Martin Luther King - 52 Years Ago Today

"I Have A Dream". A simple statement that will be forever associated with Martin Luther King due to the speech he gave in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

There is a widespread belief that this speech was one of the greatest ever and I support that notion.

As was written the next day in the New York Times,

 "Doctor King touched all the themes of the day, only better than anyone else. He was full of the symbolism of Lincoln and Ghandi, and the cadences of the bible. He was both militant and sad, and he sent the crowd away feeling the long journey had been worthwhile."

The crowd was over a quarter of a million people, mostly black but with many enlightened white activists there too. Enlightened? Indeed. In America in the early 1960's to believe that all people were equal and to want to actually do something about it demanded enlightenment in the individual.

Most people believe that the speech was a major turning point in the emancipation of the black population of America and they would be correct. I would go further and say that his speech not only resonated with black people in America but with suppressed minorities throughout the world.

Unfortunately, despite the huge strides that have been made in equality, there is still a lot to be done to ensure that all are treated equally but as Dr King said,

"And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last!"


In the world we live in there will never be perfect freedom or perfect equality but we should all work towards making it as perfect as it can get, not only for the minorities but for all who live on this planet.

There are many links to the speech on the internet both in text and audio forms. I would encourage you to go and have a read or a listen if you have never done so. It will be 5 minutes very well spent.

Off The Booze

Been off the booze now for exactly a week. Sad to say I have found it very difficult to do. I suppose having had a drink, alcoholic, virtually every day for the last 40 years has a lot to do with that. Having said that I can't remember the last time that I was "boozed up" as that is not something that I do. I just like a drink with my dinner and a couple of beers. Wine is really my thing. There is no such thing as left-over wine in my house!

Strangely, I didn't set out to do this. It just sort of happened. One of the benefits is that I have lost half a stone in weight in the week but one of the worse things is when you get up in the morning you know that is the best you are going to feel all day!

As I say I didn't set out to not drink so I am not sure how long this will go on for. If I don't have a pint or two before the Lincoln City V Grimsby Town game on Saturday then I think I must have gone teetotal! Likely? Probably not.

We shall see. Toodle ooh!

Women Only Transport!

I really don't know what goes on in some people's minds and I don't think I ever will. The latest hare-brained idea to make me shake my head in wonder is from the Labour Party leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn. He is suggesting "women only compartments" on public transport!

Why? God only knows! Just a day after one of his competitors for the leadership Andy Burnham makes a cock-up on the radio by telling everyone that it is not the time for a female leader of the party, Corbyn comes out with this twaddle. It makes me wonder whether he really believes this or whether he thinks this is a shrewd move to wrong-foot Burnham but whichever it is this is a dangerous suggestion.

What would follow it. Men walking on one side of the street and women the other? Separate tables in restaurants for men and women? Etc. etc. etc. In a world where women have fought for equality is this really the way that we want to go? Is this really something we should even contemplate?

I thought Women Only candidate shortlists, something only the Labour Party utilises and Harriet Harman's pink bus during the last election were a slap in the face for women but this takes the view of women held by the Labour Party a step further towards a dark side.


http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/26/women-only-train-carriages-a-possibility-under-jeremy-corbyn?CMP=share_btn_fb

Read the full story via the link!

The Latest Financial Scandal

As most will know by now the Chinese economy is in a lot of trouble. The fall-out for individual investors could be pretty serious.

This has been put down to the heinous fortune cookie!

What is the betting that this becomes the next huge business after PPI! Get your money back because of the false promises and bad advice received with your number 28 with Fried Rice!

Amazing What The National Media Picks Up On!

I had a chat with William Wright about this story yesterday afternoon on his show on BBC Radio Lincolnshire. Was really not expecting this story to go national though!

http://www.itv.com/news/2015-08-25/search-for-dog-owner-after-girl-4-is-attacked-on-beach/

What is it that makes something as mundane as this, in perspective terms of course, it was obviously not mundane for the family involved or the dog owner, go national?

I will never fathom out the national media!

DAB Radio For Lincolnshire?

Just been investigating this issue. Having bought a new car with DAB capability I was disappointed that in most of Lincolnshire you can only pick up the National DAB stations such as LCB, KISS, Classic FM etc. and then the BBC Radio 1,2,3,4 ,5 etc. Up towards the north of the county Humberside DAB appears to be accessible!

Looking at the website of Muxco which is the organisation that owns the licences it states that it is going to be starting to broadcast on DAB in September in Lincolnshire, initially with Lincs FM. BBC Radio Lincolnshire, and Compass FM involved. They state that they are looking for other radio stations to get involved and I have lobbed the information towards two local community radio stations, Lindsey Online and County Linx Radio to alert them to the opportunity. It would be great to see them get involved although I have no idea what the financial requirement is which is normally a big hurdle with any opportunity such as this.

More information here, but not a lot: http://www.muxco.com/multiplexes/lincolnshire/

If you are into radio, as I am, perhaps you could keep this issue in mind and ensure you jump on any bandwagon going that will allow DAB in Lincolnshire to happen. As Henry at Lindsey Online says "It has been a long time coming!"

Windows 10 Loaded

I have just downloaded and installed FREE Windows 10 on my HP Pavilion laptop which I registered for a few weeks ago.

My computer screen does not look that different to be honest although my computer appears to be working a lot quicker than it did on Windows 8.

Whenever I try any of these techy things like updates and new software etc. it invariably goes awry!

Faint heart never won fair software so I am off to go and press a few buttons and see what happens.

If I disappear from the internet then you will know that my normal issues trying to be a techy have just carried on.

Wish me luck. GULP!

Cecil The Lion - Rupert The Rat - Walter The Wood Pigeon

It would appear that the world has gone mad after the shooting of Cecil The Lion. Why? Why is it that the shooting of one wild animal has piqued the interest of the world? Is it because it is a lion or is it because people really care about animals? Why have petitions sprung up all over the place relating to this killing?

 What if this lion had been a "man killer". I.E. it had seen a human as easy prey and had killed it and eaten it? Would that have been reason enough to have the lion killed? If the answer is yes then why? Was the animal not just doing what came naturally to it? Should human beings then have the right to kill the lion? An eye for an eye? What about the other way round. Human kills a lion so the lions then have the right to kill a human?

I ask these questions because there are animals being shot and killed all around the world every minute of every day. They are being killed for sport, for food, for other by-products and just for doing what comes naturally.

This brings me to Rupert The Rat. Now Rupert was not doing anything other than living as rats were designed to do. His problem was that he left a little round calling card to show his presence in somebodies house. What happened? They had him killed. Poisoned. Is there any petition about the death of this poor innocent rat? Not that I can find. Why is that?

What about Walter the Wood Pigeon. Happily sitting in a tree having had a nice lunch of tasty young green leaves when BANG somebody comes along and shoots him. Any petition here? Any huge cry of outrage? Don't think so.

And while I am on the subject. What about fishing. There are millions of people all over the world that go fishing. Not for the collection of food but for the sport. Is that wrong? I have not seen a petition against fishing but I bet there is one somewhere.

Now I do not condone the killing of any animal but there are millions killed every day. For food, for sport, because they are looked at as vermin in some cases. That is the way of the world. Humans have been killing animals for millenia for all sorts of different reasons.

I say I don't condone the killing of any animal but do I? I enjoy eating meat and probably eat it ninety nine days out of a hundred. Does that make me a monster of some kind? I don't believe it does but thinking about it I do condone the killing of animals don't I?

The one thing that I cannot condone is the threats that have been made against those that hunt. It would appear that some in this world would happily kill a human being but would not have that human being kill an animal. Strange world we live in isn't it? Full of dilemmas when you are the top predator in the world!!