Moving home - mixed emotions

We have lived in our family home, a modest semi-detached house on the edge of our village, for 37.5 happy years. Tomorrow we move to a bungalow next to our local windmill currently undergoing a large restoration. The new home is lovely: homely and spacious, and with a nice garden and at the end of  a quiet close.

As you can imagine, this evening we are feeling rather mixed emotions: our children grew up in this current home and it has been "our" place, with our stamp on it, for all those years. They have been, almost without exception, very happy years. Tonight the old house is devoid of personality with pictures off the walls and trappings of our life in boxes.

However, the new home is already taking on the feel of our current home with familiar photos and trappings already in place that make a home "our" home. No doubt it will take a few weeks to adjust, but overall we feel it is a good move: a bungalow is easier when one is getting on in years and mobility is likely to become more difficult. Nonetheless we will miss our old home so much.

Thank you home, you have been our friend for a long time and we'll miss you.

National Debt in the UK (and USA)

Sometimes I feel like we are living in the 1930s: we can see a crisis looming but carry on hoping it isn't going to happen, yet in my gut I feel that it is imminent.

What is bothering me? Well it is the indebtedness of the UK (and the USA) and the almost inevitable deep crisis that will result if it continues to mount. The true level of the UK's debt (around £900 billion) is VERY close to that in Wiemar Germany in the early 1920s when inflation went mad (money became worthless) and social unrest and national socialism took hold.  If interest rates rise by just a few percent, the UK will be unable to repay its debts, banks will fail and there will be no government money to bail them out. In summary we would be in totally uncharted territory where no savings, salaries or pensions would be safe. It is quite possible that social order would break down and a revolution and far left or right politics would be the order of the day. This is just in the UK. The same story is likely in the USA and across the Eurozone. The stability we have enjoyed since WW2 would be well and truly over.

I hope and pray that I am wrong.

The ONLY answer to this is for the nation to live within its means both nationally and on an individual level. We CANNOT continue to borrow money to support services and lifestyles we cannot afford.  

Read http://pro.moneyweek.com/myk-eob-tpr123/PMYKP703/ to get the background on this. I also recommend the book "How did we get into this mess?" by the BBC financial commentator Robert Peston.

Well done Andy Murray - Wimbledon tennis champ

For the first time since the 1930s we have a British male Wimbledon champion. The standard of tennis has been exceptional this year and Andy Murray has been first class. He deserves his impressive win.

Well done Sir (he surely will be soon) Andy.

Justice at last

The BBC website reports that the radical cleric Abu Qatada is expected to be deported to Jordan overnight to stand trial on terrorism charges. It has taken over 10 years to get this menace of a man out of this country.  It beggars believe that a man with such radical and downright NASTY views has been allowed to stay this long. Something is seriously wrong with our legal framework within the EU for this to take SO long to resolve.

The UK is no place for people with extremist, violent views and we should be able to deport such nutcases with the minimum of fuss and delay, working within UK legal framework.

Who judges? Sharia Law

The BBC website has reported that Sharia law, and its rough justice, is spreading through rebel held parts of Syria. They report on the killing of a 14 year old boy because he made an off-the-cuff joke about "the Prophet".  See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23139784 .

The ruling regime in Syria has a lot wrong with it, but we have to be careful that what replaces it, possibly with the help of western nations, is not just as bad, or even worse. Sharia law has no place in the 21st century. Do we never learn that the religions of the world have brought much hatred, wars, civil unrest and unhappiness. Whatever you belief, surely the common threads of all world religions are meant to be care for others, empathy, understanding and love in its most profound sense. Why is it then that the enduring image of almost (all?) major religions is just the opposite?

If you disagree, please let me know the reasons why.

Edward Snowden and the Russian/USA discussions?

This evening, I read that Edward Snowden, the US contractor who has leaked details of US spying activities, has (reportedly) asked for political asylum in Russia and that President Putin has said,

"If [Snowden] wants to go somewhere and there are those who would take him, he is welcome to do so," and  "If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: He must stop his activities aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners, no matter how strange it may sound coming from my lips."

Now, to my suspicious mind this sounds a very strange comment from a Russian head of state. One can only imagine the behind-the-scenes contacts between the US and Russian governments that prompted this utterance. We all know that the USA spies on Russia and that Russia spies on the USA, so why this apparent support for the USA? 

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23138073

Waitrose

Waitrose, part of the John Lewis partnership, is one of my favourite shops. Their food quality is excellent, their no-quibble response to customer returns is first class and now they offer a free cup of coffee or tea plus a free Daily Telegraph or Daily Mail for Waitrose card holding customers. In my view, the Daily Mail is best avoided unless you like rubbish journalism on the far right or need paper to wipe up your mess. Every time I read a copy I fume with rage! The Daily Telegraph is more central politically, although slightly on the right of centre.

The John Lewis partnership is a model for future business: employees share a bonus based on real results (unlike the rip-us-off bankers) and thereby want their business to succeed. They treat their customers well.