Only an idiot would say history is bunk.
Stone me. Someone did.
An American, inevitably. And not just any American but the man who gave the world the Ford motor car, named after Henry himself, and available in any colour as long as it’s black.
That was in 1916 but by then the die was cast. America was doomed and over a hundred years later it is rushing headlong towards catastrophe.
The “world’s greatest democracy” elected Donald Trump as president not once but twice. In between his two stints in the White House, it elected Joe Biden and might have re-elected him even though he had dementia.
What a dreadful choice: The village idiot lining his own pockets like a despotic banana republic dictator or the dead man stumbling.
How did it get to this? How did the United States of America degenerate to such a point that the world’s greatest superpower is now as divided and crumbling as it has been at any time since its civil war over slavery?
The answer, of course, lies in its history. You need to go back to the founding of the United States of America to see the seeds of its own destruction, where it all went wrong. It is reasonable to argue the answer to America’s woes today result from its very establishment 250 years ago when it rebelled against rule from Westminster. Its ‘founding fathers’ gave it a constitution which explains most of the United States’ twisted and unprepossessing history.
The truth is, America was not founded by men whose overwhelming desire was for liberty from the tyranny of a despotic King across the water. It was founded by gangsters, slave-owners and bigots who wanted to preserve the “liberty” to kill Roman Catholics and native Americans. They wanted to keep hold of their property – the black men and women who created their prosperity and allowed them to behave with unspeakable cruelty. They insisted someone else pay for their defence from native Americans without contributing a single dollar for their own security. They demanded the indulgence of all kinds of religious fundamentalism which are still a notable feature of American culture even today.
They rebelled against Britain for no better reason than that they wanted to remain intolerant in matters of religion, ignorant on the question of human rights, indigent when it came to maintaining any form of law or administration and isolated when it came to the 18th century enlightenment.
The USA was founded by religious fundamentalists who happily put witches on trial and burnt them. The country has never really abandoned its millennial fanaticism; indeed, much of today’s astonishing idiocy in America has its roots in the allegedly sacred “constitution” drawn up 250 years ago and now held – by deluded Americans only – a beacon of liberty for the whole world.
Let us for a moment consider the ridiculous right to bear arms.
This was established, in the second amendment to the constitution, so the country could maintain a militia. The Protestant fundamentalists inherited a horror of standing armies from the days of Oliver Cromwell’s military dictatorship in the 1650s. They needed local militias to protect themselves from an over-mighty army controlled by the President so the right to carry a gun was enshrined in law. The problem was the Americans never managed to differentiate between the quasi-military local armies and individuals with guns. Nor have they ever discovered the difference between a flint-lock musket and a modern machine gun. Instead, they have invested in their own little arms race where no-one trusts anyone else so everyone has to carry a gun.
Consider the famous words from the Declaration of Independence – mostly a long-winded whinge attacking King George for crimes he did not commit – “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
All created equal? Inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? The hypocrisy of this revered and much-lauded claim must have been astounding even when it was written. Obviously, women didn’t count. But what about other men, slaves for instance or native Americans? This equality led to a bloody civil war and genocide while the country even now retains an unspoken apartheid.
The United States of America is a dangerous, lawless and deeply-confused country which has never come to terms with the treachery, bloodshed and unresolved contradictions which gave it birth. They continue to paint George III as a tyrant and those loyal to Britain as traitors (they hanged enough of them). But America was established in blood and has wallowed in it ever since. It was not to be trusted 250 years ago. Nothing’s changed.
Friday, July 03, 2026
Saturday, June 20, 2026
Rats and sinking ships
Apparently, the people of Makerfield have voted for ‘change and hope’. Whoopee-doo.
Two years ago, the country elected Keir Starmer on the promise of change and no doubt that came with a dollop of hope too.
As the Parliamentary rats desert his sinking ship, we must surely ask: Change from, or to, what? A new Prime Minister, obviously, but then?
Surely, the leader of a provincial fiefdom whose greatest claim to fame is failing to win the Labour leadership twice then running away from Westminster does not inspire much hope.
The only changes we are likely to see are the further ruination of the economy (Ed Miliband as Chancellor? Angela Rayner as Foreign Secretary?), more extreme left-wing policies and Andrew Burnham’s smug satisfaction at slipping into Number Ten by the back door.
As Karl Marx said: ‘There is no change without sacrifice.’ Keir Starmer will not be the only sacrifice on the altar of Burnhamism.
Two years ago, the country elected Keir Starmer on the promise of change and no doubt that came with a dollop of hope too.
As the Parliamentary rats desert his sinking ship, we must surely ask: Change from, or to, what? A new Prime Minister, obviously, but then?
Surely, the leader of a provincial fiefdom whose greatest claim to fame is failing to win the Labour leadership twice then running away from Westminster does not inspire much hope.
The only changes we are likely to see are the further ruination of the economy (Ed Miliband as Chancellor? Angela Rayner as Foreign Secretary?), more extreme left-wing policies and Andrew Burnham’s smug satisfaction at slipping into Number Ten by the back door.
As Karl Marx said: ‘There is no change without sacrifice.’ Keir Starmer will not be the only sacrifice on the altar of Burnhamism.
Thursday, June 11, 2026
Time out for trade unions cost us £89 million
Andy Burnham’s Greater Manchester Combined Authority claims the 34 people whose trade union work takes up at least half their time only cost the taxpayer £121,000.
Finding this hard to believe, I checked the Government’s own data for what is called ‘trade union facility time’ for 2024-5. Oddly, this excludes Greater Manchester, London and similar fiefdoms.
Even without these, the taxpayer pays £89.8 million to allow civil servants, teachers, doctors, police officers and so on devote their time and our money to their various unions.
The civil service bill alone runs to £13.7 million with – every accountant will be delighted to learn – £2.29 million spent by HMRC, exceeded only by £3.2 million at the Ministry of Justice.
Our schools and universities spent £19.3 million on union activists while 312 local councils were in for £29.4 million (Birmingham’s bill was the most at £1.8 million).
The National Health Service devoted £18.9 million to unionists, including, we must suppose, the time it takes for the average junior doctor to get her act together sufficiently to organize yet another strike.
The police unions cost the taxpayer £5.3 million while ‘other’ public sector bodies cost us a further £3 million. Here, the BBC stands out: its 316 union reps cost the licence payer £775,000.
I still think GMCA’s modest £121,000 is a made-up number but, quite possibly, so are most of the others.
Birmingham NHS bosses warn of disruption ahead of strike - BBC News
Finding this hard to believe, I checked the Government’s own data for what is called ‘trade union facility time’ for 2024-5. Oddly, this excludes Greater Manchester, London and similar fiefdoms.
Even without these, the taxpayer pays £89.8 million to allow civil servants, teachers, doctors, police officers and so on devote their time and our money to their various unions.
The civil service bill alone runs to £13.7 million with – every accountant will be delighted to learn – £2.29 million spent by HMRC, exceeded only by £3.2 million at the Ministry of Justice.
Our schools and universities spent £19.3 million on union activists while 312 local councils were in for £29.4 million (Birmingham’s bill was the most at £1.8 million).
The National Health Service devoted £18.9 million to unionists, including, we must suppose, the time it takes for the average junior doctor to get her act together sufficiently to organize yet another strike.
The police unions cost the taxpayer £5.3 million while ‘other’ public sector bodies cost us a further £3 million. Here, the BBC stands out: its 316 union reps cost the licence payer £775,000.
I still think GMCA’s modest £121,000 is a made-up number but, quite possibly, so are most of the others.
Birmingham NHS bosses warn of disruption ahead of strike - BBC News
Remain optimistic about Brexit
It should be obvious to most people that Brexit is not the cause of this country’s woes and, indeed, that binding ourselves again to a fading 1950s pipe dream is liable to make things worse. GDP growth since 2015 in the G7 shows the following:
* 🇺🇸 USA: ~121 (Up 21%)
* 🇨🇦 Canada: ~116 (Up 16%)
* 🇫🇷 France: ~110 (Up 10%)
* 🇬🇧 UK: ~109 (Up 9%)
* 🇮🇹 Italy: ~106 (Up 6%)
* 🇩🇪 Germany: ~106 (Up 6%)
* 🇯🇵 Japan: ~104 (Up 4%)
We did worse during Covid than any of the others but rebounded faster than any G7 European country and Japan. The USA and Canada are doing best largely because they do not endure idiotically high energy prices.
In 2024, EU growth was 1.1 per cent, so was Britain’s. Last year, the EU average was 1.5, ours was 1.3 or 1.4 according to the Office for National Statistics. Admittedly that’s well below the 9 per cent recorded by the Cook Islands but above France, Germany, Italy, Austria or Canada.
The trouble with this endless argument about Brexit is that it is possible to find statistics to support both sides of the divide and that allows everyone emotionally invested in their abhorrence of the majority vote to get all aeriated about made-up numbers when the truth is they are all unreliable and untrustworthy. Does anyone seriously trust the numbers we get from Eurostat, the OECD, the World Bank, the IMF, even the ONS let alone the Treasury or the OBR?
Which means we are reduced to questions like getting through passport control with more difficulty or worrying about immigration and the absence of cheap Polish plumbers.
In the great scheme of things, Brexit is neither here nor there. We are at the mercy of Governments of limited competence and world events over which we have no control or even influence.
If the country is broken, don’t blame Brexit, blame the people trying to run it (and those who tried and failed). https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/
* 🇺🇸 USA: ~121 (Up 21%)
* 🇨🇦 Canada: ~116 (Up 16%)
* 🇫🇷 France: ~110 (Up 10%)
* 🇬🇧 UK: ~109 (Up 9%)
* 🇮🇹 Italy: ~106 (Up 6%)
* 🇩🇪 Germany: ~106 (Up 6%)
* 🇯🇵 Japan: ~104 (Up 4%)
We did worse during Covid than any of the others but rebounded faster than any G7 European country and Japan. The USA and Canada are doing best largely because they do not endure idiotically high energy prices.
In 2024, EU growth was 1.1 per cent, so was Britain’s. Last year, the EU average was 1.5, ours was 1.3 or 1.4 according to the Office for National Statistics. Admittedly that’s well below the 9 per cent recorded by the Cook Islands but above France, Germany, Italy, Austria or Canada.
The trouble with this endless argument about Brexit is that it is possible to find statistics to support both sides of the divide and that allows everyone emotionally invested in their abhorrence of the majority vote to get all aeriated about made-up numbers when the truth is they are all unreliable and untrustworthy. Does anyone seriously trust the numbers we get from Eurostat, the OECD, the World Bank, the IMF, even the ONS let alone the Treasury or the OBR?
Which means we are reduced to questions like getting through passport control with more difficulty or worrying about immigration and the absence of cheap Polish plumbers.
In the great scheme of things, Brexit is neither here nor there. We are at the mercy of Governments of limited competence and world events over which we have no control or even influence.
If the country is broken, don’t blame Brexit, blame the people trying to run it (and those who tried and failed). https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/
Tuesday, June 09, 2026
Forever blowing bubbles
David Sullivan has been accused of being a sexual predator. Who'd have thought?
Surely, if he was as disgusting as the BBC claims, then Baroness Karren Brady would never have had anything to do with him.
Surely, if he was as disgusting as the BBC claims, then Baroness Karren Brady would never have had anything to do with him.
Thursday, May 28, 2026
Some are more equal than others
Andy Burnham is terribly worried about inequality but happily he seems to be a subsistence-level would-be Prime Minister, according to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s spending for the first quarter of the year.
To most of us, subsistence probably means scraping by on the breadline but not to the Labour candidate for Makerfield.
Under the heading ‘subsistence’ we find two ‘Lunch In The City’ payments of £1,410 and £693 (curiously, a Stockport company called Lunch in the City, which supplied ‘boardroom buffets’, went bust two years ago).
A subsistence payment of £1,319.66 went to The Monastery, which boasts The Andy Burnham Café, and £3,576 of ‘subsistence’ was paid to Marketing Manchester.
Meanwhile Mr Burnham’s authority is still using private transport pretty freely. Two payments for taxis totalling £1,300 don’t compare with the £13,275 spent with Prestige Chauffeurs Ltd, maintaining the authority’s £1,000-a-week luxury limo habit. Nothing's too good for the workers.
Then there’s all the good causes. The Labour Party's favourite think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research was paid £33,333 in March while large sums went to all those magnificent charities which make our cities so vibrant at such modest cost to the public purse.
For instance, the Big Life Group got a little over £900,000 to carry on ‘fighting for equity in health, in wealth and in life’. That is dwarfed by the £4.47 million paid between January and March to the Growth Company, which aims to achieve ‘high value, sustainable and inclusive growth of people, business and places’.
Then there’s Streetgames UK (£123,000) which is ‘on a mission to bring sport to young people’s doorsteps’, Greater Together Manchester (£69,000) who ‘identify the causes and consequences of poverty, listening to communities and those with lived experience’ and Community Led Initiatives (£204,000) who ‘believe everyone deserves to feel valued, to be happy, to belong’.
Inevitably there’s £49,000 for the LGBT Foundation: ‘We’re not just a charity—we’re a community who all believe that LGBTQ+ people deserve safety, hope and joy.’ The foundation also ‘facilitates’ Mayor Burnham’s LGBTQ+ advisory panel. Perhaps this is the source of his confusion about what constitutes a woman.
Obviously vast sums are spent on consultants of one sort or another as well as the regular fees for agency staff (why can none of these organisations recruit and retain people?) along with 29 payments totalling £158,000 to recipients whose names are redacted.
As a caring employer, Mayor Burnham – a former Health Secretary – has spent over £170,000 on private medical treatment for his staff, including £4,700 on counselling and psychotherapy. As they used to say (but it’s probably not allowed any more): You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps.
Andy Burnham issues furious 1,500-word response to Tony Blair attack | Politics | News | Express.co.uk
To most of us, subsistence probably means scraping by on the breadline but not to the Labour candidate for Makerfield.
Under the heading ‘subsistence’ we find two ‘Lunch In The City’ payments of £1,410 and £693 (curiously, a Stockport company called Lunch in the City, which supplied ‘boardroom buffets’, went bust two years ago).
A subsistence payment of £1,319.66 went to The Monastery, which boasts The Andy Burnham Café, and £3,576 of ‘subsistence’ was paid to Marketing Manchester.
Meanwhile Mr Burnham’s authority is still using private transport pretty freely. Two payments for taxis totalling £1,300 don’t compare with the £13,275 spent with Prestige Chauffeurs Ltd, maintaining the authority’s £1,000-a-week luxury limo habit. Nothing's too good for the workers.
Then there’s all the good causes. The Labour Party's favourite think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research was paid £33,333 in March while large sums went to all those magnificent charities which make our cities so vibrant at such modest cost to the public purse.
For instance, the Big Life Group got a little over £900,000 to carry on ‘fighting for equity in health, in wealth and in life’. That is dwarfed by the £4.47 million paid between January and March to the Growth Company, which aims to achieve ‘high value, sustainable and inclusive growth of people, business and places’.
Then there’s Streetgames UK (£123,000) which is ‘on a mission to bring sport to young people’s doorsteps’, Greater Together Manchester (£69,000) who ‘identify the causes and consequences of poverty, listening to communities and those with lived experience’ and Community Led Initiatives (£204,000) who ‘believe everyone deserves to feel valued, to be happy, to belong’.
Inevitably there’s £49,000 for the LGBT Foundation: ‘We’re not just a charity—we’re a community who all believe that LGBTQ+ people deserve safety, hope and joy.’ The foundation also ‘facilitates’ Mayor Burnham’s LGBTQ+ advisory panel. Perhaps this is the source of his confusion about what constitutes a woman.
Obviously vast sums are spent on consultants of one sort or another as well as the regular fees for agency staff (why can none of these organisations recruit and retain people?) along with 29 payments totalling £158,000 to recipients whose names are redacted.
As a caring employer, Mayor Burnham – a former Health Secretary – has spent over £170,000 on private medical treatment for his staff, including £4,700 on counselling and psychotherapy. As they used to say (but it’s probably not allowed any more): You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps.
Andy Burnham issues furious 1,500-word response to Tony Blair attack | Politics | News | Express.co.uk
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Hello Snowflake
As a lifelong music fan with zero musical talent I was interested to hear how easy it is to make a song using AI. So I thought I’d give it a go.
It took ten minutes to write some words, five minutes to find the right website and about ten seconds to turn the words into a song.
The frightening thing is that it sounds quite good. If this is the future, we’re all doomed. Have a listen…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKwvpRSnzZgt
It took ten minutes to write some words, five minutes to find the right website and about ten seconds to turn the words into a song.
The frightening thing is that it sounds quite good. If this is the future, we’re all doomed. Have a listen…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKwvpRSnzZgt
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant
John Cotton, leader of Birmingham Council, claims an end to the bin strike is nigh. His opponents claim this is a cynical ploy with days to go before the local elections.
That can’t be right because, if it really were a cynical ploy, it implies Councillor Cotton thinks it will win his incompetent crew a few extra votes.
Surely nobody, not even Councillor Cotton, really thinks the people of Birmingham are stupid enough to believe he has miraculously come up with a deal which he has failed to do for well over a year.
It’s not a cynical ploy. It is the last despairing twitch of a dying administration.
When the election is over, Birmingham faces a coalition of chaos – but even that can’t be worse than the dreadful, profligate, incompetent crew about to receive their just deserts.
Doubleplusgood
That can’t be right because, if it really were a cynical ploy, it implies Councillor Cotton thinks it will win his incompetent crew a few extra votes.
Surely nobody, not even Councillor Cotton, really thinks the people of Birmingham are stupid enough to believe he has miraculously come up with a deal which he has failed to do for well over a year.
It’s not a cynical ploy. It is the last despairing twitch of a dying administration.
When the election is over, Birmingham faces a coalition of chaos – but even that can’t be worse than the dreadful, profligate, incompetent crew about to receive their just deserts.
Doubleplusgood
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