China V USA

I wasn't going to Blog today - my previous rant has sated my needs and Im in the midst of packing for my annual retreat, however, I have been drawn to the HYS site, again, and have been reading some of the comments with regards to Obama's little sojourn to the far east. Some of the comments I have to say are quite thought out and reasonable.

A vast difference form the usual political (sic) diatribe that is written there.

However, my award for the most paranoid person on HYS this week goes to this posting;

"I don't trust Obama, and I definitely don't trust China. No good will come of this.

Mike "

Mike obviously has a good grip on politics and the world as a whole. I suggest he either goes out more or reads more.

Now where did i put my passport..

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Never post a blog afetr a tipple

Note to self: Never publish a blog when one has spent the day drinking fine malts and chewing the fat with ex-hedge fund managers.

I mean, one only has to look at the incorrect use of grammer, punctuation, tense and capitalisation.

My old school master would be turning in his grave.
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And what would I do if I won £45million

Apart from getting handwriting lessons and / or a typewriter (or a PA for that matter)
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Brown and Cars

I am in a frightful mood this evening, I have been driving around the home counties for one reason and another for the last two days and have come across all manner of accidents, breakdowns, spillages, fires and moronic driving like its the end of the world.

On one occassion It took 2 1/2 hrs to travel 5 miles, It would have been easier to walk had it not been so cold and wet. The transport system in this country is a joke. If anyone wanted to bring the UK to a total standstill they would jacknive lorries on all of the major trunkroads (M1, M25, M5, M27, you get my point), traffic would come to a complete stop as would the country.

And yesterday when it finally did get moving I had an altercation with a frightful chap driving a Ford Mondeo, lucky I took note of his number plate as I do have friends in high places and this oik will be losing his licence one way or another.

It looks like GB is in for a bit of a rubbing too from those dispicable chaps at The Sun, I had to write into HYS to have my views known. That poor Janes Lady, fancy being that open to exploitation. My sympathies are with her for her loss, but I say.

Im off to Oxford again tomorrow, meeting the Prof who has a few problems with some builders and a box of cubans he needs to share. I think his latest Christmas Cake is wearing him out and he needs some male company. Not in that way I hasten to add.


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Remember the Fallen

* 60,000,000–72,000,000 - World War II (1939–1945)
* 20,000,000 - World War I (1914–1918)
* 20,000,000 - Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)
* 5,000,000–9,000,000 - Russian Civil War and Foreign Intervention (1917–1921)
* 3,800,000 - 5,400,000 - Second Congo War (1998–2007)
* 2,500,000–3,500,000 - Korean War (1950–1953)
* 2,300,000–3,800,000 - Vietnam War (entire war 1945–1975)
o 300,000–1,300,000 - First Indochina War (1945–1954)
o 100,000–300,000 - Vietnamese Civil War (1954–1960)
o 1,750,000–2,100,000 - American phase (1960–1973)
o 170,000 - Final phase (1973–1975)
o 175,000–1,150,000 - Secret War (1962–1975)
* 300,000–3,000,000[91] - Bangladesh Liberation War (1971)
* 1,500,000–2,000,000 - Afghan Civil War (1979-)
o 1,000,000–1,500,000 Soviet intervention (1979–1989)
* 1,300,000–6,100,000 - Chinese Civil War (1928–1949)
* 1,000,000 - Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988)
* 1,000,000 - Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005)
* 1,000,000 - Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970)
* 900,000–1,000,000 - Mozambique Civil War (1976–1993)
* 800,000 - 1,000,000 - Rwandan Civil War (1990-1994)
* 800,000 - Congo Civil War (1991–1997)
* 570,000 - Eritrean War of Independence (1961-1991)
* 550,000 - Somali Civil War (1988- )
* 500,000 - 1,000,000 - Spanish Civil War (1936–1939)
* 500,000 - Angolan Civil War (1975–2002)
* 500,000 - Ugandan Civil War (1979–1986)
* 300,000 - First Burundi Civil War (1972)
* 300,000 - Darfur conflict (2003-)
* 230,000–1,400,000 - Ethiopian Civil War (1974–1991)
* 220,000 - Liberian Civil War (1989 - )
* 200,000 - Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2000)
* 200,000 - Algerian Civil War (1991-
* 200,000 - Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996)
* 150,000 - Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990)
* 150,000 - North Yemen Civil War (1962–1970)
* 125,000 - Eritrean-Ethiopian War (1998–2000)
* 103,359+ - 1,136,920+ - Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (2003-Present)
* 100,000 - 400,000 - Western New Guinea (1984 - )
* 100,000 - 200,000 - Indonesian invasion of East Timor (1975-1978)
* 100,000 - Persian Gulf War (1991)
* 100,000–1,000,000 - Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962)
* 97,207 - Bosnian War (1992-1995
* 75,000 - El Salvador Civil War (1980–1992)
* 69,000 - Internal conflict in Peru (1980- )
* 60,000 - Sri Lanka/Tamil conflict (1983-2009)
* 60,000 - Nicaraguan Rebellion (1972-91)
* 50,000 - 200,000 - First Chechen War (1994–1996)
* 50,000 - 100,000 - Tajikistan Civil War (1992–1997)
* 45,000 - Greek Civil War (1945-1949)
* 41,000–100,000 - Kashmiri insurgency (1989- )
* 30,000 - Turkey/PKK conflict (1984- )
* 30,000 - Sino-Vietnamese War (1979)
* ~28,000 - 1982 Lebanon War (1982)
* 25,000 - Second Chechen War (1999 - present)[106]
* 23,384 - Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 (December 1971)
* 23,000 - Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994)
* 20,000 - 49,600 U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan (2001–2002)
* 14,000+ - Six-Day War (1967)
* 15,000–20,000 - Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995)
* 11,053 - Malayan Emergency (1948-1960)
* 11,000 - Spanish-American War (1898)
* 7,264–10,000 - Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 (August-September 1965)
* 7,000 - Kosovo War (1996–1999)
* 5,000 - Turkish invasion of Cyprus (1974)
* 4,588 - Sino-Indian War (1962)
* 4,000 - Waziristan War (2004-2006)
* 3,000 - Civil war in Côte d'Ivoire (2002-2007)
* 2,604–7,000 - Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 (October 1947-December 1948)
* 2,000 - Football War (1969)
* 1,975–4,500+ - violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2000 -)
* 1,724 - War of Lapland (1945)
* 1,500 - Romanian Revolution (December 1989)
* ~1,500 - 2006 Lebanon War
* 1,000 - Zapatista uprising in Chiapas (1994)
* 907 - Falklands War (1982)
* 62 - Slovenian Independence War (1991)

Hedge Funds

Whilst at his club Baxter introduced me to an old dear friend of his who has just retired from the hedge fund industry and has just gone through a divorce to boot, delightful chap, name of Finbar something or other. We spoke late into the evening about all manner of things, but mostly about the state of the country, the economy and the population. His company took a bit of a battering with the whole "sub-prime" fiasco but like most hedgies I have met weathered the storm and came out making a damn fine profit.

I myself have never trusted banks, I have invested in various things over the years, antiques, wines, art, property, land and such forth so I have never had the joy of dealing with banks to the level that most of the prols do. And i for one am very thankful for this.

I have been reliably informed that we should have let HBOS and Northern Rock fail instead of propping them up with tax payers billions and to this end do empathise with peoples outrage, they should have gone the way of Lehman.

But, thats my knowledge of money. And it is true what they say it is the root of all evil. And declaring war in the name of god. But best not talk about that one.
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Afternoon in London

I have to say that its always a pleasure to be back in the big city after a night out elsewhere. The professor was exceptional company last night and on royal top form. For obvious reasons i cannot declare his identity but "Prof Lee" will suffice. Like my esteemed colleague Baxter, Prof Lee also has a taste what we call the christmas cake filly, and he was proud to show off his latest. A very pretty little thing from the far east. She is studying Russian Philosophy.

The Professor is also an ardent commentator on politics and the media and was keen to hear about the blogging exploits of yours truly. Our last discussion of the evening, or should I say our last sensible discussion of the evening was about the absurdity of the daily mail and patriotism.

Dont get me wrong, Im all for singing about and defending the rights of old blighty, but when oiks like Nick Griffin are let lose all manner of things can ensue. Lest us not forget we are a nation of warmongers living off the riches of the slave and opium trade. Thats our empire and our legacy.

(it should also be noted that during my long and illustrious career in HM Forces I kept these opinions to myself, one of my tours in Afghanistan in the early 90's was for the protection of the local 'crop' from pillaging tribes, I have and will always defend our country but lets be under no pretensions as to how we got here)

At the moment I am currently sitting in a very genteel hotel bar in Fitzrovia sipping tea and watching the media types and pop stars strolling past, and will shortly be meeting Baxter and then off for a jolly good flutter at a private club he knows. Life doesn't get much better than this.

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Morning in Oxford

A shoddy nights sleep last night, compounded by the irritations of having to sleep in a poor quality room at the Randolph.

However, the professor and I had a splendid evening in the Eagle & Child imbibing a number of high quality malts and being entertained by a number of his very attractive and intelligent students. Today I am having a slow breakfast, updating this blog and watching cyclists go by, particularly fetching are the young filly's with their vintage bicycles with baskets on the front carrying their books. Reminds me of summers long ago in the south of france.

I digress, its easy to get distracted in a town full of so many beautiful women, the only city comparable on this front is Tel Aviv, but slightly more dangerous. Something about women with machine guns.
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Europe - HYS

Nothing like mentioning the Lisbon Treaty to get the blood boiling of all the jingoistic tabloids and pseudo patriots. I will not be entering into any such discussions other than to say its a little late for pulling out. So my award for stupidity and for not understanding politics goes to the following post on BBC's HYS;

No refurendum = No vote for Cameron
Simple.

Alex, England

Im out in Oxford tonight, invite from an old professor friend, dreadful golfer but what he doesnt know about whisky isnt worth knowing, he has a splendid pad in town and I for one am looking forward to meeting some of his 'students'
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HYS - What are they talking about??

I have taken it upon myself to start naming "Have Your Say" posters and posting an example of their comments here, this so that you can understand my feelings towards the inanity of the HYS board and people's comments in general. I will then have a monthly vote for the most stupid. Today's gem on whether T Blair should become EU president is this;

"When I read details of front runners, 2/3 eclipsed Blair, for different reasons

When I read the world's most famous advance intelligence, aka Man's Maker's Manual, aka endtime Bible prophecy, Daniel 7's 'terrible 4th beast' is the EU revived Roman Empire, forecast 3 times there to crush, trample & devour victims - till the Ancient of Days crushes it

It is prophesied there as 'partly strong, partly brittle & will not last'

Meanwhile, it spawns the Antichrist Beast of Revelation 13 & 17

Ian "Mr Versatile", Liverpool"

Now if anyone would care to enlighten me on what on earth this chap is ranting about please let me know!
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HYS - Drug Advise

My my, Have Your Say is having a field day with the resignation / sackings over scientific advise to MP's and true to form The Castle has buried any interrogation or discussion on the Nimrod Inquiry. Not that HYS has any political sway or anything.

Being "in the know" I am an avid fan of Spooks which is returning this week. A most accurate portrayal of our secret services if ever there was one. The link? Well they once did a story about advisers and another about media manipulation. Watch them and seek out the parallels

Ok, so the book "The Big Breach" was a novelty when it came out but it didn't exactly set the fires burning.."i was sacked,but i cant talk about it, i was on a mission which i also cant talk about..." - my point? Media has vested interests and decides what the proletariat should be interested in. I mean how many more weeks does the Katie / Peter thing have to be in the press?

With regards to the drug advisers, they are having Warhols 5 minutes and will be forgotten about next week. Mark my words.

On a brighter note, Baxters new filly wants to move in with him, ha ha! Having a christmas cake is one thing but having her "live in" well, unless its the house maid this sort of thing will only end in tears, the court and emptying bank accounts.

Pre Nup anyone?
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Another one bites the dust.

As I enter the dark teatime of the soul and stare out across my land to see the wind tossing branches of trees about and the rain lashing against my windows, I feel a warmth within from a fine vintage malt I have just quaffed and I am settled by the crackling of an open fire but I feel at odds again with the government. And more specifically their inability to take or listen to any advice.

As Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs member Marion Walker decides to do the long walk in protest, Alan Johnson MP is given yet another headache.

Now, dear old Alan has set his stall out on the fact that the scientific fraternity are opinionating against government policy and hence undermining the government. To keep a stable government dissent must be dealt with quickly. However, when government policy is proven wrong by the scientific fraternity what can one do, to U Turn would be catastrophic for Alan Johnson etal, therefore he has to stand by his decision, even if it is wrong.

I am sure it has ruined his weekend to boot.
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