My Thoughts Exactly (11)

October  2008

As you will have noticed there has been some delay in my column this month.

One of the reasons for this was the constant stream of dubious ‘news’ coming out.

Which item would be the most urgent to write about?

Peter Mandelson back in government?

Well, he does know all about dodgy mortgages; but getting elevated to the House of Lords on the strength of this was a master-stroke!

George Bush appears to tell us that ‘all will be well’ and as he finishes speaking the DOW index falls massively further!

Sarah Palin knows all about Russia as it’s not far from Alaska! Well, I used to live next door to a bank once, so maybe I should be consulted over the credit crunch!

Alistair Darling keeps telling us the ‘steps will be taken’, (when he figures out what they are!). Whilst tax-payers look on in horror!

Council money (billions of it) ‘frozen’ in Iceland! It beggars belief. Why wasn’t it spent here? Let’s face it; our communities need it and now!

But the most disturbing news I heard has got to be the following:

A new strategy for Afghanistan – give the people there loads of mobile phones and media equipment so they can make films to counteract Taliban propaganda!

 I thought you might not believe me so check out this link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7662549.stm

What a great idea! Forget about body armour; decent trucks; equipment; etc and hand out mobile phones! That should do it!

Funny thing is – I remember being told re-London bombings that mobile phones could have been used to activate the explosions!

And if you were an ordinary family in Afghanistan would you, (knowing the Taliban are likely to intercept it), send in a ‘blog’ saying how much your life has improved thanks to the coalition troops?

Bearing in mind, that all your details and personal information are guaranteed to be ‘lost’ by this government, should you actually send them any!

Another item: Health fears over UV rays from low-energy bulbs.

(Have your read Tony’s thorough covering of this whole subject? See Nottinghamshire Times index.)

UV rays are the tip of the iceberg. Is this the only problem they are admitting to?

And so the ‘green scam’ continues as European bureaucrats are now deciding to phase out any other bulbs except these ones!)

I eagerly await the government’s scheme to set-up a data base to monitor every email and text message sent in the UK.

Hope I’m on it!

                                                                         Evelyn Arslan