I am somewhat confused by the furore over the inheritance tax bill that will fall on farmers. If I understand correctly (and I sometimes don't). The government is saying that it will only affect relatively few farmers. In which case it won't raise much money. So why are the government doing all this when the benefit to the exchequer is so low?
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Friday, 26 July 2024
When death does stalk the barren land,
When death does stalk the barren land,
The stench of rotting carcases rises
Through the pale watery light
Of the dying sun
All around is the decay of a dying civilisation.
Hypocrisy rules as leaders wallow
In their own self importance
Waffle rules where once reason reigned
Oh Locke where have you gone?
Has that beacon of light been snuffed out?
Are we forever destined to learn nothing?
Hobbes is gone, forgotten, his legacy spent
We are left in the land of the blind
Where the one eyed man is king
Sadly floundering in the mire of his own making
His lifeblood slowly ebbing away.
Like a stag caught in the cars headlights
He stood bewildered frozen to the spot
While the inevitable came hurtling towards him.
He now lies fatally wounded
While the carrion crow circle around
Waiting, wondering when to strike
While the populace wait; watching the ship of state
Drift aimlessly along.
Barry Mellish
July 2009
Friday, 5 July 2024
General Election 2024 - Time to change the voting system?
Well, the election is done and dusted and with only a handful results to be declared a few things are patently obvious, to me at least:
1. The Tories were routed with only 24% of the vote.
2. Labour have a stonking majority with 411 (so far) seats they have an overall majority of 177, at the time of writing, so much for my prediction of 55-65!
3. LibDems had a fantastic evening returning at least 71MPs (up from 8.)
4. 4 Green MPs (sadly not Hélèna)
But looking beyond the numbers of seats it is clear that there was not a massive swing of support to Labour, rather it is a massive swing away from the Tories. Labour only polled 35% of the popular vote whilst returning 63% of MPs. Our antiquated electoral system of first past the post means that a swing of a few votes in a number of seats can result in massive swings numbers of MPs returned for each party.
Having been returned with his massive majority and relatively low share of the popular vote compared to previous governments, I cannot see electoral reform being high on Sir Keir’s agenda. One can but hope, but I do not see the pigs on the runway ready for take-off – turkeys do usually vote for Christmas!
Friday, 3 May 2024
Why We play the game
When the battle scars have faded
And the truth becomes a lie
And the weekend smell of liniment
Could almost make you cry.
When the last rucks well behind you
And the man that ran now walks
It doesn’t matter who you are
The mirror sometimes talks
Have a good hard look old son!
The melons not that great
The snoz that takes a sharp turn sideways
Used to be dead straight
You’re an advert for arthritis
You’re a thoroughbred gone lame
Then you ask yourself the question
Why the hell you played the game?
Was there logic in the head knocks?
In the corks and in the cuts?
Did common sense get pushed aside?
By manliness and guts?
Do you sometimes sit and wonder
Why your time would often pass
In a tangled mess of bodies
With your head up someone’s……?
With a thumb hooked up your nostril
Scratching gently on your brain
And an overgrown Neanderthal
Rejoicing in your pain!
Mate – you must recall the jersey
That was shredded into rags
Then the soothing sting of Dettol
On a back engraved with tags!
It’s almost worth admitting
Though with some degree of shame
That your wife was right in asking
Why the hell you played the game?
Why you’d always rock home legless
Like a cow on roller skates
After drinking at the clubhouse
With your low down drunken mates
Then you’d wake up – check your wallet
Not a solitary coin
Drink Berocca by the bucket
Throw an ice pack on your groin
Copping Sunday morning sermons
About boozers being losers
While you limped like Quasimodo
With a half a thousand bruises!
Yes – an urge to hug the porcelain
And curse Sambuca’s name
Would always pose the question
Why the hell you played the game!
And yet with every wound re-opened
As you grimly reminisce it
Comes the most compelling feeling yet
God, you bloody miss it!
From the first time that you laced a boot
And tightened every stud
That virus known as rugby
Has been living in your blood
When you dreamt it when you played it
All the rest took second fiddle
Now you’re standing on the sideline
But your hearts still in the middle
And no matter where you travel
You can take it as expected
There will always be a breed of people
Hopelessly infected
If there’s a teammate, then you’ll find him
Like a gravitating force
With a common understanding
And a beer or three, of course
And as you stand there telling lies
Like it was yesterday old friend
You’ll know that if you had the chance
You’d do it all again
You see – that’s the thing with rugby
It will always be the same
And that, I guarantee
Is why the hell you played the game!
One Hundred Years of the Mellish Family and Westcombe Park RFC
Wednesday, 27 December 2023
Barry and Julia Christmas Letter 2023
Sunday, 10 December 2023
The Boat People
The news is full of stories relating to boat people, Rwanda, International Law, has Rishi done enough or has he gone too far? There is no doubt that there are lot of problems in the good ship the United Kingdom: There are not enough houses, the NHS is struggling with not enough beds and not enough staff. We are bursting at the seams and it is all the fault of the boat people!!