As I Please

The fall and decline of Holdenforth aka John Holden

Holdenforth has been hors de combat in recent weeks. Sadly, old timers are prone to going arse over tip and Holdenforth is no exception.

I fell and on my way down my head collided with the door frame -and I came a poor second in what followed.

I was whisked off to the local hospital, was checked and tested and measured and then came home resolved to be more careful in future.

Right now Holdenforth resembles Winston Smith, the hero of Orwell’s novel,1984, after his harsh treatment by the State enforcer, O’Brien.

Meanwhile there has been a flurry of activity on the national political front as the big boys and girls – not to mention those in no man’s land in the middle – develop and present their  election strategies and tactics.

Holdenforth cannot afford to be left at the starting line.

What follows is a recycling of extracts from previous blogs to give Holdenforth readers a recap on where we stand on what we see as key issues.

A word of warning to old timers.

Holdenforth has considerable experience about the stresses that are imposed on octogenarians who rashly allow themselves to be burdened with responsibility for caring for themselves and for their spouses on a 24/7 basis.

My advice – do NOT agree to this formidable burden.

A modest proposal

Holdenforth gathers that there are in our midst many thousands of octogenarians 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.

On the privatisation of monopolies

A word from the late and very great Roy Jenkins:

“I think that the privatisation of near monopolies is about as irrelevant as (and sometimes worse than) were the Labour Party’s proposals for further nationalisation in in the 1970s and early 1980s.”

Let us fast forward those suggestions to today.

Take the privatised utilities back into public ownership starting with the water sector.

Minimal compensation to the affronted shareholders.

PO scandal update

“Scotland Yard is under pressure to speed up its enquiry into the Post Office scandal after it emerged that the company continued to fight sub-postmasters in court knowing its defence was untrue.”
Report in the Daily Mail by Josh White, March 30 

For Holdenforth this is the most significant fact to emerge thus far – it appears that The Post Office Management knew that the accounts held by Sub Post Masters COULD be accessed by agents of the senior management.

Holdenforth urges all those in a position to speed things up to do just that.

On Gambling

“The whore and gambler, by the State
Licenc’d , build that nations Fate….
The Winner’s Shout, the Loser’s curse,
Dance before dead England’s Hearse”
Auguries of Innocence  — William Blake  —
Written around 1800

For obvious reasons there are many more curses from the losers than joyful shouts from the few lucky winners.

The plague of betting shops across the nation is worrying. The desire to gamble is all pervasive.

Can anything be done to curb this passion?

Holdenforth urges the tightest possible controls on those that currently exploit this anti-social activity.

“BET365 fined over money laundering policy”
Daily Mail April 5

In the report below the above headline we noted that “Denise Coates has earned £1.2 bn in the past 4 four years”

Some juicy low hanging fruit for our new regulator.

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 1,000-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 air brushed out of history by very effective manipulation of PR machines by their respective detractors.

We still believe that this is the case.

On The Lords

The speedy elevation of the discredited David Cameron to the House of Lords was seen by some as evidence of the flexibility of this aged feature of our constitution.

Holdenforth was not persuaded that this was / is the case.

For us – it was yet another nail in the decaying coffin of our democracy.

The sooner the House of Lords is abolished the better.

On the Trans Issue

Is there no prospect of an outbreak of common-sense north of Hadrian’s Wall?

“They hate Capitalism, they hate Imperialism, but most of all they hate each other”
Alexie Sayle on the aggressive propensities of his fellow Trotskyists in Liverpool

The recently passed Hate crime bill passed by the Edinburgh government is providing a mixture of hard work for the police and lawyers in Scotland plus, of course, first class entertainment for the voters. Much of the debate about the bill has centred around the decision to make what are deemed to be transphobic comments a hate crime.

“If my aunt had bollocks, she would be my uncle but she didn’t and she wasn’t.”

Holdenforth thought that this time-honoured aphorism had edged this contentious issue onto the back burner but the issue continued to provoke angry responses.

For now – we will respond with a muted call of “Bollocks”

That should do the trick.

The new young super rich

Holdenforth has noted the startlingly high incomes being gathered in by successful youthful raucous vocalists.

We diffidently suggest that the tax authorities examine these eye watering incomes – always assuming that the employees of HMRC can be persuaded / coerced into going to work – with a view to transferring much/most of these earnings into revenue for the many.

Is that it?

We had intended to touch on a few broader issues:

• Putin and democracy
• The West v Putin
• Prospects for ww3
• The need to push up spending on defence
• Brexit
• Immigration – both legal and illegal

Sadly, our energy levels are down – enough for now

We would note that as the issues covered in this blog – and many others – are vigorously discussed as one would expect in a lively democracy committed to free speech – the ongoing daily death rate in Gaza is steady at around 200.

“This is that way the world ends….

Not with a bang but with a whimper”

TS Eliot

The Hollow Men

Holdenforth is perplexed as to which of Eliot’s outcomes will come to pass.

As I Please

Once again we find ourselves lured into blogging despite our requirement for a break from the stresses triggered by our

efforts to remain calm and objective in the pervasive chaos that surrounds us.

Let us start on a gloomy note – Capital Punishment

Holdenforth was startled by the news item from the USA which reported that a prisoner had been executed using a novel technique of suffocation. We were startled for two reasons:

• We had assumed that the Americans – given their predilection for meeting out punishment around the Globe to countries deemed to be opponents of the country of Mom and Apple Pie could get this particular treatment right.

• We also noted that the suffocated prisoner had already served 20 years in prison.

Holdenforth recalled an account by the then chief hangman in the UK – Albert Pierrepoint – of the death by hanging method used in British Prisons.

Pierrepoint had appeared before a Royal Commission chaired by Sir Ernest Gowers – a stickler for accuracy.

He, Pierrepoint, told the Commission that the under the British method the condemned person died immediately.

Holdenforth disapproves of capital punishment but were we ever to be sentenced to death with the solace of choice of methods we would opt for the Pierrepoint way.

An even gloomier issue – World War Three may be coming to a battlefield near you.

Holdenforth has been disconcerted by the widespread media speculation that World War Three is about to break out.

Let us start this topic on a personal note.

Holdenforth aka John Holden was born at the end of June in 1940. If you do the sums, you will note that he was conceived at roughly the same time as Britain declared war on Germany because of the invasion by Germany of Poland.

Some might be critical of the family planning approach of my parents especially as Holdenforth when he arrived on the scene was their 8th child – but I digress.

Surely – given all the horrors of WW1 And WW2 – no one could contemplate for a moment any return to the insanity of war. 

“If we don’t want death, blackouts, and busybodies in every corner of our lives, end this brainless march to war”
Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday, January 28th

“The Russkies are coming, Captain Mainwaring…. Don’t panic”
Headline above the Richard Littelejohn column, Daily Mail, January 26th

In his column, Littlejohn outlined his concerns about the readiness of the UK to fight a major war.

His first paragraph read:

“Britain is ill prepared for war according to the outgoing chief of the armed forces. General Sir Patrick Sanders warns that we must build up a combined force of 500,000 full time troop and reservists… this is the minimum number necessary to defend ourselves”

Our current defence secretary, Grant Shapps, has warned that we are moving from our postwar world to a prewar world. Holdenforth assumes that Mr Shapps knows what he is talking about.        

However:

• In WW1 – hundreds of thousands rushed to volunteer to enlist at the outset. 

• WW 2 proved less attractive in terms of the readiness of the people to be attracted by the call to arms but there were few problems once the conflict got under way.

Holdenforth has noted that there appears to be little popular enthusiasm to exchange the latest fashion beloved by the young for military livery.

If the rush to WW3 continues we suspect that some modern form of modern press ganging would be organised.

Could you really see our current Prime Minister or possibly his successor as latter day Kitcheners and as plausible effective recruitment agents on huge prominent posters?

No – neither can Holdenforth.

“Your country needs you” proclaims the poster!

To which most of those targeted respond – “It can carry on needing” – cue another Carry On film with a latter-day Charles Hawtrey as a Conscientious objector.                                                                                                                           

By the way – why does Holdenforth remain a Remainer?

One significant reason – On July 1,1916 – 20,000 British Soldiers were killed on Day 1 of the Somme offensive.

There is surely a more civilised way of resolving disagreements between nations.

Might there be other reasons why the young men and women of today would be less enthusiastic than previous generations to enlist?

Speaking only for ourselves Holdenforth is not enthusiastic about the following features of our national life:

• The Government headed by Mr Sunak that has resurrected the presumed political corpse of David Cameron.

• An elite that steadily increases the membership of the House of Lords – the retirement home of those who have thrived on the decaying institutions of the UK.

• A country owned to a huge extent by off shore sharp practitioners.

• A country unable the halt the steady flow of illegal but thus far unarmed immigrants.

• A country with a Tory faction that in the midst of our many travails is anxious to see the return of Boris Johnson to front line politics.

• An opposition which – so far as Holdenforth can discern, has but one policy – to secure the keys to No 10 Downing Street in the next election. Commendably simple but hardly inspiring.

“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit …. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them”
Matthew 8, verses 18-20

Some critics of the UK see us as a country which bawls about its dedication to the ideals and traditions of democracy but is shaky when it comes to doing something about it.

What factors are thought to be significant in the context of preparing for a global conflict?

Holdenforth has noted that some of these factors are linked to the activities and actions of Israel following the Hamas led assault on October 7 last year.

These include:

• Threats to international shipping through the Suez canal.

• The daily deaths of around 200 non combatants in Gaza –  a somewhat disproportionate response by Israel. Israel takes care to distinguish between the activities of Hamas and its consequences for those unfortunate enough to live in Gaza.

Holdenforth notes that the arguments to prepare for WW3 are all too often associated with the pugnacious approach of Netanyahu and the chaotic approach of poor old Joe Biden.

What do Holdenforth readers think of having the shaky finger of the aged President on the nuclear button?

Note the Mission Statement operated by the State Department of the USA – “when you have them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow”.

One closing point on this topic – Holdenforth has noted the non stop raucous resolute attack by Netanyahu on Hamas but we note also that he is strangely mute on the Zionist activities of the group which pioneered terrorism in the region -Irgun back in late 1940s.

The NHS

“What do you think about England  – this country of ours where nobody is well.”
WH Auden, 1931

What has happened to the health of the nation in the past 90 years?

The major improvement was the introduction of a National Health Service which provided a comprehensive service free at the point of use. Briefly, this laudable reform meant that everyone and especially those least able to pay for medical care could obtain the help needed when they needed it.

Sadly, the NHS – after flourishing for decades – has now succumbed to declining standards. Much of the decline can be traced to a decline in the performance of NHS senior managers.

Davos and The Mafia

Holdenforth has noted an unfortunate resemblance between the public activities of the Mafia families in the USA that control much of the highly organised crime that is such a notable feature of that Country and the annual conference of the super-rich at Davos. Both sectors are anxious to draw attention to their laudable objectives but the wider public senses a credibility gap between slogans and actions.

See our earlier quote from The Sermon on The Mount.

A word about the current problems facing the UK Steel Sector

Time was when Holdenforth could speak with some authority on this subject.

Not now.

However, we have to say that we were confused when we watched a recent very public confrontation between TU leaders together with the MP for Aberavon on the one hand and two very senior managers from Tata Steel on the other hand.

We were not sure what part, if any, was played by Mr Sunak as he sought to strike a balance between the votes of the steelworkers and the votes of the zero sector on the other.

In the 1980 eighties Holdenforth managed an Electric Arc Furnace for eight years – long enough to grasp that the head count to make steel via the Electric Arc Furnace route was substantially less than that produced by the Blast Furnace route.

I suspect that nothing has changed.

A modest proposal put forward by Holdenforth

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.

A diffident assertion on a contentious issue

There has been understandable media interest in recent weeks about the evil murder of a member of the trans sector.

On the central issue of the case put forward by this sector Holdenforth can only repeat what we have said in previous blogs:-

“If my aunt had bollocks, she would be my uncle but she didn’t and she wasn’t.”

It may well be the case that the trans sector was and is unhappy with the hand dealt by nature but that does not alter the basic biology

of the situation. 

We will leave it there on this one.

The decline of the British manager.

Holdenforth intends to return to this topic in a future blog.

For now we will simply state our policy.

Successful managers will be allowed to keep their jobs.

Failing managers will be promptly handed a P45.

A case study here – many – if not most senior managers – in the water sector – would be required to cut the crap or be out on their ears.

Mr Navalny.

The death – murder ? – of Mr Navalny reminded us of the death of a very prominent opponent of the then Russian supremo Stalin,  Leon Trotsky in Mexico. 

To this day supporters of the views and policies of Trotsky are influential and raucous around the world.