As I Please

We ended our previous blog with a comment somewhere between a threat and a promise.

We had hoped to get all our discontents off our chest but it was not to be. Sadly Holdenforth/aka John Holden, a grizzling, grousing, griping grumbling aged malcontent finds that he disagrees with almost everyone about almost everything and inevitably we have more to say.

Let’s get on with it.

Holdenforth has noted that recent media outputs have been replete with two categories of space fillers:

• Highlights of the year which is about to end.
• Prospects for the world in general and for the UK in particular for 2024

Holdenforth eschews both of these space fillers.

We all know what happened in 2023 and some of us have a rough idea why what happened did happen.

As for the prospects for 2024 – your guess is as good as theirs and, quite possibly, as good as that of Holdenforth.

Instead Holdenforth will jot down a few wry observations on what has happened together with what we would like to happen in the coming year in the forlorn hope that our modest suggestions will be added to what is referred to as the weight of public opinion.

Monarchical matters

Holdenforth has been dismayed as the PR machine at the disposal of the Monarchy has worked tirelessly and, it has to be conceded, highly effectively to restore the respectability of the institution. We had assumed in our naivety that the squalid conduct of Prince Charles and of his former mistress would present too formidable a series of obstacles to a restoration of the respectability that was such an enduring feature of the reign of his mother.

How wrong we were!

We were and we remain uneasy that the unorthodox route to the throne by Camilla was one of the more audacious usurping of the crown in our 1000 year turbulent history.

Yet again Holdenforth has to acknowledge the truism that the people have short memories.

In an earlier blog we asked about what, if anything, Princess Diana and Leon Trotsky had in common.

We thought that both of them had been airbrushed out of history by very effective manipulation of  PR machines by their respective detractors.

Holdenforth is unhappy about the way that Charles III increasingly appears to us to be angling for a degree of power and control over the affairs of his subjects similar to that exercised by his predecessor Charles I – prior to his losing the crown with his head still on it.

So – no squeamish abstentions for Holdenforth on this one -the actions and activities of Charles I and his consort have persuaded us to transfer to the Republican camp.

Gaza 

As I write possibly the most harrowing event now taking place anywhere in the world is the treatment by Israel of the 2 million inhabitants of Gaza, a tiny narrow strip of land – approximately 45 square kms to the south and west of Israel.

It is in this tiny area that Hamas operates and in which the October 7 attack was planned

In the 12 or so weeks that have elapsed since October 7 Israeli forces have inflicted huge casualties on the civilian population.

It is not easy to predict a civilised lasting settlement to this frightening conflict, the origins of which go back into the mists of time.

For our part we hope for the best but we fear the worst.

The Conflict in Ukraine

This conflict is now well into its third year and there are few signs that the war will end any time soon.

Holdenforth would like to rewind the tape of history back to the Crimean War waged between France and Britain on the one side and Russia on the other side in 1854.

“If there was a moral to be drawn from the Crimean War (1854 to 1856) it would be this: in a war between Russia and the West, it will be the Powers which keep out who will be the real gainers”

 “Crimea: the War that would not boil”

 From an essay by AJP Taylor.

Does the verdict of AJP Taylor on events which took place almost 200 years ago have any relevance today?

Holdenforth thinks that it does.

The Aged

 “And so, from hour to hour we ripe and ripe,

And then from hour to hour, we rot and rot:

And thereby hangs a tale”

From As You Like it   Shakespeare

Holdenforth is currently struggling to cope with the problems posed by acting as a carer on a 24/7 basis for two octogenarians – namely himself and his wife.  He himself is well past the watershed and into the rotting phase.

Holdenforth urges octogenarians faced with the prospect of this ordeal to take steps to opt out of the challenge posed by providing for care for themselves and their octogenarian spouse.

A closing thought on this topic. Holdenforth gathers that there are in our midst many thousands of old timers who – for a variety of reasons – are unable to access the required level of support from the caring sector.

We also gather that there are in our midst many thousands from the portly sector  who struggle to lose weight by time honoured means and resort to surgery to achieve  trimmer figures.

Holdenforth can confirm from personal experience that if those from the portly sector were to provide for the needs of  old timers in need of care  on a 24/7 basis the pounds surplus to requirements would be shed in a few weeks – a  win win outcome -and no pun intended for our editor.

The death throes of the Tory Party

We at Holdenforth find ourselves more and more baffled by the Whitehall farce known as the Rwanda plan. The basic facts of the farce have been documented at interminable length. The gist of the matter is that a wholly absurd plan to cope with the flow of illegal immigrants has been allowed to spiral out of political control by a politically bankrupt government.

In the unlikely event that Mr Sunak reads this blog he will parrot his automated response – “desist from your unpatriotic slogans and get behind your democratically elected government as we work to reduce the number of illegals by up to double figures within the next 5 years.”

The conventional Tory wisdom is that this respite will allow the Tories to win the coming election and provide a breathing space to come up with a Baldrick type plan.

Where does Holdenforth stand on the vexed question of illegal immigration?

Many of the asylum seekers and refugees are simply seeking to do what you and I would do were we in their shoes – to improve the conditions of their lives.

• It could be argued – indeed it is argued by some – that the criminal gangs arranging illegal entry in small boats are simply exploiting a clear gap in the travel market – to provide a travel service to those seeking a better life.
• The UK authorities encourage the growth of this market opportunity by making available to those who succeed in landing on our shores a significantly more agreeable life style.
• Most of the venom of those in the Tory party anxious to demonstrate that they have a workable plan to tackle the problem is directed against small boats with their cargo of illegals.
• As I write there are around 2 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza being bombed on a daily basis. Sooner or later someone will suggest that arrangements be made to allow these genuine asylum seekers and refugees to come to the UK possibly in very large boats – say a couple of Royal Caribbean Cruise liners with each with capacities of at least 5,000 thus getting around the ban on small boats – what happens then? Which of us would not gladly exchange life – and death – in Gaza for a new life in the UK?

Notes on the General Election which will take place in 2024

Much of the chatter in the various media channels has centred on the likely outcome of the 2024 General Election. For obvious reasons most forecasters have / are predicting a substantial victory for Kier Starmer and the Labour party .

Holdenforth would like to have its say.

Our focus will be on the Cameron factor and the Farage factor.

Permit us to rewind our tape back to the Tory / Liberal coalition which was in power from 2010 to 2015.

As the 2015 election loomed Cameron committed the Tory party to hold a referendum on our membership of the EU were his party to  win the election. The word was that Cameron made this policy decision to neutralise the growing threat posed to the Tory party by Farage.

• The good news for Cameron – he wins the 2015 election.
• The bad news for Cameron – he loses the referendum in 2016 and immediately resigns as Party Leader.
• The worse news for Cameron – he becomes mired in a series of scandals which seemed to Holdenforth to signify the end of his career in public life.
• The Lazarus factor – Cameron is chosen by the PM Mr Sunak to be simultaneously appointed as our new Foreign Secretary AND appointed to the House of Lords.

Holdenforth suspects that we were not the only ones to be startled by this turn of events. Doubtless many Tory MPs in the Commons and possibly some Tories in the House of Lords were less than ecstatic.

We have had our say at some length in previous blogs about the fact that the House of Lords and Democracy are mutually exclusive – or ought to be.  The Cameron factor emphasises the contempt shown by The Tory party in general and by Sunak and Cameron in particular for just about any model of democratic government.

Meanwhile, the Reform Party, the political wing of the anti small boats movement is said to be gathering momentum – momentum with a small M – and this development provides an incentive for Mr Sunak to call an early election.

Mr Farage and his Sancho Panza Richard Tice are timing their move to the front carefully.

We at Holdenforth are NOT admirers of Mr Farage but it would be absurd not to acknowledge that in the past decade Farage has played a major role in the political life of the UK. All the indications are that this will continue to be the case in the next few years.

In Conclusion

A few Holdenforth slogans from previous blogs- slogans that are dear to our hearts.

• We yearn for the privatisation of the BBC.
• We demand to know what is holding up the appearance in court of those responsible for the appalling miscarriage of justice in the persecution of sub postmasters
• When will HMG end the Chilcot factor and instead put a time limit on public enquiries?
• When will the issue of who can work from home and in what circumstances be decided by management?
• Let us widen this point – when will the management sector do its job – in particular to accept the responsibility that was formely thought to be the reason for substantial reward packages paid to those in the sector?

As I Please

Lights in the attic.

For some  years I used to phone one of my many cousins to talk about the health of our relatives. She would ask of our older relatives – “Are the lights still on the attic” and would be pleased if my response was positive.

How might I answer this query currently about the lights in my own attic?

My answer –  switched on but very weak – roughly the luminance of a Toc H bulb, the dim light favoured by The Rev Tubby Clayton in WW1.

A shaky base on which to build a probing blog on the problems facing the nation.

However – at the other extreme – a dubious plea in the well-known prayer – “Eternal rest give unto him O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him. ”

Holdenforth would like to have the lights off from time to time.

 “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth”
Matthew 5, 5

Holdenforth doubts that this beatitude is generally the case on earth.

 “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God”
Matthew – 5, 9

Holdenforth believed that there is no verse in the Bible more noble than this one.

 “If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk on one turn of pitch and toss
And lose and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss ….”
“If”  by Rudyard Kipling

Holdenforth wonders if Kipling had inserted these lines as part of an advert  advocating more freedom for the gambling sector?

If not – the lines are by a wide margin the most absurd in the poem.

Party Time

Enquiries are still ongoing about who drank what and where and when during the painfully protracted pandemic.

As I write this blog Covid-19 still poses a threat as those have recently caught it will testify.

( On the plus side – as a privileged octogenarian –  I am about to receive my booster jab.)

But – the order of senior management during the coronation festivities was – get Partying.

Holdenforth is somewhat confused by these seemingly mutually exclusive injunctions – how about you ?

The above points are the defence of Holdenforth ahead of the confusion which follows.

 Notes on the crowning of Charles

On May 6 Charles was crowned King. By and large his formal accession was endorsed by most of the press and broadcasters.

The party atmosphere generated by the promotion of Prince Charles to King Charles and the rather less predictable promotion of his mistress Camilla to Queen Camilla has tended to divert the attention of the electorate away from the prosaic harshness of party politics.

The Tories will have been especially grateful for the opportunity to lick their collective wounds in the shadows.

Holdenforth was amongst those rather less enthusiastic about the turn of events. We would like to quote from a sharp observer of the various difficulties that accompanied the failure of Edward the Eighth to marry Mrs Simpson in addition to being crowned king back in 1936.

 “Royalty – in the propaganda apparatus of society as it is has four functions:-
To foster the illusion of national unity;
To preserve the hierarchy of honours and titles by which repetitive of the workers are subjected to the most insidious form of corruption;
To supply  a fertile source of political diversion
And – above all – to intervene in a time of acute political crisis and exert its influence in favour of the existing social order”
Aneurin Bevan in Tribune on January 1, 1937 writing about the abdication in late 1936

 In the same article Bevan noted that “History repeats itself – said Marx – first as tragedy, second as farce… The Prime Minister ( Mr- Baldwin) who has a natural gift for the counterfeit, surpassed himself “.

Holdenforth could not put the matter better today, some 87 years later.

The decline and fall of the Tory party.

Holdenforth would like to pick up on just one aspect of the political fall out from the heavy defeats suffered by the Tories with the gains distributed more or less equally between the main opposition parties.

Discussion in the media thus far has been limited to speculation about the likely size of the majority awaiting the Labour Party in the next election scheduled for late 2024.

Holdenforth has a peevish complaint. What, if anything, is going to be done by HMG in the time between now and then? The exchange of slogans across the floor of the house and in the countless media interviews is all very well – but man  cannot live by slogans alone. Remember the plea  in The Lord’s Prayer – Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread.

Where is the plan to see us through the expected hard times that lurk between now and the 2024 election?

Sir Keir Starmer can plausibly argue that words are the only weapon at his disposal until he can secure the support of the UK electorate to translate words into deeds.

Ditto Sir Ed Davey, as he plots to secure friends from wherever to share power in the future.

So – over to you, Mr Sunak . Let the electorate see some tangible evidence that the power at your disposal is being put to good use.   

Thus far – you are struggling to make an impact.

And now for something completely different – the war between Mr Putin and THE WEST

Sadly – far from the tensions easing – all the signs are that the storm is gathering and that things are going to get worse before – indeed if – they get better.

It was reported that the  Kremlin itself had been under attack recently albeit from drones rather than from more familiar weapons.

The objective of the attack was said to be to “assassinate Putin” – not easy to interpret this as a peace feeler.

Both sides are said to be preparing for a spring offensive and both sides are said to be focusing on being able to multitask – to defend against the offensives being planned whilst  preparing to launch their own offensive.

Holdenforth will have to leave it there. We are ill equipped to read the minds of the respective military chiefs and are confused as to the competence of the plethora of armchair strategists with their plethora of plans aggressive or defensive

And now  – yet another change of direction.

Before writing my previous blog about the Sudan now and in history Holdenforth reread Lytton Strachey’s book “Eminent Victorians.”

Strachey selected the following Eminent Victorians to serve his purpose: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold and General Gordon. 

Holdenforth will not seek to follow the example of Lytton Strachey but we will suggest a few names for admission to the roll call of Eminent Elizabethans – a light hearted party game to  blend in with the coronation of Charles the Third.

Herewith our selection

• Princess Diana

Q – What has Princess Diana got in common with Leon Trotsky?

A- Both were airbrushed out of history by ruthless opponents. In both cases the ruthless opponents emerged victorious.

Thus – Stalin out manoeuvred Trotsky and removed all traces of his ever having been a most significant figure in the emergence of the Soviet Union.

Thus Camilla outmanoeuvred Diana. The luckless Princess was airbrushed out of the picture and Camilla emerged as Queen to the cheers of the crowd outside the palace.

• Margaret Thatcher

In 1974 our Prime Minister, Mr Heath, was faced with a formidable challenge from Arthur Scargill, about the management – or mismanagement – of the UK coal sector.

Heath foolishly asked the voters ahead of the needless general election  – Who Governs Britain?

The voters replied – Not you!

Some 10 years later  the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher faced a similarly formidable challenge from the same source.

Mrs Thatcher reacted and responded rather differently – I govern Britain and I will take whatever measures are necessary to demonstrate this point.

She did so, the strike dragged on for 12 months and the outcome was a weakened Trade Union movement.

• Arthur Scargill

The premierships of Mr Heath and Mrs Thatcher are inextricably linked to rise and fall of Mr Scargill.

Holdenforth would make just one comment about Mr Scargill – regardless of the view one takes about his performance as a Trade Union leader – he was the most powerful and persuasive orator in public life in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

• Roy Jenkins

Roy Jenkins deserves to be considered for inclusion because of his achievements in so many areas. It should be noted in advance that not all his views and policies secured widespread support.

In chronological order:

• A  reforming Home Secretary who was responsible for a series of liberal measures including the passage of Sexual Offences Bill freeing homosexuals over 21 from the rigours of the criminal law.
• An effective Chancellor of the Exchequer
• A vigorous campaigner for the cause of the UK joining the European Union and later an equally effective campaigner for the work of the EU.
• A leading figure – possibly the leading figure – in the formation of the Social Democratic Party, in 1983. This initiative sadly lost momentum but it was significant factor in the gradual return of the Labour Party towards electability. 
• In later life  a distinguished Chancellor of Oxford University – at that time – still a distinguished University.
• And – from first to last – a most accomplished historian who covered the period from the arrival on the scene of  Mr Gladstone right up to the 1980s.

What about Eminent Carolean candidates?

Still early days but sadly Holdenforth believes that the reign of Charles III (or C3) will be brief.

Just a thought – it is an unfortunate coincidence that C3 is  also the lowest level of fitness to serve as member of HM Forces

What next for our As I Please Blog?

Issues currently jostling to be covered include:- 

• On the subject of women:

“A mans got to tackle ‘em, whatever they be ….. Good or bad” … a man’s got to tackle ‘em” said Uncle Pentstemon raising his voice fearlessly.
The History of Mr Polly , HG Wells

• On the subject of obese cats:

Is John Pettigrew, the CEO of National Grid  really worth an annual pay package of £6.5M?               

Holdenforth will diffidently pose the question.

• On the vexed question of the painfully protracted process of bringing the guilty parties in the Post Office scandal drags on.

An issue that ought to be at the very top of Mr Sunak’s action this day list. We beg him to give it top priority.

• On the question of giving a voice to those with very dubious CVs  on many media outlets:

Is the public not entitled to a health warning before those in this category are allowed to have their say.

We have in mind Lord Tom Watson, Edwina Curry, Christine Hamilton and Dennis McShane –  we suspect that all of us keep a little or even a long list for those in this category

• On the question of allowing members of the House of Lords to affect decisions arrived at by the elected lower house.

 And many more.