


















Thanks to John, David, Dani, Wilson and Andi.
Thanks to John, David, Dani, Wilson and Andi.
Thanks to Dave and Independent.
Well. Why is it special?
There’s the inequality of it for starters?
Then there’s the fact that one country in it makes all the decisions although the other countries don’t necessarily agree with them.
It has a unique “upper” house of parliament consisting of Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, Archbishops, Bishops, friends and relatives of the prime minister, donors to the three English based parties and an assortment of has been failed and rejected MPs who sleep a deal of the time, and refer to each other as noble, although many of them have earned an “ig”.
And, we mustn’t forget that there are a few people that someone fancied…and some REAL prize doolies.
Certainly, apart from Iran, and I guess, Vatican City, it’s the only place where senior clergy are involved in the governance of the state, even though they are all from the “established” church of ONE of the four participating countries.
It maybe the only state that has a way of circumventing parliament by passing Orders in Council which can be agreed by a very small number of compliant toadies and a head of state chosen by reproduction and impossible to get rid of, as is her disagreeable family, no matter how repellent some of whom will follow her into the top job.
It is very special in that its state pension is the lowest in the developed world.
At least by comparison with most Western states it is pretty corrupt.
It has an utter buffoon as its prime minister… although to be fair there are a few other countries that can claim that, nem Ă©rtene egyet, Magyarország?
I’m sure Munguinites can help DRoss out with some more stuff that makes “our union” so, <sniff sniff> special.
Feel free…
BECAUSE IT SEEMS THAT THE BRAVERY OF THE BRITISH ARMED FORCES DOESN’T COMPARE WITH OLD BONE SPURS THE GOLFER
OK, let’s do a quick translation.
Dear Brave Donny,
I’m a washed up politician. Well, I say politician but, rather like you, I don’t really actually do any politics. But I love being up there getting adoring racist muppets cheering at me for saying outrageously stupid stuff and making impossible promises. (Have you tried the one about $350 million a week for…oh wait, you don’t do health care, do you?)
You have to agree. Lying to morons feels so good, especially when you can make money out of it.
I’ve had a great deal of experience internationally. I’ve skipped meetings in Belgium, Luxembourg, England and France to go to the pub. I have turned up on occasions to make a big speech and then to turn my back as they played the European anthem. Pretty smart, huh?
However, I am kind to old ladies and often see them across the road while pulling faces.
The thing is, though, I achieved my aim. I got Brexit done all by myself with my own fair nicotine stained hands. (OK, OK, except in Jackland where I was escorted from their capital by the local police who don’t seem to be nearly as friendly as our good old British bobbies).
They speak strangely there, by the way. It was almost as ghastly as being in Belgium or Luxembourg. Does anyone know what “GetTae” means?
So, I find myself, your brave magnificence, in a situation where, having achieved all that I desired, I’d now like to try something different, preferably in a totally new environment, as far away as I can reasonably get from England before the proverbial hits the proverbial, as it were.
I am willing to travel, although I prefer not to do so in Europe, but I do have a nice new German passport. I don’t want to have to speak foreign a language though. I’m sure you agree that there’s nothing worth saying that can’t be said in good old English. I’ve sometimes sat on a train in England and listened to people speaking foreign around me. I can tell you, I gave me the shivers.
I enclose a copy of my CV (sorry about the beer stains and the fag burn) and I hope that you will cast your brave and resilient eyes over it.
Yours deeply respectfully to the point of utter nausea.
Nige
xx
****************
EH????????
Sorry to bang on about this, but it’s something I feel so strongly about.
Supposedly, the UK is in the top ten rich nations and yet, in this rich, supposedly Christian nation (suffer the little children; it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, etc), which can find billions to spend on unnecessary railways and unusable WMDs, not to mention a give away to any mate of the Tories who comes up with a “scheme” to buy unsuitble PPE or Ferries which are really takeaways, we have millions of kids going hungry? More than other, supposedly poorer, European countries.
But ain’t it just peachy for us Scots to be lectured about this by Douglas Ross and the Starve a Kiddie Party while they get stuck into subsidised meals and drink in the London parliament?
Like I say, sorry to harp on, but if you ever want to get me angry, the way to do it is being cruel to kids or animals. Munguin will tell you, that this mild mannered lad suddenly becomes a Niko!
**********
**********
Bruce has done a survey on his blog. You might want to take part… they are always fun.
https://grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com/2020/10/26/a-grumpy-survey-brexit-and-independence/
**********
Airmiles, they told us at the end of May (only 5 months ago), would never resume his royal duties… information we all received with utter indifference, mainly because we hadn’t a clue that he’d ever done any royal duties.. unless you include, shooting things, playing golf, partying, having dubious contacts, using OUR royal transport to run his private life, entertaining other persons as unpleasant as himself, eg Donald Trump, and taking his daughters out to eat in the brief periods between their luxury holidays…
Well, shock of shocks, now we are informed that the fat lad intends to return to “serve his country”. Well, there you go. Sacked one minute then… back to work coz mater is the boss.. and probably he and Boris Johnson get on well together being birds of a repulsive feather.
As pretty much all the organisations he was involved with walked away from him, or rather demanded that he walk away from them, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting him to come and open their shop or whatever it is these people open, I wonder just how he intends to get back to “earning” the vast amount of money we used to pay him.
I have, though, a small suggestion for employment. Maybe he could contact Pizza Express in Woking, where I hear he is known to the management, and inquire if he could open their restaurant …every morning at 8… and close it again after the last customer has gone away.
No sweat, they might reply.
*********
I apologize to everyone for the posts which are appearing on here without my having anything to do with them.
WordPress appears to think that, as Munguin makes use of the free version of their blog, and they therefore don’t make any money out him, they will cram the blog with ads and posts that are nothing at all to do with us.
We are considering what to do about this at the moment.
In the meantime I am sorry.
I want you to know that neither Munguin nor I make a penny out of this.
Thanks to Panda Paws, John, Andi, Brenda, Brendan, John, T and Erik.
Thanks to John, Wilson, and, in anticipation, Marcia.
Thanks to Dave and John.
By JOHN MacDONALD
‘Ageism’ has become as toxic as racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and all the other dangerous -isms that are pitfalls for the unwary and politically incorrect.
Perhaps that’s why a unique aspect of the US presidential election has gone largely unremarked. No such constraints here, so if you haven’t noticed, here it is:
The candidates are the oldest in presidential history.
Incumbent Donald Trump is already the oldest president of all time, being 70 years and 220 days when inaugurated in 2017. He is now 74 as he bids for a second term. But his opponent, Joe Biden, is already 77 and will be 78 just 17 days after the election, almost as old as Trump will be should he win and finish a second term.
Biden will be all of 86 should he win and complete two terms, twice the age of John Kennedy, the youngest elected president on record, who was 43 when he defeated Richard Nixon in 1960.
This raises another unspoken point: what are the prospects of Mike Pence or Kamala Harris, the would-be vice-presidents, succeeding in office? History is on their side.
Of the 45 people who have served as US president, eight have died in office: four were assassinated, and four died of natural causes. In each case, the VP has succeeded to the presidency. This practice is governed by the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States constitution, ratified in 1967, which declares that, “the Vice President shall become President” if the president is removed from office, dies, or resigns.
Let’s put aside the four who were assassinated – Lincoln, Garfield, McKinlay, and Kennedy – and consider those who died of natural causes.
* The first was William Henry Harrison, on April 4, 1841, only one month after his inauguration, aged 68.
* Next was Zachary Taylor, died on July 9, 1850, aged 65.
* Warren G. Harding suffered a heart attack, and died on August 2, 1923, aged 57.
* On April 12, 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt collapsed and died, just after beginning his fourth term in office, aged 63.
None were in their 70s, unlike Trump and Biden who are in mid- to late progress through their eighth decade. The odds favour their running mates, quite apart from history and the candidates’ ages.
Trump is recovering from Covid-19, alone a contributor to shortened life expectancy, obese, and lacking physical exercise. Biden’s physician is on record saying that he receives treatment for irregular heartbeat, high cholesterol, and has a history of aneurysms.
Neither has made the age and health of the opponent a campaign issue, probably because both are well aware that it cuts two ways. But on election day, will Americans consider whom they might really be voting for as president – Mike Pence or Kamala Harris?
Who can remember vice-presidents who have succeeded to the presidency, far less those who didn’t or were losing running mates? Lyndon Johnson, maybe, successor to the assassinated Kennedy. But Gerald Ford? Chiefly remembered for being the eminently forgettable replacement for the disgraced Richard (but still an improvement on the original running mate, Spiro Agnew).
Mike Pence (age 61) seems pretty much in the Ford category, hardly noticeable after four years as VP. And Kamala Harris (55) would be the first woman president, and a black woman of apparently very conservative inclination in some areas.
Like their senior partners, neither seems to have immediate or widespread appeal. “A contest between the evil of two lessers,” as one commentator so memorably described US presidential elections.
Thinking of that could well change the minds of many come November 3. But in which direction?