Indulging Wickedness Becomes Wicked

National survival in a harsh world often involves having dealings with unsavoury regimes.
This is especially so since the West became dependent on oil for its economic and industrial survival.
In all too many cases, the major energy powers are unattractive despotisms, whose ruling families are grasping, corrupt – and used to floating above the law.
Up to a point, a country such as ours cannot avoid overlooking some of these faults if it wants to stay in business.
But there comes a moment when indulging wickedness itself becomes wicked – and where, rather than just looking conveniently the other way, a government turns into an active accessory to crime.

A Census Of People

A line of fisherman.
A string of violinists.
A bunch of florists.
A file of secretaries.
A set of hairdressers.
A swarm of beekeepers.
A raft of survivors.

To Love Others Makes Us Happy

They do not love that do not show their love.
(William Shakespeare)

It is love, not reason, that is stronger than death.
(Thomas Mann)

To love others makes us happy.
To love ourselves makes us lonely.

Only one smile, only one voice, only one touch, only one kiss, only one heart, only one you.

As you read this sentence one million people are making love in the world.

Everything we love, we fear we will lose.

I Never Drink Unless I’m Alone Or With Somebody

There must be female hormones in beer.
After ten pints I can’t drive and I speak a load of nonsense.

Why is a Tory supporter like a beer bottle?
They’re both empty from the neck up.

I drink to make other people interesting.
(Groucho Marx)

A motorcycle cop pulled over my mate.
“Have you been drinking, sir?” said the cop.
“Why?” said my mate. “Is there a fat bird in my car?”

I call my sister-in-law the Exorcist.
Every time she visits she rids the house of spirits.

A policeman stopped my mate and gave him a breathalyser test.
“I’m sorry, sir”, said the policeman. “But this bag tells me you’ve been drinking too much”.
“What a coincidence”, my mate said. “I’ve got a bag at home that does the exact same thing”.

I drink to steady my nerves.
Last night I got so steady I couldn’t move.

Be More Concerned With Your Character

Our obligation is to do the right thing.
The rest is in God’s hands.

Courage is not the absence of fear.
Courage is doing something right in the presence of fear.

Those who speak the loudest always have the least to say.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

You are what you are when nobody is watching.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

We should all learn from who we can, while we can.

10,000 Children Live Rough In The UK

Railway Children is a small charity which evolved when David Maidment, then a British Rail Executive, went to Mumbai on business in 1993.

Deeply affected by the ‘Slumdog’ street children he saw begging around the main railway terminal, he launched the charity two years later.

But an organization that began by helping children in India and then spread to Africa and Latin America later uncovered a pressing need closer to home.

Responsible for the most in-depth research ever undertaken into the problem, Railway Children recently identified that more than 10,000 children, just over half of them girls, live rough in the UK.

This is sad, and shameful.

Eggs Help Lower Blood Pressure

A new study from US scientists has revealed that eggs now have lower levels of cholesterol than they did 10 years ago, thanks to better farming methods.
The same study showed they also contain more vitamin D than a decade ago, which helps reduce your risk of depression and strengthen your bones.
Canadian researchers also recently discovered that eggs help lower blood pressure.

Money Will Buy A Bed But Not Sleep

Some people become rich and lose all respect and compassion for humanity.

Money will buy a house but not a home.

The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.

Money will buy amusements but not happiness.

Barclays are handing out £150 million in bonuses.
It makes a mockery of David Cameron’s claim that “We’re all in this together” and shows these City Fat Cats have no shame.

2010 was a pretty good year for Barclays.
It raked in £190 every second.
But it was also bombarded with nearly 600,000 complaints from customers.
It was forced to pay £60 million compensation for giving people duff advice.
Its response was to cut 1,000 jobs.
What a nasty, greedy bunch.

Let’s Call Them Grotesques

I’ve never before seen a breed of humans so self-obsessed, so blind to the damage they wreak, so contemptuous of the anger and misery they have forced on ordinary people.
Grotesque, when used as a noun, means an invented figure, which is as ugly as its subject.
It hasn’t been in common usage for centuries but it’s time for a re-launch simply because it describes certain ugly figures to perfection.
Let’s not call these casino bankers Fat Cats or Masters of the Universe.
Let’s call them Grotesques.
It works for me.
(Brian Reade)

It Takes Brains To Make Aid Work

Giving money to the world’s poor may make us feel better about ourselves but I question how much it improves their lives.
Academic studies show Africa was poorer at the Millennium than it was 50 years earlier.
And, despite a trillion dollars in aid, half its people live on less than 85p a day.
Aid tempts African governments to tailor policies to please their donors instead of meeting the needs of their people.
Free-market economics encouraged by the West can widen the gap between rich and poor.
In Uganda only 15 per cent of education aid reached schools because of corruption.
We may have our heart in the right place, but it takes brains to make aid really work.