Maggie

Aww the baby. She is a holy terror, gives off the most misleading, grovelling vibes, I’m sure its deliberate because the truth is she is the most stubborn determined tenacious little tyke ever.

She has discovered she can climb on my chair I did try to discourage her and it worked for all of about five minutes she simply does not give up. Little girl is a natural lap dog but she is afraid of heights so the lap is safe as long as she can’t reach.

Thing about that is its no longer working. Its taken a while but she has at last discovered jumping. All she has to do is keep leaping and holding until she gets a proper grip and sufficient height.

She’s on my lap I'm soft when I need hard and what with Ollie going deaf I sometimes sound quite loud too. it doesn’t work. Little girl plays humble but she never gives in. Last evening I had two cats and one Maggie on my lap. I know I could lose some weight but really my lap is not that big. I was squashed.

Not one of them would give way and get the hell down.

Some people are fooled by all the grovelling, tummy exposing and fawning as though they think poor Maggie is afraid of the merest whisper. Don’t be fooled. Little girl holds her own, has stolen Jezzies bed and steals Ollie and Jezzies food.

Stubborn little girl may have been mistreated in the past I really don’t know but I do know she has put it behind her.

Corbyn

I didn’t want him elected leader of the Labour party not because I dislike him or most of his policies the reason I didn’t want him to win is much more painful: he reminds me of Michael Foot who I liked very much. He was a good man, a great politician and a hopeless leader. It wasn’t that his opinions were wrong they were not Michael Foot just seemed unable to understand the difference between being a back bench conviction politician and being the leader of a major political party.

I have the same feeling about Jeremy Corbyn with one or two added reservations. He did ignore the child sexual abuse tragedy in Islington and he did condemn Geoffrey Dickens for raising the subject of child sexual abuse in parliament. Not good enough particularly from the leader of a political party. And there is his age. He’s sixty six its not too late to make a success of his leadership but its cutting it fine and seventy is not too old to lead a general election campaign I hope his health holds because he is taking on a challenging position and a leadership election close to a general election would not be ideal.

Having said that Jeremy Corbyn does have the opportunity to make real progress. The Conservative party won the general election but they are not popular in the unthinking way Margaret Thatcher was for so long. If Corbyn can emphasize the difference between himself and David Cameron he has a great opportunity to close the gap and even take the lead.

Yesterday was his first opportunity and his first mistake. He attended an event commemorating the Battle of Britain and declined to join in the national anthem. As a conviction politician he is entitled to his views as leader of the Labour party his personal views don’t count in any but exceptional circumstances. If his PR team and I do hope he has one have any common sense at all they will make clear that whilst he is not changing his republican atheist position he will not use his leadership to promote what the majority of his party and the country disagree with since to do so would be a betrayal of democracy and that is what he should also say to questions about any previous and possibly controversial issues.

I wish Jeremy Corbyn luck even though some of his opinions and some members of his cabinet irritate the hell out of me.

I was in two minds about writing this, not only do some people think I can’t write they also think I should stay away from politics because as they are always eager to inform me I’m too stupid to understand. Fuck em I write what I like because I want to write it not because I’m looking for praise or even readers.

I Shouldna Done it

But it wasn't a bad day and I want to get back into the habit of walking Its important because when I do get somewhere civilised I don't want to be an invalid. At my age if you don't use it you definitely lose something but not around the waist that tends to gain quite a lot.

I had to go I'd forgotten some shopping and was running low on interesting stuff like milk. The walk into town was good not windy or rainy admittedly cloud was low and the sky was rather more than fifty shades of gray but it was still pleasant enough and easy walking.

Being me by the time I arrived the bank had shut for lunch this is Ireland all day banking is something that happens elsewhere. I wandered along to my local grocers and did not a lot of shopping. This may have been a mistake but it was an important part of my grand plan to walk into town several days a week, firm up some muscles and lose weight.

So far so good I did my wee bit of shopping and turned for home, and it was still pleasant enough I was strolling which if you're walking to lose weight is not the best way to do it. Walking needs purpose not speed but intention don't dawdle that doesn't work. Regardless of knowing that I nevertheless strolled along quite content until I noticed my feet they were beginning to ache.

By this time I'd left the town and passed the only bench on the entire walk I carried on not exactly limping but not exactly walking either I think it was more of a shuffle. It was slow very slow.  At last I got to the spot where I always stop I stayed longer than I usually do my feet by then were quite sore I could almost have set up camp with more enthusiasm.

At last I started the last lap of the walk hobbling along looking at my feet I didn't notice anyone until a voice called me by name. I'd reached one of the outlying houses I looked up and there was an elderly man twiddling with machinery. At first I thought he was someone I know, I must get new glasses or at least wear the ones I've got, but he had called me by name so assuming I knew him wasn't wrong he certainly knew me.

We chatted for no more than a few minutes I was getting annoyed with him he wasn't who I had thought and he was quite a rude person and however old and decrepit he maybe he's not someone I've any wish to meet again.  Its that thing do you see Ireland is so local almost everyone knows your name they don't need to know you they'll fill in any gaps with fiction or whatever the neighbours told them.

The truth is England isn't like that in England strangers probably won't say hello even if they know your name but nor will they be rude for no reason there's still a kind of courtesy or in a lot of still English places there is but England is changing fast and since it must be five years since I was there it may have developed a casual rudeness as well.

Oh my feet ached and my back ached and between feet and back I'd not much thought to spare for anything else. I got home realised I wasn't going to rush back into town tomorrow and felt it would have been a good idea to stick to one way only and get a cab home. For now.

Immigrants, Refugees or Both

Migrants face Hungarian police in the main Eastern Railway station in Budapest, Hungary, September 1, 2015. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

The pictures are of Calais, Hungary and Greece and I’m really glad the woman landing in Greece managed to bring her Iphone but at least she is a woman one of the few.

There are refugees among them of course there are but there are also economic migrants and some of them will be terrorists, rapists or murderers.

All immigrants including asylum seekers have got to be properly registered and checked and that is the reason some migrants rioted they didn’t want to be checked I find that suspicious.

The question is if its too dangerous for young men to stay why did they leave the women behind they know that if they are caught by ISIS the women will be treated worse than men.

Another fact is more than 83,000 young people in the UK are homeless thousands more are ex military what publicity is there for them, and think of the cuts to benefits thousands of people have had sickness and/or disability payments cut what about them more cuts?

The main stream media have been doing a great job showing pictures that would wring all heart strings but they’ve not been telling the whole truth.

My Home Town

Canning Town in London at the end of WW2. Its where I grew up. The British had nowhere to run they took it because they had to and the young men who left their families were not running to safety they joined and were conscripted into the armed forces.

In the UK there was strict rationing it might have been easier in some rural areas to get some extra food but through most of the country rationing was strict people went without and it continued into the early nineteen fifties.

I have some sympathy for refugees but none for economic migrants and none for those migrants who refused food because it came in boxes with a cross on them.

ISIS are boasting they've sent thousands of terrorists to the EU and looking at the pictures of the young men its not hard to think they could.