201 days ago
My tomato harvest this year has not been great. Lots of plants were planted but I think that I need to start early growth under cloches next year. The bottom line is that we have had enough for some salads but not enough for canning. And the stacks of green tomatoes are generally too small to fry up and eat. Hence, as you can see below, I now have around eight pounds of green tomato chutney made with sultanas, apple vinegar, onions and brown sugar. It needs a bit of time to settle and store but the first pots should be ready for the Guy Fawkes night party where surely the guy on the bonfire has to be our dear leader here in Wales, Mark Drakeford or, possibly, the head of Oxfam.
304 days ago
The month of June, now known as Pride Month, or a quarter of the 30% of the year appropriated by 3% of the community, is drawing to a close. Scenes of naked men flashing all at young children taken to parades in America this weekend just gone, by parents who should be in jail are all over the internet. I marched against Clause 28 but the overt sexualization of toddlers in this way is surely wrong? Or maybe my values just belong in the last century as the decadent est marches full steam towards Sodom & Gomorrah.
365 days ago
If you believe in the bogus religion of global warming there are a few chants you must break into if you meet someone like me, a sceptic or, put another way, someone who looks at actual data. You must chant that “the Maldives is drowning” (of course they are is not), that water shortages in South Africa are caused by global warming (they aren’t), that Pakistan is seeing more flooding ( it is not) and, say it loudly, that the Great Barrier Reef and other corals are being destroyed by warmer seas caused by man made global warming. Among those shouting about corals the loudest is Prince William.
405 days ago
My father and mother were in Oxford in the 1960s at a time when Sergeant Morse arrived in the City and when Oxfam was set up and they were – like Morse – almost, lifelong supporters. They paid over a monthly direct debit even when they could not afford it and would order Christmas presents from the third world via the Oxfam catalogue. But in his final years I finally persuaded Dad that sending his cash to an organisation which covered up for paedophiles in the field was not a good idea. We discussed the bloated salaries of the administrative staff in Oxford and how Oxfam was now opining on areas well outside its original remit of fighting famine. He could not argue and one glorious day I answered a begging call for a Tom Winnifrith from the aggressive sales team at Oxfam, and, with the consent of my father, ( also called Tom) told them to bugger off and to stop the direct debit.
911 days ago
It is always the way that the woke of one generation will be devoured by the woke of the next. Who could imagine that feminist icon Germaine Greer and the heroic gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell might find themselved “no platformed” on British campuses, the marxist madrassas at the cutting edge of the woke revolution? The “crime” of both Greer and Tatchell was not to understand the pyramid of victimhood and thus to question even some of the demands of those currently perched at the top of the pyramid, the Transgender community. As we discovered yesterday with lesbians who do not want to have sex with a “woman with a penis” such challenges are just not allowed and are, at once, branded as hateful and bigoted.
1540 days ago
Gay rights and civil liberties campaigner Peter Tatchell is my hero and a photo of him with my daughter Olaf sits proudly on my desk. Can you believe that Tatch turned 68 the other day? I marched against clause 28 and will take no lectures on tolerance of the LGBT community from anyone. But the decision of Haringey Council to build a gay pride rainbow road crossing outseide of a local school is just daft virtue signalling.
1669 days ago
In today’s podcast I look at the ludicrous idea of Tax Justice UK and Oxfam for a new wealth tax like the Spanish one. Whatever. Then I look at Intu (INTU) and finally at Versarien (VRS).
1945 days ago
As I have noted before, Oxfam, a charity that likes to cover up for peadophiles, does not care about the truth when it comes to getting money to build up its empire. For when tapping up gullible old Guardian reading fools like my Dad, Oxfam repeatedly insists that poverty around the world is increasing. You do want to fight poverty don't you Dr Winnifrith, you bleeding heart liberal, so get your cheque book out! How can the old man argue with that?
2136 days ago
Though he is an on-off smoker and a man not averse to a bottle or three of wine at lunchtime, my friend the bear raider Lucian Miers, the Bard of the Boleyn, is becoming a bit of a health freak these days. “I can’t file Friday as I am on a three day walk across the downs”. That is his catchphrase these days. And to think that it used to be “get another bottle in, I’m just nipping outside for a fag.”
2142 days ago
One of the joy's of being in Shipston with my father is getting to answer the phone for him. "Is that Tom Winnifrith?" says someone from the numerous virtue signalling charities run by legions of grossly overpaid Guardian readers, who he supports with his cash. Truthfully I answer "yes." I am then treated to a long spiel about all the valuable work they are doing out in bongo bongo land followed by an appeal for an increased monthly donation.
2257 days ago
There are so many scandals and I cover the hypocrisy of the left over fallen virtue signaller Brendan Cox and the double standard shown regarding nonces in the church and at Oxfam. But the real scandals are that there are too many charities, that taxpayers cash is wasted on too many of them and that they do not work. Poor folks in third world shitholes need capitalism not NGOs.
2261 days ago
Sorry, but I have Oxfam on my mind. Seeing the downfall of these virtue signallers who I have long despised is hugely entertaining. However there is a link, this is not a contrived headline. In this podcast I discuss Mayan Energy (MYN), Andalas (ADL)(, Mosman Oil & Gas (MSMN) and The People's Operator (TPOP)
2261 days ago
Let's be clear, there are paedophiles and other monsters working in every industry, in every sector, in all parts of the economy. It has come as a shock to some that the charities world seems to have a real problem in this respect. I am not surprised. It is only that it has taken this long for the cover-ups to be exposed that shocks me. I would expect that charities like the church would have far more than their fair share of perverts on board.
2263 days ago
The sort of well paid metropolitan elitist who works for the BBC will no doubt mingle socially with the numerous champagne socialists earning £100,000 + per annum working for NGOs and lecturing rich folks in the private sector about how evil we are for not tackling poverty. These are the chattering classes and they stick together.
2267 days ago
I have been consistent over many years in my belief that at almost every level the Oxfam charity is not fit for purpose, as you can see from a stream of articles HERE. I try to persuade my reactionary old father that he should stop pretending to my PC sisters that he is one of them by giving money to Oxfam but to no avail. Maybe today I might get my way, you see it appears his cash has been spent on underage hookers.
2710 days ago
My comments about Oxfam relate to Mkango Resources (MKA) - see the link on the right of this page. In the podcast I also cover Totally (TLY), PGC Entertainment (PGCE), African Potash (AFPO) where I now am sure I know when the Nomad quit and why, Cambria Auto (CAMB) and Westminster Group (WSG). I also answer Malcolm's earlier question on Premier (PMO). No. Malcolm. No.
3245 days ago
I record this podcast in Shipston where I have spent the weekend with my deluded lefty father. We have now worked out how to switch on the TV and found ourselves watching Benefits Britain. That and the Oxfam story in the Mail on Sunday form the subject matter of this week's postcard.
3585 days ago
The steam is rising gently off the green fields of Oxfordshire and Berkshire as the 4.47 AM from Bristol speeds from Didcot and onto Reading. But for once I am not alone in my carriage and there is a strange smell.
I know that at Reading we will be joined by throngs of City folk heading into London. I will have to move my bags currently sprawled over three seats and the carriage will be filled with tap tap tap tap sounds as irrelevant messages are sent by one and all via blackberry and iPhone. For now I stare out of the window in relative peace, wondering why this land is so beautiful.
3680 days ago
Last Thursday Matt Lofgran, the non drinking CEO of Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG) and Gary his thoroughly decent PR man, who drinks for both of them, hosted a pizza and beer evening at Real Man Pizza in Clerkenwell. It was fun and being a strictly salad and mineral water man I have a clear memory of what happened. As I left, Matt & Gary were plying a party of pretty young female students with wine and having a great old time. So we are all happy. But what to make of Nostra Terra?
I should say that – to declare all interests – Matt handed to the private investors present and to me a copy of a new book called “The Frackers.” The Mrs says that I have too many books and is always trying to persuade me to send a few off to Oxfam. Given that her default position on most matters is that of The Guardian I imagine that a history of fracking may well go to top of the Oxfam list. Pro tem, I battle to keep it and all of my other thousands of books.
At a macro level I rather think that the wave on which the cork that is Nostra floats is not heading
3716 days ago
I have noted before that Oxfam is a charity not fit for purpose – it really does spout nonsense on a monumental scale. The latest clanger came on BBC Radio Oxford earlier this week – the link is here and the outbursts start at about even minutes in.
The Oxfam spokeswoman was one with two very stupid women – one from UKIP and a Lib Dem. Needless to say the Lib Dem woman agreed meekly with everything the Oxfam loony said. The UKIP old bag was again saying that the UK foreign aid budget should be diverted to help deal with UK floods. I have note before (HERE) how this is errant wolf-whistling economic claptrap. But her idiocy was easily surpassed by the Oxfam old trout.
She started by saying that the UK had plenty of cash to spend on the floods, after all Call Me Dave says “money is no object.” When a country has a deficit of £100 billion that is patently not true but if our PM (who is meant to be a conservative) is a Money Tree believer one cannot really be surprised that the deluded lefties of Oxfam are also Money Tree worshippers.
But then it got worse. Oxfam says that since 2008 UK bankers have received bonuses of £70 billion which is about £10 billion more than we have spent on foreign aid) so the UK bankers can afford to pay. Where to start
4182 days ago
We all know that the UK foreign aid budget is a costly disgrace this country cannot afford. Across Africa our money is allowing tyrants to rob their people with the aid we pump in a real disincentive to reform. We help no-one with our efforts but Call Me Dave is so desperate to be seen as “nice” that he keeps on writing cheques. Well Mr Cameron please explain Zimbabwe to me.
A report out today from Partnership Africa Canada, a member of the Kimberley Process, the world regulatory body on the diamond trade, says that Mugabe and his cronies have stolen $2 billion from the Marange diamond fields which lie within his country. That $2 billion has been looted over a period of six years so let’s call that $330 million a year. Funds from diamond sales of that order should have shown up in the State Treasury but have not. They have, of course, headed off to Switzerland. Mugabe says that the report is false. The authors of the report say that the $2 billion number is a “conservative estimate” and it appears that Hitler’s own finance minister Tendai Biti backs up the claims from PAC.
Now what does this tell us? Well first a quick word about Hollywood, deluded lefty celebs and the film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo di Caprio.
