Jim Stewart's Blog

Just one news story today. And yes I watched some of it. Some of it was surprising. The fact that he considered himself a refugee with no home, that he lived on hand outs when he was young (when he was evacuated from Greece he was carried in an orange crate). But the biggest surprise was the story about his mother – who gave away all her possessions toward the end of her life.

Then as I was youtubing on my treadmill I came across this.

Willie is looking old (he’s 87 now). And here he is singing to celebrate Jerry Lee at 85. I remember seeing the killer in Vienna about 10 years ago. He had trouble walking onto the stage. Then he started playing – and it felt like he was flirting with every woman in the room – the atmosphere was amazing.

It struck me that there are some people in the world that just keep giving out forever – and they seem to improve with age. I think I need to spend a bit more time appreciating some of them before they are gone.

I’ve said it before and I think I now have proof – this virus is all to do with an alien takeover of the world.

You can see the evidence as you walk around the streets – they are all there. You see the difference is they have their nostrils under their chins, not in their nose (the nose is a fake to make them look like us).

Just watch for it – you will see all of them with their masks covering their chin nostrils.

We were discussing recently about the roadmap and the four steps. The legislation is actually quite minimal. Over the next few months we are going to transition from government made rules to personal responsibility. Part of that might mean learning why people wear masks and where to wear them.

Looking at the news today I cane across a story of a 10 year old Nicaraguan boy arriving illegally in the USA. There are increasing numbers of children being sent over the border alone in the hope they can get into the USA.

Once in the hands of the border patrol they are taken to secure shelters. They seem to be treated well by the officers. But have a look at the conditions.

This is the richest country in the world. Okay, they don’t like the border crossing. But criminals in the USA have better living conditions than these kids. You cannot tell me it is beyond the ability of the USA to improve these conditions in a day or two. No – but they can afford $3B a year to go to the moon.

It isn’t that I disagree with the next moon mission – I really look forward to it. What bothers me is priorities. In the words of JFK:

And there is the reason these kids are living in such crowded conditions – because they choose not to do the things to fix it.

An interesting story about Neighbours being racist. I read the twitter post with interest. An actor has had to undergo therapy because of the “multiple racist traumas”. They list several examples. I doubt anybody would disagree that the use of the N word is racist.

But then there is the other example – somebody used the term “slave driver”. Is that something that would cause racist trauma? I have reviewed several other claims of racism – one suggestion is that we should avoid saying “Hip hip hooray” because it might be anti-Semitic.

So is the term slave driver racist? Or is it offensive? Well if somebody is offended then it is offensive. But is slavery always associated with race? How modified should our language become?

On my weekend walk I visited a lot of places in Southport I had never been to. I walked down little alleys and took odd detours. It was amazing all of the things I discovered – I never knew the place was as interesting. I avoided the beach of course, but 500m away from the beach the town was really quiet (except for the road leading to the pier).

A lot of people suggest Lord Street in Southport was the model that the Champs-Élysées was modelled after. All because Napoleon III lived in Southport (I always liked Kettner’s in London – another Napoleon III link).

As I walked I saw several places that had managed to spill out into the street. Some of them reminded me of the restaurants in Vienna – with raised platforms in the street level with the pavement.

I really used to enjoy sitting out on the pavement cafes in Vienna – watching the world go past. If this is the new normal I look forward to it. Maybe we need to be more continental as the climate changes.

He really gets a bad name. I mean he is the guy who put the name Judas in betrayal. He is the guy that nobody would like as a friend.

I was thinking about him tonight. He complained because Jesus didn’t stop the use of expensive perfume – he wanted to sell it and spend the money supporting the poor. I wonder if that was what he was going to use the 30 pieces of silver for.

He stood up for the cause – to look after the poor. It came before everything. I guess that is the lesson from him. Don’t let the cause become the only thing you take into account when deciding what to do.

So laryngitis has struck a friend. I was thinking of “Silence is Golden” by the Tremeloes. But then I thought of this song.

I remember hearing them at Wembley. love the harmony. The lyrics are interesting “silence like a cancer grows” – and maybe “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls”.

Is Banksy one of our modern day prophets? We need it. Graffiti used to be frowned on – but now it sells for a fortune, because people are starting to see that there is more to them than just damage to concrete.

But maybe the line that means most to me today is “and the people bowed and prayed to the neon God they made”. I listened to “The Devil’s Passion” the other night. Near the end Satan is tempting Jesus to give up. He tells Jesus about what people would do in his name – about how they would create the beautiful blond image. It is amazing how people twist the words of a homeless itinerant preacher to justify their greed.

Why not give the play a listen (and make a donation). The Devil’s Passion.

I went for a long walk today – into the centre of town and back. Not the longest walk I have ever done, but this was all on pavement and I was trying to build up walking on a hard surface getting ready for a sponsored walk.

I chose a lot of side routes and quiet alleys – and as a result I found an amazing number of interesting places on the way. But I definitely need a better pair of pavement walking shoes.

I walked on paths through a lot of parks, and unlike the reports on the news there were small groups of people very spaced out. I guess this is the advantage of a place with a good beach – all the idiots are drawn there. I saw a few loving couples lying out on the grass.

It reminded me of the recent report I saw on dating during the pandemic. It explained the way people on dates needed to social distance, and holding hands was out of the question until May or maybe even June. It reminded me of the dating scene from The Quiet Man.

Of course that film is no longer acceptable to many for a variety of reasons – including the portrayal of the “simple Irish”. The idea of dating in the film still doesn’t meet the social distancing rules – but the response (running off together to break rules) fits.

There are still parts of life where rules will be broken because – my view – they do not take into account diversity. I see no way that a national of young people could ever be expected to social distance while dating for a year.

This isn’t just a pandemic issue – we really need to find a way to make sure we run the country in a way that accounts for the differences in society.

Did he resign because of the report? Is the report really bad? Is it really saying the UK is not racist?

Let me give one quote from the report “Overt and outright racism persists in the UK.” Pretty clear really – not pulling punches there.

But doesn’t the report say we should stop using the term BAME. Yes it does – it says that lumping all non-whites together is wrong. And when you think about it that is a pretty obvious point there – there are some things can affect certain minorities more than others.

A couple of examples. The employment rate in the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities is 20% lower than that in the Indian groups – this seems to be related to the “woman at home2 concept. Then there is the fact that Chinese ethnic groups are paid more than white British ethnic groups. The more you think about it the more insulting the term BAME starts to seem – it really means “all you lot that are non-white”.

The report says schools are doing a good job at eliminating racism, but it points out that there are issues when it comes to B – much more than AME when it comes to further education. And somebody from a Chinese background is more than twice as likely to get 3 A-levels than somebody from a white British background.

The report is far from a clean bill of health. So why are people upset?

Well the report says we are getting better, which some people dislike as being too positive.

The report says ethnic traditions can lead to different results (if women don’t work in a culture then the employment rate will be lower – so we need to think about reasons and not simple numbers).

But I think the one conclusion that has got people upset is “Too many people in the progressive and anti-racism movements seem reluctant to acknowledge their own past achievements, and they offer solutions based on the binary divides of the past which often misses the point of today’s world.”

But there is one underlying whisper I read – poverty can be more important than race.

A sad day indeed. Doreen Lofthouse has gone. You know “Losthouse’s Original”? No?. Fisherman’s Friends?

She was the woman who made them famous around the world. In Greenland they even have Fisherman’s Friend flavoured vodka. My COVID medicine chest is a packet of paracetamol and three packets of Fisherman’s Friends.

I know a lot of people don’t like them, but I do. In fact I will always have one or two on my late night walks. I seem to have a Scandinavian taste. Have you ever tried salt liquorice?

I love salt liquorice. Salmiak. In particular Lakerol. They are a bit of a Marmite food = you tend to either hate them or love them. The liquorice content seems to be a little higher than normal UK liquorice (well a lot more).

I discovered they affect people in different ways (nice way of putting it). Somebody I know tried one and discovered they no longer needed a doctors appointment for constipation – just one – in 10 minutes.

And now I discover there is Fisherman’s Friends salmiak flavour.

Thank you Doreen. My world is now complete.