So Stephen Hester, the Royal Bank of Scotland boss, has caved in to childish demands to give up his £1m bonus. What a berk is all I can say. Dai Jakes would never have given in. Not a bacon buttie's chance in the kitchen. If such a large bonus was in his contract then he should have it, and not be bullied into giving it up by a jealous public.
I have a suspicion that if Mr Hester was related to you, you wouldn't be so angry, and your 'concern' over job losses at places like Peacocks woud dwindle to nothingness.
I mean where the heck is the outrage over footballers wages? They earn over £100,000 a week, yet nobody seems to mind this obscenity. (And it IS obscene and if you don't like it, you are obscene too).
By all accounts Hester is good at his job. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves for forcing him to give his agreed bonus back. He has done his job, nothing more and now has to throw away the money he is perfectly entitled to because the great unwashed don't like it.
Shame on them.
And as a footnote, he was taken on my RBS after the banking crisis not before it. His job was to turn everything around and apparantly making a good fist of it.
Way back when I was in school I used to carry a notebook everywhere I went to record daily thoughts and observations. So you see, ive been blogging since before it was popular and where better to carry it onward than to give it a digital page of its own? Welcome to the pages of bar fly Hollywood Francis...
Monday, 30 January 2012
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Hell is...Soggy Chips & Television
Being a poet/writer I occasionaly get asked if I believe in hell and damnation, (like I have been let in on some great secret only revealed to bards or philosophers) and often people are suprised by my answer because its so simple; no I don't believe in it. And furthermore I doubt the majority believe in it either. Hell is merely threat used by religious brigands to keep the congregation shaking in their pews.
Good thing too because if there was such a place, we'd all be heading there. Are we not all without sin? Also the infinite punishment of eternal damnation isn't exactly fair to be put upon earlthy sin. Is any crime committed in this world, worthy of such a punishment in the next?** And what type of loving God would impose it? Not a caring, forgiving one id wager.
If there is a hell, we are in it in this world. The wars, bloodshed, famines, this planet can seem like Vlad's 'forest of impalement' if looked from the right angle. Even lesser evils like soggy chips swimming in grease and reality television contribute to the endless woes suffered by humanity. (The thinking types among us).
** Jorge Luis Borges suggests in his essay La Duración del Infierno that no transgression can warrant an infinite punishment on the grounds that there is no such thing as an 'infinite transgression'.
Good thing too because if there was such a place, we'd all be heading there. Are we not all without sin? Also the infinite punishment of eternal damnation isn't exactly fair to be put upon earlthy sin. Is any crime committed in this world, worthy of such a punishment in the next?** And what type of loving God would impose it? Not a caring, forgiving one id wager.
If there is a hell, we are in it in this world. The wars, bloodshed, famines, this planet can seem like Vlad's 'forest of impalement' if looked from the right angle. Even lesser evils like soggy chips swimming in grease and reality television contribute to the endless woes suffered by humanity. (The thinking types among us).
** Jorge Luis Borges suggests in his essay La Duración del Infierno that no transgression can warrant an infinite punishment on the grounds that there is no such thing as an 'infinite transgression'.
Santes Dwynwen
The angel appears to Dwynwen
Dydd Santes Dwynwen hapus I pawb! Happy Saint Dwynwens Day to all!
This is Wales' equivalent of Valentine's Day (but with more Cwtches), celebrated today, 25th Jan.
Legend has it that Dwynwen became a nun and headed to Anglesey to build a church called Llanddwynwen, meaning 'Church of Dwynwen'.
There are a few versions of the story but here's my favourite.
Dwynwen fell in love with a prince called Maelon Dafodrill (don't all women love princes?) but sadly the king (her dad) had already arranged for her to marry another prince. Uh oh. This news cheesed Maelon off a tad and he vowed never to see poor Dwynwen again. The fair maiden sobbed all night and pleaded with God to make her forget Maelon ever existed. Then in the morning an angel carrying a sweet potion appeared before Dwynwen, telling her it would erase all memory of Maelon and as added bonus would turn him into a block of ice. Brrr! Dwynwen was then granted three wishes from God. And as she didn't really want Maelon to spened eternity as an ice cube, her first wish was that the lad be thawed out. Dwynwen's second was that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers and her third was that she should never marry.
The End. Big Cwtches to everyone xoxox
Monday, 23 January 2012
Berni Inn
Now thats retro!
I have a love for anything retro and I can't think of anything more retro (at the minute) than Berni Inn. It was started in 1955 by Welsh/Italian brothers Frank & Aldo Berni and by the 1970's and 80's they got pretty popular. It was considered 'posh' to go to them.
A typical menu included a prawn cocktail starter with either steak, gammon or plaice with chips and peas for the main course. Dessert could be black forest gateau or Irish coffee and a few After Eight mints left at the side of your plate. The whiff of Steak and Lager/Lime was alwalys wafting around the mock tudor beams and all in all it was rather ace as we would say back then.
Sadly Berni Inns were sold to Whitbread in 1995 before they vanished forever. *sad face*
Hellish Hounds
Another story in todays news about a bull terrier savaging a six year old girl, while her father repeatedly punched the animal in an attempt to get it to stop. This is just one out of many stories regarding these dogs and I believe the time has come to round up all of the pitbull type dogs and put them all down. Only thugs think these creatures make good pets anyway. Or those of questinable sanity.
And please don't try to give me that 'Educate Not Discriminate' nonsense, and putting blame on irresponsible owners. These dogs are f**king dangerous (yes all of them) and should be nowhere near people, let alone in the company of a six year old child. This isn't some knee-jerk reaction to a terrible story, I have always believed that these kinds of dogs should go the way of the dodo. Are they even good working dogs? I don't care, get a German shepherd or something (and I don't trust those completely either).
They are not even good looking animals. They remind me of the majority of their owners with squashed faces, blunt noses and cruel eyes. Bullet headed louts. Would you really miss them if they were to disappear? (The dogs not the owners, mind you thinning those herds wouldnt be a bad thing but i'll say no more).
Of course my idea will never happen, it should happen but won't because humans in general don't seem to mind a few injuries to its own kind as long as it can carry on owning savage animals. We are idiots at heart. Well im not, id have no hesitation in turning every pitbull into curry. Ive said enough.
And please don't try to give me that 'Educate Not Discriminate' nonsense, and putting blame on irresponsible owners. These dogs are f**king dangerous (yes all of them) and should be nowhere near people, let alone in the company of a six year old child. This isn't some knee-jerk reaction to a terrible story, I have always believed that these kinds of dogs should go the way of the dodo. Are they even good working dogs? I don't care, get a German shepherd or something (and I don't trust those completely either).
They are not even good looking animals. They remind me of the majority of their owners with squashed faces, blunt noses and cruel eyes. Bullet headed louts. Would you really miss them if they were to disappear? (The dogs not the owners, mind you thinning those herds wouldnt be a bad thing but i'll say no more).
Of course my idea will never happen, it should happen but won't because humans in general don't seem to mind a few injuries to its own kind as long as it can carry on owning savage animals. We are idiots at heart. Well im not, id have no hesitation in turning every pitbull into curry. Ive said enough.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Death of the Death Penalty?
How many murderers are executed every year in the United States these days? Forty? Fifty? I think I can safely say that its certainly not over sixty. If I was an Anti Death Penalty supporter I would be pretty happy with those figures. With that rate they soon won't be strapping anyone to a gurney, and as less are indeed getting sentenced to death by American courts this is exactly whats happening. Its easier for opponents to get some thing abolished if support is low and surely it must be if a mere fifty or so killers are sent to the death chamber.
Let me put it like this: if I was the ruler of a country and one of my aides told me, "look we might as well scrap hanging criminals because we only execute fifty a year anyway," I would probably go along with it. Its half hearted, and bordering on lenient, so why bother continuing it Id think to myself. Its almost guaranteed that it won't deter any future murderers if deterence is the reasoning behind capital punishment. (I personally believe it shouldn't be and that punishment is the sole reason).
Of course if the USA want to be rid of the death penalty, then they are on the correct path because the numbers will keep dropping and dropping until....well they end up with no death rows. One only has to look at Britains history with capital punishment for proof of what I say. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we hanged people like there was no tomorrow. Even common thieves and sheep rustlers were not spared the walk to the gallows in our enthusiasm to bring lawbreakers to justice. Heck audiences flocked to public executions like rugby matches today (numbers ranged from 30,000 to an incredible 70,000), and stalls sold foor and drink to the ghoulish crowds. It was we Brits who turned hanging into a science when William Marwood developed the 'long drop' and Albert Pierrepoint perfected it. None executed with more zest than the United Kingdom.
But for how long?
And look at us today. The number of death sentences, or more importantly the number actually carried out, began falling in the early 1900's until in 1969 we abolished it completely. Our last hangings were in 1964. So you can see how abolishment creeps up, almost without the general public (especially the majority who take no interest in the subject) ever realising it. I believe its happening in America right now. According to statistics online the number of executions as well as newly imposed death sentences slumped to record low levels in 2011. Also the governor of Illinois put a stop to executions in his state and don't think for one minute that other states won't look at this and think of following it. Once the rot (some call it enlightenment) starts its hard to stop it spreading. We Brits know this and if the Americans have any desire to carry on executing its murderers they would do well to learn from our mistake. (Mistake or victory depending which side of the fence you stood of course).
Could it be that Americans (or its movers and shakers) have been actually listening to European countries when they keep on saying that the death penalty is barbaric and uncivilised? Americans don't like to be seen taking the lead from others, they like to be leaders, and my guess is they have looked around at all of the countries where execution has been scrapped and it has made them uncomfortable being one of the few left who carry it out. Especially when you consider the company they are in. (And I would like to make this clear here, I personally don't regard places like Iran as backward but it seems that some in the Anti death penalty movement do because they enjoy snootily informing us that Americans are in doubtful company when it comes to executions).
We must remember that the United States is a very young country compared to places like Britain, and IF it truly is civilised to abolish the death penalty as folks like Amnesty keep telling us then it will take them that much longer to discover this. European and Middle Eastern countries have been puttig people to death since before Jesus turned water into wine and are not exactly new to the subject. America is. And this is why I really do believe that in something like ten to fifteen years there will be no more executions there.
** If any readers are interested in chatting with Dai Jakes about the subject, you can find him on the ProDeathPenalty .com forum where he is a regular poster. Pop in and say, it really is a friendly place.
Let me put it like this: if I was the ruler of a country and one of my aides told me, "look we might as well scrap hanging criminals because we only execute fifty a year anyway," I would probably go along with it. Its half hearted, and bordering on lenient, so why bother continuing it Id think to myself. Its almost guaranteed that it won't deter any future murderers if deterence is the reasoning behind capital punishment. (I personally believe it shouldn't be and that punishment is the sole reason).
Of course if the USA want to be rid of the death penalty, then they are on the correct path because the numbers will keep dropping and dropping until....well they end up with no death rows. One only has to look at Britains history with capital punishment for proof of what I say. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we hanged people like there was no tomorrow. Even common thieves and sheep rustlers were not spared the walk to the gallows in our enthusiasm to bring lawbreakers to justice. Heck audiences flocked to public executions like rugby matches today (numbers ranged from 30,000 to an incredible 70,000), and stalls sold foor and drink to the ghoulish crowds. It was we Brits who turned hanging into a science when William Marwood developed the 'long drop' and Albert Pierrepoint perfected it. None executed with more zest than the United Kingdom.
But for how long?
And look at us today. The number of death sentences, or more importantly the number actually carried out, began falling in the early 1900's until in 1969 we abolished it completely. Our last hangings were in 1964. So you can see how abolishment creeps up, almost without the general public (especially the majority who take no interest in the subject) ever realising it. I believe its happening in America right now. According to statistics online the number of executions as well as newly imposed death sentences slumped to record low levels in 2011. Also the governor of Illinois put a stop to executions in his state and don't think for one minute that other states won't look at this and think of following it. Once the rot (some call it enlightenment) starts its hard to stop it spreading. We Brits know this and if the Americans have any desire to carry on executing its murderers they would do well to learn from our mistake. (Mistake or victory depending which side of the fence you stood of course).
Could it be that Americans (or its movers and shakers) have been actually listening to European countries when they keep on saying that the death penalty is barbaric and uncivilised? Americans don't like to be seen taking the lead from others, they like to be leaders, and my guess is they have looked around at all of the countries where execution has been scrapped and it has made them uncomfortable being one of the few left who carry it out. Especially when you consider the company they are in. (And I would like to make this clear here, I personally don't regard places like Iran as backward but it seems that some in the Anti death penalty movement do because they enjoy snootily informing us that Americans are in doubtful company when it comes to executions).
We must remember that the United States is a very young country compared to places like Britain, and IF it truly is civilised to abolish the death penalty as folks like Amnesty keep telling us then it will take them that much longer to discover this. European and Middle Eastern countries have been puttig people to death since before Jesus turned water into wine and are not exactly new to the subject. America is. And this is why I really do believe that in something like ten to fifteen years there will be no more executions there.
** If any readers are interested in chatting with Dai Jakes about the subject, you can find him on the ProDeathPenalty .com forum where he is a regular poster. Pop in and say, it really is a friendly place.
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