16th December 2020
I apologise for the delay in sending this letter, but like most of the country, I was waiting for news on deadline day as to the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. Silly me!! I forgot that when the EU is involved there is no such thing as a deadline except when they can use it for their advantage. Deadline day arrived and went with no decision. Further discussions are now taking place.
So, a merry Christmas to both my readers. I wish I was back home in a warm, sunny, Covid free New Zealand instead of being stuck in a dismal, grey, cold, damp Tier one region that is about to be flooded with tourists pouring in from Tier three for Christmas.
To demonstrate that the UK still leads the world in combining heart-warming romantic stories with a commitment to the concept of the Darwin awards we have the following tale: –
A young man from Scotland, missing his newly acquired girlfriend decided to visit her in the Isle of Man. Knocked back on his efforts to legally gain access to the Isle of Man he acquired a jet ski and despite not being able to swim, set off on the 25-mile sea crossing from Scotland to the Isle of Man. Despite the bad weather he settled into what was forecast to be a 40-minute crossing. 5 hours later, wet, bedraggled, and cold he landed in the Isle of Man with only 10 mts of fuel left. He dragged himself onto the beach and walked 15 miles to his girlfriend’s house. Later whilst enjoying a drink in a pub it was discovered by the police that he was not a resident of the Isle of Man and was therefore in breach of local regulations. He was arrested and appeared before court where he was immediately jailed for four weeks and carted off to prison. Nice to see that romance isn’t dead in the IOM. When asked to comment a family member is quoted as saying “He’s a nice lad, but thick as a brick.”
Just compare that with the treatment meted out to Dominic Cummings in March and recently Kay Burley of Sky News and her friends who broke numerous regulations in England when out celebrating her 60th birthday. They were given suspensions by their employer for between 3 and 6 months and no legal action was taken. Kay Burley celebrated her break from berating politicians on tv for being cavalier with their personal interpretations of the Covid regulations by jetting off to an expensive safari resort in Africa. Nice to see that hypocrisy is alive and well in the UK. Makes you proud to be British. As a New Zealander, I am proud to say that NZ comes nowhere near matching the UK in the hypocrisy stakes, (or have I been away too long?).
On a more interesting note, following on from the Trump brokered trade and diplomatic deal in the Middle East, Dubai has seen a massive influx of visitors from Israel for the Hanukkah holidays. From no direct flights early in the year there are now 28 a week between Tel Aviv and Dubai, all full. Dubai has seen the opening of Kosher restaurants and there will be a Jewish school in January. In conversation with a couple of friends in London, they confirmed that they have been watching this with interest and fed up with their treatment by the Corbyn-led Labour party in the UK are looking at moving some business interests from the UK to the UAE. It is estimated that the trade between Israel and the UAE will reach US$5 billion and create 15,000 jobs in Israel. Another diplomatic failure from Trump! Now that he has time on his hands, perhaps he could come and advise the UK on how to conduct its negotiations with the EU and show them how to deal with Macron and Merkel.
Back in the UK, the farce involving professional football and the BLM movement continues. Since early this year all players have been taking the knee before each game in support of BLM. Last week limited numbers of spectators were allowed back into the grounds. In celebration of this newfound freedom Millwall supporters promptly booed the players taking the knee and were promptly labelled as racist. The usual woke brigade and celebrity virtue signallers came out and condemned the action. The supporters’ organisations pointed out that they supported the concept of equality for all but couldn’t support a movement whose aims include the overthrow of the capitalist system.
In reality, the taking the knee has run its course and people are just fed up and bored with it, especially when they pay £40 to watch a game. Unlike the glitterati, “real” people see through the movement and can spot the hypocrisy of footballers paid £200,000+ per week supporting an organisation whose aims are the destruction of the system that allows them to be paid such huge sums. No one in the MSM has reported on this contradiction. Sky are now getting nervous about the impact on football and their revenue stream and the clubs, the REPL and the FA are themselves slowly seeing the adverse impact of their virtue signalling. Get woke and go broke.
Looking on the bright side, it is comforting that the UK still leads the world in hypocrisy and the Darwin awards.
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