Our Traffiquistas need to bone up on Hans Monderman

As traffic flow arguments abound  

Varied and interesting comments appear in the Sunday newspaper comment columns today, especially on the subject of Motorway speed limits. A lot of them ill-informed so it appears, but the legal limits on motorways mean little till you get nobbled. Cars frequently sail past at 80+mph on most motorways, assuming of course, they don't get nicked for indecision on metrication.

Is it mph or kph and who decides Whitehall or Brussels?

If we need to speed up traffic flows, something must be done about traffic lights. How much fuel is wasted there? Part time lights and filtering on a red would I reckon, save a fair few Supertanker dockings at the oil terminals.

We don't seem to have any statesmen of vision these days. We’re surrounded by a shower of wannabes with peripheral blinkers and an army of pen pushers. Seven million odd at the last count, doing everything in their power to protect their jobs and rile the public at large. With their officious dictat on wheelie bins, speed cameras, road humps, bus lanes, pinch points, cycle tracks to nowhere and any other arcane instrument of fiscal torture, they can conjure up.

We're suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous electoral misfortune at the hands of a population denied their say in the only referenda that matters. Whilst the Redtops today are saying speed limits are to be lowered to save fuel. Seems to me the left hand does not know what’s what. In fact it could be we’re being ruled by an army of one armed bandits.

Watch this space, I’ll be back!

Tom.

MEPs a waste of time and space?

 What are they meant to be for?

Time and time again, I’ve asked myself this question and I’ve known a few of these MEPs personally. Mostly they seem to be full of their own self importance, several have finished up in the slammer, which in some ways says it all.

 The UKIP explanation for contesting Euro elections was that they needed MEPs to access the Euro funding to set up a nationwide chain of offices from which to expand their empire and their influence. But, when it came down to the nitty-gritty it was just a job creation scheme for a chosen few. Nothing more than a cushy little cosy office number, where they could go for a chinwag and a few brews of PG, to while away the hours to another EU handout. But of course before you can access any Euro funding you have to be part of a group.

 So all these misfits created their own little cabal to access the Euro unding, an outfit the UK’s  Supine Snobs belonged to for a while, till it began to rub against the grain, with Dave’s Europhiles in their midst. They were rubbing shoulders with UKIP and in the end they had to duck out. But all these so-called UK opponents of the Euro Dream appear to all intent and purpose to have gone native these days. Oh they stand up and spout off now and again, about the inconsistencies and injustices of the system and the Eurowide international fraudsters with their million Euro subsidy rackets and VAT scams, but in the end only one mantra holds true.

 So if you haven’t sussed it out yet, I can spell it out in CAPITAL LETTERS, in a nutshell. It’s two words separated by a hyphen SELF-INTEREST. I’ve heard it said that if an MEP doesn’t manage to trouser €1,000,000 over the period of a Euro Parliament, he’s not up to the mark. So you can easily see why they keep going back for more, as dotage looms. It’s like a cast-iron, self-administered, gold-plated, copper-bottomed, individual, pension plan.

 In addition, I don’t know if they’ve managed to set up separate pension rights for themselves so far. But you could bet your last Eurocentime that if not, there’ll be a working party somewhere inside that sprawling Empire from Brussels to Strasbourg, figuring out how to pull it off.

 Watch this space I’ll be back!

Tom.

In the meantime if you’re stuck for a good read, checkout the ebooks at:-  http://amzn.to/f2Cbqx.

The Party's Over

Well for Lehman Bros it certainly is, though in reality did it ever really start?

Some party hey, more like a 13 year session at the Monopoly Board! Whatever, now we are getting to see who’s swimming naked, maybe it’s also time to sort out a few other aspects of our national identity?

The clearly defined Schleswig Holstein dilemma, alternatively known in this country as the West Lothian question, boils down I’d say, to much the same thing. Who is taking who for a bunch of mugs? Look north to Edinburgh, south to Belgium or west to Cardiff or Belfast and the answer is pretty much the same.

Ever since the Highland Charge was defeated by superior military tactics, to the times when Edward Heath shoehorned us into this European three card trick and a former Treasury Secretary dreamed up his so-called ‘Barnett Formula’, we’ve been taking it on the chin from North of the border.

It's time the music stopped and we found out who really should have the seats, in our English Houses of Parliament?

For the moment the only thing in our favour is the fact that these Fabian Socialists have not realised as yet, that what they thought was bedrock, will turn out to be a huge sea of shifting sand. This ‘I’m saving the world mantra’ peddled by the member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath is nothing more than a blatant attempt, seized on by the plonkers, to grasp at nettles they could only previously dream about. Total nationalisation of every aspect of our daily lives in the guise of bogus schemes more suited to a bunch of Oxford Street Bunco Artistes, is what brought us to the brink of 'boom and bust' ruin.

So a slip of the tongue maybe,  was all it needed, to ignite our backs to the wall indefatigability and a sure and certain end to this misery they sought to impose, for all time. We need to be sure no more silly social experiments, are presented to us as a ‘fait accompli’ and assurances that a few simple steps with a printing press will put serious situations to rights, are seen for what they are.

We're in drastic need of fundamental corrections to the way our finances are organised and an end to this funny money regime, based on plastic cards, how do I know all this? I know it because my ancestors came south, maybe in train with the so-called Bonnie Prince Charlie. Though they had the gumption to realise, as I’m sure he did that by the time he got to Derby, his cause was lost. In no way therefore were my stalwart ancestors prepared to be taken on a trek back north, in furtherance of a  lost cause. They realised as a result of this experience, that the best thing to come out of Scotland was the road to England and here we stay!

So, if aspects of this treatise look elusive and you feel a new political party could be the only answer. An English Movement for Democratic Change could soon come tramping over the far horizon.

Watch this space, I'll be back!

Tom

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

Census 2011 forms printed in 57 languages

It is of course a result of this inane Equality Act, a Legacy of the outgoing rabble who ruled the roost for thirteen wasted years and who never understood that its almost impossible to legislate against attutudes of Mind.

  On the other hand it could be someone’s idea of a hoax or a joke or even an attempt by a civil service department whose number is up, to take the Mick as they go down.

  Whatever, it appears to be a gross misuse of taxpayers' funds and  no doubt we can expect the usual chorus of mewling and pewking from the Taxpayer’s Alliance. I often wonder just what this outfit is in business for? Embargoed press releases pour out of the bowels of their Tipton Street HQ., with unremitting tedium and we have yet to see the result of their efforts, in a single change of tack, by any of  the councils  or people their misappropriation revelations, claim to  have exposed.

  There are too a considerable number of anti-EU organisations and considerable effort was expended to bring them all together as a cohesive fighting force for the General Election 2010, all to little effect. Too many vested interests perhaps? 

  There was also another fighting force that went by the curious nom-de-plume of POWER2010, with the avowed intention of upsetting the applecart. It morphed into a movement in support of the Yes camp for the AV Referendum, a totally misguided and ineffectual force for change, we have no need of.

  The abiding legacy of the Parliament of Edward I in 1265 is the fact that we have, ever since, enjoyed strong government. It's conditioned in favour of commonsense, by the fact that an incoming government returned by the people, is not bound to measures introduced by any previously elected parliamentary body.

  In effect the people choose who governs, with any other system, including of course dictatorship, the generals or the politicians decide. To throw all this history away now, on the whim of a party that could not get elected for a the best part of a century, because they sense it as a way of seizing a degree of power by the back door, in much the same way the EU is doing it, would be SENSELESS!

Perfidious Albion must remain supreme and re-enforce our Anglo Saxon way of life and in case anyone should be in doubt about the Anglo Saxon Way of life:

 It’s Leadership, Empire, International Trade in Finance and May the Best Man Win?

Watch this space, I’ll be back!

Tom.

Try this for size MPs & MEPs

Dangerous Liaisons

‘Given the alleged reason for so many resignations you’ve got to have some sympathy for the man who is cuckolded,’ wrote a contributor to a recent forum post. ‘Give him some space to rebuild his life,’ said a another reader.

Cobblers mate, it could be little more than a case of:- There but for the grace of god go I. If you give politicians a get out like this.

The real issue here, is that so many oh so clever people who claim to be politically astute are really no better at dealing with covert liaisons than anyone else in the real world. They put themselves on a pedestal in respect of their intrinsic value compared to the real earners, who run major corporations. Then topple off their plinths like skittles in a ninepin bowling alley at the first sniff of the barmaid's apron and a chance to grab a few quick bucks with a dodgy expense claim.

These people are entrusted with our destiny, is it any wonder they have got us into this mess with the Eurocrats breathing down our neck at every turn and the lame ducks of Europe queuing up at the back door for handouts, when they can't even make 2+2=4

We need real Statesmen in our Westminster Parliament, people who can see past the next quick buck and a bit of hot totty on the side. Maybe it's okay in France, where they expect it of their public figures, but here in Perfidious Albion for Heaven's Sake? Give it a rest good buddies and look out for the next issue of Digger's Weekly Scandal Sheet.

Watch this space, I’ll be back!

Tom.

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No Spending Cuts, It's just Political Game Playing

Spending cuts are a misnomer

Sick and fed up of all this mewling and puking over cuts, well take comfort from this there are no CUTS. The Coalition priorities are different from the new Labour policies that created the biggest bust in our history: since the South Sea Company offered to pay off the National Debt in 1711.

First base for the Coalition was the necessity to assure the Money Markets that UK Gov't Bonds would not be subject to default. This for the main part has been achieved, now the gargantuan deficit is being re-allocated to promote growth and a few sacred cows have to be sacrificed.

No one ever expected the good times could roll forever, especially based on a mountain of debt both personal and government inspired, by so-called economists turned politicians, who should never have been let loose with a Piggy Bank

The higher the peak the deeper the trough that follows it and that's where the Coalition came in and they are making a pretty good fist of it so far, all things being equal.

So let's have an end to the mewling and puking. This is the medicine that always follows the demise of Labour government and its all there in the history books, which they tried so valiantly to discard.

Another Day older and Deeper in Debt

As the Coalition Stages a Valiant attempt to promote growth   

Surely it’s time for a bit of basic economic sense. Spend only what you can earn and save a bit for a rainy day. This reckless gamble of persuading banks to lend to people already in it over their heads is crackers. For if our former PM/Chancellor ever earned a penny by the sweat of his brow, I’d be surprised. He didn't have a clue. Swanning around the world pursuing this Walter Mitty dream of re-organising the world order, prompted by his Prince of Darkness as they supped in the Last Chance Saloon..

  It must verge on coercion, this business of calling in bank bosses for arm twisting sessions. They’re more concerned to save their own skin in the present situation and they’re well schooled in inscrutability. Especially in marshalling that blank expression they use, when denying further credit. I often paused to wonder if they practice it in the washroom just before an appointment. Though maybe first of all we should pay due regard to a few words by of one of our greatest scribes  Rudyard Kipling:-

                                                                                                    If you can make a heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss, and lose and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss.  If you can take the unforgiving minute and fill it with sixty seconds worth of distance run. The world is yours and everything that’s in it and which is more my son you’ll be a man.

  If the boy Gordie had not been the fool we now know him to be, he’d have gathered up his bed roll and moved on before jumping into No.10. But instead of apologising and moving on, he tried to tough it out hoping the mess he'd created would just go away. Instead he tried one last desperate gamble by re-inventing the Prince of Darkness with his pathetic rebuttal mantra and his attempts to rubbish everybody and his dog.

  Previously they'd used him to con a generation of young people who’d never known the worst excesses of Tax & Spend and the nightmare rumbles on, as Labour buries its collectively head in the sand and ressurrects the failed financial engineers headed by Balls & Co., to tell us if we'd stayed with them, it would all have been oh so easy.

  Fat chance, for if, as Harold Wilson pointed out:-  "A week in politics is a long time."  What the heck was November 2008 to June 2010? It had to be eighteen months of Hell on Earth.

Watch this space, I'll be back!

 Tom.

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Panning for Gold

It's ABC stuff

As gold takes on an added significance in the present day world, it’s good to look back over the history of it in this great country of ours. The discovery of gold predates Roman times but it’s was really only from that point on that we have a chronicled account of the problems the Romans faced, many of which are repeating themselves as flawlessly today as they did back then. So it’s good to reflect on the measures they used to combat raging inflation and all the crooked tricks the moneychangers got up to back in those days.

Of course this was well before banks, when the public were at the mercy of the money changers. Clipping was the most obvious scam, by collecting shavings from the face or edge of gold and silver coins, it was possible to accumulate enough to make another coin or ingot and so inflation was born and it’s been with us ever since.

It’s not so bad while there’s a bit of growth in economic activity but watch out when growth stalls and inflation falls. That’s what deflation is, a double whammy, a self generating downward spiral and that’s when the real show begins to rumble and the BoE takes on the role of another Helicopter Ben, scattering manna to the four winds, showering us with largesse, that we never had an inkling was available. Well it is now, but as they’re failing to make clear, when it’s all over and there’s calmer water ahead we have to pay it all back. for money created by bnaks is inthe form on interest bearing bonds.  

It’s their fault we’re in this mess, have no doubt about that, so batten down your hatches in anticipation, dust off the pan and get prospectin’. There’s gold in them there hills in England, Scotland and Wales. in Derbyshire, Cornwall. and many other counties. So when they come knocking or as is more likely, dipping a hand in your backpocket via PAYE, VAT or National Insurance that isn’t, you’ll be prepared. You’ll have your own manna from heaven and it’s staring you in the face. Courtesy of the British Gold Panner’s Association. They’ll tell you how to go about it and it’s there for the taking.

You won’t need Helicopter Ben or the Prince of Darkness or Bob the Builder or the Financial Engineers Enron, Lehman Bros., or Goldman Sachs who created this mess. It’s been coming since 1717 When Sir Isaac Newton was Master of the Mint and the government of the day overruled him, by making the Guinea twenty one shillings. It opened the door for Fiat money and the printing presses and they’ve been piling on the agony ever since, because the schemes they dream up get ever wilder and they still dunner geddit. 

      

 So in conclusion we need to be reminded of a few words by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson aka ‘Lewis Carroll’ :-

               ”The rule is, jam tomorrow, and jam yesterday – but never jam today.”   ”It must come sometimes to ‘jam today,’  “ objected Alice threough the Looking Glass.  ”No it can’t ,” replied the Queen. “It’s jam every other day and to-day isn’t any other day, you know.” 

Watch this space, I'll be back!

            

 Tom.

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A few words for Dave, which in reality shouldn't be necessary

Is WikiLeaks nothing more than a Field Day for the Press?

It all looks a bit vague when a former MPC member calls for Merve’s head to roll. Especially when the men behind the leaking are skulking around in the shadows. If  indeed they are the great Crusaders for Democracy, you could be excused for thinking they’d be out there puffing out their chests and taking the plaudits. Nevertheless, I can’t let it pass without a few lines to Dave.  Betting against the Markets is a Very Dangerous Game, Dave!

Dear Dave,
A lot of people still have reservations, as our resources are dispensed willy-nilly to prop up the lame ducks of Europe and re-assure the International Shylocks. Bring on a referendum I say and see how much credence the people place in this policy of dispensing largesse at our expense.

  It’s not on Dave; you have no mandate for this. What happens when the EU implodes, as most surely it will. Is all this dosh down the Swannee? Or are you betting on the implosion happening while the guarantees are calls rather than puts? Or should that be the other way round.

  We are constantly reminded that it’s not real money, just guarantees, which might never be called for.  Let’s hope so unless you’re standing ready to ramp up the deficit. Thankfully of late the:- ‘We’ll do what is necessary,’ soundbite has been absent from the Lexicon or should it be the Rubicon?

  We’re sure looking a bit top heavy wobbly these days, maybe you should take a bit more notice of Merve the Swerve. Besides which, who does this Danny Blanchflower think he is? Didn’t he used to play football? Maybe should take up with Tottingham Hotspur again.  It’s all very confusing,  but I reckon the Governor is giving Sterling Service.

Watch this space I’ll be back.

Tom.


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High-speed rail link: opinions divided

The Wimps are at again.

Some call the planned high-speed rail line an eye-sore while others claim the benefits will completely transform the UK’s transport network, wrote the Telegraph’s Jasmine Malone 11 Dec 2010.

  We spend a generation or thereabouts empowering the WIMPS and this is what we get, petty squabbling over things that need to be done to protect our premier trading status across th globe. What do all these plonkers who quibble at every attempt to project this nation into the 21^st century, think is going to provide us with the opportunity to enjoy a rewarding and fulfilling lifestyle in the years ahead, as the rest of the world tries to play catch up.

  Though as long as we continue to support this disastrous experiment in Europe and they persistently attempt  to drag us down to their level, assisted by the myopic quislings in our midst we’re going nowhere fast. There can be no doubt that a high speed rail link to our capital which connects seamlessly with the St Pancras Terminal to Continental European destinations, is the way forward.

  We gave the world railways and are we now such a pale imitation of our forefathers, that we cannot emancipate ourselves from the unelected, unaccountable Brussels fraudsters across the English Channel. For centuries we’ve haggled with the French and more often that not whupped ’em. The French have never really got over the Battle of Agincourt, to the point where they have sought to gang up with the Germans to try and second guess us.

  It’s been going their way for a few years, till they made the fundamental mistake that will be their downfall, by opting for a common currency without the necessary infrastructure to co-ordinate it. It’s an abject failure, for if you fail to carry the International Shylocks with you and depend on borrowing to balance your books, it will be your downfall and that’s where they’re at, in Brussels and Strasbourg, in Portugal and Spain, Ireland, Italy and Greece. Only facts and figures will convince the Shylocks and they remain unconvinced, baleouts included. For no amount of baleout funding is going to convince these people, that their juice is safe.

  The time has come to stand on our own feet again as we have done for a thousand years, till these people turned up using the excuse of preventing a third world war, as the vehicle for their federalist dreams of a super state. Maybe if the civilisation we have created lasts for a another thousand years there could be a case for some overriding international consensus on governance, but the time is not here and now.

  Too many conflicting national interests stand in the way of a Federal Europe, it was never going to be anything more than a bridge too far.

Watch this space, I’ll be back!

Tom.

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A fistfull of Dollars, definitely not Euros.

 And we’re all in clover

It appears to have become necessary to speculate about what is really going on with regard to this unprecedented national deficit. Now and again such speculating strikes a chord. But I’ve been at a loss for a while, to figure out all the whys and wherefores of  this IoU stuff, being chucked about like confetti, at every lame Euroduck in sight.

  The real problem it appears is the EU itself. It  has allowed a myriad of minor players to punch above their weight, but as ever this is not a situation which can be taken seriously for any longer than it takes prudence to prevail. When EU subsidies tail off, as inevitably they must (unless the Eurocrats can hype up their own budget) it risks pulling all the major players down with them and this is when the Market steps in. These minor players got out of their depth on the back of subsidies and the International Shylocks began to fire warning shots across the bow of the major players to whip it all back into line. All at a time when a General Election; changed the balance of power in UK Plc.
   
  The boy Gordie it was who neutered the BoE when he handed supervision of the banks to his own creation, the FSA back in ‘97. He needed to do this, in order to be able to do what he did, in attempting to redistribute the wealth of the nation. In effect, all this was in keeping with his Fabian Socialist instincts and the two hundred odd practising Fabians in the new Labour ranks an organisation of which Tone was once the President (let’s hope it’s the only president he ever gets to be).

  So what is really going on now, you may well ask? Well I figure there’s like a kind of golden stockade, for want of better description, which now surrounds Dave ‘n’ the Kid Gid. A coterie of special advisors who are calling the shots for them. They I reckon, are the real power brokers when it cones to making fiscal sense of the present situation. The Dave ‘n’ Gid show is just a front, a giddy whirl of presentation, which is little more than a smokescreen.

  The BoE is now re-instated as controller of the banks. Mr King has vast experience and if Dave ‘n’ Gid have lessons to learn, they need a mentor of Merve’s calibre. So if indeed Merve played both ends against the middle since he took over the reins at the BoE, it was probably out of frustration at what the boy Gordie was doing and the fact that he had been sidelined.

  As far as the present situation goes, I’m beginning to think the Tories can’t believe their luck at the Pandora’s box bequeathed to them. They could never in their wildest dreams have countenanced creating a pile of debt like this. But now, having satisfied the International Shylocks that their interest payments are secure, they’re rolling in clover and it’s nothing more than a matter of good Treasury management till the cows come home.

  All they have to do now is ensure all the approbation for what they have to do, to keep things on an even keel, is heaped on new Labour and they’re laughing all the way to the BoE. So, despite what they may have said or thought about each other in the run up to new Labour’s demise, they’re all on a roll and for the moment it looks unstoppable. Long live Perfidious Albion.

Watch this space I’ll be back!

Tom.
P.S. If you’re at a loose end  looking for a bit of inspiration download a Tom Stack ebook at   http://amzn.to/f2Cbqx
.

The Milibandido a hostage to Fortune

Union Lackey

Besmirched is an adjective which immediately leaps to mind for he would not have been there but for the leftwing union bosses and to see his appointees trying to make a fist of it is so sad.

 

  What is this country of ours coming to when we need to bend over backwards for unelected, unaccountable, faceless Eurocrats who want merely to drag us down to their levels. Though I’ve heard it said in response to my much trumpeted mutterings on this matter that our continental cousins live far more fulfilling and enjoyable lives than we in England do.

  Nevertheless after spending several years of my life working and living abroad in Germany France and Switzerland, the Near East, the Far East and the Gulf. I have extensive experience of the way others live out their lives. Indeed I have over the years been offered many opportunities too re-locate but in the end I just can’t wait to get back to Perfidious Albion.

   I’m left to suppose though that with the governments we have if you can’t take rejection and be humble, all you can do is to come out throwing wild punches in the hope that one might eventually land. There can be no doubt that in view of the world wide situation where banks had to be baled out wholesale and you are in a situation where it is likely to rumble on for a good while yet, options are limited.

  But then in opposition you can do or say anything for it’s highly unlikely you will ever be called on to carry it through. But no matter how horrifying the situation when you get to see the small print in the notes to the accounts. There are always going to be steps to be taken, which you cannot avoid.

  In the main you have to satisfy the people you borrow money from (on the massive scale we are now obliged to carry) can be satisfied their capital will be repaid and their juice is safe. For it depends entirely on the level of perceived risk. While risk it has to be said, is based on the extent to which any guarantees you make are credible and therein lies the dilemma for an aspiring power broker.

  The books need to be balanced at some predetermined date in the not too distant, future if you are to cover the repayment schedules and make available the funds required for the economy to be successful. i.e. Where income matches out goings and in some small way produces a profit to pay down the gross national debt to levels the economy can sustain.

 In a way opposition is like an ageing lothario who spots an attractive piece of hot totty and whose mind begins to make promises beyond the pale of the body politic and therein lies the rub.

Watch this space, I’ll be back!

Tom          

Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison is 'best in 25 years'

Come off it or should I say, pull the other one!

A masked musician who plays gravity defying solos has beaten stars such as Phil Collins and Dave Grohl, to be named the greatest drummer of the past 25 years.

The top 10:

01. Joey Jordison (Slipknot, Rob Zombie)

02. Mike Portnoy (Dream Theatre)

03. Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree)

04. Neil Peart (Rush)

05. Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Them Crooked Vultures)

06. Travis Barker (Blink-182, Transplants)

07. Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)

08. Vinnie Colaiuta (Frank Zappa, Sting, Jeff Beck)

09. Phil Collins (Genesis)

10. Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chickenfoot)

Is there no one around today who heard of Gene Krupa? He was one of the most influential drummers of the 20th century, when it came to developing the drum kit and he made history in 1920s as the first kit drummer ever to record using a bass drum pedal. The methodology for which, was published in 1938 and immediately became the standard. He also invented the rim shot on the snare drum.

Gene Krupa by the 1930s was using Slingerland drums and at his urging, tom-toms were developed with tuneable heads. These immediately assumed importance in virtually every drummer’s kit. He developed cymbal techniques too, which were standardised and in collaboration with Zildjian standardized the use of various cymbals, crash cymbals, splash cymbals, pang cymbals, ride cymbals and the swish.

In a Warner Brothers cartoon, a version of Krupa’s drumming was used in an impromptu jam session. While in  1937 recording of Louis Prima's ‘Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)’ by Benny Goodman and his Orchestra featured Krupa on drums and entered the Grammy Hall of Fame.

By the 1970s, Krupa had become  the first drummer in the Modern, Hall of Fame. That’s just a taster of the influence Gene Krupa had on modern day drumming and he had no need of silly gimmicks like tilting stages and lighting affects or silly masks.

Gene Krupa was a giant of the drumming world and his influence lingers, as people today try to be outrageous, just for the hell of it. Probably to cover up for a lack of the talent that drove Gene Krupa to the pinnacle.

On a personal note:

Back in the 1960s wandering around near Times Square, I stood on  the sidewalk and watched barnstorming performance by Gene Krupa on a raised dais, through the open frontage of a bar, which is as vivid to me today as it was that July evening fifty odd years ago. 

Where would all these modern day drumming fanatics be today, were it not for this giant of a man?

Watch this space, I'll be back! 

Tom. 

A Tell theTelegraph Moderator wanted to know what I thought about his Post:-

 This is what he posted

(Prominent Liberal Democrat councillors have today criticised the scale and pace of government cuts at local council level. In particular, they claim that because councils are facing the bulk of budget cuts in the coming financial year, they have little time "to spread the cost of reorganisation and downsizing". As a result, they claim, front-line services such libraries, youth groups and public toilets will be hit harder than they would if cuts were more spread out.

Do the Lib Dems have a point? Or are they just looking for ways of stalling what is necessary?)

This is my response

I'm surprised Mr Moderator, at you falling for this guff about cuts. There are no cuts I cannot repeat this often enough. The Coalition is spending more than Chancellor Darling planned to do. What is happening is a redistribution of the deficit, to promote growth. We need to make up the difference between income and outgoings.

Labour and the Lib-Dems in my experience always scream cuts at the drop of a hat. The Lib-Dems in particular because they are so used to being in opposition where you can promise the world, because you know you'll never have to deliver on it.

Labour controlled local councils were always going to feel the worst effects of this redistribution, because they jumped on the bandwagon when the new Labour government decided to use Local Councils as a job creation scheme back in '97.

We edged up towards having around seven million pen pushers on the books. A fair proportion of them will have to go for the sake of the prudence Gordon Brown forgot how to spell.

Watch this space, I’ll be Back!

Tom.

Pub landlady takes on Sky Sports and looks like a winner

Don't shoot the messenger 

After being fined over £8000 for showing Premier League games via a Greek Satellite Channel in her Pub she appealed to the European Court of Justice as opposed to the ECHR the other tinpot dictator in Brussels and obtained an Advocate’s opinion that Sky’s block breached EU Law.

 What baffles me is the reach of Sky in using the law to hammer pubs for showing satellite channels in their own property. This surely has to be a Bridge Too Far. Did we really make laws like this that forbid a pub owner from tuning in to a satellite broadcast in their own Pub?

I know there’s such a thing as performing rights and all that, but £700 a month for a Sky Sports has to be on the cusp of extortion, when it used to be seventeen shillings and sixpence in the Normanton End at the Baseball Ground when Brian Clough reigned supreme and Derby County were top of the shop.

None of these obscene weekly amounts to so called superstars, in those days, but now  it’s all got out of hand and needs to be reined in. So maybe this European Court of Justice is not such a bad thing. Let’s hope they stick to their guns and curb the Digger’s power over the game we gave to the world.

Watch this space I'll be back!
Tom.