Lionel

Doesn't seem to be an issue to me. I've always taken an International Licence with me when driving outside the UK. It was an absolute must when entering the old Soviet states of Czech and Poland just after the Wall came down. East Germany was a similar case. They were meticulous about paperwork. The slightest infringement resulted in being banged up until someone official vouched for you (usually for 200 Marlborough cigarettes!) Even with an International Licence crossing from East Germany into Czech in 1991 at Rozvadov first the Germans wouldn't let me out then the Czechs wouldn't let me in. A $10 bill can work wonders.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Not quite an on the hoof treat ... Baked Alaska with lashings of fresh cream. Decadent, delicious and very morish.

Well said Billy. Two things bother me about this sort of lunacy. First, how easy it is for a single member of the public to so greatly influence general opinion. Too easy. On social media any sort of hogwash can pass as educated, informed opinion and be generally accepted as a fact. But no one may be held to account. Second, I just wonder who will take responsibility when all this rubbish comes home to roost; being found out for what it is but far too late? If I had been caught clipping my step grandson around the ear (can't do it now, he's a full foot taller than me) then the law would step in and nail my backside to the nearest church door. But his mother following Dr Benjamin Spock or later lunacies would receive a peerage for being progress and innovative. OK, the Lords is full of that sort. What do you think Billy?

Maybe I'm old fashioned but shouldn't we be equipping our young folk to deal with the world they'll one day inhabit? Wherever we look it's not a nice world. Nowhere, it seems to me, is there a place for the tender hearted youngster, or the weak. Nowhere for the fragile soul or one raised to believe the world around them is no more menacing than Disney on steroids. Surely, adults bickering about which word ought to be used to children to mark their bad behaviour is just being more child like than the kids they're suposed to be disciplining. I'm by no means suggesting we should be turning out villainous, knife wielding barbarians, no, but surely we ought to be gearing them up to face real life, life as it is and not life as we would want it to be for them. Best idea? Sack all the experts and rely on that ancient, mystical art of, wait for it ... Common sense.

Ah, yes. Ghosts. I've replied to so many desperate people only for them to disappear into thin air. When I joined about three and a half years ago just launched into Speakers Corner and got stuck in. Much the better way. But there, what do I know? Yes, the dawg ... We were first callers to the small kennels so got pick of the litter. In just twenty four hours the pup has proved to be just the material I can work with. Stubborn, single minded, very intelligent, athletic and fearless where the older dog is concerned. The very qualities I was looking for. The old dog, as you say, will do much of the heavy lifting. We're in the chewing phase now. Last night she clamped her teeth into my big toe shedding blood everywhere. Later she bit the old dog's nose. Being a canny old boy he just lay in wait behind my chair. Pupski cockily jogged beside my chair going into emergency launch mode when he let our a roar full in her face. Yep. I think he'll do a better job training her than me.

Nope, none of those things. Spent the day driving across the East of England into the heart of the Fen. We went to collect an 8 week old blue/white Border Collie pup. I lost my Merle lead dog and his lady (PC won't like bitch!) over a 10 day period so this little mite will be company for our remaining 13 year old Collie. Will post some piccies as soon as she stays still long enough or not chewing household goods we need. Hey ho! Here we go again. New dog, new life same old doggy problems at first.

Well said Len. Thank you.

Simples yes Wilf, but perhaps a little too simples. If it's quick and easy then complicate it and screw society on the way.

Stanley, naughty as a word is not PC and is being edited out of our vocabulary. God knows what these 'do gooders' would make of my school and young life.

How true! But the generation that could have taught that is now old and largely ignored. Our experiences and views just don't suit our education establishment's agenda. But, like so many of those whose good ideas have been implemented they don;t have to live with the mayhem they've created.

Common sense Rosedeb but very sadly the likes of you and I are few and far between.

Got a natural monk's tonsure but otherwise still needing my trusty friend who has no such signs of aging.

Something mundane. I have a hairbrush, a Mason Pearson brand, bought from Harrods in 1965. It cost the enormous sum of £5. It's still in daily use even now. Expected to retire it ten years ago but hey, I still have hair! I still have a hair brush!

So well said ladybug. I see much the same in a very small and very old market town near me. May God help us if we ever need to fight a boots on the ground war again, and I believe we will.

Good for you mate. I too am a dog man; just lost my 15 year old blue merle Collie boy and his bitch. To see my wife, who has MS, utterly break her heart at losing her two dogs in 10 days was almost more than I could bear. We married too late to have our own kids so these dogs were, I say quite unashamedly, our kids. In complete understanding Baz, my heart is with yours. Please keep on posting on Silver Surfers. You're an inspiration to me and `i think probably to many. Lionel

You leave me speechless.

Mmmm. We could debate that Britain is a free country from here to Christmas and beyond. Bit like the Brexit shenanigans really.

Patricia, I don't have any misgivings, not one. I have no pain, the matters once troubling me a long time ago we brought before God and He dealt with them once and for all. But we would be very foolish to forget the past. Twice last century the world was plunged into war. Even in Summer 1939 Brits were believing it couldn't happen a second time. No, times had changed, hadn't they? No they hadn't, and today we are facing war again. Oh it won't be for a year or two, but it will most definitely be a boots on the ground war, just like the last two. Why? Because we're too blind to learn the lessons of history. They're all there in black and white but life as we know it now will never change, will it? Just wait and see. Lionel

I will not offer abuse about your comments or opinions. I agree with you and have said lower down, clear out the lot of them, and the top third of the civil service at least and let's all have a fresh start.

I'd like to have the luxury of three hours to myself, to do as I wish. Usually I'm lucky if I get 30 minutes.

Good afternoon Patricia. Been cutting next winters firewood so just read your post. My father was in the Merchant Navy during the War. Torpedoed three times and of course that war hardened him. He was damaged, very military and quite unforgiving. But then, most of the kids I was at school with had a parent who was just the same. A life long friend's father was Cantonese Chinese. His father fought with Chang Kai Shek against Maotse Tung before fleeing China. We've both dealt with our backgrounds in the same way and with the same result. We both learned to forgive our fathers but in both cases it was too late. They were at rest. Of course I keep my thoughts and feelings to myself, that's the way I was brought up and really, who needs to know? Two royal Princes wearing their hearts on their sleeves is more than enough for me.

May I add to the Angelou quote: They'll easily forget what they owe you but never what you owe them!

Well, much more simply, don't take you dog our in strong sunlight. I had three Border Collies for 15 years - just lost 2 in ten days - and we would leave the front door and back door open for them to do as they please. Alerts they stay indoors near the fans. Provide water. And yes, the article is right, take them out before the sun gets hot and after it cools down. No brainer really, or I thought so until seeing so many dogs being walked in the sun.

Patricia, I love your passion killer at the end! I have two step grand children now well in their teens. They're so busy being whatever they are we don't see them or hear from them. But, I look back at my own youth and reflect. There were a good few of my father's family I dumped as soon as any obligation to contact them passed. Payback? I wonder.

If you care to read his Wikipedia page it alludes to many other dark dealings set to enhance his career or wealth. The Murdoch connection is very worrying since he influences national/international politics but not for the greater good.

From a well informed blogger: He used his relative Virginia Bottomley to establish a monopoly-supply deal for his company Hotcourses with eternally bent crony-quango The British Council. When Hunt screwed up the first job the BC commissioned, Bottomley covered for him and hid the invoicing relationship from the authorities. He conspired with his business partner to falsify employee reports and win a Newscorp Employer of the Year Award. When Bottomley ascended to the House of Lords as Baroness Nettlestone, Hunt got her South West Surrey seat. For years he lied about the Bottomley family connection, until this site forced him to change his Wikipedia entry to admit it. He was a prime fixer while in opposition, brokering the deal with Newscorp to switch from New Labour to Cameron’s Conservatives in 2010. He abused his position as Culture Secretary to oil the wheels of a full Murdoch takeover of Sky, and when caught in the act, redacted over 100 emails from the subsequent inquiry in a bid to cover his tracks. Somehow, he survived…and was being lined up for the chop by Cameron until a combination of pressure from Newscorp and shady Tory donor money suddenly saw him promoted to Health Secretary. In that latter role, he misled both hospital doctors and nurses, persistently created funding difficulties for NHS regions, brought in thousands of private agency staff to exacerbate the cost issues, ignored the blatant need for higher tech, and engaged eagerly in both the creeping privatisation of gp services and out-sourcing of hospital contracts. He remained – of course – in close touch with Nettlestone…a lobbyist in the Lords for private health insurer PPP. Jeremy claimed to be a lifelong fan of the NHS; but in 2008, he co-wrote with Dan Hannan a Conservative policy paper asserting that it should be “demolished brick by brick”. As foreign secretary, he has followed NATO’s absurd Russophobia, gleefully retailing the endless lies and exaggerations about Putin’s “intentions”. He was a solid Remainer in 2016 and – despite attempts at times to sound touchy-leavy – he remains an enthusiastic neocon eurocrat wedded to the idea of special relationships and federalist projects.

Always had an intense dislike for them and their sounds.

Agreed.

Yes, Wilf, your dog could do a better job and for one very good reason among many. There is no untruth in him! There's nothing devious about canines, playful yes, but downright dishonest, no. They just don't have it in them, unlike most of the Westminster bubble.

I like the wet haddock, but not Hunt! But seriously, shouldn't we be looking at the personal integrity, the real character of candidates? They may say what they wish in the hustings but have they a long track record of keeping their word? Have they evidenced that peculiar gift of accurate foresight? Also, of premium importance is truthfulness. Isn't the so widespread lack of any of these qualities in the Westminster bubble what the country at large is revolting against? Boris Johnson's morals are at sewer level. Churchill is not reliably recorded as being unfaithful to Clemmie. Rumours that he liked the odd squaddie may well be but the early days of political character assassination. His personal integrity and strong character helped this nation trust him in those dark days of war; those same attributes gave him a lasting place in our nation's history. Hunt, Boris ... I feel they're already has-beens rehashing that same old same old.

A compliment indeed from a professional writer. Thank you Sally.

These political debates are not debates at all. Just arenas where the loudest voiced, most strident person holds the floor. And yes, a media bias is always present, just to remind us who's in charge. It looks like we have Boris whether the nation wants him or not. What price democracy?

Just take your pick from the entire political spectrum. Plenty of no hopers there.

My question would be, do we as a nation need to have any of them? Our generation has lived through six prime ministers by default beginning with Eden and all have been nearly useless. In fact Callaghan was a disaster! Oh, did I mention Brown and the Lisbon Treaty which should have triggered a referendum? It seems to me the entire current political establishment needs clearing out and all civil servants in any way tainted by remain tendencies. Then, start from scratch. Honestly, our local postman, a man who knows nothing of politics but a lot about people would do a far better job!

Well, it's not easy to answer. The best I can say is he's like taking a very large dose of syrup of figs when I was a child. Hated the stuff; held the nose and just swallowed whilst waiting for a very unpleasant outcome. That stuff could shift a part digested camel and I fear Boris will have a similar effect. My problem is this: they all come over as spineless hand-me-downs. Faded relics of a by gone age pedalling empty promises. Brexit is going to hurt, perhaps a lot. Let's just get on with it, like that awful dose Granny would dish out.

Could it be just making the effort for these people gladdens the heart? Isn't a happy disposition, even for a while, therapeutic? I think so.

Ah, those days as a chorister. It sounds as if you too were in a 'smells and bells' church singing in Latin. Did it at school as well, though today barely a word comes to mind. Much prefer Hebrew, but even that's rusty. My wife was a music school trained semi professional contralto for many years. She's spent much of the last two decades trying to train my voice but we usually end up in giggles of hopelessness. On the plus side, my voice may be very gruff face to face but on the telephone it is, apparently, smooth, cultivated and silky. (Not my words!) Yes, I've done many an appearance at care homes, but not singing. Usually offering a few old jokes (clean ones only) and walking among the audience making them feel special. 'A regimental tie, sir?' and they pour it all out. 'Oh, my dear, how like Vera Lynn you look, or Gracie Fields but seldom Arthur Askey or Charles Laughton. Christmas services were always the best, seeing their faces light up with floods of memories. Usually I got the Bible reading job. The meet and greet afterwards over a cup of tea was always, for me, a pleasure ... so many smiles, so many memories never to be recorded. Keep up the good work.

I will have no part in trying to achieve this climate target. It is a con, a blatant con. Nor do I subscribe to climate change by man. The figures just don't stack up. I'm countryman, we know how to manage land and livestock. Pollution is not a problem for us but it is for city dwellers. They consume more energy per capita than we do, pollute the atmosphere more than we do and yet have the gall to lecture us on sustainability. Pollution is a city problem. Go manage it, city people. Just leave us alone.

But it was their call, Mole, and they made the least popular call since they think they're secure in licence payers fees. Yet people in droves are refusing to pay a TV licence and going over to Sky, Netflix etc. No pensioner should ever be made to justify their income since in so very many cases it is State paid and the State knows what they get. It's just further humiliation for our aged folk, and I'm one of them!