TESCO ....... YOU CAN'T FOOL ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME !

It is with no real surprise and I must confess a degree of satisfaction that I hear that Tesco the supermarket giant is facing serious marketing and financial difficulties. Their former C.E.O believes that they have lost the trust of the public.....you don't say.

My antipathy for large supermarket chains in general and Tesco in particular goes back a long way and stems in the main from their treatment, not only of shoppers, such as myself but the many farmers, growers and suppliers in general whom this retail juggernaut has been ripping off for years.

Let me tell you how it works.

Tesco approaches a supplier, a lettuce grower say, or a dairy farmer and offers to buy his product, a price is agreed providing the supermarket with exclusive rights to his product, let us say a articular brand of clotted cream or a rather delicious sort of salad, and all seems well, at first. A little further down the line when the supplier has severed all his other outlets the Tesco bully boys offer the supplier this ultimatum, either he lowers his price to rock bottom or they pull out of the deal and leave him high and dry.

What can the supplier do? It takes time to set up a new contract and in the meantime he is pouring his milk down the drain , he has overheads to meet ,wages to pay etc. These days profit margins for farmers and growers and many businesses are already at rock bottom, so he either tells them to take a hike and goes bust at once, or sells his product to them at a loss and watches his business die a slow and painful death.

This is not an occasional occurrence, this is the way that Tesco and their like do business all the time and it is scandalous. They do this so that they can offer lower and lower prices to the shopper without taking any loss in profit themselves, and if their supplier goes bust? What the hell there are thousands of others out there waiting to be robbed blind!

You could say they the consumer is just as responsible as the supermarket for they have, until recently been happy to buy the lower priced goods and ask no questions.

As the number of suppliers dwindled and the supply of produce began to dry up these despicable rogues took their dirty business elsewhere, and this is how it came about that we ended up eating horse meat and other unpleasant stuff a year or so ago. And it was around about this time that the paying public decided that enough was enough.

We had swallowed “money saving offers” which turned out to be nothing of the sort, we put up with slogans like “prices held” when what was really happening was that the amount we were getting became less and less for the same price. Con after rotten con was perpetrated upon an already beleaguered shopping public, desperately trying to cope with the recession.

In their arrogance they believed that they could continue to do so for ever, but it was a horse burger too far.

A couple of weeks before the meat scandal broke the Tesco supermarket I used was heaving, I wrote several blogs about the difficulties faced by a person using a wheelchair or a mobility scooter. Just one week after the horse mince hit the fan I could drive around the place and scarcely meet a soul, it was amazing, and what was even more amazing was the fact that it continued to be so.

It was not long before the supermarket bosses began to bleat like sheep in an abattoir.

Over the years I have used these Mega Stores less than most, but as small shops closed under the pressure of unfair competition it was a matter of “Hobson's Choice”. I had been purchasing all my fresh meat on line from an organic butcher in Grimsby for years ,and as much fresh food as possible from Farmers markets, however there was no choice but to use the big stores for much of my weekly shop. Now here is the rub, the big stores tell us that they offer the shopper a massive choice when in fact we have no choice at all. We have to buy what they decide to sell as there is no where else to go, and that is the truth.

I am sorry for the staff at those stores which are to close, but their plight is as a drop in the ocean when ones understands the terrible inroads these greedy giants have made in to the Farming community and the forced bankruptcy of thousands of small, and not so small manufacturers, leaving us dependant upon foreign suppliers of what is very often a sub standard product.

Here is a small example of this. In the U.S.A there are huge dairy farms which produce milk which is so unwholesome that the sale of the dreadful stuff has been banned by the Authorities over there, and quite right too. However, this toxic rubbish is now being dried and use by large super market chains in their “own brand” products. I kid you not!

When the owner of this ghastly place, where incidentally the cattle are kept in appalling conditions was asked to sample his own product on a T.V show he out right refused to do so!!!

Well of course the sale of this stuff to the British public should not be allowed but such is the power of the giant supermarket chains that those who's business it is to stop the sale of the stuff have, for reasons best known to themselves failed to do so. Worse still is the fact that people have been kept in ignorance of the fact that this unsafe product is being used in the cheaper own brands produced by supermarket chains. Disgraceful, yes, criminal, no but is most certainly should be.

How many unsuspecting parents on tight budgets have fed the stuff to their children? Look at it in those terms and it is a crime against humanity and all in the name of profit.

Tesco is not alone in its shady dealings, way back in the seventies the ultra respectable M and S was being criticised for putting clothing manufacturers out of business using the same rotten tactics as Tesco and many other chain super markets, Morrisons being one of the worst offenders.

Now we are told that they have been fiddling the books as well, is there no depth to which they will not sink.

If a man in the street tries to sell you a dodgy watch the police arrest him in double quick time, yet the Law allows the Supermarket Giants license to rip off the public whole sale, as it were, its disproportionate.

One thing is certain it is time that the people who pay the piper that's you and me folks,should at last be able to call the tune.

BEWARE OF FALSE WEATHER PROPHETS!

For the past week the Met office has been issuing dire warnings of the large amount of snow expected within a few days. Disruption of power supplies, road closures, school closures, you know the drill, well we waited, and waited ,and waited,for the heavy snowfall that was foretold.

Situated in an area where winter snow storms are often severe I suppose they considered it a safe bet that we should be one of those worst hit, and so did we.

Yesterday our logs arrived, we had ordered them a little early before the weather closed in, stocked the freezer with fresh meat and ensured that we had enough candles ,lamp oil and other necessities and went to bed last night expecting to find that there had been heavy snow overnight.

Thorough out the night, whenever I happened to be awake I peeped through the curtains and each time I was disappointed, not only was there no snow but the sky was as clear as crystal and set with a million stars. By morning the garden was as green as ever and I put aside my plans for a snowman for about the tenth time this winter!!!

Some areas had seen snowfall but as far as I could see nothing extraordinary had taken place. Of course the BBC did their best with this damp squib of a story as each of the reporters sent out to witness this great weather event made their appearance on roads where there was barely a few inches of snow, possibly enough to bring London traffic to a grinding halt but on Shap where folks are used to bad weather I must say that the amount of snow would not have kept my brothers and I from driving to the pub.

I do not call a snow storm severe unless there are at least six feet deep drifts on the roads, when I lived up on the moors It was often possible to walk on snow as high as the tops of the telegraph poles,whole farms would be buried and it could take days top did them out. Four , five six centimetres? Please!

Still the Met Office persisted in giving us further warnings and many trusting souls believed what they heard. Our local shop was heaving throughout the day with people buying extra bread, candles and gas cannisters......finally at about two thirty the snow began to fall.

I looked so pretty swirling down among the trees and it was thick enough to obscure the distant hills with a curtain of thick white flakes, it snowed really hard.......for about half an hour, and that was it, barely a couple of centimetres.....what a swizz!

These days schools close and transport grinds to a halt for such paltry amounts of snow, it it had been so when I was a child living On the moors we would have done very little schooling to speak of during the winter months. Feat of accident, injury and above all court cases and compensation claims are the cause of this wussy behaviour.

One reporter in Cumbria told us that the road he was standing on had been closed since last night and expressed his amazement that there was still quite a flow of traffic. I would lay odds that these intrepid souls were local farmers and business people who cannot afford to wimp out at the first sign of a snow flake. The beasts must be feed if at all possible and milk collected,why in 1963 during one of Britain's worst ever winters our local farmers took their milk churns to the main road across the fields on sledges as the roads were closed for weeks.

I suppose it is a matter of degree.

O f course I do not advocate unnecessary travel in severe weather, especially as modern cars are just not up to the task. The problem is that because the weather forecasts are so often wrong, people begin to ignore the advice to remain at home, avoid travel and stay safe, after all, who can afford to lose work for no good reason. Then when there truly is a severe fall of snow they are invariably caught out , often with tragic consequences.

A few years ago there were so many false alarms that Local Authorities ran out of grit and salt for the roads due to the fact that they had been gritting every night for weeks on the erroneous advice of the Met Office! When the snow did come there was no grit let and chaos ensued.

Speaking as one well used to coping in extreme winter weather my advice would be to be sensibly prepared at all times during the winter months. Prepare your vehicle for winter with anti freeze in the radiator an ensure that the vehicle is sound before the bad weather arrives. Carry a shovel ,a couple of sacks, a warm blanket and a flask of some thing hot to drink and a packet of biscuits every time you make a journey.

No matter how good your car's heating system , never leave home with out a warm water proof coat, waterproof boots ,gloves , hat and a scarf., then if you do become stranded you will at least be warm and reasonably safe from hypothermia.

Remember you cannot walk to safety in office shoes or driving moccasins!

As for those poor reporters hanging about half way up Shap Fell or in the Black Mountains , you may be sure that the identical moment they pack up their traps and head for home a great blizzard will sweep the land.....I think I'll go and wax my sledge runners.  

MORE GHOSTLY CAPERS !

Since our resident spook took a liking to the 24 Hour News Channel we have tried to remember to unplug the TV before retiring each night, unfortunately from time to time this important task is forgotten amid late night chores such as stoking the fire and making the cocoa, far too often for my comfort!

On Monday night I was awakened at two thirty by the most horrendous racket. Loud explosions rent the silence accompanied by anguished screams and the sound of heavy vehicles, muddled with sleep my poor brain did it's best to interpret these disturbing sounds. I began to wonder if perhaps the local shop had caught fire and the sounds I was hearing were being made by exploding gas containers and Fire Engines. even my sleep befuddled brain ruled out terrorist activity, once I remembered that I no longer lived in London!

As the fog in my brain began to clear I realised that ,of course the cause of the disturbance was the television in the kitchen, and that a trip down stairs would be necessary,cursing, under my breath I plodded across the long passage to the stairs at the end of which I almost collided with my son. He too had been awaken by the noise and was on his way to investigate....we decided to go together.

As we entered the drawing room the noise became louder and by the time was stood by the library fire the racket was deafening. Quickly I headed for the kitchen to unplug the blasted thing..

Pa who had forgotten to pull the plug that evening slept through the entire affair......typical!!!!

The next morning we wearily discussed the nights events and agreed that in the future all three of us would check,double check and then triple check that the television plug had been removed from the socket before retiring for the night.

L peace did not reign for long ,last night,on my way to the bathroom I was startled by one of Twiggy's toy mice as it hurtled along the passageway.Small and life like it squeaks very loudly when it moves. I looked around for the cat in vain and shortly afterwards discovered her fast asleep on Pa's bed at the opposite end of the passage. Moth was down stairs asleep on the library hearth rug.............so who threw the squeaky mouse toy across the length of the passage? Take a wild guess!

Back in my room and much too wide awake to go back to sleep at once I decided to make a hot drink, it was while the water was heating that I heard, once again the squeaky mouse right outside my door. Exasperated I threw the door open ,there was the mouse lying on it's side but once again of the cat there was no trace.

Baffled I picked up the mouse with a view to hurling it though the bedroom window and it was a this point that the cat strolled sleepily out of Pa's bedroom and with the air of one who is aggrieved at being woken by a noisy neighbour, she stalked, tail erect along the passage to the guest room where she curled up on the bed and with her paws over her eyes, she slept once more.

By now Pa had been disturbed and I made him a hot drink and another for myself and after chatting over our coffee for a while we both returned to our neglected beds in the faint hope of getting a little more sleep. Pa was fortunate......I was not!

With a load of logs arriving early in the morning I needed to be up and about as the delivery drivers have the habit of dumping the logs in the lane at the end of our drive unless someone is present to prevent it.

As I drank yet another cup of coffee I pondered the question of the ghost and came reluctantly to the conclusion that I should have to take steps to curb this nocturnal nuisance. I decided upon a banishing ritual and have sent in to Wales for the special candles needed for this procedure, I have been using the same supplier for years and have performed many banishing,s to good effect, although seldom upon a ghost.

I am not happy at the prospect of performing the ritual as it seems so unfair to evict a spirit from is home and yet it is rapidly becoming a matter of survival. During the past week this pesky spectre has contrived to have the whole house awake for hours on three separate occasions and we are all rather tired. Something must be done!

WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN ?

Today marked the seventieth anniversary of the relief of Auschwitz, that notorious Nazi concentration camp where Jews, Romany Gypsies , Homosexuals and Political prisoners were sent to the gas chambers ,or starved to death.

This was ethnic cleansing on a massive scale with millions dying horrible deaths for no reason other than their race and their faith.

It is right to remember, to ensure that what happened during that dreadful time is never forgotten. One survivor, old now and frail wept as he said. “We do not want our yesterdays to be our grand children's tomorrow.” With this sentiment we must all surely agree, and yet another said. “We must remind the world of what took place here to ensure that such a terrible thing never happens again.”

Yet it is happening, even as the ceremony took place, it is happening in Palestine and the aggressors this time are of the same Jewish faith as those poor souls, the destruction of whom we remembered today.

Ethnic cleansing is happening in Palestine, and the fact that it is being carried out by the very people who constantly exhort us to remember their own similar suffering, seems to me to be unpardonable.Tired of waiting for their God to give them their “promised land” the Jews decided to help themselves......and we aided and abetted them in this criminal act.

Yes the Palestinians fight back..as best they can... against the might of the Isreali Army, they fight to keep what remains of their land after it was so basely given away by Britain and America after the Second World War; to ease their bad consciences of the burden of guilt they felt for refusing to give homes to Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in the years before the war:

They fight back against tanks and air raids, they fight back against the bombing of schools and hospitals, well, wouldn't you fight if your country was being annexed by an aggressor and you were being forced out of your home to make room for interlopers?

Wouldn't you fight back if your children were being killed or deprived of their birth right by these same marauders? Of course you would, and yet many in the West support the Isreali's with arms and money allowing them to continue the killing of innocent people in Palestine.

Strange then that when others give funds to the Palestinians they are accused of aiding terrorists, strange and not a little hypocritical.

I have often written condemning the activities of Radical Islamists for acts such as the recent shootings in Paris, but this is much, much worse, this is the systematic destruction of a nation and it's people and I cannot sit quiet and say nothing in the face of such hypocrisy as I have witnessed today at the Auschwitz Memorial service.

Dignitaries from the Israeli Government, the same men who are daily ordering the killing of Palestinians and the invasion of their homeland sat solemnly through a service in which the very similar actions of the Nazis was deplored. They listened to the stories told by the survivors of their terrible experiences with tears in their eyes. Do they truly not see the anomaly, they must and most assuredly they do.

So what is it that they wish the rest of us to remember and how can they ask for our pity when they themselves have become the murders of another race ? They believe themselves to be “The chosen of God” but does this give them exclusivity when it comes to what happened at places like Auschwitz?

Some years ago when memorials were being erected in remembrance of those who dies in one of the camps the Israeli’s objected to the names of Gypsies who were killed there being carved in to the same memorial and this objection proves that they have learned nothing from their experiences at the hands of the Nazis. They wish us to remember and to learn while they blind themselves to the truth , that they are no better than those whose victims they themselves were all those years ago!

Although many in the west will for their own reasons not wish to assist the Paestinians in the fight for survival ,yet they should not condemn them for their actions, to do so is to admit that we have learned nothing,in spite of our promise of”Never Again”.

BACK LANE

                                          

Just off the main road through the village and opposite the church is a narrow winding lane which is home to some of the prettiest houses in the village, it is called Back Lane. Today, tempted out by a few hours of rare sunshine I took a buggy ride along this picturesque and very hilly stretch of road.

Along the first few hundred yards are pretty cottages, stately Georgian houses rubbing shoulders with Tudor and Jacobean farms ,who's barns have been long since converted into dwellings for people instead of livestock. There is even an old |Fire Station where, many years ago a horse drawn fire engine was housed and this too is no a house.

Along the road side runs a pretty little stream and in order to reach their homes the owners must drive over their own personal bridge, the effect of which is rather like a moat and drawer bridge. Occasionally the stream floods and then the moat becomes a torrent and the lane a river, fortunately this does not happen often.

Further along the lane climbs steeply,causing my buggy to crawl slowly up the incline which becomes almost frighteningly steep after half a mile or so, the awareness that the road is too narrow for a car, let alone a tractor or delivery van to pass even my small conveyance tends to add spice to the journey....some times a little too much.

Now the steep sides of the lane, tunnel like in places open out and the view is spectacular, mile upon mile of rolling countryside, hills, woods and small villages are laid out like an enormous map and indescribably beautiful at any time of year.

Gnarled old trees line the road and in the hollows beef cattle, over wintering out of doors, gather at the field gates and sheep huddle for shelter beneath the hedges. Of course many of the sheep have now been moved to low ground for it is the Lambing season, a time when the sheep need extra care and shelter for their young ones.

At this time of the year farmers sleep little as lambing goes on round the clock and a few moments inattention can cost the life of a valuable ewe and her lamb.

As a child I took my turn in the lambing shed and I remember the warmth of the barn after the freezing cold walk from a warm bed along the wind swept farm yard. The excitement and the joy at so much new life,the sadness at the death of a lamb who's tiny body had resisted all efforts to revive it after a difficult birth. Lambs who had lost their mothers were usually bottle fed, but for some the old farmers had a trick of skinning a dead lamb and wrapping the orphan in it's skin before introducing it to the bereaved ewe, who almost always accepted the little creature as her own.

After a few days the skin was removed , the bond having been created all went well for the lamb after that . A bit of rural magic.

At the top of the lane, so little use to traffic other than the farmers who live on the hill top ,grass grows down the middle here and there and pot holes abound making for a bumpy ride, and now the view across the valley to the hills beyond is truly spectacular, The wide sky filled today with grey and white clouds adding its majesty to the scene, it is a fit backdrop for the Buzzards and Kites which wheel about on rising currents of air in search of any unsuspecting pheasant or partridge.

Flocks of gulls have come inland to escape for the coastal storms and starlings in great flocks congregate at dusk swirling against the darkening sky like smoke ,before dropping in to the woods and coppices to roost for the night.

Such grandeur is part and parcel of the daily round to a country man and I love these things with all my heart. Yet for me it is orten the small almost insignificant things which cause in me the greatest sense of wonder, tiny fragile snowdrops, huddled against an old wall, bravely announcing the approach of spring. The tiny leaves of sorrel, freshly green growing in the cracks between the stones and the rich patterns made by lichen which spreads across the old stones tapestry like, a forest in miniature.

The sun is low in the sky and suddenly it becomes bitterly cold and I turn towards home. Snow is expected and by Thursday theses same snowdrops may well be buried beneath it's icy carpet, but nothing can stop the arrival of spring, early or late it will come. These small signs are only the beginning, I take the last hill down in to the village at full speed and raise a yell of pure joy at the sight of some tiny honeysuckle leaves ,which echoes several times before dying  away in to the distance as the light begins to fade.  

GETTING THE CHOP!

At long last I have the date on which my knee replacement surgery will take place, March 16^th is the day and it cannot come too soon. I have a pre-operation assessment in February when I hope that I shall, this time ,receive the all clear for the consultant to go ahead with the much delayed surgery.

Needless to say I have everything crossed, and damned uncomfortable it is!!

To take my mind off the dreadful possibility of another cancellation I spent today ordering some of the items which I shall need to build my new vegetable garden. Raised beds ( I have found some really good ones at a terrific price which come complete with liners, fitted greenhouse covers and fitted nets to prevent such nasty pests as carrot root fly and the destructive attentions of marauding birds.

They come in different shapes and sizes so that I can fit them into the space available and I have ordered enough to sow my spring crops of radish, lettuce, rocket and sorrel., and there will be enough room to sow such goodies as leeks, kale courgettes and carrots.

Later I shall purchase a few more to give enough room to plant out the seedlings of other plants which I shall sow in the green house at the end of March.

I mean to grow runner beans and I hope to grow a pumpkin large enough to enter our villages annual Pumpkin Feste in October. Tomato plants and herb plants I shall purchase from garden centre this year as I am told I must not be too ambitious in case my knee gives trouble. Once I have a few herb plants I can propagate as many as I want from cuttings, which is my usual way of doing things.

Last year I was too ill to do any gardening and to be truthful having to watch my orchard and kitchen garden being bulldozed left me so demoralised that even had I been well I do not think I should have had the heart to go on in the small space I had left.

Now I have a huge garden and the space to make raised beds which will, at least for this year make things easier for me as I recover from surgery.

I am so excited, can't you tell.

A friend who also loves to grow things but who has no green house will be using some of the space in mine which is quite large, and she has promised to help me with my own garden if I need assistance, I am so lucky. We have only lived in the village for six months and already I have many kind friends, I never though to be so happy again after the years of illness and the loss of my garden, and yet here I am, making plans and a happy as a lark.

My son published another book on Saturday and it is selling like hot cakes so he too is happy, and wonder of wonders, Pa is sleeping through the night again which means that I too am able to get a good nights sleep when the pain is not too bad.

We have had a respite from the gales which have ripped through the countryside for weeks and the weather has become extremely cold. We have had some snow and the last fall is still lying on the hills which surround the village, since more snow is in prospect I shall order a load of logs tomorrow to be sure of a good supply if we get snowed in.

I have prattled on quite long enough, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and wish for you a happy and productive week ahead. Now as my toes are getting cold I am off to bed where my hottie awaits.....bliss.

WILD BIRDS IN A WINTER GARDEN

During the summer months our leafy garden is home to numerous birds,yet although they can be beard many are seldom seen owing to the amount of cover our garden affords. Now that the trees are bare it is a different tale and we can watch our visitors at the numerous feeding stations placed about the grounds for their benefit.

Used as we are to a wide range of species in our London garden, here in our village there is an even greater diversity and it has been a source of great pleasure to see once more species which we have not seen for many years.

Bull Finches, stocky little birds with breasts as red as a robin but rose red instead of warm terra cotta, Green Finches, seldom seen in London are daily visitors here 'and oddly enough, sparrows, now rare in London are present in abundance;adding to the daily performance in our theatre of birds the element of comedy which only they can provide.

These little clowns ,squabble over the largess we provide, unlike the orderly Blue Tits who queue nicely for a turn at the fat feeders and the bird bath.

We have a large flock of Gold Finches which blow in and out of the garden adding greatly to the spectacle with their bright colours and an even larger flock of Long Tailed Tits shaped like teaspoons which flit about all through the daylight hours.

Pied, Grey and Yellow Wagtails usually visit early in the day and are plentiful owing the the presence of a pretty little brook which runs parallel with the lane.

My pride and joy is a beautiful Song Thrush which during the summer months could only be heard but which now spend almost the whole day foraging about the garden.

During our time in London these lovely birds were eradicated from our area by the over zealous attentions of contractors employed by the Local Authority to (maintain) green spaces, such as the ancient church yard behind our old home.

Black Birds are present in quite large numbers and seem to live in reasonable harmony are just now beginning to contest for the best territories and I foresee may fierce battles before the breeding season arrives.

Chaffinches, also in large numbers spend most of the day with us, such pretty little birds who seem sociable yet are reputedly given to pecking to death any of their breed who seem sickly , although I must say that I have never witnessed such behaviour.

Blue eyed Jackdaws, Crows, Rooks and Magpies all take a turn at the bird table, preferring pieces of bread to the seeds and nuts we provide,and from time to time a Buzzard flies over the garden causing all its inhabitants to flee for what ever cover is available among the bare trees.

Robins, Great Tits, Cole tits and Wrens, all play their part in the daily pageant and all are welcome. Since the weather has become so cold we are feeding the birds twice a day, once at first light and again in the early afternoon, yet by the time darkness falls there is nothing left except the empty husks of peanuts, put there for the squirrels of which there are a great multitude.

We have found that providing them with peanuts in their shells means that the leave the smaller nuts and seeds for the bird, and after all squirrels must eat too.

It has been snowing on and off since last evening and the hard ground is white over with new the new fallen snow, Snooks, our tame Pheasant and a small group of Partridges have arrive to partake of the feast and very beautiful they look against the snowy background.

The provision of a little wild bird food brings such great rewards and ensures the survival of these lovely creatures without whom our world would be a sad place indeed.

HYSTERICAL HISTORY

As I had expected last night proved to be a sleepless one, poor Pa was unable to sleep at all and rather than leave him alone and miserable I kept an eye on him throughout the night administering cups of Ovaltine and coffee at regular intervals punctuated with small snacks as he had eaten very little during the day.

In order to stay awake I resorted to U tube and decided to watch an eight hour epic about that granddaddy of all misogynists Henry 111V, and most entertaining I found it for it was quite compellingly dreadful!

To begin with Ray Winston, an actor who looks and sounds like an East End thug, had been cast in the role of Henry,as appalling a piece of miscasting as I have ever encountered. Yes, OK he is a little on the heavy side and has hog bristle hair with a beard to match but there the similarity ends, and although he stopped short of it I kept expecting him to break into Cockney rhyming slang.

Now I know that Henry's manners may not have come up to the standard of those of the French monarch Francis 1, but with all he was a renaissance prince, learned and cultured, he wrote poetry and music; although he was at times inclined to plagiarism it must be faced!

Winston puffed his uncouth way through the entire production in a manner better suited to an East End barrow boy. In short he played Henry as he plays every part....as himself.

If this were all it would have been bad enough but worse was to come. The part of the slender, captivating young Anne Bolyen was played by a heavily pregnant Helena Bonham Carter who had about as much chance of playing the fascinating elegant Anne as Miss Piggy.

Although the director made every effort to display her only in head and shoulders shots whenever she appeared in long shots her rapidly expanding waistline was all too obvious.

Since it is well known than Anne was executed on a trumped up charge because she failed to produce a male heir her six year pregnancy gave the production an air of farce.

This was never more so than in the touching scene of her standing on the scaffold making her final speech before being executed for being unable to produce for Henry the longed for Prince looking at least seven months gone as she was assisted to the block. By this time I was laughing out loud, it was unbelievably funny.

How the rest of the cast managed to remain straight faced I shall never understand, it must have been quite a challenge, even for such an accomplished actor as David Suchet, who played Cardinal Wolsey with a great deal of sensitivity .

I am often disappointed by films and documentaries of a historical nature, over simplification and often downright glaringly incorrect assumptions make me very angry, especially when delivered with the utmost conviction by alleged “Historians” This was different, it was so dreadful that like an Ed Wood movie it was quite compelling.

It does seem a pity though that such an obviously lavish production with an otherwise wonderful cast should have been ruined by such appalling miscasting of the two leading roles.

What next I wonder, Kenneth Branagh as Winnie the Pooh, or perhaps Cilla Black as Queen Victoria, after watching this film I believe that anything is possible!

MEDICAL MATTERS

It happened that today both pa and myself had medical appointments, I with the practice nurse at our local surgery and Pa with an consultant at the Hospital in town. This fact tended to fragment the day somewhat but we have become used to such happenings and so managed to work around the problem.

Not being allowed to drive has been the cause of much trouble during the past few years. In order to get to hospital Pa has rely on hospital transport which can be at best erratic and at worst non existent. Today with an appointment at three in the afternoon at a hospital no more than twelve miles away Pa was told to be ready at noon.......on the off chance that the transport might be a little early! A little!!!

Since more often than not the transport is late the inconvenience of having to rush around in the morning in order sit about twiddling ones thumbs for a couple of hours seems to me to be, not to put too fine a point on it taking the piss!

For myself with only a short buggy ride to the surgery all would have been well had not the weather proved to be ghastly. The usual gale was blowing (no surprises there) but the wind carried with it at times driving rain, at others large hail stones or snow and quite often all three. Getting soaked was inevitable and as there is no where under cover to park my buggy the prospect of a wet backside was less than inviting!

Pa's transport arrived barely in time to get him to hospital for his appointment and an hour later I set out for the surgery. It was my lucky day for not only did the rain hold off, but the scales informed me that during Christmas I had not put on any weight at all, nothing short of a miracle!

Pa's appointment war for two thirty and so at the outside with transport home we would have expected him back between five and five thirty and Pa was to call us when the taxi arrived. At five thirty he called to tell us the his transport had not showed up, the reception desk was unmanned and he was, to all intents and purposes stranded.

Well of course we called a taxi to collect him and within ten minutes the cab had arrived, a journey of around eight country miles with no rush hour traffic should have taken less than half an hour. So you may imagine our concern when an hour later he had not arrived home and had not called to tell us why.

In such circumstances the imagination goes in to overdrive and we envisaged poor old pa lying on a deserted country lane amidst the tangle wreckage of the cab. Finally at ten minutes to eight he rocked up as if he was not late at all. He was, he said feeling rather sick as were we all since none of us had eaten since early in the morning and dinner was now three hours late.

At this juncture I still have no idea what the outcome of his appointment was, nor do I know,why he missed his transport or what the bloody hell took him so long to get home.

One thong is certain, there will be no late afternoon appointments, this is not the first time he has been left high and dry in this manner. Tomorrow I shall be issuing a stern reprimand to those concerned and sending well deserved rocket to the Transport department.

It has been a long day , we are all tired and I expect that as usual I shall be up half the night making coffee for Pa and ,most likely preparing him some food as he refused to eat dinner in spite of the fact that we had awaited hours in order to eat with him.

***********************************************************

I have since discovered that he ate a sandwich at the hospital and my sympathy has totally evaporated....in light of this information the fact that he has since been sick comes as no surprise. Any one who voluntarily eats hospital food deserves all they get.

Now I mean to take a shower before something worse befalls.

Please excuse my rant, I expect it is the relief of getting Pa home safely after all.........silly old bugger!!!!!!!!!

PLAY DAY

At long last I managed to find the time to properly try out the sewing machine I treated myself to over a month ago. My old one, a vintage beauty of no real value except the sentimental sort somehow got left behind during the move last August, it had belonged to my Great Aunt Anne who was also my God Mother and was almost hundred years old. I was very grieved to lose it.

I was able to maintain the machine myself and had kept it running for years on a few drops of oil now and then and the odd pack of needles. I weighted about half a ton and was virtually indestructible, although I was beginning to find it awkward to use as my infirmities increased. Still I would never have parted with it voluntarily and I miss the familiar clanking and rattling when I sew.

My new machine is however quite wonderful. Although by no means an expensive model it is one of the best machines on the market at any price....I know... I used to sell them. With my intimate knowledge of the various makes and types of machine I was able to purchase one exactly suited to my current needs. Automatic needle threader (my eyes sight is poor) front loading shuttle and integrated thread cutter ( my arthritis makes using scissors painful and top loading shuttles are notoriously fiddly, even when one has the full use of ones hands!

It has a wide variety of stitches. A one step button hole foot , a quilting foot amongst other useful gadgets, it is also much lighter than my old machine without being flimsy and comes with its own case. So often these days the manufacturers expect the customer to pay extra for the cover and accessories.

My first project was to remodel a onesie with a damaged zip. By cutting off the legs and removing the zip I was able to sew up the front to make a cosy tunic, one of the legs I made in to a cowl collar and the other I turned I to a matching hat complete with red bobble! I already have red fleece gloves and a red woolly scarf so my new outfit is complete.

I tried it on with black leggings and black suede boots and it looked great, unfortunately there was no one around to take a picture so you will have to wait for a fashion show!

The boys were very impressed and so was I as the cost of purchasing such an unusual outfit would have been about half of the cost of the new sewing machine.

I am use to remodelling clothes as I used to design and make costumes for the theatre and frequently had to use existing garments in the interest of saving money , over the years this skill has been very useful and has meant that I was always well dressed even when money was not very plentiful.

Another great thing about making your own togs is that you will never see anyone else wearing the same garment, especially if you do as I do and make your own patterns.

Some years ago I attended a party at which four women arrived wearing identical dresses purchased at a well known fashion store. They spent the entire evening attempting to avoid each other and caused much amusement in doing so.

I had been a little nervous about my own home made dress as it was a rather swish occasion but all was well and I had a lovely evening and many compliments on my creation.

Mind you things do not always work out so well. I once made a pair of trousers for a holiday and only finished them after midnight on the day before our departure. I packed them carefully and on our arrival put them straight in to a drawer. I t was several days later when ,on attempting to out them on I realised that I had sewn the bottom of the legs together. How the boys did laugh as I spent the next hour unpicking the stitching and turning up the hems by hand!!

The overnight snow has melted but if the forecast is correct there is more to come later in the week, accompanied by, can you guess? Another blasted gale!!!! Good night folks.

SNOW

After an unusually quiet night I awoke to find that the sky was that shade of coppery grey which heralds the fall of snow, but it was almost lunch time before the first flakes began to fall. Slowly at first and mixed with rain but soon this gave way to large flakes as big as feathers which drifted about the garden, our cats were entranced.

Within half an hour the lawn was white over and the snow had changed in character from soft and fluffy to smaller flakes which fell so thickly that the hills around became invisible and the trees at the end of the garden obscured by a curtain of white.

How do I love snow, let me count the ways. I love it for its beauty and it's purity, I love it for the soft sibilant sound it makes as it drifts across the glass window panes. I love the way it hides the sad sear hedgerows, transforming them into icy castles and strange animals!

I love the loveliness it lends to the bare trees, clothing them as for a winter festival, I love the quality of light which snowfall brings, lifting the gloom of day and at night, filling the moon lit garden with a million sparkling stars.

Do you get my drift....pardon the pun!

Filled with excitement and enthusiasm the youngest of our cats,Moth bounded through the newly opened cat flap and on to the snowy garden, the older and more experienced cat twiggy contented herself with staring out of the window at the drifting snow occasionally patting the window pane when ever a flake stuck to the glass.

Moth was back in the warm kitchen before you could count to ten appalled by the cold wet stuff she spent almost an hour washing her pretty little paws and drying her fur before a roaring fire, while a rather smug Twiggy viewed the proceedings with a laconic air.

I found and excuse to go to the shop, got out the buggy and sallied forth in to the snowy lane. I have never lost the sense of wonder that falling snow engenders, the strange quietness and the feel of the soft flakes brushing my face added to the magic of the moment and I revelled unashamedly in the thickening cover of snow rapidly building up along the lane.

The builder arrived during the afternoon to make his final measurements prior to commencing the work on the flues, this act symbolises the triumph of a determined little old lady over the might of a scheming,chiselling, shilly~ shallying Estate Agent.....HOORAH!!

That will teach them to acquire , inflated estimates in order to cream off a slice for themselves. I simply cut them out of the loop , dealt directly with the owner, acquired my own estimates and in doing so cut the cost of the work by more than half!

I somehow think that the owner will be dispensing with the services of this shady outfit in the near future. Sic ad omnes inimici nostri .

EUREKA !

It looks as if at last the work can begin to reline the chimneys, well I say reline, actually whoever installed the stove dispensed with the need for this rather important bit of kit and as a result the stoves can be difficult to control and inclined to smoke, especially in windy weather.

While we are on the subject and at the risk of becoming a weather bore I must tell you that the wind is still howling around the house like a demented banshee and keeping us awake at night.

This mornings weather forecast brought cold comfort...quite literally...as it seems that the wind has changed direction and we shall shortly have our buns frozen off by icy blasts from the the North, snow is also forecast. Thank the gods I ordered more logs last week.

Back to the stoves, my only fear is that the extreme weather will prevent the work from going ahead, after all one cannot expect builders to totter about on the roof or on scaffolding while a force 8 is blowing, it's just not reasonable! The way things are progressing it will be during a heatwave on August Bank Holiday before the stoves are working properly! Oh well at least something other than our dustbin lid is moving at last!

Progress is also being made in the long running war between our two female cats. I do not claim that they have suddenly become fond of each other but they do appear to have declared armistice, and not before time. For two long years we have endured their squabbles which have ranged from swearing and spitting at each other to full scale warfare and bloodshed.

We believe that the advent of a certain handsome Tom cat has brought about this miracle... long may it last.

I made a family sized steak and onion pie for dinner and served it up with chips, lord how the boys did tuck in, it's good to see Pa enjoying his meals again. I have left them clearing the kitchen while I prepare the house for another wild night by replenishing the oil lamps and placing candles strategically about the house. I love candle light but lately I feel as if I am living in the dark ages, low light levels during the day and power outs at night are making me feel like a troglodyte.

During last night the lights flickered so much that I was obliged to turn them off to prevent the bulbs from blowing as they did a couple of nights ago.

In spite of the cold and the dark signs of the coming Spring are becoming more noticeable as each day passes, even the birds have been canoodleing in the branches of the trees when ever there has been a short lull in the storms, and I must say I admire their optimism; for the rest of the time the poor little things have been at some pains to hang on to the branches in the teeth of the fearsome wind:

I pity our friends in the Shetlands who are having an even worse time of it than we are, nightly battering s by hurricane force storms are causing much difficulty and every day we hear of foundering ships , damage to property and disruption to travel. It's enough to drive one to drink, speaking of which it's well past time I poured myself a large Island Malt so it's TTFN from me for the present.

AFTERMATH

We survived the storm,much to our surprise, but it's consequences are destined to be felt for some time. To begin with the three of us, in common with many in the village are absolutely shattered and just staying awake today has been quite a challenge. My son ,much to his chagrin , only managed to write one chapter of his latest book today but was so dissatisfied with it that he scrapped it, declaring that it was not up to standard.

Out side the garden resembles a battlefield and is littered with chunks of tree brought down by the gale. On investigating the cause of last nights rumbling on the roof, we discovered to our relief that a large metal bird feeder situated outside my bedroom window had been detached by the wind and had slid down the roof.

I found that getting out of bed this morning required the exercise of much will power. I pottered about the kitchen prepared a Mutton stew for dinner and made some cranberry and coconut cookies, before subsiding into an armchair and submitting to the urgent need of sleep!

Pa, manfully carried on, did two loads of laundry and tidied his room,(Lord knows where he found the energy) and was still quite chipper during the evening in its self a minor miracle.

We ate early,finished up chores and were ready for bed before ten o clock,another miracle!

I was asleep before eleven and until awakened by the cat Twiggy loudly demanding food the provision of which had been forgotten as we all went early to bed. I have made myself a mug of coffee and as Pa is asleep I shall soon be back in bed again.

Outside all is calm ,unfortunately this is only temporary as more gales are forecast during the coming week!

In the morning we are expecting guests to join us for a late breakfast before assisting with the rearrangement of Pa's bedroom furniture, moving the solid pine drawers and a heavy wooden bed require more man power than we can provide alone.

CAME THE DAWN.

I managed to get a little more sleep last night and by the morning I was rested enough to enjoy cooking breakfast for us and our guests. I love entertaining at breakfast time partly because I am fresh and have more energy than in the evening, but mainly because the cosy kitchen atmosphere is so relaxing and informal.

A huge stack of Irish Soda Farls,and great pan of crispy bacon and roasted baby tomatoes soon disappeared accompanied by freshly cooked hot tomato sauce made from an old family recipe and I must say that the table looked splendid spread with these delicious goodies.

Now with the table emptied ,the kitchen cleared and our guests departed we can relax for a few hours before dinner. During the past hour or so the sky has become dark and stormy and the wind has begun to rise again, as was foretold!

If the rest of the forecast is correct the wind will be gale force again by this evening and we shall have another wild night in prospect.

With this in mind I intend to retire to the library, flop in to one of the big leather chairs and, if possible grab forty winks, these days I sleep when I can so as not to have to worry about it when I can't. I'm off to find the cat and a fur throw and thus armed I shall with luck soon be making zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzed's!!

A LATE REPORT

During the day the wind dropped a little although a combination of a blazing red sky this morning and yet another severe weather warning had prepared us for the storm which is raging about us even as I write .

We spent much of the day resting after last nights disturbances, having made sure that there had been no damage and doing the necessary tidying up Pa and I spent the afternoon drowsing before the library fire with the cat Moth for company. We ate dinner early and prepared for bed, with very little hope of getting much sleep, we were right to be prepared!

By eight this evening the force of the wind had increased alarmingly and has continued to do so with every blast stronger than the last. From outside alarming sounds of cracking and tearing, banging and bumping can be heard although nothing can be seen.

 The clock has just struck midnight.

About thirty minutes ago a dreadful rumbling sound came from the roof above my bedroom, and I believe that the sound must have been made by one of the roof slates being lifted up and blown away.

It has often been said that I “have a tile loose!” and now I have in good earnest.

I heard no crash so I expect that the slate lodged in the guttering of the study roof which juts out below my bedroom window. My room is high up in the roof of the house with two dormer windows and so I am being treated once more to the full violence of the storm, I get all the luck!!!

The cats are restless and spend are prowling about looking for safe corners in which to hide, if things go on like this I may consider joining them!

Who can say what the night may bring, very little sleep I am certain, so being philosophical about our predicament we have provided ourselves with provisions ,should we become hungry, laid in a store of Scotch and some Damson Gin,( a drop of the good stuff always puts heart in to one I think”)and primed up the coffee pot. With these comestibles and a stack of movies to watch we should be able to sit out the storm in comfort.......always providing that the roof does not succumb to this latest tempest! Fingers crossed.

Update
It is now three forty five and the storm seems to be at it's hight, A few moments ago the lights began to flicker and then went out, thankfully i had left a candle burning in my room and with the light from this I have been able to distribute more candles in the bathrooms and the landing and one in pa's bedroom.
For once everyone except me is asleep and so I have the darkness all to myself. Their is enough light from the moon to enable me to see across the garden to where the trees are being battered, the tall Cypress and the Silver Birch are being bent almost double as the gusts come thick and fast. I shall be unable to post this just now as the modem is out of action  so I think I shall return to my bed and listen to the wind up radio for a while.

Four fifty .
The lights are back on but for how long is anyone's guess as the storm is even more fearsome than before. My son and I went downstairs a short time ago to check that all was well and to leave a lamp burning in the kitchen for the cat's convenience .
All the while the while a loud drumming noise can be heard as the wind buffets the  roof and the  timber frame of the house is creaking like an old sailing ship tossed on a stormy sea!

Things tend to seem less worrying when there is light and I  have now been able to make some coffee upstairs using my hot water machine. Of course there is a gas hob downstairs but until my son awoke I would have been unable to carry the cups up the stairs  myself.

The cat Twiggy is now curled up on my bed and is inviting me with little impatient cries to join her, it would be churlish to refuse such an offer so I shall hop back in to bed the better to stroke her pretty fur. Goodnight again......for now.

WILD WEATHER

It is one forty five in the morning and outside a terrific storm is raging. We had been warned that some seriously heavy weather was on it's way and for once the forecast was correct, worse luck, you see for once I had managed to get to bed early and was sound asleep(an unusual occurrence)

when the storm broke.

Such is the violence of the wind that the noise it makes as its hits the roof has awakened us all and it was three very sleepy people who met on the landing in shared alarm. The wind is not alone, heavy rain rattles on the glass as it lashes the windows and the noise is similar to the sound of an express train speeding through a tunnel,deafening and not a little scary!

Since sleep seems out of the question I have made coffee for all ,adding a good shot of Scotch to each mug (purely medicinal you understand) in the vain hope that it might help us to return to our interrupted slumbers, and besides a little comfort in such circumstances is always welcome I think.

Even our cats are alarmed by the noise and Lord knows they are used to storms after the last month or so of ghastly weather, and we have been at some pains to calm them and quiet their fears. It really does sound as if the roof is about to blow off!

It is very dark out side, so dark that it is not even possible to see the trees at the bottom of the garden,but we can hear them, thrashing about, creaking and groaning at each fresh buffet and I am thankful that the house is far enough away from them to be safe from falling branches, should any succumb to the assault.

Here and there pin points of light show that we are not the only ones to have been awakened by the storm and I suspect that many in the village have done as we have and lit candles in case the power lines are damaged. Thankfully most of the main cables have recently been installed underground by where the connect to individual homes there is still the risk of damage and in fact judging by the feeble amount of light emanating for houses at the bottom of the lane I suspect that several homes have already lost power and are relying on candles and oil lamps for light.

In my lifetime I have experienced several great storms, I suppose that living as I did for many years on very high and exposed ground meant that we got more than our share of wild weather. Back in the 1970s just a few weeks after we have moved into our first home a gale of unusual severity hit our village and by morning ours was one of the few houses which still had its roof!

We did however loose our garage roof which we later found in small pieces several fields away.

Here we are a little more sheltered which is some comfort just now.

The radio news bulletins are telling tales of damage to property and road closures so I suspect that by now my brother, who is a Tree Surgeon may well have been called out to deal with fallen trees in his area,he lives about thirty miles away. Knowing the dangers I always worry about his safely at such times and I pray that he will be safe tonight.

Wow. That was a really fearsome blast, I swear the whole house shook and the metal chimney liners are rattling an a most alarming fashion. I am suddenly very cold so I think that I shall return to my bed to get warm again and although I doubt if I shall sleep at least shall be comfortable.

It is now seven thirty and to my great surprise I did manage to go back to sleep after all, the wind has dropped and the rain has passed. As the sky lightens it is taking on a poppy red colour, a sure sign that the bad weather has not yet finished with us. Silhouetted against the sky half a dozen dishevelled wood pigeons are putting their ruffled feathers back in to place and the garden looks battle weary.

My son has decided to get all the outdoor chores done early so that we need not leave the house for logs or coal if the rain returns,as even though the log store is close by a couple of minutes would be enough to soak anyone unfortunate enough to be out side through to the skin.

Everyone feels like a cooked breakfast this morning so very soon I shall head for the kitchen to fry some bacon or make pancakes, maybe both!

Later I shall call to satisfy myself that my brother is safe,and visit the corner shop “a gossip swap shop if ever there was one ) to catch up one what has happened in the village overnight.

Our old house has weathered yet another great storm, one amongst many over it's many centuries of existence, it is the modern properties which suffer most at such times, these old timber framed house seem to do better than most at such times.

The B.B.C. NEWS reports that further north the effects of the storm have been more severe than in this relatively sheltered spot and I pity the poor souls caught up in last nights events. We have been fortunate, for which relief much thanks.

PARIS TODAY, TOMORROW ?

At breakfast today my son and I watched in horror as the dreadful events in Paris unfolded and the sickening inevitability of the reason for this latest atrocity seemed to became clear. Yet this latest attack upon freedom of speech may have an even more sinister and horrifying motive.

As the death toll mounted and the film footage became available it seemed obvious that this was no random attack perpetrated by a group of opportunist Muslim extremists. As time went by and more facts were revealed the awful possibility the attack was being made to appear as an attack by ISSI upon a newspaper which had published satirical articles about Muslim extremism.

Shouts of “God is great.” clearly heard seemed on the face of it to confirm this fact, yet the chilling efficiency of those who carried it out did not have the usual M.O. of this group. This time there was no final shoot out between the “terrorists” and the police, not acts of martyrdom. This group carried out a meticulously well planned operation worthy of the S.A.S. ,these were not Muslim extremists, they were well trained mercenaries, assasins.

The question is ,who paid for their services, and why?

Fact. They carried out their attack at time when most of the editorial staff would be together in a meeting, ensuring a greater number of fatalities.

Fact. Their actions were cool and unhurried, one even appeared to have time to retrieve a spent bullet case from the scene.

Fact. They certainly about the on site security which the deal with most efficiently. They were well briefed.

In fact their whole demeanour was that of well trained assassins rather than rage filled extremists who cared nothing for their own safety and were prepared to die for Allah!

So , who else has a vested interest in raising the anger, and the fear of the French against the Muslims ? The answer to this question may well be rooted,God help us, in French politics.

The recent resurgence of The Fascist Movement in France has been the cause of great disquiet among many in the Western World. Memories of fascist Germany are still rife in Europe and it this case the Fascist Party has employed the exact method used to such good effect by Hitler and his ghastly crew. They have preyed upon the fear of their countrymen thus providing a focus for a grim national hatred of all things Muslim and in the same way that the Nazi Party used the Jews have ruthlessly incited acts of violence against peaceful members (and there are many of these) of the Muslim community in France.

It certainly suits their agenda to have the French voter up in arms against the hated foreigners and in light of recent world events it would have been all too easy to carry out an attack of this kind and make it appear as an act of war by ISIS against free speech in general and the French people in particular.

Of course I could be wrong , and God knows I hope I am, the implications are, if this is true, to awful to contemplate! Yet when one watches the film footage the anomalies stand out clearly and we must at least accept the possibility that The Muslim community in France was the real target hear, and the innocent people who died were sacrificed by their own countrymen on the alter of political supremacy by a group who's history shows them to be more feared even than those whom the y are attempting to vilify.

As I write I can hear the cries of “conspiracy theory” but that does not mean there is no conspiracy here. We should not allow ourselves to be blinded by prejudice into believing that the Muslims are responsible for every atrocity.

Of course they have in the recent past and still are employing terrorist activity to instil fear in to the hearts and minds if their enemies, and when they do they are always the first to claim their responsibility, so far ,in this case they have not.

The blood bath that could result from what has turned an already volatile situation in to a powder keg of hatred must be averted at all hazard before more innocent lives are lost.

After the recent attack upon a school and the deaths of over a hundred children it would be all too easy to claim that the Muslims, as a people deserve to be persecuted,yet common sense should tell us that the actions of a minority group such as ISIS do not reflect the views of most of the peaceful followers of Allah. We cannot on should not tar all with the same brush!

If we are honest with ourselves we must realise that this theory, if correct is not the first time that deceit has been practised by politicians to gain public ascent for their anti muslin activities. Here in Britain the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, lied to the House of Commons, the British people ,and indeed the whole world about Iraq's state of readiness for war and it's supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction..... this is not a conspiracy theory, it is the truth!

That they were aided and abetted by President George Bush is also know. This lie was used to catapult our two countries in to a useless war the repercussions of which are still being felt all over the world and because of this much of the terrorist activity carried out since has been brought and paid for indirectly by our own Governments.

I truly believe that we are missing the point here and that what is happening could bring about wholesale slaughter on our streets for although I do not believe that this attack can be laid at their door, our own actions could precipitate a world wide Muslin uprising against the West, and make no mistake they are capable of hacking our people to death in the streets if they feel threatened.

We must never underestimate their conviction that to kill “the infidel” will ensure their place in paradise and it is their faith in their God which will ultimately give them the strength to go out on the streets armed and ready to kill at random whom -so -ever they meet.

We have seen on our streets a young soldier hacked to pieces in broad daylight by two young Muslim men, who's conviction that their actions were sanctioned by their God was perhaps the most chilling aspect of this shocking act. Time and again we see this conviction in force as greater and greater atrocities are carried out in the name of Allah.

We must see the events in Paris for what they truly are or we risk tipping the balance so far that whole sale blood shed will be inevitable.

The genii is out of the bottle and we cannot out it back but we must not allow this fact to be used by unscrupulous men ,and women to raise once more the spectre of Fascism or we merely swap one form of extremism for another.