safety of the public sector and its furlough payments.
So far Boris has failed dismally to get a grip on just about everything, with the possible exception of Brexit, so perhaps a couple of once popular expressions may help Boris to get out of the self-made mire.
‘Pull your finger out’ or as HRH Princess Anne said on more than one occasion, ‘just naff off’.
can someone say which Law authorised councils to put tank traps with flowers all over the place ?
DO they think the barrages will stop a virus ?
Well going back to Norman’s post today – what a super picture and the coppers conversation too. The khan and dick bit is very apt and also up to date. So it is NOT ALL the fault of the Tories and the bungling circus performer.
Russell I’m sure you are right in much of what you say about how to organise a demo/protest and it really is disgraceful how the lockdown protest was ‘dealt with’ by our once respected police force. Also, I have not forgotten that Piers Corbyn was arrested out of that protest. Khan and Dick again? or o.k. maybe the present Tory administration. And the knee bending to BLM? The buck has to stop somewhere.
Isn’t Norman’s post saying this awful creeping undermining of all our old determination and values has been going on for a long long time. That’s how I read it.
One thing I find strange, thinking about it again, what I’ve seen round here is that it is often the oldies that are masked and cowering – exactly those who HAVE lived through the Hong Kong flu, for example. The real youngsters seem unaffected, presumably never watching Beeb or MSM. Also some relatively young are just getting on with their lives/work as best they can.
The young believe if they do catch the lurgy, they will be little affected. They don’t worry about anyone else.
SELFISH SCUM!
The young are quite correct in that they will be almost utterly unaffected. For example no one in Scotland under the age of 25 has died with Covid, including those with underlying health conditions. No one of any age who is healthy has much to worry about actually.
Selfish is when old people who’ve had all their best years already insist on those with their lives still ahead of them to lead massively restricted and controlled lives so they feel protected. Were you like this with flu Harry? In your younger days did you wear a mask every time you went out to avoid killing grannies? Why not? Bit selfish no?
I think the younger generation especially born since 2000 aprox, are the most abused generation in history. They have been evilly indoctrinated, force fed disgusting sex lessons even at primary school, dehumanised, muzzled, incarcerated, denied any fun and will inherit a hellish impoverished totalitarian future. The older generation lazily sat back allowing this downward spiral. Calling them selfish scum is deeply deeply offensive and unless this was tongue in cheek I wonder about sanity of someone who calls them that.
The BLM are simply gangsters………..and how do gangsters deal with the Police? They bung them………
misterpaul5a…………..I don’t think so, at least not in my day in the police we didn’t. Gangsters and the like were harassed on a daily basis and searched for drugs and weapons, and more often than not had their liberty removed for a few hours of more. At the end of the day, I wanted to draw my pension after 30 years, so any wrong doing did not enter my head. Straight as a dime, but hard with it. I entertained no mucking about. Firm but fair, and they knew where they stood…..
Thanks Norman for an interesting post. Yes I found the reaction to Diana’s death ‘mawkish sentimentality’. Looking back, perhaps that did mark some kind of turning point. At the time I blamed the French (papparazi). It certainly was not Her Majesty’s fault.
Whatever has happened to us. Can the tide be turned?
The reason for the decline and ‘spoiling’ of Diana? Fergie……….in a word!
misterpaul5a…………I think you might find it was the other way round.
The NEVER TRUST A TORY poster trucks were my design, we ran them all over Britain, they were shocking for the Tories. But I despair at the IQ of today’s lockdown protesters who just don’t understand how to protest and I tried to communicate this to some of the organisers.
Last weekend’s protest COULD have had the Tories crapping their pants today but the golden opportunity was missed. IF a few hundred people were carrying placards with ‘TORIES LYING ABOUT LOCKDOWN’ or ‘TORY SUMS DON’T ADD UP’ or ‘BORIS COULDN’T RUN A BATH, NEVER MIND BRITAIN’, then the impact and pressure on the Tories to change course would have been immense.
If you get some bad chicken from Tesco’s, do you protest about supermarkets in general or target Tesco’s? You target Tesco’s of course. The Tory brand is very very precious to them, so if you attack their brand they will panic big time.
A million people, mostly Labour supporters, marched against the Iraq War, they had thousands of banners BUT NOT ONE CRITICISED THEIR BELOVED LABOUR PARTY! So Blair just ignored them because he knew the muppets would all vote Labour next time, and they did.
For goodness sake protesters, show you mean it, go for the jugular.
Russell,
I liked and wanted to copy your Poster trucks for the potteries. I was told that the operation of them was being handled by UKIP Head Office. On being phoned I was told it was a secret and not to publicise or copy it because they were handling it.. I still consider it to have been a B***dy good idea.
Thank you! If I won the lottery tomorrow I’d have hundreds of those poster trucks all over Britain with the same message…because the Tories, more than any other parties, have tricked the British electorate into thinking they are in some way ‘conservative’ which they are not. They are a poisonous mixture of greedy property developers, mass immigration leftists and daft old colonels who think Margaret Thatcher is the leader, not the lying, cheating, secretly pro-EU bungling circus performer.
Why don’t you try a bit of crowd funding, Russell, and get a few of these trucks on the road? Bet it wouldn’t take long to raise a bit of cash. I’ll send you some!
We are all in debt to you Russell for your slick and effective sloganeering at such a critical time as it was back then.
What a good idea Debbie! Fully agree crowd funding would generate much interest in no time at all.
TG Spokes, you are having a Turkish Bath aren’t you? By the way that’s cockney slang for laugh. UKIP were always completely incapable of coordinating a protest of any description whether it was two’ people or a couple of hundred people. We literally had no guidance whatsoever from central office during the protests outside parliament over the last two or three years over European Union issue. It was always left to some other organisation to sort like Leave means Leave, and even those were a right old dogs dinner if I am to be honest, and before that they left it to Leave.eu who were also a shambles. Instead it fell to individual branches to organise these protests with the limited money at their disposal. Had it been done properly with the support of UKIP leaders, we could have had to the government of the day by the short and curlies, but instead they were left off. The ‘Remainers were always far more organised than the ‘Leave’ side, and the Leave side should have in fact been led by UKIP, but we were failed by them. One of the contributory factors as to why UKIP has effectively been neutralised now. Russel Hicks needs to move over to one of the new parties where I am sure his expertise would be warmly welcomed………….
OK Colin, rub it in why don’t you. However. Every hopeful leader with a couple of possible exceptions has lacked any leadership skills, or lacked knowledge of running anything much, or has rejected offers of help .Not understanding it is available. No-one seems to understand that computers can’t run anything. OK they have been known to spread stuff ( Usually useless ) around. Even Bolton was so dazzled he forgot or never knew to do the leg work.. All seemed to think that incessant repeated speaches would work .This is a failure of almost everybody in UKIP. ( I am pretty sure Gerard agreed some of it, and I think that is why he supported Richard Braine. Maybe )( He and Ben Walker are the only ones ever to respond. But Ben is totally captured by the idea that committees have to be obeyed.) Nigels private thought about it might be interesting . As it is he’s is stuck with what he knows and is safe with.. Must Stop. Old age Irritated by computers for more than a short time
Yes Russell Hicks totally agree with your second para. Excellent Slogans. Can you organise a new protest please.
Relevant now are certain clauses of the UN “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” :
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 11
1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Note especially:
Article 2: “political or other opinion”
Article 11: ” which did not constitute a penal offence”
Article 12: “arbitrary interference with his privacy”
The actions of government now are not so different from those of a totalitarian regime. We need to resist wherever possible.
Yesterday I a received a text telling me to download the NHS (unfortunately they have my number) tracking application. No need to say what happened to it!
So, Jack. SOME of the U.N. stuff is worth having! Shame it’s only the silly stuff OUR politicians know about. Is Norman right we are being laughed at around the world – sorry Norman people are bemused.
Yes, given my opposition to the UN I was surprised too, but if we can use it…
Certainly beats clapping the W.H.O. floating in the sky!
These rights don’t apply to indigenous Europeans as you would doubtless find if you tested it in legal proceedings
I am re reading and digesting this article 3 parts https://independencedaily.co.uk/how-the-echr-operates-part-3/
I’ve made enquiries on several occasions over what statute is being used to make legal the diktats issued from a lectern in Downing Street.
It can only be one of three, either the Coronavirus 2020 Act where there is nothing specific to many of the requirements laid down in such a forceful way, the Emergency Powers Act that is only used during wartime or the Public health Act 1984 which allows directives to be given and for parliament to then debate and vote on them afterwards. Prior to my enquiries I had always assumed statutory instruments were being used but that is now in doubt.
When parliament voted in haste last March for the Coronavirus Act it had for all intents and purposes abdicated its main purpose to exist by allowing the Executive the right to rule by diktat without any parliament scrutiny.
Only just over a week ago did parliament even discuss and subsequently vote on the diktats issued in August some four weeks after the event.
As always the government or ministerial diktats carried threats of fines and have been shown to be unlawful.
I hope no one that has received a fine has paid it and if so they should appeal. I have raised this with my MP who only tried to reassure me this situation was only temporary as his way of ducking the issue.
Now this week parliament is due to be asked to extend the “temporary” legislation for another six months so that Matt Hancock, the Frank Spencer of this motley government can continue it’s neck hold on the nation.
Even the proposed amendment by Graham Brady due for debate tomorrow is not a certainty unless a number of opposition MP’s support it.
But perhaps at last the few who are prepared to see the light are starting to speak out.
I posted this on Viv’s article but it is relevant to this one too so I’ll also post it here because I’m so appalled.
Have a look at this video and tell me if you think that we live in a police state, a state with its own Gestapo? These were mainly native Brits peacefully protesting that the police were beating with batons; if this had been Black Lives Matter violently protesting then the police would have taken the knee.
“Exclusive Video: Watch Cops Storm, Forcibly Shut Down Peaceful Anti-Lockdown Protest in London”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/09/27/covid-police-state-cops-shut-down-peaceful-anti-lockdown-protest-london/
Police slam woman to the ground during a peaceful protest:
https://yt3.ggpht.com/N32J8tCieQV-TqDMIy5DZ8HppWeXbQh4sT_nU8EyqUiTfvIxZmbhL201tCWlhK8N4woC_-qAm1n0nPk=s640-nd
This is disgusting and frightening stuff, I urge you to have look at the video.
The selfish idiots got what they deserved.