Nanny Knows Best

It was going to be a lovely weekend. "OK," said whichever besuited male was representing the Government on this particular occasion, "You can start meeting up with friends and family this coming Monday, but on no account must you do so before then."

Yeah, right...

The beaches and parklands filled up. Barbecue smoke arose...

I remember having a political argument with my mother-in-law (not a clever thing to do) in which she was defending the official line on something or other- and fell back on the position that our leaders are smart and well-informed and can be trusted to do the right thing. Authorities the world over count on people thinking this way- and help them to do so by putting out vast amounts of disinformation.

But it could just be that we've been gifted with some of the leaders we have now in order that those who hold the "nanny knows best" position should be disabused of it. We'll leave Trump to one side- and just home in on the home-grown example of incompetence I've highlighted above. Can a government that evinces such a basic ignorance of human nature be trusted to do anything right?

And when a government is no longer respected- and lacks the resources to make itself feared- it is well on the way to becoming irrelevant.

Have You Noticed That...

...No-one simply dies these days. They always "sadly die" or "sadly pass away" or whatever featherbedding euphemism for kicking the bucket the writer feels comfortable with. Anyway, it's always "sad"- unless of course, it's "tragic".

Anyone would think death was a bad thing.

This morning, for instance, I came across a little piece about the cast of Dads Army- all of whom (apart from "stupid boy" Ian Lavender) were born over a hundred years ago. Apparently they've all "sadly passed over." Well, what a surprise!

If John Laurie hadn't "sadly passed over", he'd now be 123. Think of everything he's missed out on, all the roles he could have played!

Please, it's not "sad", it's natural.

Most of these people have been dead so long they're probably on their next incarnation by now...