Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Sunday 25 September 2022

Hooptedoodle #430 - Random Thoughts for a Slack Sunday

 I made a small breakthrough this morning. I was lying in bed, trying to raise the energy to switch off the radio news channel which was offering me the Message for Today from a member of our fine Government, and irritating the life out of me.

I was offended by the fact that the politician was not telling the truth, and obviously planned to get by on the fact that the electorate, being stupid enough to have voted them in, is undoubtedly also too stupid to spot that the Message for Today is mostly hogwash. So, I guess, I was mostly offended by the implicit assumption that I am too stupid to analyse what is being said.

And then it struck me. The politician is not speaking to me. She does not care about me at all; I am not one of the people she is interested in. Since I have the fine record of having voted for the losing side in every possible election, national or local, for the last 12 years (with the single exception of the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014 - I nailed that one), and since, in our traditional first-past-the-post electoral system in the UK, I am not likely to have any effect on anything at all for the foreseeable future, I have decided that I shall withdraw my vote. I am not playing any more. I am done with democracy. They can, in fact, shove it. Whatever happens next, chaps, it will not be my fault. Thus I turned off the radio with a clear conscience, and emerged into a fine sunny morning to find something more useful to do.

Here I am, emerging:


There is no shortage of stuff to do on a Sunday - washing, sorting and putting out the recycling for Monday collection is a worthwhile thing to do, so I got that all done. Good.

Next I experimented a little with my breakfast toast, and came up with the following new concoction, which I can guarantee is an awful lot better than it sounds.

Wholemeal toast, spread with crunchy peanut butter, a smear of Marmite and a mashed banana (slightly over-ripe). Though I say so myself, this is an excellent start to the day. Recommended.





Good.

Lastly, I extracted this link from one of my online news-feeds. I am interested anyway, since I am doing a fair amount of thinking about Zoom sessions at present, but this presents some potential hazards of videoconferencing which I hadn't thought of before. The man in the video clip is interrupted during a business Zoom meeting when his office is invaded by a squirrel - there's a very good chance you've seen this before, but it made a big impression on me, and it is gratifyingly short.

The conspiracy theorists will suspect that it is unlikely that anyone would film their own Zoom sessions remotely, and that it must be fake, but I am pretty much convinced that this man really doesn't care for squirrels at all. Mind how you go.


***** Late Edit *****

I agree that the presentation of my new breakfast combo is a little tricky. Nouvelle Cuisine and mashed banana are uneasy fellows.


For those who think a little garnish would help, I suppose a sliced strawberry might be acceptable, though the special would have to be a sprinkling of M&Ms, I think. Ideally, this morning's banana could have been a little more gooey.

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

39 comments:

  1. To be fair, the Scottish Parliament isn't elected on the first-past- the-post system.
    Just sayin'!
    Ronnie

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    1. Very true, Ronnie - thanks for this - you should be on the radio on Sunday mornings. The national General Elections and Referenda (which someone once thought might be a good idea) are, however, which is sufficient of a disincentive to keep me going for a lifetime or two.

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    2. Hahaha! Indeed, but you might not like my politics either!
      But I love your blog, which is much more important.
      Ronnie

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  2. Sadly that what tories want - people not voting (tories ALWAYS vote)

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    1. I guess so - where I live, the SNP has such a majority that it reduces the chances of any effective opposition in Westminster, unless some surprising alliances develop. The Tories are not going to win much around here, whatever.

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    2. good ! (Parliments are like babies nappies - they need changing often - and for the same reason )

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  3. Glad to see that you're on the Marmite!

    I didn't vote for the first time until I was over 30 and that was only because Mrs S shamed me for not taking part in the democratic process, left to my own devices I doubt if I would have ever voted. BTW my brother-in-law said that if the Scottish really wanted independence they'd have let the English vote on it.

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    1. Yes - Marmite and a little piece of mind - who could ask for more. Your brother in law is obviously a deep thinker - does he eat Marmite? I thought it was mostly the Asians the English wanted rid of.

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  4. NOT a Torie. ALWAYS vote.
    It should be obligatory even with a "none of the above" option.
    Ronnie

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    1. I wouldn't argue with that, though I guess if they count the percentages that don't turn out then they should get the message.

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  5. A good start to the day and a wise decision to turn the radio off. The assumption by the majority of politicians that what a voter thinks doesn’t count for anything becomes more apparent every day. The ‘dumbing down’ of politics is not just frustrating it’s frightening that people fall for it. I shall continue to vote be it worthless or not - a right won is easily lost if not used.
    Onto breakfast an interesting combination I like all three elements and would certainly try it if I could find a local store that had some marmite!

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    1. Graham! - great to hear from you - hope things coming along nicely. I guess democracy also requires that we respect someone's right not to vote - as I say, it's all a bit predictable here - I might animate myself if there was a swing, but it looks unlikely at present. Might get a bit tasty round your way, though - is the "Red Wall" teetering? Early days yet - this is likely to be a tough winter.

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  6. Brave man to discuss politics. As to politicians not caring what the electorate think, we seem to have a fine crop at present. On a recent edition of the BBC news (which should probably be re named "man shouts and swears at TV show") we had the edifying vision of the new chancellor defending removing the cap on bankers bonuses, as it would encourage financial institutions to choose London over Paris and Frankfurt and make the UK "competitive" . Perhaps if you had not espoused the self inflicted disaster that is Brexit they wouldn't have left Kwasi? Or now that's all apparently done (let's ignore NI) we can conveniently forget all the half-truths that were shouted. It's a pity, that £350k would come in useful about now.....
    Breakfast. Like each individually, although peanut butter I can take or leave, but never thought about combining them together.....not sure it will catch on. Perhaps you need to write a cook book?
    Squirrel man. Yes he is certainly sciurophobic. Whether faked or not, I more alarmed by the fact he has a baseball bat next to his workstation.....just how angry does he get during meetings?
    Neil

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  7. I regard my speech as weapon enough......I could strip paint with the language I use for recalcitrant IT etc (as a homeworker my colleagues are spared such outbursts).
    Yes, the old adage that anyone who actually wants to be a politician and govern should be prevented from doing so at all costs.
    Not something you could apply for other job roles; doctor? Policeman? Although I suspect it's how HR personnel and IT helpdesks are recruited.....
    Neil

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    1. Many years ago I was slightly acquainted with a chap who was dismissed from the Lothian and Borders Police (as it was) after an enquiry; he freely admitted that the main reason he had joined was it was the one sure way of getting into a fight on a Saturday night.

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  8. Until the age of 32 I'd never lived anywhere where the lot I'd vote for had a chance of winning. I kept doing it though because the more that gave up, the more it made the other lot look popular. A couple of years later came the chance to change that. I don't rate my present MP, but it's better than the alternative in this constituency. The way things are going, the candidate 'they' put up next time will make Zac Goldsmith look good. Well, make him look slightly decent anyway.

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    1. Your constituency is doing OK by current standards - my compliments on any part you played in this.

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  9. It's certainly one of the dilemmas of democracy, which is, when all is said and done, the dictatorship of the majority. The FPP system is not particularly democratic either...which suits the major parties, of course. Here in NZ, we have MMP...Mixed Member Proportional...which although it has some faults, I think is preferable to the FPP system we used to have. A minority (generally on the right of politics) occasionally suggest a return to FPP but there have been a couple of referenda and the majority has backed retaining MMP.
    When I was a teenager and young adult in Scotland, the vast majority of MP's were Labour....something like 65/80, with Tories just getting into double figures and one or two there...Liberal or SNP perhaps. I alwaysassumed, if there was a separate Scottish parliament, it would be dominated by the left (I still presume the SNP are basically Nationalists with a socialist twist....not National Socialists, hopefully.....😉 ) The change in the Scottish vote must have had a significant impact on the UK parliament, as the Tory vote is hardly affected but Labour has lost sixty plus guaranteed seats...
    If/when they do Indyref2 and Scotland becomes a completely separate state, it will be interesting to see how the parties realign.
    The disintegration of the U.K. wil make Brexit look like a walk in the park, I think. I don't like the general drift towards smaller and smaller nation states...the majority of European countries are already too small to defend themselves and if people don't think that matters in the 21st century, they only need to look East to be disabused of that notion.

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    1. Hi Keith. I'm confident that the Tories will continue to fiddle with the electoral boundaries and anything else which might rig the game. Maybe redecorating the polling stations and suspending the bus services on voting day in problem areas is to come, certainly the Trump Book of Dirty Tricks has a lot to offer here. Whatever the rhetoric, it would suit them nicely if Scotland and Wales disappeared from the Union - that would remove a lot of opposition seats. I fear that the breakaway is coming - I'm not happy about it, because the economics of an independent Scotland are potentially horrifying - a lot of the traditional big employers have been sold off to outside interests or have already shifted elsewhere, and no-one even pretends we have any oil here any more. Someone was speaking recently of the national treasure which is the Scotch Whisky industry; really? - this person should have a careful look at who owns the whisky industry nowadays. Short-termism has prevailed there as well. Also we have no currency of our own, our viability as a candidate joiner for the EU puts us some way behind Turkey and Sweet Rockall in the queue, and the Land of Alba would need the highest rates of personal taxation in the known world to balance the books.

      For a little while it might be entertaining to watch the lorry queues at Berwick as they cope with modern, non-European bureaucracy, but, though being free of Westminster would have an emotional appeal, the numbers just don't work. 40 years ago my employer, a very large, Edinburgh-based financial institution, had plans in hand to shift their registered head office to London if independence ever became a reality - subsequently, I think, the plans may have shifted to Luxembourg or even Dublin, but the idea was the same.

      I'm interested to ponder what happens to the SNP if Scotland becomes independent - I'm not sure what the underlying political colour is any more. As for England, I fear that any substantial loss of power for the Tories might coincide with the rise of some populist iceberg further to the right.

      You will observe that I have not mentioned the future of Northern Ireland, since the whole idea scares me rigid, and I'm in enough trouble now anyway. God bless us all.

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  10. Right then Tony, I'm sure you know my political views well enough by now so I won't comment other than to say that your observation above re motivation for going into politics is spot on in many cases but thankfully there are still those who go into it for the right reasons, something of a dying breed though maybe, sadly.

    Your breakfast combo sounds interesting but I would be concerned a little about presentation (I am a fan of Masterchef). I would imagine the Peanut Butter/ Marmite/banana mash up must be a little messy on the eye? I enjoy butter and Marmite on toast (Wholemeal of course, but your seedy batch loaf is also a favourite) but find the swirly stickiness of the thing somewhat annoying, still very nice and my regular breakfast these days.

    Must be the first time I have left a comment here and not mentioned toy soldiers?

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    1. Hi Lee - I have some concerns that my blog may disappear mysteriously one night, so I took the opportunity to share with you a Late Edit showing this morning's toast. It isn't great, is it? The trick with Marmite (and I'm sure you're an expert) is:
      (1) put the Marmite on first, on the bare toast
      (2) avoid getting streamers of Marmite on the outside of the jar, at all costs
      (3) wash your hands up to the armpits afterwards

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    2. Thank you very much indeed for the breakfast close up, can you believe that I actually clicked to enlarge it for a better view? The best method of applying/spreading Marmite effectively is worthy of a post of its own of course, I may have to try applying the Marmite before the butter this morning as you suggest, this could be a revelation!

      Politics some very interesting stuff in the comments here. As you know have been faithfully coughing up my three and a half quid a month Labour Party membership for many years/ decades, sometimes in vain. I stopped my membership under Gordon Brown and re-joined to support Corbyn's leadership challenge so I'm a bit of an old Lefty I guess, but when I look at what is happening under the Tories right now I really do despair.

      Quickly back to Marmite, one must be very careful handling soldiers afterwards, as you say things can get very sticky and greasy.
      Cheers,
      Lee.

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  11. Well, I always vote as I think it's a responsibility, but it has become a vote for the party which I dislike/distrust least, which has become a difficult call these days. Who was it that said that any person who wants power desperately enough to stand for office is the very last person who should be given it? (Might have been Douglas Adams.)
    Interesting breakfast idea - think I'll stick to bacon and eggs though.

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    1. Hi Chris - it's weird, but I almost miss Johnson at the moment - at least you knew what kind of rubbish you were getting with him...

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    2. I can understand that. It's reassuring to KNOW that your politician is telling fibs rather than have the vagueness and uncertainty that there might just be an off chance they are telling the truth. At least we always knew where we were with BJ.

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  12. Of course, if believed, he's currently doing an impression of a discarded rocket booster somewhere in the South Pacific.....
    I thought such things sank without trace, but what do I know? ☺
    Neil

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    1. Who - Boris? Disappearing quietly and graciously would be the right thing to do, but it does seem out of character.

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    2. "I am now like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function and I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific,”

      Another snippet it that when he was 10, he was bouncing around on a Space Hopper; one could argue his career in politics was similar.....
      Neil

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    3. I take it this is a direct quote of some sort? - what a pretentious arse the man is. His Space Hopper adventures sound just as useful as, and less damaging than, his later glories.

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    4. It was his bizarre rambling departure speech!
      Neil

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  13. Boris's current situation is worthy of some scientific study - having been rather damaged by a period of leadership by someone who had charisma in abundance but no brains, the Tories seem to have plumped for a new leader who has zero charisma and whose brain quotient has yet to be estimated, but I have a strange feeling that she is being operated from behind the scenes by the old leader. Radio control? Bluetooth? A long pole?

    I'm sure this was an old Star Trek plot. Or perhaps it was the Twilight Zone.

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    1. I'm disappointed they didn't use the slogan "support Truss" during the election (such as it was). Perhaps at the next general election....
      Neil

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  14. My late father worked in local govt, and told of a union rep who said he always voted, and as a rule of thumb 'always vote against the current government'. It occurs to me that I have followed that rule myself in every UK general election since my.first in 1983, with only one exception. As a result, I have only twice (or arguably three times )voted for the winners of the election..Readers with too much time on their hands may be able to work out my voting preferences .but I wouldn't bother.if I were you..

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    1. Aha - I have worked out that you were a Monster Raving Loony Party man, and also that Patricia is the girl with the red sweater who collects stamps. Did I get it right?

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    2. I might as well have voted for the Monster Raving Looneys for all my votes were worth - the prevalence of 'safe seats' means my vote has never counted for anything anyway. ( I think as a result, one reason for the Brexit vote was that every vote really did count in the referendum, and thus for many it was a way of 'kicking' the then government ).
      p.s. in the 90s when a nice lady came to our office daily to sell sandwiches for lunch, I quite often bought the 'Peanut Butter and Banana' variety, which were very good..

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    3. David - I approve of your choice of sandwiches. If they had also involved Marmite you would have had the extra advantage that the lady would always have had plenty left. For no reason at all, this reminds me faintly of a time when I used to have the monthly job of distributing a community magazine (which I published) in a rural district, and, as a matter of policy, when I was buying in the provisions for my 2-day tour, I used to buy biscuits I didn't like very much, because they would last the 2 days. Fig Newtons were standard fare, also Rich Teas; if I'd bought chocolate Hobnobs they'd have been finished by 10am on the first day. An even more obscure link reminds me that, miraculously, all the fruit and veg I ever liked didn't really count on the official "Five a Day" list. To be any good for you, fruit and veg have to be revolting. I fear I have digressed.

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  15. I received an email from a friend, complimenting me on the picture of my emergence into the sunlight, but suggesting that I am probably not allowed to use it.

    I am sure he is correct, but shall leave it where it is unless I am asked to remove it. It is a picture I have always been fond of; the work of the esteemed Frank Cadogan Cowper, painted in about 1901, it may be found in Leeds Art Gallery, so please get along there and have a look at it. It is (from memory) "An aristocrat answering the summons to execution". Cowper mostly did a lot of idiomatic pictures of glamorous ladies, of which I approve wholeheartedly (I am also a big fan of Mucha, by the way). I do not wish to discuss this again, by the way.

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  16. Your breakfast sounds interesting Tony…
    For me it would be greatly improved by the removal of both Peanut Butter and Marmite 😁.
    As to politicians… An old friend once said..
    How can you tell a politician is telling a lie ?

    Their lips are moving…😳

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Marmite is great for the Vitamin B12. Not so good for the halitosis though. As of this afternoon, the world seems to reacting to the new mini-budget with no applause at all. Surely they can't crash the bus as quickly as that? If government bonds become valueless and my pension disappears I shall get one of these baseball bat things and hitch a lift to London.

      Tell my mother I died for the future - she won't remember me, of course.

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