HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL – with all due respect and wishing no offence whatsoever to those of you of other religions and creeds who do not acknowledge any significance in this season of the year 2014 (in the Christian calendar – while recognising that not all people acknowledge the Christian chronology), and acknowledging also that those other traditions may well be celebrating strange beliefs of their own and always remembering – and respecting equally – those souls who freely choose NOT to subscribe to any religious dogmas but successfully live their lives and get drunk regularly, like all normal people.
DISCLAIMER: Expressing the hope that you have a 'Happy Christmas' does not come with any warranty or guarantee, express or implied that you will actually have one. No liability is accepted in the event of your failure to do so and you are not under any obligation to do so against your wishes or inclinations.
USER GUIDE AND SAFETY ADVISORY: The greeting has been stress-tested under laboratory conditions: it has been scanned and is free of all known viruses but if the embarrassing " Secret Place" rash occurs within four days, go to the specialist clinic.
This is an equal opportunity greeting and applies to all, irrespective of their favourite disgusting fetish, which football team they support, how awful their dress sense or how judderingly-stupid they are (French people & Social Service wankers excepted). The sentiments and wishes contained in this greeting may settle during transit. The picture on the outside of this greeting may not always accurately reflect the content inside It. This greeting is gender-neutral, nut-free , gluten free, dairy free, organic, vegan and vegetarian-friendly, child-friendly and requires no personal information or access to your bank account.
Please adjust your dress and wash your hands before leaving this greeting. Slippery when wet. May cause dizziness if taken with alcohol. Do not exceed the recommended dose. Always read the instructions. If you are under 10 years of age, seek the advice of an adult. Height restrictions may apply during the holiday season. No animals were hurt in constructing this greeting. Only one per person. Mind how you go. Always turn the tap off and put the lid down before leaving the bathroom. Never take sweets from strangers in public lavatories. Your mummy and daddy were right all along. There, there. Settle down.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
TODAY, NOBODY IS ACCOUNTABLE
Nowt's for nowt. They understand the way things work in Lancashire and Yorkshire!
That's a distinctly Newtonian proposition, when you think about it. Everything has some sort of reciprocal, whether it is payment for something received, an action or response resulting from some other action or a responsibility or duty necessarily incurred when rights and benefits are conferred.
So what's gone wrong with that equation? Today, that very proposition is a concept too far for a depressingly large percentage of our population. There is no shortage of pressure groups, vociferously lobbying on behalf of one set of 'rights' or another -- animal rights, human rights, this or that minority group's rights. Nor is there any shortage of legal vultures, fighting for their share of the money generated for their once-honourable profession as one spurious claim after another is rewarded, to the disgust of the rest of us. What a strange circus we have! Recession-proof politicians with a taxpayer-funded retirement package of great generosity – matched only by Trades Union barons with inflation-proof remuneration paid for by their members, with an expenses culture denied to the rest of society, publicly proclaiming their distaste and condemnation of fat-cat businessmen. At the same time, journalists with a flexible moral and expenses culture of their own fulminate loudly and angrily about both of them -- with an army of Rumpoles in the wings, trying to decide which of the available troughs they should dive into.
On the whole, I think it's the businessmen who come out of it best.
Why is nobody responsible these days?
Monday, February 03, 2014
LEGALISE COCA TEA
COCAINE.
(Before you read this, I have absolutely no vested interest in the subject. I say this because when I read it myself, I thought it read uncomfortably like a marketing pitch!)
I would guess that, in terms of UK crime figures, one of the major causes is the import and supply of Class A drugs – heroin & cocaine, including crack. Of these, as well as the criminal damage they inflict on society, heroin and cocaine cause a wide range of health problems. The damage done by heroin quite often results from the impurities added to reduce its purity.
Then we come to cocaine. Anything that requires industrial grade hydrochloric acid in its preparation as got to be suspect from the start! Pure cocaine is lethal: it 'hits' so quickly and massively that it creates a blood pressure surge that overwhelms the heart. That is why it has to be 'cut' with other substances to reduce its impact. Those adulterants themselves, as with heroin, do serious damage to the liver while cocaine corrodes the nasal passages and the habit leads to paranoia anyway! Yes, 'something must be done', as they say but nothing seems to work while Julian Critchley, former drugs adviser to the Cabinet now thinks that legalising -- and thereby regulating and monitoring -- narcotics is the only sensible policy.
A SOLUTION?
It seems to me that one way to seriously damage the entire cocaine industry would be to attack it financially, at source, by making it so prohibitively expensive that the market would wither. Fortunately, we in Europe have a relatively simple means of doing this that would have some major benefits. What I'm proposing is that we legalise the import and consumption of coca tea, a beverage widely and regularly consumed by nationals of those countries where coca is produced. Those countries have a long tradition of drinking it and its benefits are often ignored in the West, simply because it is used to produce cocaine. Of course, the same logic could be used to outlaw the consumption of grapes by children under 18 because they are the principal ingredients in wine and brandy!
COCA LEAF AND COCA TEA ARE NOT THE SAME AS COCAINE.
Apart from coca tea being readily available on tap in most hotels in the Andes and being a retail item -- teabags -- throughout the area, it is also available simply as a leaf: agricultural labourers just chew it, often for hours, because it gives them greater endurance, keeps them alert and helps keep hunger at bay. It is particularly beneficial at the high altitudes because it is also effective in combating altitude sickness, by improving the body's ability to absorb oxygen from the thin air.
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION SUPPORTS COCA TEA
Studies (Nutritional value of Coca Leaf, Harvard University, 1975) have shown that although cocaine is one of the chemical constituents of the coca leaf, it is present in such small quantities that you would actually need to drink around 500 teabags of coca tea in order to ingest the 1g of cocaine that is present in one single 'line' -- that's around 80 litres or 20+ gallons! At the same time, its effects are quite interesting:
-- it increases alertness and sustained concentration
-- it contains vitamins, potassium and trace elements
-- it improves stamina and ability to resist fatigue
-- it is a mild appetite suppressant
-- it is a very mild stimulant
-- it is particularly high in antioxidants
-- it helps with oxygen absorption -- hence its altitude sickness relevance
-- it is definitely non-addictive
-- it helps regulate the heart and circulation
-- it aids digestion
-- it is suitable for old and infirm alike
Anecdotal evidence from tourists to Peru and Colombia consistently supports the proposition that it is basically a risk-free and physically beneficial beverage. It's widely packaged and retailed in exactly the same way as Tetley Tea. Even today, Coca-Cola import around 30,000 tonnes of coca leaf for flavouring although it is stripped of its cocaine content at the insistence of the DEA, as a condition of import. The reason they insist on that process is because a chemical analysis of a coca leaf will certainly indicate the presence of cocaine. It's one of about 15 identifiable components, (I think) and a small one at that: there's no way you could get 'high' on coca tea. Even George Bush, on a visit to Colombia was drinking it as he held a brief press conference although he didn't know it at the time. It was his host's sneaky way of demonstrating its harmlessness and the fact that it did not have any great euphoric 'hit' to make you hunger for more!
EFFECT ON COCAINE TRADE
There are a number of benefits to this proposition. First, if coca tea became an acceptable beverage in Europe, demand for the coca crop would make its legitimate commercial exploitation far more attractive to the Andean farmers. This would raise its price to such an extent that the cost of producing cocaine would rise massively: at the very least, this would raise the street price so that it became prohibitively expensive for many who, at present, consider it cheap and affordable. All too often, the introduction to cheap cocaine draws in the younger and potentially more vulnerable user. The same would be true of its crack derivative. It may not kill the business completely but it would do it serious damage and in the process reduce the incidence of much of the petty crime and violence that surrounds the traffic. If the US followed suit, it could be a terminal blow for the cocaine trade.
BENEFITS FOR ANDEAN HILL FARMERS
A second major benefit would be to the growers themselves. Able to farm the crop legitimately and sell for a higher price than before, the economic circumstances of an impoverished group of farmers would be significantly improved. So too would the economies of their country, without the need for foreign aid because the coca bush requires the sort of growing conditions only provided in the Americas by the Andes or the Rockies at certain altitudes.
There would be other benefits, not so immediately apparent. As cocaine production declined and its market shrank, the peripheral apparatus that supports the trafficking would also shrink -- those who transport it, the use of 'mules', the various middlemen etc.
In short, coca tea has been enjoyed by natives of Peru, Colombia and Bolivia for centuries and should be made available to European consumers. It's beneficial, gives a lift, improves alertness and concentration, helps fight fatigue and is non-addictive. I commend it to the nation!
(Before you read this, I have absolutely no vested interest in the subject. I say this because when I read it myself, I thought it read uncomfortably like a marketing pitch!)
I would guess that, in terms of UK crime figures, one of the major causes is the import and supply of Class A drugs – heroin & cocaine, including crack. Of these, as well as the criminal damage they inflict on society, heroin and cocaine cause a wide range of health problems. The damage done by heroin quite often results from the impurities added to reduce its purity.
Then we come to cocaine. Anything that requires industrial grade hydrochloric acid in its preparation as got to be suspect from the start! Pure cocaine is lethal: it 'hits' so quickly and massively that it creates a blood pressure surge that overwhelms the heart. That is why it has to be 'cut' with other substances to reduce its impact. Those adulterants themselves, as with heroin, do serious damage to the liver while cocaine corrodes the nasal passages and the habit leads to paranoia anyway! Yes, 'something must be done', as they say but nothing seems to work while Julian Critchley, former drugs adviser to the Cabinet now thinks that legalising -- and thereby regulating and monitoring -- narcotics is the only sensible policy.
A SOLUTION?
It seems to me that one way to seriously damage the entire cocaine industry would be to attack it financially, at source, by making it so prohibitively expensive that the market would wither. Fortunately, we in Europe have a relatively simple means of doing this that would have some major benefits. What I'm proposing is that we legalise the import and consumption of coca tea, a beverage widely and regularly consumed by nationals of those countries where coca is produced. Those countries have a long tradition of drinking it and its benefits are often ignored in the West, simply because it is used to produce cocaine. Of course, the same logic could be used to outlaw the consumption of grapes by children under 18 because they are the principal ingredients in wine and brandy!
COCA LEAF AND COCA TEA ARE NOT THE SAME AS COCAINE.
Apart from coca tea being readily available on tap in most hotels in the Andes and being a retail item -- teabags -- throughout the area, it is also available simply as a leaf: agricultural labourers just chew it, often for hours, because it gives them greater endurance, keeps them alert and helps keep hunger at bay. It is particularly beneficial at the high altitudes because it is also effective in combating altitude sickness, by improving the body's ability to absorb oxygen from the thin air.
SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION SUPPORTS COCA TEA
Studies (Nutritional value of Coca Leaf, Harvard University, 1975) have shown that although cocaine is one of the chemical constituents of the coca leaf, it is present in such small quantities that you would actually need to drink around 500 teabags of coca tea in order to ingest the 1g of cocaine that is present in one single 'line' -- that's around 80 litres or 20+ gallons! At the same time, its effects are quite interesting:
-- it increases alertness and sustained concentration
-- it contains vitamins, potassium and trace elements
-- it improves stamina and ability to resist fatigue
-- it is a mild appetite suppressant
-- it is a very mild stimulant
-- it is particularly high in antioxidants
-- it helps with oxygen absorption -- hence its altitude sickness relevance
-- it is definitely non-addictive
-- it helps regulate the heart and circulation
-- it aids digestion
-- it is suitable for old and infirm alike
Anecdotal evidence from tourists to Peru and Colombia consistently supports the proposition that it is basically a risk-free and physically beneficial beverage. It's widely packaged and retailed in exactly the same way as Tetley Tea. Even today, Coca-Cola import around 30,000 tonnes of coca leaf for flavouring although it is stripped of its cocaine content at the insistence of the DEA, as a condition of import. The reason they insist on that process is because a chemical analysis of a coca leaf will certainly indicate the presence of cocaine. It's one of about 15 identifiable components, (I think) and a small one at that: there's no way you could get 'high' on coca tea. Even George Bush, on a visit to Colombia was drinking it as he held a brief press conference although he didn't know it at the time. It was his host's sneaky way of demonstrating its harmlessness and the fact that it did not have any great euphoric 'hit' to make you hunger for more!
EFFECT ON COCAINE TRADE
There are a number of benefits to this proposition. First, if coca tea became an acceptable beverage in Europe, demand for the coca crop would make its legitimate commercial exploitation far more attractive to the Andean farmers. This would raise its price to such an extent that the cost of producing cocaine would rise massively: at the very least, this would raise the street price so that it became prohibitively expensive for many who, at present, consider it cheap and affordable. All too often, the introduction to cheap cocaine draws in the younger and potentially more vulnerable user. The same would be true of its crack derivative. It may not kill the business completely but it would do it serious damage and in the process reduce the incidence of much of the petty crime and violence that surrounds the traffic. If the US followed suit, it could be a terminal blow for the cocaine trade.
BENEFITS FOR ANDEAN HILL FARMERS
A second major benefit would be to the growers themselves. Able to farm the crop legitimately and sell for a higher price than before, the economic circumstances of an impoverished group of farmers would be significantly improved. So too would the economies of their country, without the need for foreign aid because the coca bush requires the sort of growing conditions only provided in the Americas by the Andes or the Rockies at certain altitudes.
There would be other benefits, not so immediately apparent. As cocaine production declined and its market shrank, the peripheral apparatus that supports the trafficking would also shrink -- those who transport it, the use of 'mules', the various middlemen etc.
In short, coca tea has been enjoyed by natives of Peru, Colombia and Bolivia for centuries and should be made available to European consumers. It's beneficial, gives a lift, improves alertness and concentration, helps fight fatigue and is non-addictive. I commend it to the nation!
Sunday, January 26, 2014
PRIMARY EDUCATION – WHY IT MUST BE BASIC
THE ROLE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION.
What is primary education for? In a nutshell, it is to equip young people with all the tools they will need to get the most out of the education system and make the most of their talents. Fashions and priorities and methods change regularly but two things have been the bedrock foundation of our education for generations -- numeracy and literacy.
Literacy is our ability to read and understand the English language and the ability to express ourselves comfortably and with variety, both verbally and in writing. Grammar and spelling are integral to the process. Numeracy isn't advanced maths: it's being comfortable in using and manipulating the basic arithmetic functions, both mentally and written. All other education, from pre-Norman history at age nine to pilot training or medical School requires those skills. They are absolutely fundamental to subsequent learning and if learned early, they make future learning easier and faster.
What else? A sound basic grasp of the Earth's geography -- continents, oceans, the world's great rivers, deserts and mountains will give some context to the UK. A good basic knowledge of the UK -- main cities, rivers, ports. The map of Europe and its constituent countries should be familiar images.
Our history is important. It is essential that everybody here, including those who choose to come here and make their lives here, should grow up with a sound basic understanding of how, why and when this country came about, up to the Norman conquest at least. At this stage, if the teachers have done their job, secondary schools should be welcoming pupils with all the resources and training they will need for some serious education.
An old school friend of mine -- Grammar School, not public -- told me that he had been obliged to give additional ("remedial" was his word) English lessons to some of his first-year students at Cambridge! They have the brains, he told me but had been very badly-served by their teachers. They needed showing how to write properly-constructed papers for their course and even needed guidance on the use of English! He was a Fellow of King's College and in despair at the quality of modern secondary teaching.
It's no surprise that secondary education standards are dropping when the politicisation of teaching methods in primary schools and the knee-jerk rejection by the left – politicians and teaching unions both – to the old-fashioned methods of our parents and grandparents is creating generation after generation of pupils completely unprepared for and unable to benefit from secondary education. Add to that the fact that many of today's teachers are themselves victims of this dumbing down process. Like many of today's pupils, they are far better than the teaching system has allowed them to demonstrate -- while telling them that their academic record is excellent. It isn't always the case. When they are the result of the corrupted system that tells them that they are "excellent" when clearly they are not, they are bound to fight back against their detractors. They are victims, defending the system that victimised them and determined to carry on the process! You couldn't make it up.
If anything, technology may have made things worse, by enabling young people to manage without those basic skills. That way, they may even be solving problems without properly understanding the nature of the problem -- or how & why it was solved!
What is primary education for? In a nutshell, it is to equip young people with all the tools they will need to get the most out of the education system and make the most of their talents. Fashions and priorities and methods change regularly but two things have been the bedrock foundation of our education for generations -- numeracy and literacy.
Literacy is our ability to read and understand the English language and the ability to express ourselves comfortably and with variety, both verbally and in writing. Grammar and spelling are integral to the process. Numeracy isn't advanced maths: it's being comfortable in using and manipulating the basic arithmetic functions, both mentally and written. All other education, from pre-Norman history at age nine to pilot training or medical School requires those skills. They are absolutely fundamental to subsequent learning and if learned early, they make future learning easier and faster.
What else? A sound basic grasp of the Earth's geography -- continents, oceans, the world's great rivers, deserts and mountains will give some context to the UK. A good basic knowledge of the UK -- main cities, rivers, ports. The map of Europe and its constituent countries should be familiar images.
Our history is important. It is essential that everybody here, including those who choose to come here and make their lives here, should grow up with a sound basic understanding of how, why and when this country came about, up to the Norman conquest at least. At this stage, if the teachers have done their job, secondary schools should be welcoming pupils with all the resources and training they will need for some serious education.
An old school friend of mine -- Grammar School, not public -- told me that he had been obliged to give additional ("remedial" was his word) English lessons to some of his first-year students at Cambridge! They have the brains, he told me but had been very badly-served by their teachers. They needed showing how to write properly-constructed papers for their course and even needed guidance on the use of English! He was a Fellow of King's College and in despair at the quality of modern secondary teaching.
It's no surprise that secondary education standards are dropping when the politicisation of teaching methods in primary schools and the knee-jerk rejection by the left – politicians and teaching unions both – to the old-fashioned methods of our parents and grandparents is creating generation after generation of pupils completely unprepared for and unable to benefit from secondary education. Add to that the fact that many of today's teachers are themselves victims of this dumbing down process. Like many of today's pupils, they are far better than the teaching system has allowed them to demonstrate -- while telling them that their academic record is excellent. It isn't always the case. When they are the result of the corrupted system that tells them that they are "excellent" when clearly they are not, they are bound to fight back against their detractors. They are victims, defending the system that victimised them and determined to carry on the process! You couldn't make it up.
If anything, technology may have made things worse, by enabling young people to manage without those basic skills. That way, they may even be solving problems without properly understanding the nature of the problem -- or how & why it was solved!
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