344 days ago
I start with discussing how my late Dad would have been fired had he still been a lecturer at Warwick University today. I am sure that I’d be getting a P45 in the corporate world in the wake of a new survey on workplace alcohol use. Then I move onto Frisby, a star speaker & also singer at ShareStock 2023, and Argo Blockchain (ARB), Versarien (VRS), UK Oil & Gas (UKOG), Supply@ME Capital (SYME) and in depth lessons from today’s collapse at Purplebricks (PURP), one I did get right. I also discuss the weather and, in that vein, urge you to donate to a great cause HERE.
1282 days ago
As you can see below, my dim local MP reckons that 39% of violent crime is caused by booze and that alcohol is one of the “driving forces” of domestic violence. And thus Sarah Atherton is all in favour of banning those committing crimes from gaining any access to the sauce altogether. This, she claims, will stop re-offending.
2353 days ago
Finally it looks as if the SNP is going to get its way and from next year if you buy booze from a shop in Scotland you will have to pay a minimum of 50p per unit of alcohol. Scotland sets a world precedent in stupidity.
2463 days ago
I now drink almost no alcohol as I battle to keep type 2 diabetes in check by keeping my blood sugars down. But apparently I may have got it all wrong. Or maybe not.
2537 days ago
I am now, once again, doing regular resting of my blood sugar levels. And after a break of a few days I am again taking my medication. Being by myself since Sunday lunchtime has assisted in a no alcohol diet and a meal schedule which is regular and healthy. I wonder could I spin out a diet based on two Greek Salads a day plus raw oats into a 30,000 word diet best-seller? Probably not.
2672 days ago
I did okay in 2016. The notable win being quitting smoking although that was not something I started until February 15. So I guess I don't need to start my 2017 resolutions right away. that is jolly useful as we still have a bit of Christmas cake and an excellent cheddar cheese from Uncle Chris to finish off. That brings me to resolution one.
2943 days ago
My two sisters are a politically correct duo with a tendency to be rather earnest. Both work in the public sector and are married to half Germans - the Krauts. It is fair to say that we take a rather different view on more or less everything. Of course we are all united in having one father who turns 78 today. Happy Birthday Dad.
My younger sister in particular has "form" when it comes to uber-PC presents. I think it was two years ago that for Christmas she gave her husband
3504 days ago
I had planned to stay sober until my return but I fear that I have been led astray. I blame OTE Telecom. I still cannot get on the interwebby at The Greek Hovel so spent all Sunday working from the Kouronis taverna in Kambos, run by lovely Eleni. At about 10 O’clock Greek Time I was done writing and asked for my bill. But instead I was summoned to the bar and asked to sit with four men.
Either side of me were two Gentlemen who spoke English. The younger (George) was a relative newcomer to the area, the elder (Nikos) is a greying stocky man with a walrus moustache. It was he who had cross words with me on my second day here when I supported the Krauts rather than the Argies in the football. Since then we have exchanged nothing but pleasantries. Behind Nikos was the man in the pink polo shirt (Vangelis) and behind George was another George, a Greek only speaking builder.
I was told “it is not will you have a drink but what are you drinking”. They were on the hard stuff and so I opted for ouzo. Nikos told me that they had decided they needed to know me better as I was now their neighbour.
They refused to let me pay and four hours later I was rather the worse for wear. Nikos was concerned about me biking home. He offered to drive me several times but since he was also a tad unsteady on his feet I declined
4170 days ago
Alcohol awareness week is one of those dreadful waste of taxpayers’ money campaigns dreamt up by the nanny state to justify more money being pissed away by the nanny state to no great effect whatsoever. The facts are that alcohol consumption in the UK is about average by European standards and that we are, as a nation, drinking far less than we used to. On the other hand mentions of how much we are drinking in the press and at sleaze central Westminster have gone through the roof. Cue demands for an ever larger state to spend more money tackling the problem.
I am by nature, as Charles Kennedy once said of himself, a moderate drinker. I imbibe well under the recommended 21 units a week and probably do not drink at all for most days. But alcohol awareness week is different – it is my moral duty to have at least one unit a day. I almost forgot to do my duty on Saturday until I saw a late night tweet from the excellent Christopher Snowdon of the Velvet Glove Iron Fist blog reminding me that this annual farce ends tomorrow. A small glass of port and my duty is done.
For the raw data on what a total Nanny State waste of space this week is I refer you to an article by Snowdon HERE
THis is the sort of idiocy covered in my new e-book published yesterday on the increasingly authoritarian state of the UK today. It really is very funny and makes a good point or two. “Letters from the Chestnut Tree Cafe, Though crime in Britain and Greece, 1984 is finally here“ and can be ordered direct from publisher Harriman House HERE.
4240 days ago
What is it with Tories and flogging dead horses? A policy patently does not work and so… lets just do more of the same. I refer of course to drugs. The Tories are the party of “Law & Order” and so their approach to drugs is always to give more money to the Police to “smash drug rings” even if this never actually works and actually cuases more crime. In their efforts to be seen as “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime” they show themselves to be economically illiterate.
Now that Louise Mensch has sadly disappeared I was waiting for the next Tory to opine on this matter and skimming the London Evening Standard (I found a copy on a train and was bored) I find a letter from London Assembly member Steve O’Connel (Con) in which he opines:
“Drug crime fuels 50% of acquisitive crime
