Hey Now Baby, Get into My Big Black Car *

 An interesting week in politics on many levels. In Lytham St.Annes we only had an election for a Police and Crime Commissioner. This is a post which I personally do not think should be voted for. I regard this as the beginning of a slippery slope that has led, in the USA, to voting for judges and sheriffs and to the politicisation of law enforcement and so, for that reason and also because we were off to see family on voting day, I didn't vote. Not voting is something I very rarely do. In conversation with one of my great nieces on Saturday I discovered that she had the same opportunity to vote for a Police and Crime Commissioner, a post she also thinks should not be voted for, but she went and purposely spoiled her ballot paper. 1-0 for the Portishead socialists!!

Clive Grunshaw (Lab) Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner

The local elections went much as expected. There were huge losses for the Conservatives and gains for all other parties. I got the impression that the gains for the Labour party were not as huge as expected but if the figures are extrapolated to a General Election we end up with a Labour majority. Unless, that is, you happen to be our current Prime Minister who with the aid of various statisticians can twist the results to allow him to predict a hung parliament.

Weird Shit

Sian Berry resigned a seat which she won in the London Assembly 3 days after winning it to allow her to run as the Green candidate in Brighton Pavilion at the coming election. She handed the seat to Zoe Garbett who ran as the Green candidate for London's Mayor but who only received 5.8% of the vote. Is this democracy?

Sian Berry

Natalie Elphicke has defected to the Labour party. She appears to blame Rishi Sunak for removing Boris Johnson as party leader. She supported Liz Truss in her successful bid to replace Johnson. Since her election she has often criticised Labour's stance on migration and their attempts to stop the plan to send illegal immigrants to Rwanda. Plus this: Follow this link for an MP making a principled stand (NOT). Why has the Labour Party accepted this dyed in the wool Tory? Could it bt that she has said she won't stand at the next election and they just want to embarrass the Tories? Is this democracy?

Natalie Elphicke MP

Ben Houchen, the Tory Tees Valley Mayor, was re-elected despite allegedly siphoning millions of pounds from the Teesside Freeport project to his mates. Is this even sensible, never mind democracy?

Entertainment as Education

We went last night to see the National Theatre production of Nye with Michael Sheen at our local cinema. This is brilliant!! If you get the chance go and see it. It was rather strange that, in a constituency with a, currently suspended from the party, Tory MP with a huge majority, the cinema was full. Is this an example of Tories self flagellating?? Would that we had a few MPs these days with a concern for the marginalised in society that Nye Bevan had, despite his rather dubious sexual morals which, to be fair, he apparently shared with his wife.

Michael Sheen as Nye Bevan

So, there we are. Still no indication of when we might have the opportunity to get rid of this bumbling load of idiots masquerading as a government. Still not many signs of reasons to vote Labour, other than they're not the Conservatives. How about having a Green MP (assuming there are any) in the cabinet with responsibility for environmental issues and a Lib-Dem with responsibility for improving our ties with the EU? Or how about some radical proposals to perhaps stop MPs and Ministers lying through their teeth in Parliament and to do away with the totally undemocratic House of Lords and..., and..., and.

*Title is especially for fans of Cream

A Busy Week!

 The last weekend in April and I'm on my way to David's on the train, on my own!! Huge disappointment at Preston station when, with camera poised, I'm greeted by the Northern Belle being pulled by 2 diesel locomotives rather than a steam engine. Didn't take a photo!

Great weekend despite the weather. Saturday night till late (very) in The Kings Arms. I've requested an application form to become a "local". It's not arrived yet.

The Kings Arms Stainton built 1721

Went for a walk on Sunday with David and Molly the dog. Home Monday. Thanks for the lift Sarah.

Dalemain House, home of the famous Dalemain Marmalade Festival
Current building is largely 18th century.

Wednesday Heather and I went off on the Tolkien Trail around Stonyhurst College. If someone had told me how sunny and warm it was going to be, I could have worn my shorts.

The college at Stonyhurst was established in 1794 after the English Jesuit College of St Omers was expelled from France by the French Revolution.

Stonyhurst College

Former pupils at the college as well as JRR Tolkien include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Siegried Sassoon and leading Eurosceptic and right wing MP Bill Cash. As we're dealing with Tolkien here, can I just say the Merry and Pippin have just met Treebeard.

On Thursday down to Worcester to visit relatives for the weekend. Walked around Hanbury Hall near Droitwich. The hall and Hanbury Church were lovely. The weather was pretty naff. Hanbury Hall was built as a country retreat for the Vernon family at the turn of the 18th century.

Hanbury Hall

One of the rooms

Hanbury Church was reached through heavy drizzle and a very muddy field but the inside was worth the walk. The church was built on the site of an iron age hill fort and the present building dates from 1210. The organ looks amazing but I'm having trouble finding information about it.

The organ, Hanbury Church

Beautiful meal on Friday night. If you're ever in Worcester, I can highly recommend Benedictos.

On Saturday we travelled to Portishead to see other bits of family, and, as a complete contrast, it was warm and sunny. Back to Worcester Saturday evening and Sunday dawned warm and sunny as well!!

A lovely week. For those of you not familiar with British weather, this is spring! Rain, cold, warm sunshine, wind sometimes all on the same day.

For any of you amazed at my inclusion of historical notes and pictures of stately homes in this blog, can I just say that my attitude to the aristocracy in Britain remains the same and I am still a republican. Also Bill Cash, in my opinion, is an utter disgrace to our parliament, but is, apparently, retiring at the next election whenever that might be.

An Unexpected Journey

A Conservative Donor waiting for a peerage

 Over the last few weeks I've found it harder and harder to read the paper or watch the news as they've both been full of Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Iran, Russia all with an undercurrent of China and Trump. As ever, those that suffer are the innocents and one can only look on and wonder at the bravery of the relief workers and medical teams operating in incredibly difficult situations.

Meanwhile, at home, my country waits with baited breath for an election to be held to remove a government which seems bereft of ideas, and to remove as well, some, if not all, of the 18 MPs of various parties who have had the whip removed due to various misdemeanours. For those who don't understand the terminology of British politics, it basically means they've been sent to the sin bin. They are still MPs but have been, possibly permanently, suspended from the party which they used to represent.

My own MP, Mark Menzies, is the latest of this bunch. For details follow this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68841840

All of this makes for fairly depressing reading over the cornflakes, so I've done what I find helps me. I've gone back to J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm currently approaching the end of The Hobbit and will then launch into The Lord of the Rings. I don't know how many times I've read these books, but the thought of a story where, ultimately, good triumphs over evil is strangely attractive at present. Heather tells me I should try The New Testament, but I find this works for me.

The other thing which cheered me up hugely this week was my second walk with The Ramblers. Heather joined me and 7 of us walked at Leighton Moss near Silverdale in the sunshine. A lovely day with good company which ended with a chippy tea!

Leighton House with Grange over Sands in the distance

If at some point our illustrious government decide to hold an election (Spoiler: they have to hold an election before January 2025) you will need to register to vote if you haven't already done so.

Register Here: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

You will need photo ID as well. If you don't have any (passport, driving license) you can get a FREE voter ID card at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

If you know anyone who hasn't registered or doesn't have photo ID, please pass on these links. My grandson is bored witless with me telling him to make sure he is registered to vote, but, tough, he'll be more bored in the months to come.

Raindrops kept Falling on Me 'Ead

Martin Mere - Mere Sands Wood

One of (the only?) problems with moving has been that I have struggled a bit to find a group of people to "hang out" with, as the youngsters say. In Southport we were both very attached to our church and had a group of friends there who we saw on a pretty regular basis. Leyland Road Methodist was great because there were a group of guys of a similar age and we did stuff together. I'm still loosely attached and allowed to join in the walking group ( see my post 'Last of the Summer Wine..... almost').

I do a bit of work with the food bank in St. Annes but there isn't any social aspect to it and I go along as the +1 to social stuff connected to Heather's art club. Unfortunately I don't find our local church particularly inspiring. Heather and I do a cafe church thing once a month which is OK but, because it draws people from a quite wide area, its difficult to make anything social out of it. So, on Wednesday, I did my first walk with The Ramblers (route above)

Anybody in the Southport area will recognise the walk. I've done versions of it quite a number of times. Also anyone in the Southport area will know what the weather was like on April 10th. Very wet, windy, cold and miserable. Ground underfoot incredibly muddy and route flooded in places. Full waterproof gear weather in fact.

Guess what...... really enjoyed it. It was lovely to meet up with some new people with a shared interest and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

We managed to avoid politics as a conversational topic, which was probably wise given some of the stuff in the news recently. I've really been enjoying watching the legal teams at the Post Office enquiry making the upper management of the organisation squirm. If some of this lot don't end up in jail (particularly the Vennells woman) I'll eat my hat!

Paula Vennells

 

There is a ridiculously long list of 'ordinary' people who have been stitched up by this government and a similarly long list of wealthy people who have been enriched by this government. A commitment from Keir Starmer to pay outstanding compensation claims from the Post Office, Windrush and Contaminated Blood scandals in a specific, short, timeframe would, I think, show the difference between the current government and an incoming Labour government. A further commitment to stop doling honours out to party donors and to legislate to prevent this ever happening again might also help. Actually almost any radical proposal that doesn't get overturned 10 minutes after it's announcement might be good!

Party Time!

🎉 

Splendid party with old friends yesterday. We compared medications, illnesses, discussed the medications and illnesses of people who weren't there. We solved some of the world's problems, but not many. I managed to avoid any political discussions at all (as far as I can remember anyway) probably due to the fact I was driving so on 0.0% Peroni. As an aside, the beer was really quite nice and actually tasted like beer, but not as nice as the one small glass of red wine I had with some excellent food.

As the evening carried on a few people left and the conversation became a bit like the fabled 4th verse of Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" ( Spoiler Alert!: There's only 3) "When I feel like crying, I start laughing, thinkin' 'bout............... Glory Days"

Just goes to show that there is no substitute for shared experience in friendships. Over the years the guests at the party have done a load of daft, dangerous, stupid, borderline illegal stuff, a lot stuff that you wouldn't get away with nowadays, (Children in Need night at The Scarisbrick anyone?).

We sort of drifted away on the back of our financial problems around 2009, but stayed loosely in touch through work.

It's been fabulous to reconnect with them. Thanks very, very much to David and Julie for twice providing the venue to enable us to reconnect.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

 Released in 1963 ( I was 12) this was one of my earliest favourite films. Perhaps this explains the way my sense of humour developed over the years.

However, the title of the film was obviously prophetic.

This is from The Guardian this morning: 

China targets group of MPs and peers with string of cyber-attacks

If we know that China is responsible for this and possibly other cyber attacks, then why on earth do we still engage with them. Why do we allow Temu, for example, to sell into the UK. 
This from the Which website: "Products are listed by third-party sellers, rather than Temu itself, and shipped directly from the manufacturers or producers in China to shoppers.The app is headquartered in Boston and owned by Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings Inc."

It took the UK government until 2022 to take over Chinese involvement in the proposed Sizewell nuclear plant and last year China withdrew from the Hinkley Point power station but we still seem determined to attract investment from China and deal with them as if they were just a normal country.

In the period from Oct 2022 - Sept 2023 we imported £63.5bn of goods from China which was actually a 12% fall on the previous 12 months. Perhaps we should be looking at the actions of those governments that we run huge trade deficits with.

Perhaps also we should examine the ties between countries with whom we are attempting to negotiate trade deals and Russia.

 

Last of the Summer Wine......... Almost

Three of the 5 amigos

A lovely day out yesterday around Wayoh and Turton & Entwistle reservoirs with some good mates. Despite the threat of rain, the weather ended up rather nice really and a good day was had by all.

The picture is taken on the dam of the Turton & Entwistle reservoir which was built in 1832. When built the dam, at 108 feet from the base, was the highest in Britain. The reservoir holds 3.4 million litres of water when full, and, with the Wayoh reservoir a little lower down the valley, provides around 50% of Bolton's drinking water. The dam is constructed of  "puddle clay" and the dam is 110 metres long at the crest. A third reservoir, Jumbles, lies a little further down the valley, below Wayoh.

Wayoh Reservoir before the sun came out

The area is served very well by 2 pubs. The Black Bull ( My favourite. Good food and Timothy Taylor's Landlords bitter) and the Strawbury Duck. According to the barman, the Strawbury Duck is so named because a former owner was called Bury....... not sure about this. I think there must be more to it.

Rag pudding, chips and mushy peas and a pint of Landlords

The walk was only about 6km, but took ages because we sauntered and chatted all the way round except for lunch and an afternoon coffee break when we sat and chatted.

Many thanks to Neil, David, Tony and Bob for your company and still letting me join in despite being a foreigner now and thanks to Neil for 2 of the three photos.

Click Here to see the route

For Tony and David

Politicians? Ha! They're all the same!!

Short answer: NO THEY'RE NOT!!!

First off you need to register to vote. CLICK HERE to go to the form to allow you to register online. If you aren't already registered you need to register by April 16th to vote in the May 2nd local elections. You don't need to re-register for subsequent elections (General Election coming up sometime this year), unless you move house or get married and change your name.

If you haven't already got photo ID (passport, driving license etc.) you can get a free Voter ID card HERE. If you don't have photo ID with you, you will not be allowed to vote.

Then read about your local candidates, preferably not just the bumf that is poked through your letter box, but try to find out what they want to do to/for you.

In the 2019 General Election under 60% of under 35s bothered to vote but over 70% of over 65s voted. So, if you were under 35 in 2019, your future has been decided by your parents and grandparents, and they are why we have the government we have at present.

If you have children or grandchildren who are old enough to vote, please encourage them to register to vote. The Conservative party won an 80 seat majority with only 43.6% of the votes cast and the turnout was only 67.3%. I don't intend here to try to persuade anyone who to vote for, but please go out and vote. Politics affects everything and everyone. If you want to create change or maintain the status quo, you need to VOTE!!!

The Ongoing PSA Saga

 Just a very quick post today. I mentioned I had another PSA test this week in my last post and it was yesterday. I got the results today and am delighted to report its fallen again to 1.18. In the words of the late, great Larry Grayson, "I'm cock-a-hoop!"

Larry Grayson

Another New Beginning!

It's wet and miserable outside and the last time I posted on the blog was June last year, so it's obviously time for the 18th attempt at starting the blog as a regular update on happenings in the Draper clan.

I'm currently waiting for the glue to dry on my latest modelling project. Having built a rather nice champagne gold E-Type Jag after Christmas, I've now moved on to the Jag XJSS. This was the road going version of the Jaguar D Type that won Le Mans in the 1950s. There were originally going to be just 25 of these built, but in 1957, 9 were destroyed in a fire so only 16 were sold. In 2016 it was decided to build 9 'continuation' models to complete the original run of 25 cars. Steve McQueen owned one of the originals (obviously) which is now in a museum in Los Angeles. As far as I can find out, the last one sold at auction went for just over $13 million in 2023.

Revell Jaguar E Type

I'm pleased to say my model making skills have improved enormously since starting this rather nerdy hobby just over 12 months ago, but much improvement still to come I hope.

Heather is still painting beautiful watercolours and really enjoying being part of the art society in Lytham.

By my hugely talented wife!

We're having a musical year this year. We've already seen Ruby Turner and Martyn Joseph (who was utterly brilliant, by the way. 5th time we've seen him and this was the best.)

We've got tickets for Bruce Springsteen in May (bucket list job) and we're having a couple days in Harrogate in November and taking in a Bellowhead gig.

Added to this we have 3 weeks in France in June/July.

On the medical front my medication was changed last autumn and I am no the proud possessor of a PSA of 2.5, which basically means that the meds are keeping everything in check. I do, however, have another PSA test next week so fingers crossed everything is still OK🤞🤞

Heather's fine, having finally shaken off a cough which lasted a good 6 weeks. The family are all good, but for Gill who has had Covid and was really ill for a week or so and only started working again (from home) yesterday. Josh is absorbing knowledge like a sponge at school and Nick is doing his grading to become a black belt in karate at the weekend.

OK! That's it. I'll try to not let it be 8 months between posts this time. I've purposely stayed away from politics, but must recommend The Rest Is Politics blog with Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart and Stewart's book Politics on the Edge. Well worth a listen and a read respectively.