UK Uncut.

MITK uncovers BT pettiness.

Do you pay line rental to BT? Mole-in-the-Know has made a discovery - known perhaps by some but certainly not by most. Are you aware that if you change your phone service provider, in spite of your BT payments, they are still likely to remove your number from the phone directory? If that is representative of their pettiness - irrespective of price (for once) I shall undertake never to change back to BT!

St Bernard of Clairvaux.

"Prayer is a virtue that prevaileth against all temptations."

Worthy appeal from Open Doors.

Dear friend, "The dying takes place every day. You relinquish your life as a Christian... You must be visible as the Church. Say, 'Here we are. Come close to us. See how we live. See what we stand for. Get to know our Redeemer.'" - a Christian's perspective of life in the Middle East. Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Bahrain... Christians are facing huge obstacles every day. If we respond now to strengthen the church in the Middle East and North Africa, we can help them face the opposition and draw many others to faith. At this unique moment, Christians have the opportunity to speak out and be heard. In these times of such turmoil and crisis they continue to stand focused and steadfast. But this window may not stay open for very long. They need your help. One director, in a Middle East country, reported hearing accounts of terrifying violence against Christians arising from misunderstandings and deep suspicion. He said in an interview: "Recently I heard that Christians were attacked because someone had spread a rumour that a local pastor wanted to start a house church. And this arose simply because there were two cars were parked outside his house. The whole village turned out. Cars were set on fire and Christians attacked. Several houses and shops of Christians went up in flames." Islamists may yet close the doors to freedom in many countries in the Middle East. But they cannot close the door to people's hearts. Jesus said, "See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut" - Revelation 3:8. A gift from you will transform lives: You will give Bibles away. In some areas it's difficult and dangerous for Christians to buy an Arabic Bible. And many don't have the money. So we give them away. You will support impoverished and ostracised Christians. Many Christians are forced into poverty by exclusion and violence. We provide practical help and medical care. You will help believers who are imprisoned. Believers who are suffering in prison will receive practical help and support. At this specific moment in history, our family in the Middle East has the opportunity to bring the hope of the gospel to those who are thirsty. Will you help? Please pray. Please provide. Please be generous. Every blessing to you, Eddie Lyle CEO Open Doors UK & Ireland

Social decline seen via comics.

Go back 40+ years and comics played a valuable part in the maturing of young people.

I am afraid that I cannot start to analyse what happened in comics for girls but I do know what happened in comics such as The Victor, The Eagle and The Hornet.

Although derided by English teachers because they were not actually books, these were of great social value.

They promoted: courage; fortitude; decency; kindness; honesty. Their heroes did not have 'feet of clay' and ambivalent philosophies.

They wanted to see achievement in all areas and did not give us manufactured icons for silly hero worship but rather fictional creations who embodied moral completeness - ones whom children might wished to emulate - and often did.

Their loss has been serious and their replacement by the likes of Grand Theft Auto and other such monstrosities has done us few favours as a nation.

Cloned meat.

The Daily Mail is rightly campaigning about cloned meat. However, the spread of halal meat to me is more worrying. That muslims should have access to this is within the realms of debate - that this be inflicted on the unwary is scandalous. I have rung a number of pizzerias and kebab shops - many not muslim owned - which admit to serving halal. Perhaps we should now insist on all meat being labelled in supermarkets as to methods of slaughter. After all - they follow a similar 'animal rights principle' where 'eggs from caged hens' are concerned; tuna is 'net caught'; whether fish and seafood come from 'sustainable sources' inter al.

Looks seriously dodgy to me - all it needs a is a dose of 'multifaith' to put the cherry on the top!

'Yesterday, some enthusiasts for this movement (via medium) slightly overreached themselves and attracted headlines in the national and regional press after it was announced that Manchester Cathedral would be the venue for a diocesan ‘New Age’ style Festival themed as ‘Spirit of Life’. Planned for 2 May, Manchester Diocese’s website promised ‘about 25 workshops and stalls covering poetry, Franciscan spirituality, arts and crafts, healing, icons, angels, meditation, personality profiling, music and blessings, labyrinths, dream interpretation, Christian symbolism of gem stones, tarot and Celtic saints, prayer bead making, choral evensong, foot and hand massage, Jesus Deck readings, Taize chants and, finally, fire breathing!’ 'New Age' is the very antithesis of Christianity. Tarot? In God's House? Most of the other activities have the potential to be extremely dodgy! Source: Charles Raven.

Oh, yes!

More Christians murdered in Pakistan.

'Two Christians were shot dead in Sindh province after reprimanding youths who had been insulting Christian women. Younis Masih and Jameel Masih died and two other Christians were seriously injured when a group of youths opened fire on Christians at Salvation Army Church in Hurr Camp, a Christian colony in Hyderabad, last Monday, Release sources say. Christians had gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their church. Jameel, who was 22, had only recently married; Younis, 47, was a father of four.' Release International.

Bickering europhiles cost taxpayers a fortune.

At the moment the Tories and Labour are bickering about who is responsible for the UK - which is not even a member of the eurozone - now having to contribute a mere SIX BILLION POUNDS to bailing out the portuguese economy as well !

The finger of suspicion points at Alistair Darling but it makes not one whit of difference!

Europhile parties always do what Brussels tells them to do.

The Tories are just happy that they can point blame elsewhere for what they would have done themselves.

EU jackboot is not appreciated!

'Rulings by the European human rights court are the law of the land in Britain, England’s most senior judge declared yesterday. Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge said that the Human Rights Act meant British judges must follow the decisions set down in Strasbourg, ‘no more and no less’.

The judge is right, of course. WE KNEW THAT - IT IS JUST THAT MOST PEOPLE HATE THE FACT!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370961/European-Human-Rights-court-rulings-law-says-Englands-judge.html#ixzz1Hy35meqb

Will the madness never end?

'Drug dealers could in future escape jail even if they sell up to £2,000 worth of heroin. New guidelines would allow courts to give community penalties to those playing a ‘subordinate’ role in a criminal gang. The ‘lower level’ offenders – such as drug runners – could keep their liberty even if arrested over the sale of up to 50 grams of heroin or cocaine or up to 100 tablets of ecstasy. Under the Sentencing Council’s proposals, these quantities would be seen as small. However, 50g is enough for 1,000 hits of heroin or 1,000 lines of cocaine.' In the UK we come up with schemes like this one when our treatment of dealers is already soft in the extreme. In the UK we have massive drugs problems. In Singapore they hang dealers and do not have these drugs problems. Is there anything that could be learned here, I wonder? I am not actually advocating the execution of low level dealers but I just wish that the liberal left would begin to appreciate the damage they cause to our society and have done since World War Two. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370954/Heroin-dealers-escape-jail-New-sentencing-proposals-mean-pushers-free.html#ixzz1Hy0KfduV

In these straitened times .....

Last night I watched a programme about the psychology of sales and frankly, I knew most of it but it was good to have all information in one place.

I really do not fall for too many of these ploys as I go shopping with my own agenda - more of that on another occasion.

We saw a group of women who were tested to see how much influence the packaging of a product had on their shopping.

For the same cake - when better packaged - a number were prepared to pay up to 50% more for 50% less!

Wrest yourself out of this appalling habit and watch what that would do to your shopping bills over a year. For many this would represent savings into four figures annually if observed with all purchases.

Luis Palau.

Evangelist Luis Palau is predicting that 10% of Vietnamese could be believers in the next nine years. The Church is doing really well out there. Apparently believers believe in The Great Commission!

http://www.persecution.org/2011/03/26/10-percent-of-vietnam-could-be-believers-by-2020/

AV volte face?

As I've said before - I really do not like AV as a possible voting system but am not sure that my original thinking was entirely valid.

I argued that if we do not support this move - it will inevitably be taken as a total endorsement of FPTP and prevent any proper PR system in the future.

Perhaps, just perhaps, I am underestimating the intelligence of voters.

Me? How shall I vote?

Must admit - I really don't know. I just do not think that I can support a measure which will be expensive, messy and will probably reduce the chances of a breakthrough by non-traditional parties.

Maybe I should abstain.

This Blog ...

This Blog was featured yesterday on Exite FM - thought that piece had gone out more than a month ago! To any new readers - welcome. Existing readers, please do not forget to send the url to all likeminded people, please: http://christianityisnotleftwing.blogspot.com/

Crude petrol prices.

'In May 2008, the price of a barrel was $135 and the price at the pumps averaged 114p. per litre. Today oil is $105 a barrel and the price at the pumps is getting towards 140p per litre.' VAT, petrol tax, fuel accelerators etc - governments must still take the bulk of the blame for what is being done to us. (Though I don't much care for oil companies either.)

Disability Living Allowance.

We all want people who are ill and unfit to get the best treatment possible where benefits are concerned. Most of us surely want substantial support for carers. But, what about the 'leadswingers' - hordes of whom used to pass before me when I was a JP? It is probably not news to many but it was certainly news to me that a large proportion of the 3.2 million currently on DLA are drawing these benefits without ever having been declared 'unfit' by a doctor. They have merely filled in a form. A goodly proportion of these will be genuine but equally - many will not. Each of this group should be checked out. We cannot simply rely on people's honesty - that is at present, a commodity in very short supply.

Latest attacks.

'Parts of the Bible were written by people who lied about their identity, an author has claimed. Bart D Ehrman claims many books of the New Testament were forged by people pretending to be the apostles Peter, Paul or James. Writing in the Huffington Post, Professor Ehrman, best selling author of 'Misquoting Jesus' and 'Jesus, Interrupted', said religious scholars were well aware of the 'lies' of the Bible.' [Hmm. The Huffington Post, eh?]

There was a time when I used to read this sort of bilge, get angry and then proceed to destroy them with logic. More than once have I written treatises utterly destroying the basis of such piffle.

If you want to test the truth of Scripture - test first the Saviour. If you cannot find it in you to yield to Him - then it just doesn't really matter. You are lost anyway. BUT, if you do seek Him in the way the Scriptures describe and - lo and behold - you come to know Him and experience the absolute reality of Him in your life then such works as that of the good prof become a meaningless exercise.

(Incidentally, I note that this gentleman possesses a Hebrew name and origin. I trust that roots in Judaism have not led to any unwarranted biases in his works.)

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370206/Bart-D-Ehrman-Parts-Bibles-New-Testament-written-pretend-apostles.html#ixzz1HmNc169r

Hmm. Now what do we do?

Dave is going to have to put on his thinking cap. Yes, pal. Most of us get the picture. Things are indeed very bad and it wasn't your fault. Okay. HINT. Associate membership of the EU will release BILLIONS and BILLIONS. There now - I've solved it for you!

Anarchist element was true to form.

Yesterday's protest against 'government cuts' was as predictable as the daily sunrise. It was a gesture of utter futility; it was backed by the trade union left; it pretended that Labour was not the root cause of the problems we all face; sure as eggs is eggs - it was hijacked by anarchist and extreme leftwing extremists; violence ensued. Did Labour not spend us into this crisis? Did not Gordon Brown himself foolishly let the bankers off the leash? Are we really able to take soft and easy measures to dig ourselves out of this crisis? Yet even today, we do have the solution. With our billions now earmarked to bail out Portugal AND the euro why are we not thinking 'the very thinkable'? Why was the march yesterday not demanding withdrawal to associate membership of the European Union? - So many negatives could be cured in a single fell swoop and with the loss of so few positives. But then - it is 'a non-negotiable ideal' of which I speak! Too many politicians of too many parties sold out to their 'Masters in Brussels'. What is truly sad about yesterday is the fact that the march represented so many ordinary, decent people whose lives are going to be wrecked because of nothing that they have done wrong!

Did mankind ever live in caves?

We are always hearing about cavemen. Let's be honest - our ancestors will inevitably have used caves on occasion for shelter and in Lascaux, Altamira etc we have evidence that they visited, at least.

BUT - and it's a giant 'but' - where are all these caves?

Let's go back to when there were perhaps fewer than half a million people living in what is now England. Wasn't there a massive cave shortage (as well as a shortage of 0% mortgages for young neanderthals et al) throughout the country?

Where were all these thousands of caves in Lincolnshire for example? Are we to assume that today's Lincolnshire, along with a score or two of other largely caveless counties, was unpopulated?

I would be hard pressed to find accommodation for more than a handful of speleos in my locality.

Even cave-filled Derbyshire could only have supported populations of a few hundred at best and few suggest that the Peak District was a major centre for such jolly folk.

I think that once again, historians 'have sold us a pup'.

Here we go again! More wishful thinking from so-called scientists!

'Twenty years ago scientists hailed the important discovery of the oldest fossils on the planet, 3.5-billion-year-old microbes found embedded in rock in Australia.
But a new analysis of the microscopic structures has returned a surprising result - that they are not biological material at all.
In a new study published in Nature Geoscience, the US scientists suggest they may in fact simply be a series of rock fractures filled with crystals'.
"Surprising?" - Not to me it ain't!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1370126/Earliest-known-life-earth-just-cracks-rock-controversial-new-study-finds.html#ixzz1HgiUWVEW

Health and Safety buffoons kill people!

'Coroner David Roberts said it was disturbing that paramedics were prevented from reaching the injured victims of Derrick Bird because of red tape which cost vital minutes. And a senior police officer said the response had been severely hampered by slavish adherence to health and safety regulations. 'The public have a right to expect the emergency services to put themselves at risk to help them,' he said.'
Mail.

Ephesians 2. Rejoice all those who know the Saviour!

....... 19] Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21] In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22] And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Events: Christian Concern.

http://christianconcern.com/events

Simplistic bias.

I have recently watched Discovery History's 'Battlefield Mysteries' - and in particular the programme about The Spanish Civil War.
Constant incorrect references were made to 'the fascists' under Franco - when they were largely falangist a party separate from fascism at least in Spain, where it was the province of General Franco himself.
I lived in Franco's Spain and although it was disagreeable, I suspect that it would have been far worse had the motley crew of anarchists, marxists and socialists called 'Republicans' won.
I find the tearful paeans of praise for The International Brigades quite sickening. Most were not 'fighting for freedom' at all but were promoting extreme leftwing ideals. They wanted one extreme to replace another.
Franco took help from Hitler - the Republicans were bankrolled by Stalin.
To make one side 'devils' and the other 'angels' is risible.
Claims that the war was against a democratic government are only technically true inasmuch as the government had totally 'lost the plot' and the war was probably fomented by brutal attacks, murders and rapes by republicans against priests, nuns and monks as well as policies of property confiscation.
Atrocities were certainly committed by both sides - and arguably, more by the Republicans!
I have studied this conflict in some depth and even used to teach it as an 'A' Level Spanish topic.
I certainly had no love for Franco but balanced reporting in history is essential.

God bless her.

'Mary Gardner, the British woman killed in the Jerusalem bus bombing, was an evangelical Christian who had been living in Togo, west Africa, translating the New Testament into the local Ifé language.
She was on a six-month course in Jerusalem studying ancient and modern Hebrew at the Hebrew University prior to returning to Togo to begin work on a translation of the Old Testament.'

The Guardian.

Oh dear. I was right, the RSPB was wrong!

The Songbird Survival Trust charity blame the larger birds - known as Picus picus in Latin - for contributing to the decline in other feathered garden creatures by raiding nests and eating eggs.
Culling magpies is legal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, providing it is done humanely and for a specific purpose, for example to protect crops or conserve wild birds.
The most common method is to use a trap and then wring the bird's neck.

Nick Forde, a trustee of the SST, has said in the past: 'This is a difficult subject because talk of culling magpies or grey squirrels does not go down well with the public and that's why the government is ignoring this issue.”
He told the Daily Telegraph: 'I don't like the idea of harming animals but if they are destroying our biodiversity, then we have to take action.

“Unless the population of some predators is controlled, there is little, if any, hope that the small bird populations can recover.'
Mr Picton, who lives with partner Amanda Eeles, took the photograph in mid-morning from his bedroom window.

If you have a legal shotgun or even a powerful air weapon, please kill every magpie you possibly can. Saving our songbirds is impossible without this measure. Or - buy your own Larsen Trap.
Those areas which have seen the proliferation of magpies have had horrific falls in the numbers of songbirds.
The RSPB MUST get its head out of the sand before all areas succumb to this wretched menace!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1369614/The-picture-21-birds-tree-proves-magpie-population-control.html#ixzz1Hah255VS

The rip-offs.

Lemming logic in Yorkshire Post.

From: Barrie Frost, Watson’s Lane, Reighton, Filey.

Don Burslam says (Yorkshire Post, March 18), that as 27 countries all chose to join the European Union, with more to follow, such numbers show this must be the correct decision.
The 100th lemming was heard to utter similar logic when, with all his mates, he jumped off the cliff.

Mr Burslam also failed to note that the people of this country have never voted for a European Union. Some of us can recall voting for a Common Market way back in 1975.

Governments are NOT entitled to ignore the democratic wishes of people merely because they and their buddies in likeminded political parties are in agreement over madcap, anti-democratic policies.

It is for this reason that for such politicians the word 'populist' is anathema.

The true 'will of the people' simply terrifies 'em!

Just who are the people filling our prisons?

Recently, there have been two criminal cases of interest in our area - both involving women.

The first of these was a woman who cried 'rape' and made up a rapist.

This terrorised her community, undermined so many other women who have been raped and probably wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds of police time.

The second was manageress of a shop who skimmed regularly from the till. In legal jargonese, this is called 'theft in breach of trust' - arguably, the worst stealing of all.

When I trained for the magistracy, both of these would have received significant prison sentences.

The two have much in common. Neither received any form of custodial sentence.

Two questions are begged:

Was this reverse sexism? - Because believe me, it does exist.

And, just who are the 80,000+ languishing in our prisons if people this deserving do not 'go down'?

RIP Fred Titmus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Titmus

Pray for Nigeria.

'Churches bombed and Christians attacked as violence spreads in Nigeria ahead of Presidential elections. Police warn worship areas are targets. Fears that jihad has been launched to create chaos and force state of emergency. Archbishop of Jos fears city could be overrun

There are warnings that growing violence in Nigeria is being instigated by extremists who want to stir up religious violence and create a state of emergency ahead of the Presidential elections. The Archbishop of Jos fears the city could be overrun and is calling for increased security.
A blast on Sunday killed two suspected bombers, but failed to catch the churchgoers for which it was probably intended. In other attacks in Jos three Christians were killed and six stabbed.

These are just the latest in a series of attacks which have claimed hundreds of lives over the past year. A partner of Release International, which serves persecuted Christians, believes the aim behind the attacks is to whip up sectarian violence ahead of the April elections.

The Stefanos Foundation points to a newspaper statement calling for jihad allegedly published by a Jos Muslim Elders Forum on December 30 2010 – days after the latest round of violence erupted.

It said: ‘Muslims in the State shall ensure that a few months before General Elections jihad will be declared in the State, which cannot be controlled even by security agencies, with great slaughter and massacre, which the Federal Government will have no option than to declare a State of Emergency in Plateau.’

Release International.

Invaded.

The last time our forces were justifiably employed was when our dependency - The Falkland Islands - were treacherously invaded.



Iraq.


Afghastlystan.


Bosnia.


Libya.


No, no, no and no again!

Meddling costs young lives and horrendous injuries.
And how much good has actually been achieved - and that assumes that we were 'on the side of the angels' in the first place.

Japan: 6 days from this to this. M1 repairers, please note!

See below for all my in depth comments on the budget.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1369407/IAIN-MARTIN-The-speech-Mr-Osborne-SHOULD-made.html

ASDA shame!

My favourite ASDA coffee has increased in price slightly over the last few months - just over 80%!!!!
If the beans had tripled in price, this would still not have made this reasonable!

A little more honesty with the RPI - maybe?

Incredible. How come Christians weren't aware of such things?

'Do you have trouble keeping hold of your temper and find you lash out at the slightest provocation? The power of prayer could help, according to scientists.

Researchers found people who made a silent appeal were better able to cope with their anger, whether they were religious or not.
Co-author Brad Bushman of Ohio State University, said: 'People often turn to prayer when they're feeling negative emotions, including anger.

'We found that prayer really can help people cope with their anger, probably by helping them change how they view the events that angered them and helping them take it less personally.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1368839/Feeling-furious-Saying-little-prayer-calm-frayed-nerves-boost-mood.html#ixzz1HOsvLFaL

UK Government's Barnett Formula gives more special treatment to the Scots.

The Barnett Formula gives the people of Scotland £1,500 more per capita than is received per head in England.
Little wonder they can afford free prescriptions, care for the elderly and university tuition fees.
And then there is the small matter of over-representation at Westminster as well as the West Lothian Question!

Fair, innit?

More on AV.

Funny how the tories are griping that they would have had a parliamentary overall majority if only the boundaries had been fair.
Yes. And UKIP would have had 36 seats under a really fair formula called PR - which will - if anything be EVEN worse - under AV!

Libya.

GET OUT NOW! Our forces should only be used for our defence.

We truly are 'rip-off Britain!'

So many ordinary, hardworking folks are currently getting a really raw deal which has set their living standards into 'plummet mode'.
The oil companies are giving drivers a hard time but this is only a fraction of what the government is doing where VAT is levied ON TOP OF existing fuel taxes.
The power companies are making us ensure that our houses must become colder.
The Bosman Ruling ensures that live football is becoming the province of 'the comfortably off'.
Air carriers are ripping us off with numerous add ons.
Successive governments are hitting us with so-called 'green taxes'.
Supermarkets have hammered us with uncalled for price rises over the last two years.
Insurance companies hold us to ransom.
The EU costs every family thousands annually.
Sky's prices rise periodically to ever more ridiculous levels.
Most ordinary people can no longer afford a visit to the pub.

Most are receiving minimal pay rises - or in my case - nothing for five and a half years.
This inflation is then cunningly concealed and the pretence is made of tiny inflationary increases.

The government and councils actually take (steal?) well over HALF of our earnings through various forms of taxation (AND waste vast amounts of this!)

Mole-In-The-Know has uncovered more scandal.

MITK has learned of a comprehensive school in Sheffield where a certain RE teacher, who is an atheist and propagator of his faith, is upsetting Christian children in his classes by his bias and misrepresentations of Christianity.
Christian groups are finding themselves banned from this same establishment.
Perhaps he would do well to look up Jesus's comments about millstones!

I suspect that this is the tip of a very big iceberg. Much prayer required!

Libyan Christians.

Please pray for the minority Christians in Libya. They face a particularly problematic time in the weeks and months ahead.

Where next with nuclear power?

Apparently, the Chinese are working towards the safest nuclear power yet - and by a country mile. Thorium!

Obituary, Yorkshire Post.

Published on Saturday 19 March 2011 06:00

RODNEY George Leigh, who was a patient and gifted flying instructor and who taught the present generation of Royal Air Force pilots to fly, has died aged 67.
His kindness and patience were such that he would often be sent students who were struggling and he would get them through their course.
He was a dedicated and experienced pilot whose talent was flying training, and when he retired from the RAF as a flight lieutenant in 2002 he continued to instruct and pass on his knowledge to trainees by working in the flight simulator at RAF Linton on Ouse, near York.
He was born in Ripon where his father George was serving with the army, but the family moved to Newcastle where Rod, as he was always known, spent most of his childhood and was educated at Rutherford High School.
From an early age, he was interested in aviation. Against his father’s wishes, he chose direct entry to the Royal Air Force instead of going to university.
Following his flying training he flew Shackletons on 210 Squadron at Ballykelly in Northern Ireland, and 205 Squadron at RAF Changi, in Singapore, where he met his future wife Pat. Her father was also serving there in the RAF. They married in 1969 and returned to the UK later that year.
He then served at St Mawgan, in Cornwall, and after converting to Nimrods served on 203 Squadron at RAF Luqa in Malta.
His next posting was a ground tour which, as a dedicated pilot he did not enjoy, but he was then fortunate to be posted to Central Flying School where he became a qualified flying instructor and showed his talent for training young pilots.

His skill was such that he even taught a sparrow to fly.

It was there in 1998 that he also achieved 10,000 hours flying a Tucano and two years later was awarded a “Good Show” for his flying skill and judgment. On take off in a Tucano a bird went into the engine, but he managed to land safely.

In 2001, the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators awarded him their Master’s Commendation for his “outstanding and exceptionally long standing contribution to flying training in the Royal Air Force”.

At his funeral his coffin was carried by six pilots from RAF Linton on Ouse, and there was a fly past by a single Tucano from the base.

Flt Lt Leigh, who lived at Crayke, near Easingwold, is survived by his wife Pat, daughter Joanna, son Alex, and three grandchildren.

How to be terminally sad - Part 10.

Try a bit of undiluted racism. You know the sort of thing - shouting abuse, mockery, slogans and writing on walls.

With this you too can become 'terminally sad'.

If you are too thick 'to walk and chew' at the same time - you could go down to the Sikh owned shop at the bottom of our road and write on the side 'Pakis go back to Africa!'

No, honestly. I kid you not! That actually happened about two years ago.

Ah. I bet that he's heard about my Blog!

Christians surely want ...

.... low taxation but massive amounts of help for those who genuinely struggle, whether through sickness, mental illness, age or other problems beyond their ability to solve for themselves.

Some sort of 'workfare' scheme must surely be imposed for those not prepared to: help themselves; take offered jobs; refuse to train or retrain.

I know, I know. The only problem with this can be a 'biggie' - where are the boundary lines to be drawn?

Just because it's tough should not mean that the attempt to solve this rank unfairness is not made.

The Apostle Paul said it: "If a man will not work - let him not eat!"

Now. Let's turn our social attention to hammering tax evaders from the bottom of society to the very top!

Rebecca Costa's overview of our political chaos. Fascinating!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1367949/What-Mayans-teach-wind-turbines.html

The last British have gone - now the last American.

No one knows quite why American soldiers were once known as "doughboys". But Frank Buckles was indisputably the very last of them – the sole American still alive who went to Europe to fight in the First World War, after the US entered the conflict in 1917.

The Independent - obituaries.

Libya.

I just cannot believe that yet another Prime Minister is committing our grossly underfunded forces to yet another campaign which has nothing to do with us.

Has Brazil sent warplanes - to pick just one unconnected nation out of the scores who have not intruded?

We should have kept our noses out of everything since The Falklands War - which at least, Galtieri had forced on us.

Incidentally, who is paying for all of this?