http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy That's the world from my perspective - with a free weblog from blogigo. en davecathy davecathy Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:01:55 +0100 daily 1 Hi People, Anyone here remember me? I year or so ago I made a lot of entries in this weblog, made a lot of friends and possibly a couple of enemies. I gave it up due to an unaccustomed attack of modesty, when I began to question why I should inflict my thoughts on an uncaring world, but to be honest, I have missed it, but have missed the often fascinating debates it sometimes began even more. So if anyone out there remembers me, or cares to let me know they are there, I will share my unfailing wisdom, intelligence, wit, humour and modesty with you once again, and share those innermost thoughts you confide to this substitute for a psychiatrist's chair. Dave Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:01:55 +0100 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/Prodigal-son-returns-from-wilderness/4815/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/Prodigal-son-returns-from-wilderness/4815/ I have been away. August is a month in this town where most things come to a grinding halt, as it is the peak of the holiday season. I have been busy entertaing guests, be they friends or relatives, been up to London for a few days, and generally having a very pleasant time. September is proving to be very different, full of committees, group meetings,  fast approaching deadlines, and putting myself about a bit. I thought retirement was all about sitting back and being relaxed. Hell, no, but it makes life exciting and stimulating. Thank you to all who took the trouble to answer my last piece about education, every comment is valued, and i will probably have a bit more to say when i am fully back in harness. I just need to think of some new con tenscious (lovely word) subjects to raise, but I don't think I will have much trouble in that department, as there are several things that are raising my blood pressure at the moment.  Putting forward strong views does not, I... Mon, 11 Sep 2006 10:43:00 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/HI-FOLKS/4814/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/HI-FOLKS/4814/ M y cousin John has been staying with me. He is an experienced teacher, and because his visits tend to coincide with national examination results, we tend to have robust debates about education that go on till the early hours.   Each year, the number of pupils who obtain good passes in GCSE and A Levels increases, while the popular perception amongst the public, employers, universities and the armed forces is that standards of education are slipping badly, to the extent that many children appear to be leaving school without even the most basic skills, and are ill-equipped to cope with the job market or the complexities of modern life.   Educators insist that the higher number of passes is down to hard work and improved methods by the teaching profession, while others suggest that exams are getting easier. There is probably some truth in both these arguments. Nobody doubts that a good British education is excellent, but an average education is possibly not good... Sun, 27 Aug 2006 13:12:00 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/EDUKATION/4813/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/EDUKATION/4813/ Many Christians, citing the sanctity of human life, not least the American right including President Bush, are against stem cell research, which has the promise to find a cure for many diseases, and thus save countless lives in the future. Other Christians, maybe the same ones, are against the use of condoms as a birth control measure, citing once again the sanctity of human life. Is someone who dies of AIDS contracted by unprotected sex somehow less human than a mere stem cell, which is no more human than a spermatozoa? Is not the Christian viewpoint flawed, inconsistant, and lethal? Thu, 17 Aug 2006 00:52:00 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/THE-SANCTITY-OF-HUMAN-LIFE/87/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/THE-SANCTITY-OF-HUMAN-LIFE/87/ I just wonder how many million hours we have spent between us trying to make sense of the new setup, and how many bloggers have given it up as a bad job. It is only when your blog disappears that you realise just how important they are to us, and realise just how much time, effort, and emotion we have put into them. I have nothing against change, especially if it is for the better, but I wish they had informed us first, and told us how to cope with those changes Sat, 12 Aug 2006 11:36:00 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/NEW-IMPROVED-BLOGIGO/86/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/NEW-IMPROVED-BLOGIGO/86/ It is interesting to see what is happening to this country. For most of my life, Britain has alternated between boom and bust, and it has been a case of governments managing a gentle decline. We are coming up to 10 years of a Labour administration, so what difference has it made? We have had 10 years of uninterrupted growth, our social services are enjoying unprecedented investment. Some critics say the pace of reform is too fast, others that it is too slow. We are all far richer now than 10 years ago, (and that includes pensioners), interest rates, unemployment and inflation remain at a low level, and overall, crime is falling, and more people are in jail then ever before. There are new schools and hospitals everywhere, more nurseries, teachers, doctors, policemen.We now have a minimum wage for the first time ever, and the link between pensions and earnings is to be restored. On the other hand, personal behaviour is rapidly getting worse; church attendance and... Thu, 10 Aug 2006 09:47:00 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/WHERE-IS-BRITAIN-GOING/85/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/WHERE-IS-BRITAIN-GOING/85/ All meant in the friendliest fashion Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:39:37 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/HELL-I-AM-ENJOYING-THIS-DEBATE/84/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/HELL-I-AM-ENJOYING-THIS-DEBATE/84/ Everyone seems to be having great difficulty defining the difference between freedom fighters and terrorists. Perhaps I am being simplistic, but it seems fairly obvious to me FREEDOM FIGHTERS are surely those people who believe rightly or wrongly that their freedom has been curtailed or limited, and are willing to fight to obtain it. This would include the French Resistance, the followers of Ghandi and Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther KIng, even the Dalai Lama, the Suffragettes, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, etc-- an almost endless list. Such freedom fighters fight their oppressors by word or by action. TERRORISTS may well be freedom fighters, but not content with fighting their oppressors, they unacceptably cross the line into terrorising the innocent (defenceless) civilian population. When the IRA targetted the British Establishment, (army, police, etc) they acted as freedom fighters. When they resorted to blowing up women and children, they became terrorists. Of course, in any... Tue, 08 Aug 2006 08:36:49 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/FREEDOM-FIGHTER-OR-TERRORIST/83/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/FREEDOM-FIGHTER-OR-TERRORIST/83/ For most of my life, Arabs and Jews have been killing each other, and the conflict continues, with no apparent end in sight. Virtually everyone I know has strong opinions on the matter, and come down heavily on one side or the other. There is much bile and hate-filled language used, and moderation has gone out of the window.   I believe that most people are missing the point. Playing the blame game is sterile and futile. There is right on both sides, wrong on both sides, and both parties do sometimes act cruelly and inexcusably.   Surely, the only thing that matters is how do we resolve the issue in a fair, just, and permanent manner, so that each side can learn to live in security, and eventually, in peace? These are my personal ideas. 1 There will eventually be a cease-fire, and the sooner that happens the better. 2. The warring parties must be separated militarily, probably by a tough and capable UN force of some sort. 3. A viable 2 state... Tue, 01 Aug 2006 13:04:00 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/WHERE-DO-WE-GO-FROM-HERE/82/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/WHERE-DO-WE-GO-FROM-HERE/82/ I will put my head on the block anmd my reputation on the line with a short prediction. Jerry Sutcliffe MP, a junior government minister, is at this moment leading a team from the Home Office on a visit to the USA to investigate whether Megan's Law would be a suitable way for Britain to go. My prediction is that he will return and anounce, after a suitable interval, that Megan's Law, while it has certain merits, would not work in this country, at least not without major changes that would make it unrecognisable. Lynch law will not be the way this country is governed.  Sat, 22 Jul 2006 23:59:53 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/MEGAN-S-LAW/81/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/MEGAN-S-LAW/81/ Many people endure an unhappy and distressing childhood. Such an experience is likely to warp the developing character, and thus affect the course of their whole life. Some may say that those traumas leave an indelible mark that blights their future, while, for others it can be the making of them; an unintended exercise in character building.   The one forlorn snapshot of my parents wedding showed a man in his 30’s wearing a trilby, smart grey suit and spats outside the church with his new bride, a shapely younger lass of no more than 20, wearing a dark 2 piece suit. The smiles were a little forced, and the only others present were the vicar, a couple of Dads friends, and one of Mums sisters. I was eventually to be the only fruit of that union. I was named Charles David. David is a Jewish name meaning ‘Beloved’. Never had a child been named more inappropriately.   We were of solid working class stock, respectable to the core. The luxury of lax morality was for... Mon, 17 Jul 2006 01:05:30 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/A-FAMILY-SECRET/80/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/A-FAMILY-SECRET/80/  A blog friend, Insider writes, "I see a distressing drift in the UK toward American Capitalist values, obscene consumerism." He is right of course, but I feel that the headlong drift to consumerism exists all over the world where the people are getting richer, not just in the West, but in countries like India and China, where they are exchanging their bicycles for cars, and the demand for consumer goods is going through the roof. In the old days, peope said that you did not need to lock your door when you went out. That was true, because few houses had anything worth stealing in them. Today it is totally different, where every house appears to be stuffed to the rafters with all sorts of electronic wizardry, which quickly becomes oudated and has to be replaced with a newer version. Even I have so many little red lights and remote control sets that I get confused. As I look out of this window, in the valley below, I see an old coal storage yard behind the railway station, which... Fri, 14 Jul 2006 01:33:55 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/OBSCENE-CONSUMERISM/79/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/OBSCENE-CONSUMERISM/79/ Unlike some, I have no wish to insult Michael Thompson of Link-age. He puts his case ably, and I admire his commitment and persistence, but I do think he has a bit of a bee in his bonnet about state pensions. The state pension was never designed to keep people in the manner they may have been accustomed to, but merely to provide a decent basic minimum income. To say that in Italy, pensioners receive 85% of their final salary, while in Britain, it amounts to only 15% of GNP is a misleading statistic. Many British people in low paid work find that they are actually better off on pensions and associated benefits than when working. I have American  pensioner friends who are highly envious of our relatively generous system   As the proportion of the population of pensionable age rises, that must mean that the proportion working and paying taxes for those pensions is falling, and it is unreasonable to expect families on low... Mon, 10 Jul 2006 09:51:56 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/OLD-AGE-PENSIONS/78/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/OLD-AGE-PENSIONS/78/ According to the Bible, God said ‘LET THERE BE LIGHT’, but for most of the time since, there was anything but light. The Church ruled with an iron fist. Thinking for yourself was heretical, and you had to follow the teachings of the Church, to spend all your efforts to please God, who was to be feared above all else. A natural disaster was called an act of God; a poor harvest was the result of God’s displeasure, and even a thunderstorm was an expression of God’s anger. The Church taught that God was no kindly father figure, as they do now, but a terrible authority, who was capable of mass extermination of all the world save for Noah and his family, who turned Lot and his wife into pillars of salt, a self-confessed jealous and vengeful God who smote His enemies, who could and would send your soul to hell and eternal damnation if you did not conform to His strict ways. That was not respect, it was rule by sheer terror and fear, and hence for centuries the world lived in a mental darkness,... Wed, 05 Jul 2006 22:15:08 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/REASON-FEAR-OF-GOD-and-the-U.S.A./77/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/REASON-FEAR-OF-GOD-and-the-U.S.A./77/ http://dingo.care-mail.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf   Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:26:53 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/A-bit-of-scientific-evidence/76/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/A-bit-of-scientific-evidence/76/ The previous piece I wrote, about the believability of The Bible got me into all sorts of trouble, including a very long, half page editorial in my local paper, and several letters from indignant churchgoers. Methinks they do protest too much. I say that for those who believe, that is great, and if it makes them happier or better people, so much to the good, and I am very pleased for them, and would not criticise their beliefs, BUT, if they expect me to believe it, they must offer some proof, because they have an incredible story to tell, about God killing off the whole of humanity except for Noah and his family, of Immaculate Conception, and of Resurrection That is to put it mildly, an unlikely story. If a man starts to arrive home from work too late for his dinner every night, he may tell his wife that he is working late at the office, and she may believe him. If he tells her that he is going drinking with his friends, she may believe him. If he tells her that he is having an affair with his... Tue, 27 Jun 2006 22:22:38 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/UPSETTING-THE-LOCAL-CLERGY/75/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/UPSETTING-THE-LOCAL-CLERGY/75/   Books such as The Da Vinci Code and The Holy Grail are fiction, despite the fact that many people believe them to be far more than that. They are no more than a hypothesis, a proposition, conjecture based on a few ancient documents (which do not all agree with each other), plus a few known facts, added together with a great deal of tradition, and a lot of inventive thinking.   Exactly the same can be said for the Bible, the only difference being that we are inculcated or indoctrinated from birth to believe that The Bible is the word of God; that Gospel equals truth. If we dare question, we are dubbed a Doubting Thomas, if not a heretic. But belief is not knowledge. Knowledge can be proven; belief, by its definition, cannot.   God gave us the power to think, to reason, so it is therefore quite legitimate, and in our God-given nature to question, to challenge, and to ask why? Only a fool believes everything he is told, or swallows everything he reads; we... Sun, 28 May 2006 00:15:50 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/THE-GREATEST-STORY-NEVER-TOLD/74/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/THE-GREATEST-STORY-NEVER-TOLD/74/ A survey recently showed that happiness increases with income up to a certain level, but after that, if incomes keep on rising, the happiness factor declines again.   This week it was announced that spending on luxury goods has increased by over 650% in real terms in the last decade, despite the fact that the cost of many of those (electronic) goods has fallen dramatically in that period, yet we see greater political dissent than ever, with dentists turning down an offer of £80,000 plus another £80,000 expenses per annum, and university lecturers threatening to strike because of a 12.5% pay offer.   This government is far from perfect, but as the Tories regain credibility in the polls, I ask just who was it who cut the link between pensions and wages? Who ran the railways and the NHS into the ground? Who cut the number of teachers and policemen? Who introduced the Council Tax and reduced grants to local authorities? Who, according to MacMillan,... Sat, 13 May 2006 10:34:12 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/RECONSTRUCTING-THE-GOLDEN-EGG/73/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/RECONSTRUCTING-THE-GOLDEN-EGG/73/ President George W Bush says that the American health service is the best in the world. To none-Americans that is so obviously untrue as to be laughable, and must sound arrogant and offensive to the millions of Americans who struggle to pay their medical and drug bills. We all know that the British Health Service is NOT the best in the world, and we are struggling to improve it, but it is far better than the American system, as a new survey from Cambridge and Harvard Universities prove. In a study of WHITE ONLY males, it was found that Brits live almost a year longer than Americans, and that infant mortality rates are lower in the UK. The research found that rates of disease such as diabetes, lung cancer, and high blood pressure among Americans were up to twice as high as in the UK, and Americans also had higher rates of heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, and obesity and high cholesterol are much more likely in America. All this despite the fact that Americans spend almost... Thu, 04 May 2006 11:17:03 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/AMERICAN-HEALTH/72/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/AMERICAN-HEALTH/72/ A few short months ago, Conservatives roundly criticised the government fo 'throwing money' at the NHS without reforming the system. Cameron has now reversed his view, saying that the NHS is suffering from too much reform too quickly, and that the govt.should not try to control everything from Whitehall, but leave it to doctors and nurses to run the profession.   Strange then that they are also demanding the resignation of the Home Secretary for not having sufficient control of the Prison Service, and their failure to deport foreign criminals as they should have done.   Seems this government are damned if they do exercise control, and damned if they don't.   There are 84 Health Authorities, and only 11 of them have financial deficits. Those deficits are not new, but have built up over many years, and the government now say that they are not giving huge increases in funding only to see that money wasted on paying debt interest charges. That is... Sat, 29 Apr 2006 14:36:32 +0200 http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/DAVID-CAMER-CAMER-CAMER-CHAMELEON/71/ http://www.blogigo.co.uk/davecathy/DAVID-CAMER-CAMER-CAMER-CHAMELEON/71/