BBC's George Entwhistle Sacrificed - Victims of Paedophiles Forgotten

The BBC has made some terrible mistakes, it's true.

However, we would do well to remember that children were abused (too soft a word methinks) and that many of the guilty for that heinous crime are still out there.

The McAlpinegate row erupted in the shadow of Savilegate. The BBC was in the shadow of a huge row over "failing to act" which no doubt made it act with gusto in order to be seen to act and then some.

To pressurise George Entwhistle to resign was pointless. Barely there 50 days, when the likes of Rupert Murdoch and son stood their ground over phone hacking, is a bit silly. It would have been better to find out who made the mistakes at Newsnight and seek redress there.

Now 'they' are on about ending Newsnight, a programme I look forward to and watch most evenings. Whilst I certainly do not agree with all its content (the media didn't convulse with guilt when Paxo and Richard Dawkins had an atheist love-in/hugathon which included Paxo mocking Christians - hardly dispassionate and balanced), to get rid of Newsnight in a fit of pique seems a tad extreme, despite the preponderance of Guardianista rich urbane lefties like Kirstie Wark and Allegra Stratton that infest it.

In all of this the victims of mostly homosexual paedophiles in positions of power (Lucy Owen on BBC Wales News the other night reported that a Masonic link in North Wales was being looked into -- because of police, judge, big businessmen and political links of the paedo-ring there) are being rapidly forgotten.

George Entwhistle isn't the guilty one here. The evil paedos are. We should never forget that!

Private D.R. Hurley Remembered

Private D.R. Hurley

Just the other day I got in touch with an old school friend called Ashley via Facebook and we began reminiscing about the good old days, catching up etc.

It turns out he had gone on to join the Paras and did 119 jumps with them. It was then he spotted a post I'd done on Facebook, on All Souls Day in honour of my uncle who had served and died with the Paras in WW2.

He then told me that he was going to London for the Remembrance Day activities this weekend, and that he would be planting a Cross for my uncle at Westminster Abbey. I hadn't asked him to, it was clearly something he felt he had to do for a fellow Para.

I have to say I was deeply moved. All too often in our daily lives we bump into people who sap our belief in humanity. Then something like this happens and it reminds me that there are good people out there, who do good works because they should be done.

So thanks Ashley! You've done something fantastic for all our extended family, and reminded me that good deeds can have a much greater impact than we may think when we do them.

Atheists murdered 50 Million in USSR

I love history and take a keen interest in politics. Thus I often debate both with my captive audience. By debate I mean rant and wag my finger, and by captive audience I mean family.

Just this week one of my children told me their history teacher made some salient points which had previously escaped my very own lips. He said you can never remove religion (as GK Chesterton said when people stop believing in God they will believe in anything). He told the class that when Stalin tried to do this, he murdered 50 million Christians. Yet despite this the Russians (Ukrainians, Balts etc) clung to their faith).

The teacher said that we often hear about the holocaust, yet this paled in comparison to the huge numbers murdered by Stalin.

I have argued this with atheists on Twitter. They respond that the Soviet Union murdered for politics - conveniently forgetting that the USSR was an officially atheist state, and those murdered or shipped to gulags were Christian.

Imagine an officially Christian state, as a matter of policy, murdered, tortured and imprisoned millions of atheists in just a few decades. The atheists would be screeching it from the rooftops. Hollywood would churn out blockbuster after blockbuster. Richard Dawkins would have written a book on it.

Yet here we had an atheist state murdering Christians and we barely ever hear about it. Why?

And while we're at it, why did we declare war on Germany after they invaded Poland in September 1939, but did not declare war on the USSR after they invaded Poland (and Finland - another British ally). What's more, we went to war in 1939 because Poland was invaded, yet in 1945 with Europe in ruins, Poland was occupied by one of the very powers that had invaded it in 1939!!! As were many other countries!

You couldn't make it up.

But how comforting to know at least one history teacher is telling his class that the atheist USSR murdered circa 50 million Christians. The truth is out there...

Never again?

Government, GCSEs and Betraying Generations

What bugs me with the GCSEs - as someone who did the last O levels, is that my double A in English has been downgraded by 20 odd years of downgrading, dumbing down of marking, cheating/marking-up of course work by some schools etc. 

The politicos have made a right mess of education. Every year for 2 decades they told us pass rates were betters and yet we kinda know that literacy, historical knowledge etc. had been plummeting. Generally speaking of course. 

Spain and El Cid: a Hero for Heroic Times

El Cid (OK, strictly Charlton Heston, but you know what I mean!)

What a hero for Spain, for Europe.

Just imagine if El Cid had not sacrificed so much no recapture Spain:

• The Hispanisation of the Americas would never have happened (leaving those peoples to human sacrifice and evil paganism).
• The Hapsburgs (via Don Juan of Austria) would not have led the Papal, and especially the feuding Genoese and Venetian forces at the Battle of Lepanto to save Europe from Turkish piracy and (literal) slavery.
• The Spaniards would not have led the Counter Reformation at the Council of Trent (which codified the Tridentine/Latin Mass of All Time) and through their example and zeal for the Truth, winning back whole nations such as Poland and Hungary.

Some people seem to think of the Spanish as a lazy people, with their siestas and warm climes. Yet without them Europe would be by far the poorer, and Catholicism especially would have very many fewer souls under its care and protection.

So Hurrah for El Cid!

And OK... hurrah for Charlton Heston too.

An Ode on the Golden Anniversary of William and Mary Hurley

50 years ago today young William brushed his hair,
007 was in the cinemas, he tried to match Bond's flair
With a sparkle in his eye, a skip and spring in his stride
He was headed off to a beautiful church to meet his beautiful bride.

Mary Loughlin was her maiden name and a fair maiden was she
She paced, and fretted and tried on her gown (and went for her 50th wee),
But fret not Mary for your Bill awaits, his flowing locks all kempt
No rich man's gilded riches to forestall her fate could tempt.

"Oh William is the man for me" she told all those who would listen,
"And even if many years from now his shiny head doth glisten:
I will love him all the more you see for the family God will give,
I dream of a cottage with roses nearby - in Fairwater we will live."

Some mop haired youth were on the wireless, singing Love Me Do.
But Mary paid no heed to them, Billy was her love so true.
Her face aglow, her heart a flutter she stood aside the Church gate.
The music inside was audible - she would always be fashionably late.

"Oh my Billy, oh William, oh Bill my true love" she cried aloud to the skies
"I will always love you, handsome young man, you are my greatest prize."
Onlookers smiled at such a sight, the young bride made it clear,
That in 30, no 40, no 50 years, she would stand by her Billy dear.

Oh good times would come and bad times too, to test their quality,
Tough times we can't imagine, but seen through cheerily,
By two such wonderful people, who took all that life could give,
And gave it back a hundredfold, yes they have truly lived.  

In Fairwater's leafy glades they settled: in Gorse Place, near to friends.
If anyone asked "whereabouts?" - we'd say "up the posh end."
And for wedded bliss, there's little doubt, they are the golden rule,
To scorn the ways of Bill and Mary you would have to be a fool.

Yes fifty years ago they made their oaths that would they stay
Together - and they kept their word, and did so till this day.
"And for many more" we all do cry and with a glass raised cheer:
"Billy and Mary Hurley"      --   (this poem's sponsored by Brains Beer).

Happy Hobbit Day!

On this day in 1937 The Hobbit was published, just in time for Frodo's and Bilbo's birthday which is, of course, tomorrow the 22nd of September.

So let me be the first to wish you, for tomorrow a Happy Hobbit Day!

A Living Saint Passes Away

I was sad to hear that Fr Hugh Thwaites passed away recently. I met him at my Best Man's wedding (see here) quite some years ago (he's not getting any younger you see).

He was a Jesuit priest who bucked the 'trendy' trend which has beset the Jesuits of late. He was a traditionalist priest who celebrated the Tridentine (Latin) Mass.

As I told my best man (best man available), it was a wonderful occasion when I met Fr Thwaites having heard so much about him... and the wedding was OK too.

Please remember Fr Thwaites in your prayers.

And Bilbo's Off Across the Seas to Pastures New...

Sad news this week really.

I finally dug out my old LOTR poster of Bilbo's last Song (you know... at the end of the book when he, Gandalf, Frodo and the elves all go to the Grey Havens and set off for the West?).

I bought it in the early 80s as a young, handsome and devilishly rakish whippersnapper with the world at my feet (OK, let me dream...) and for many years it bedecked the wall of my bachelor pad (er... teenage bedroom).

Well this week I finally got it down from the loft and sold it. It went to a gent (of great taste and distinction) in Sweden.

I like to think that I have spread the 'good news' of Tolkien rather than sold an heirloom, but it was creased, a little ripped and what with re-roofing etc. etc. was in danger of getting further damaged.

So goodbye Bilbo! Like dear old Sam returning home to his Rose afterwards I am not ashamed to say I shed a manly tear for my old friend as it set off on new adventures without me...

Now I shall go and listen to the song on my ipod in the last episode of LOTR and shed another manly tear (dear Lord! - it's getting a bit too "Elton John" round here!).

Goodbye dear Bilbo!

Now where did I leave my Lembas Bread?...


P.S. Can't wait for the film to come out!!!! Take that Smaug the Oppressor.

Baby Fish and Exam Results: Celebrations All Round

Some great news from the garden. Our goldfish have had more babies. Not sure how many, but at last count there are at least seven wee black bairns in there (each about 1cm long). There may be more under the lily pads.

The 'older babies' (if that makes sense) are now about 3 - 4cm long, still black but eating the floating pond sticks that we feed the "grown ups" with.

It's great that we're now getting our own fish. And not a penny given to the big chain pet shops! Yippee.

I've also seen at least 3 grown-up frogs in the pond, so I suppose they'll be having their own babies soon enough... be great not to have to catch tadpoles from old quarries and have to "bring them home" next year.

We had a good crop of peas this year, though towards the end the slugs and snails went a bit bonkers on them. After a slow start the potatoes shot up too, so I think I'll be digging them up any day as they're just starting to wilt. The weather really hasn't helped this year.

So I suppose that's the garden up to date.

This last week or so we had happy news, with the AS and GCSE results in. Our eldest got an A in AS History which is what he plans to do in uni, and our second born got an A in GCSE Geography which is what he's going to college to do at A Level, so both did well and seem to know what they want to do...

What with O Levels becoming GCSEs and now the media saying the children get lower grades for the same percentages... I just wish the government(s) would stop fiddling with the exams so we could just know what the children get, they earn -- and can be compared like for like, year on year. But hey, what do I know?

Time to Respect the Elderly

Years ago I used to walk to work with an old man called Tom Dance. He would always tell me his stories of his service in the Navy in WW2 and of his time in the steelworks in Cardiff.

Remembering all the stories we shared and the laughs we had, I thought I should write something:



When you see an old man, what do you see?

Someone to be robbed of his money? Shame on you mugger or utilities executive!

Someone who gets in the way? Shame on you rushing commuter or NHS manager!

Someone who "goes on" about 'the good old days' and despairs of the modern age? Shame on you disinterested cold caller or politician feining interest!

Someone who's home should be taken from them to pay bills or home others? Shame on you government, local council or healthcare supremo!

Someone who's wrinkles make him unattractive? Shame on you fashion mag editor or botox laden wannabe model!

Someone who doesn't spend enough on useless trinkets and so doesn't exist? Shame on you trendy shop owner or advertising executive!

Someone who is past his best, an inconvenience who should be 'allowed' to choose death? Shame on you money-grubbing relative or euthanasia-rights activist!

Or do you see a man who has worked, paid his dues, deserves the best, has cherished memories in his home and should be entitled to have enough to heat and eat, to potter as he sees fit and get the very best in public services?

How we treat the elderly says much about us as a society.

If we mistreat the aged, we shouldn't be surprised when others get mistreated.

We should cherish life, from conception to natural death. No money, fashion, profits, taxes, lifestyles or politics is worth the suffering, poverty, pain or lonliness of the elderly.

It's time we, as a society, really decided what is important.

Most if us will be old one day. It is short-sighted and foolish (not to mention morally wrong) to treat the aged with disdain.



In memory of all the wonderful elderly men and women, relatives and friends, I have loved over the years, especially my grandparents. RIP.

Big Business Call Centres

If my call is so VERY important to you - how about answering it?

If you experience a high volume of calls so regularly (like 99% of the times I call) why not employ a few more people?

If you must make me go through 1001 options and permutations before -- eventually -- answering, why am I them so regularly redirected to another office who then tell me that I've come through to the wrong place?

And if you make me key in or (even worse) pronounce my details to a machine that only seems to recognise American accents, why when I reach a human being (after 2 months waiting) usually called Keith or Susan, yet with a suspiciously Asian accent, is the first thing they ask me for the very thing I just spent 48 hours tapping in or shouting at the phone?

So to recap: SORT IT OUT YOU TIGHT-FISTED MONEY-GRUBBING SCUMBAGS.

'I am not a number. I am a free man.'

18 Years and One Day

I survived yesterday. "Why so?" you ask!

Because it was Monday? No.

Because two lots of software were playing up in work? No.

Because it was the start of Week 2 of the kids' school holidays? No.

All these added to the occasion of course.

No I survived yesterday because it was our WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

18 years ago in St Peter's Church (yes that one! -- in Cardiff) myself and herself ("Mrs H") tied the knot, and we signed the marriage documents as Ave Maria was sung.

Now here we are 18 years later and our eldest has just turned 17 and is taking his driving lessons, with another child just leaving high school and another just leaving junior school.

We've lived in a few different properties in three different countries (England, Scotland and Wales) and there's been lots of ups and downs, excitement and anguish along the way.

So here we are, 18 years on. God willing there'll be another 18 years and more.

So thanks Mrs H for putting up with me.

London 2012: Pay the Soldiers the G4S Millions

The G4S "omnishambles" for the London 2012 Olympics shows that reliance on Big Business is not good enough for a government.

They always have their 'eyes on the prize' and cut corners to make extra money.

We now have semi-literate 'security staff' and people not even turning up for work.

The government paid G4S hundreds of millions of pounds! They could have given half that money DIRECT to soldiers and let them earn overtime and see the games.

Now they wont get the bonuses so beloved of big businessmen - they'll just lose their holidays.

If it's good enough to pay millions to G4S then it should be good enough to pay the servicemen millions too-- especially as many face an uncertain future.

Banks, Free Markets and Hilaire Belloc's Ideas

Just listening to The Spectator podcast and they are defending the free market viz the banking crisis.

I thought Daniel Hamman MEP made a good point on (Radio 4's) Any Questions when he said the bank bail-out was against the Free Market. As a Free Marketeer he believed banks should be allowed to go bust, shareholders (not taxpayers) should take the hit, was his take on it.

Then we had Ed Miliband this week saying banks should not be about profits at the expense of people, rather they should be promoting the Common Good.

I have some sympathy with that viewpoint.

I know banks have to make a profit (though some might argue they could be not for profit enterprises) but why does it have to be billions and billions more via screwing customers.

Take credit cards and mortgages as an example. Most people have them. Yet at a time when the base rate is 0.5% the banks make over 100% profit on mortgages and charge circa 29% on most credit cards.

Like Hilaire Belloc, the great Catholic writer and radical MP, I do not believe in the Free Market(FM). FM basically means the profiteers make the rules and the customer tends to suffer.

Today, for example, if the politicians weren't bankrolled by banks and The City (the last secretary to the Cabinet left to work in a bank, the current one is an ex-banker - and think of all the Blair ministers who went on to get bank stipends), we might expect them to protect 'the people' struggling at this time via limiting percentages on cards mortgages etc; e.g. 10% above the base rate-- still a very healthy guaranteed profit! Not to mention the scandalous rates of loan companies.

But a business sector that employs so many ex MPs, PMs and Chancellors clearly has too much power over the political class (much more than Leveson is glimpsing viz the Murdoch Empire, and of greater impact on the average man's income etc.)

To deconstruct the FM idea just imagine a small town's market. Let it run its own affairs. A rich man (let's call him Mr Tesco) will sell items cheaply, undercutting all others. He can afford to lose money for a few years (hiding his losses in mega profits in his other businesses).

Then after two years most competition has folded, shut down, gone bust etc. he can then buy up their stalls, put up his prices, cut the quality of his stock and so control the market to a large extent, and then start to bully the suppliers who really have to go through him if they wish to sell serious volumes of their product.

That is what FM delivers. It favours the rich, the bullies, the cheats, the shysters...

If you believe in the Common Good, fair trade, choice in goods and suppliers, then a market must have rules.

Of course Socialists argue that the market should be owned by the State and all profits go to the State and you end up with grey monotony, the Party cherry picking the best, and a rampant black market (and queues for bread).

Like Belloc, Catholics and all men of goodwill should IMHO say no to the FM and State control. The Catholic answer is the traditional 'English' answer - a nation of shopkeepers!

No FM, controls in place for the Common Good, limits on bank charges, help for small businesses and localism. This also fits the current 'green' agenda.

There could also be huge drops in business rates to encourage start-up small businesses and many other inventive initiatives to get the country back on its feet.

I also think the govt should limit profits (by percentage) on utilities, leaving them with healthy profits, but freeing peoples' wages to spend in local shops and not just to a handful of big businesses - but then Belloc also argued that large national companies (e.g. railways) should be made into co-ops. This in turn would make more money available to local high streets, markets etc.

Better wages for the working man (promoted by various popes) also means more money spent in local shops.

There are answers to the mess we are in, whether the banks, the media, the economy, the high street, home ownership, etc. -- and if Catholics read more of what Belloc, and those around him, espoused as Common Sense practical answers for the Common Good, then we might use our influence, contacts, and networks to start arguing this case, showing that there is hope and stopping the bankers and their chums stitching us all up for another 100 years.

Just a thought.