A Small Island Man

What the Dickens am I on about now! Am I really suggesting everyone ought to read aloud? Well yes. This morning in a bedroom the measure of a double bed and just enough room to walk around, in a bedroom with blue wooden shutters locked closed, defying entry to the low-slanting, furnace-fierce, rays of a Greek summer morning sun, propped up on pillows I read David Copperfield aloud to my love. I am ashamed to say I am a stranger to Dickens as indeed I am unacquainted with so many of the great wordsmiths who have written and wrought worlds magnificent for us all. It is no exaggeration that I was virtually illiterate until the age of forty. Not technically illiterate. My degree in numbers and bits and bytes required skill enough to read the texts but there was no story reading and most certainly, nothing ever was written more creative than a shopping list. I was late to the wonder of words. Later, Dylan Thomas and Einstein proffered helping hands that were sadly not there in my London com...

Nissan to create thousands of UK jobs in battery investment " The government is contributing to the overall cost of the project, which is expected to cost hundreds of millions. The size of the government contribution has not been disclosed. " This was as expected. For the government to deliver on Brexit, and prevent Nisan from leaving Sunderland. the government had to bribe compensate Nissan for the damage done to Nissan UK's trading relationship inflicted by Brexit. Had Nissan left the UK it would have been a political disaster for Tories that likely would have jeopardized their position on Brexit, which may have lead to a vote of no confidence. and ultimately defeat. And,... this government will hold on to power at all costs, especially when it is you and not them that has to stump up the cost. Brexit means that the UK is now free of the EU's level playing field rules for industrial subsidy. So all is good? Well, not that I have seen the details but: I doubt it las...

If  Labour loses the  Batley & Spen by-election (it's been Labor-held since 1992 ) this July 1st, at a time when the Tories; the most mendacious, lying, cheating, incompetent rogue government in my living memory are embarked on a program of running the country into the ground with their Robin Hood Policy in reverse, then surely, surely in the name of all that is common sense, you have to see it is time for Labour so riddled with internal division and paralysed with confusion to throw itself on its sword and let rise anew a 21st-century-savvy coalition that might have some hope of restoring a fairer for all left-of-center party that is capable of looking forward and LEADING rather than looking back and chasing votes. Labour, currently you are the opposition that is too weak to win and too large to let anyone other than the Tories win. Labour, absurdly you have become the greatest obstacle to the UK achieving a more socialist government!

Saturday 3rd July 8pm /  Σάββατο 3 Ιουλίου 20:00 Location: To Mikro Spiti /  Το Μικρό Σπίτι Celebration: Welcoming our friends to our new home / Εορτασμός: Καλωσορίζοντας τους φίλους μας στο νέο μας σπίτι We would like to invite our friends to join us in celebrating moving into our new home To Mikro Spiti. The Red Line Leads To Our House Step-By-Step Instructions!

One Britain One Nation I feel sick that it should be suggested our children should proudly sing rousing patriotic songs about Britain’s inclusivity and openness at a time when that government’s actions in every way have to been to stir up racial tensions, create division and turn its back upon that largest continental peace project of all time. OBON at a time when Dido Harding harps on about reversing the NHS’s dependence on foreign employees is a pure farce. Foreigners who have chosen a career in caring for the UK are justifiably feeling they are receiving a slap in the face. OBON after the UK sent Brexit MEPs to the opening of the European assembly so they could stand and turn their backs to the playing of Ode to Joy is an insult to the UK and the whole world. The 21st-century world is an ever-shrinking, ever more interconnected world and Britains failure to recognise and embrace that is the action of a backwards-looking nation incapable of seeing history without intense nostalgic ...

General Johnson BBC News - Brexit: EU says patience wearing thin with UK in talks to avoid trade war Let's not call it a trade war! Up until 2020 we had a 50-year long successful trading relationship with 27 other European countries. But it was the will of the people to take back control.  So let's part good friends and as autonomous entities of one United Kingdom and one bloc of 27 European countries. Let's boldly and confidently go forward with WTO trade rules. Then we can finally see how Brexit measures up to its promises of the UK being that world-class trading powerhouse. We can look forward to being a nation that prospers mightily. Why not? Europe will have to take a stand on Northern Ireland, in the event of the UK not doing it. But that much was always clear . N. Ireland can remain in the EU and perhaps join with the south, or they can throw their lot in with Great Britain - you can not really have both any more than it can be raining and not raining at the same tim...

This is the  MSC World Europa MSC World Europa The MSC World Europa is not so much a boat as a floating city.  It can accommodate nearly 7,000 passengers in 2,700 cabins It's a thousand foot long and as tall as a skyscraper. It cost a staggering £800,000,000. (1) But it is a drop in the ocean compared to Dido Harding's Track and Trace which cost £37 BILLION, £37,000,000,000. In other words, enough to buy 46 of these behemoth floating cities! But unlike the MSC World Europa, your £37 BILLION, has largely sunk without a track or a trace! "Dido Harding’s test and trace system has swallowed up “unimaginable” amounts of taxpayers’ money with no evidence of any measurable difference on the progress of the coronavirus pandemic, a scathing report by a Westminster spending watchdog has found." (2) That's roughly £2,000 for EVERY family in the UK. The government has no money of its own, it only has your money. And when they shake the magic money tree and print more money, i...

My Dearest beloved Sifnos, It's  the anniversary of my moving in with you. We have loved and lived together so blissfully for so long! This morning I walked the outstretched arms of your golden shores. The seas, the mountains, the sky such familiar sights and yet they grow more precious to me with every passing day. The colours, the scents, the sounds are anew every day with an unmatched intensity and vibrancy. I never knew it was possible for a landscape to fill a heart so full that I might fear it would burst. A ferry docked and spilled its cargo of excited and expectant holidaymakers on your port; I watched them disembark and wheel their cases behind them in search of two weeks in paradise. They will not be disappointed. This evening I know I will see again the ferry to bear away those who must return home. For a moment I put myself in their shoes, dragging a wheelie case aboard; standing on the deck and watching the deep blue expanse of sea grow between us. My stomach twisted i...

Rejoining the EU is not something any political party can or should promise right now. Why? Because it simply is not in their power to have any reasonable expectation on being able to deliver. Most spectacularly, it is presumptuous of remainers to assume the EU would want a nation that remains so divided and which has been responsible for so much disruption during its membership to want to participate in their pan European project of shared peace through shared prosperity. Remember this? The EU will! What we desperately need, is for the LibDems and Greens to form a pro-European coalition and to gather worthy Labour MPs to the cause to fight for Proportional Representation, access to the Single Market and to re-establish Freedom of Movement. If a success can be made of that, then perhaps one day we may see the UK grow up and take a place as an enthusiastic, participating member of the EU. I doubt that I will see this in my lifetime, primarily because pro-EU opposition is so divided and ...