Reasons why Labour failed to win the general election

Corbyn and his brand of left wing politics must be taken into account. Corbyn was disliked for his dithering and indecision over Brexit. He did not convince voters that he was capable of handling the economy, the defence of the country, antisemites in the Labour Party, and leading the working class.
Corbyn's alleged links with the IRA and certain left wing extremists did not go down well. He annoyed and alienated moderate Labour members. His front bench team did not inspire confidence at all. The thought of Diane Abbott as Home Secretary lost votes.

There was the old fear that Labour would overspend and ruin the economy, especially with John McDonnell at the Treasury.

Labour failed to appeal to Scottish voters. Their policies did not appeal much north of the border. They appeared weak on Brexit, lacking clarity.

Corbyn must go

The unelectable Comrade Corbyn must step down as leader of the heavily defeated Labour Party.
It is time for a front bench clear out. The disasterous results must bring about a hard and long look at the deep problems. Comrade Corbyn is the worst Labour leader in living memory. Yes, worse than Kinnock and Foot. His defeat is humiliating. It is a woefully poor performance.The electorate has sent a clear and strong message.

Alan Johnson has acknowledged the pathetic failure of  Corbynism, and Momentum with its student politics. Corbyn failed to lead the working class. He spectacularly alienated Jewish voters.  Corbyn was a disaster on the doorstep.

Unless reality bites the Labour Party with Momentum will enter the political wilderness and see more electoral defeats. The immediate future looks bleak.

A Sad Day and a Bad Day for Aung San Suu Kyi

For such a respected Nobel Peace Prize winner to be defending the indefensible, to be so woefully misinformed about the facts of genocide, established and independently verified, in her country beggars belief. It is hard to grasp her denial and her failure to comprehend what took place in Myanmar.

Was she kept in an ivory tower or parallel universe?  Was she seriously misled and inaccurately briefed by mendacious military officials, politicians, civil servants and advisers? The evidence is so clear. With her experience, education and background surely the truth was plain to see. And yet there is such a confident refusal to face the facts. Will Aung San Suu Kyi ever admit what has happened to the Rohingya people... the horror... the genocide.. crimes against humanity! Many innocent Rohingyas were murdered by soldiers. Ethic cleansing took place. The evidence is overwhelming and the truth will come out. 

Come off it Prince Andy! We don't fall for your stories.

Prince Andrew has been called the Duke of Porkies.  It is very hard to swallow that he stayed at Jeffrey Epstein's New York property, knowing he was a convicted serial sex offender, because it was a convenient place to stay. Prince Andy claims that he had no idea about the sex crimes taking place there or any wrongful activity. Is he that dim?  He visited the New York apartment a few times, enjoyed the private island, Epstein parties and time with Ghislaine Maxwell, and yet in all his time with this serial sex offender, with a history of abusing school aged girls, Prince Andy denies any knowledge of anything wrong happening on these premises.

In the face of the evidence it looks like Prince Andy likes to spend time in houses of ill repute.
According to recent information he was used to lure young girls to Epstein's property. Prince Andy would no doubt claim that he was unaware of this ploy or any such arrangement. Well he would, wouldn't he!

Ghislaine Maxwell knows a lot about these properties and what really went on there, if we believe the victims. And their accounts do have the ring of truth. Activities were filmed at these places. There were hidden cameras and an elaborate media room at the New York property. There were allegedly very incriminating photographs too.

Pseudo philosophy and pop psychology

There are myths and pseudo philosophical messages that do not stand up to serious, rigorous analysis.  We may be raising deep ontological questions, and we are approaching pseuds' corner here, are we not?

Here is one for example:

There are people in your life whom you unknowingly inspire simply by being you.

Let's think about this one carefully.  This is supposed to be a really inspirational and positive thought for the day.  However, this is not necessarily a positive statement and something good at all.

 I once dealt with sex offenders, and sometimes they had not inspired but influenced using sophisticated methods and cunning ploys other sex offenders in a number of horrendous ways.  I knew of two sex offenders who, being who they were, asked the Home Office and the prison authorities to keep them in custody for life because they, in themselves, were a constant danger to young children. They knew that they always wanted to harm children and had taken pleasure in acts of appalling depravity.

Being you could be bad for other people! It depends on what type of person you are. And I have met some people who think that they are good people, yet their crimes reveal another reality.

Some of the sex offenders that I met were on the surface charming, well mannered, highly educated, very articulate people, but inside they were as evil as Hannibal Lecter. Some of them in our prisons, very sadly, are priests and clergymen.


Here is another bit of pop philosophy to consider.


The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are.

Words of Jim Morrison

So does this apply to the above mentioned sex offenders and child murderers,  some of whom boast about their crimes and seem to have little remorse. At the end of a chapel service, in HMP Chelmsford, one prisoner proudly identified himself as "the M25 murderer". He told the guitarist, who lived close to the M25 near Brentwood, that he had "dumped a few bodies round your way".
Another prisoner spoke to the bass guitarist and said that he would love to learn to play the guitar. He had plenty of time to learn. He freely admitted that he would never be allowed to learn the guitar because he would almost certainly kill someone with the guitar strings.That's honesty for you!

Was Jim Morrison's freedom really the most important kind of freedom??? He now rests in a famous grave in a Paris cemetery. He died at the age of 27. Was it a free life or was it a life of bad trips, messy relationships, alcohol addiction, binges, drugs, decadence and debauchery? Janis Joplin's attitude to his irrational behaviour is now well documented, and her comments about him, according to Wikipedia, may be the most accurate and perceptive, but they are not suitable for this blog. Like Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin died at the age of 27, after a seriously messed up life.


How about this one?

A person who feels appreciated will always do more than is expected.

Now I agree that encouragement, praise and positive reinforcement are very important, and that the ministry of discouragement is oversubscribed.  Praise God for the Barnabas people, the Bereans and other righteous people making a difference and the world a better place. There are too many cynics, hypercritical heresy hunters, hypocrites, moaners and malcontents.

That said, what is stupid about this pseudo intellectual nonsense? Well, there are children who are loved, indulged, appreciated but spoilt rotten. They do not always do more than expected. They think that they are the cat's whiskers, and sometimes they do less than expected. Their mothers indulge and spoil to the point where they become lazy and self satisfied. Their mothers come to realize that they are not the messiah, but very naughty boys, who don't become doctors, lawyers, and high achievers like their fathers. I can think of public school boys and those at top schools who did not reach their full potential, but they were appreciated by their parents, who spent thousands on their education and upbringing in rich North London homes.

And yet another one....

Nothing is too difficult for you to overcome. You've survived so many hardships and moments that pushed you to your limits. Instead of giving up, you survived and came out stronger. You can do that again and more. Keep believing in yourself. Keep going.

While the first sentence may appeal to our optimism and hope, it does not apply to people who are terminally ill or suffer from a serious condition that will not improve. Survival is not enough. It is not a question of believing in yourself, in you, and keeping going in the same path, which may be a self destructive path. It could be catastrophic, particularly if the person is not aware of the dangers they are in. I am thinking about people who mess with the occult and drugs, alcohol and the wrong company and unhealthy foods. Good advice and helpful interventions may be ignored by people who have chosen the broad and evil way that leads to disaster and destruction.

 Believing in themselves may mean choosing and reinforcing disastrous, spiritually damaging, bad behaviour and destructive relationships. People might genuinely believe that their lifestyle and belief in themselves may be beneficial when the exact opposite is true. Some men believe in themselves and that their macho behaviour, which includes wife beating, is perfectly acceptable. Some Russian men proudly hold this position. Stacey Dooley's interviews (War on Russian Women) provide the evidence. Should they keep going?

I wonder if this advice will help Elizabeth Holmes. She has some real difficulties to overcome. She really exuded belief in herself. What an amazing self assurance and self confidence she had and still appears to have! It will be difficult for her to keep going. She convinced many people to invest in her invention and Theranos. She was "out for blood in Silicon Valley" and now people are out for her blood. The 2020 court case will push her to her limits.

We need to know our limitations. Somethings are clearly beyond our control, so some problems, like severe medical conditions, are too difficult to overcome. Some people believe that they can achieve anything if they work hard enough and have a positive attitude.  A person with poor health is not going to be a Premier League football player. Therefore, you cannot put in what God has left out.  Some people therefore do not have the physical or genetic endowment, such as IQ and emotional intelligence, to overcome certain hurdles. For some, they have missed the boat to success.

Christians do not look to themselves for the answers. We are looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We know that we are fallen, frail beings. The answer does not always lie within ourselves, though we may find some answers by our own intelligence. We have something that the world cannot give, the mind of Christ. It is an amazing truth. And many do not fully grasp it.  To apprehend this spiritual reality is to find a life of peace, joy and hope beyond and above human comprehension. It is spiritually discerned.

 If we sow in the flesh, in the carnal nature, we will reap corruption. If we sow in the Spirit, then we will reap eternal life, life with the quality of eternity.

True freedom is not being what we really are, but finding abundant life, new life, eternal life, regenerated life in Christ.



Make me a captive Lord, and then I shall be free.

Loving London on Thames at night

London is special. It may not be the most beautiful city in the world, but it is one of the best. It has so much to offer, so much to see, so much to reveal and to share.

I love to walk along the South Bank from London Bridge to Waterloo. I have many happy memories, having had great times there, notably at Tate Modern, the Globe, the BFI, the Festival Hall, etc. There is so much to see and do on the South Bank by the Thames. The views across the Thames are magnificent.

For me, it is wonderful to walk across the Millennium Bridge, which is right by Tate Modern. It was once known as the wobbly bridge.

The magical Millennium bridge at Halloween

Solva: autumn 2019, before the half term invasion

Solva is a splendid place in West Wales, on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. Arfordir Penfro, Parc Cenedlaethol y glannau pentigili. Pembrokeshire Coast, Britain's only coastal National Park.

I love the tides, the boats, the harbour, the cliffs, the small beach, the little river, the birdlife, the pubs, the Mam Gu coffee shop, Window in Wales (great for its range of clothing, particularly Joules, and rainwear) and the beautiful coastal paths. The sea views from the high paths are magnificent.

Now come and look at Solva, through my eyes, in October 2019. Please click within the image to enlarge the photograph.

 A very popular spot in Mam Gu. They sell exceedlingly good Welsh cakes.

An aspect of France in Main Street, Solva

Own goal Abbott on the front bench with Catastrophic Comrades Corbyn and McDonnell

Come on Labour Party, for the sake of a stronger opposition, please dump these losers. They are putting you in a painful position. You cannot win an election with these incompetents on the front bench, and John McDonnell does not help your cause. You are destined for another defeat at the ballot box. This team is fatally flawed.

I understand that Diane Abbott was not the brightest and among the best when she was an administration trainee at the Home Office. Disaster prone Diane did not impress in the fast stream.  Her parliamentary career, to date, is a far from glorious, with gaffe after gaffe and spectacular own goals. This morning, talking to Andrew Marr, DA declared that she wanted to make immigration to the UK easier, if she becomes Home Secretary.

Keep Corbyn, Abbott and McDonnell in place and Labour will have no chance of a majority in the House of Commons. The electorate are not going to buy their brand of politics and be lead down to road to nowhere. They are on the way to failure.

Fleecing the flock: it keeps happening

It is very sad and shameful when a clergyman steals from an elderly parishioner. Today Rev. Edward Morris, known as Andy to his former flock at St. Matthew's Church in Nottingham, is serving a custodial sentence for his recent crimes. (Earlier crimes and his greed have come to light.) His ministry as a vicar is over for the theft of £5,000 from the bank account of 96 year old Mavis Pennack, who trusted him with her bank card and PIN.

It seems that standards in the recruitment of clergy have fallen, and some very dodgy and dubious characters are now people of the cloth. There are, however, serious ecclesiastical shortages and pastoral vacancies. I know of cases of clergy being ordained who would never have been selected for ministry in the 20th century. Clergy are human, after all, and they usually fail because of matters relating to sex, money, behaviour, and power/pride, but we expect a certain level of morality, intellect, integrity and Christian conduct. Lessons need to be learned from this unhappy situation.

Andy Morris has let himself down, as well as his wife and family, his flock and the Church of England. He has to live with the disgrace. He has time to think of the damage he has done in his prison cell. He is said to be full of remorse. Andy will probably be out of prison by this time next year. Perhaps he can find a job with Alpha for Prisons. The prison chaplain may find some use for his fire-eating (perhaps not) and entertainment talents dressing up as a clown. Church of England clergy are often good at dressing up.

Saints alive! Two miracles to make a saint?

According to a certain religion, it takes two miracles to make a saint.

 Now I do not necessarily rule out miracles, if by miracle we mean a special, divine intervention or supernatural occurrence, in the 21st or any century for that matter. But, the doctrine of praying to men, women and/or children, however holy they are considered to be, for miracles and wonders rather than to God, who is alone sovereign and almighty, is a departure from biblical truth.

Saints in the New Testament were believers, folk in the Christian community, who were sanctified by the Holy Spirit. They were not elected or beatified by a religious hierarchy, a holy huddle, high ranking priests, ecclesiastical elders, a college of cardinals, mitred ministers or clever clergy.
When the Apostle Paul wrote to the young churches he wrote to the saints there, those in that Christian assembly or fellowship. There was no canonization process. They believed and they were baptized.

John the Baptist, in the words of the Lord Jesus was great, Matthew 11:11, yet he performed no miracles. Please read John 10:41. Yes, he performed not one miraculous sign. But today we have a false doctrine that declares that two miracles must take place before sainthood (canonization) can be conferred. Canonization is a classic case of man made religion. It has absolutely no basis in the Bible. This falsehood is not found in any New Testament document or ancient text and was not held by the early church. Prayer to the "saints" is not a divinely revealed truth at all. Such intercession makes human beings into mediators. This tradition comes from religious men who were not moved by God, nor did they speak words from Him, but it is a human construct, made up to satisfy religious appetites.

People want heroes, don't they? John Henry Newman is a hero and a saint to many people today.

No Turkish delight but Turkish destruction for the Kurds

There is, in effect, ethnic cleansing on a massive scale taking place on the Turkish/Syrian borderlands.
Multitudes of Kurdish people are leaving their homes as a result of Turkish shelling and arms fire, weapons of destruction raining down on many innocent people. They are moving to safer areas, which may not be that safe or secure but a living hell, in conditions of deprivation and decay.

The future looks bleak as IS/Daesh fighters have escaped from Kurdish custody in the mayhem. These terrorists along with some very bitter and vengeful people will want to wreak havoc on their opponents. Fiery times are at hand.

Awesome Oregon Coast

I love the Oregon Coast and it's great to drive along Highway 101. I'll let the photographs speak for themselves, but the reality and beauty of the Oregon Coast has to be seen and experienced, especially when it is sunny, with bright blue skies, sometimes with fluffy clouds and wonderful foaming waves.
Please click within the images to enlarge them.

The Fugitive starring Anne Sacoolas

Diplomatic immunity may mean that some people can get away with manslaughter, but inconvenient truth and demands for justice have a way of pursuing the guilty.

As Anne Sacoolas has been publicly named and shamed, particularly in the British press, this story of a road traffic fatality is front page news and gaining much traction.

It will not go away under legal and diplomatic arrangements. Justice for the late Harry Dunn and closure for his grieving parents, and well orchestrated, co-ordinated campaigning will not let the matter rest. 

Extinction Rebellion: a new religion?

Followers of Extinction Rebellion seem to me mainly young folk on a sort of religious crusade, not a war of the cross, but a war against climate change and ecological disaster.

It could be defined as a religion, if by religion one means deeply held belief, a creed, that influences behaviour, views, lifestyle, and demands a commitment to certain values and practices. Not all religions are theistic and God affirming.

Extinction Rebellion (ER) preaches a prescient message and proclaims prophesies of doom, death and destruction. It has an eschatological dimension. It has produced its martyrs, bearing witness and being arrested on the streets of large cities for their cause.

Young people, particularly, have found and embraced a movement which gives them meaning, a message and significance. Going on a demonstration is a sort of religious experience, a pilgrimage, a journey of faith at a time when the future seems to them doubtful, dark and dismal.

It is a truly apocalyptic faith and as chilling in its predictions as parts of the Book of Revelation.
Fiery times are ahead if we believe in 2 Peter 3: 10, but I doubt if many ER adherents would consider or reflect on verses 11-14. For some the end times will be extremely bleak. But those who are in Christ shall look forward to many mansions in a new heaven and new earth, the home of righteousness. 

Who will rid me of this turbulent journalist?

The Jamal Khashoogi murder was in the Saudi consulate a year ago, at this time of year. It was perpetrated by agents of the Saudi Arabian government, on the watch of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Are there parallels with the infamous Murder in the Cathedral, when knights loyal to Henry II killed Archbishop Thomas Becket? Agents loyal to the Crown Prince removed with extreme prejudice, that is assassinated, the turbulent journalist, a dissident thorn in the flesh of MbS. Becket was a thorn in the flesh of Henry II, who eventually took responsibility for the crime. Henry's knights went about their "urgent business", and so did Mohammed bin Salman's agents.

The Crown Prince, in an interview, has said that he has taken responsibility for the crime. So what kind of penance and personal punishment will he submit to?  Not, I think, the same as Henry II.

Spurs were shocking, severely second best on a miserable evening at N17. Bayern Munich were magnificent.

Tottenham Hotspur put in a pathetic and poor performance yesterday evening. Seven good goals, not lucky strikes, went past Lloris. Now I am beginning to wonder if El Poch is that good a manager when he plays Aurier at full back, a player clearly out of form and off the pace. He should have been left back in the locker room, locked away from the pitch. He had a stinker, one the worst games ever in a Tottenham shirt. And I have seen some bad defenders over the years at White Hart Lane.

Serge Gnarby really rubbed salt into the TH wounds. Gnarby scored four great goals and feasted on the lamentable defending. Lewandowski scored a truly spectacular and stunning goal of beautiful brillance. The Spurs defence failed to cope, especially in the second half, when Bayern ran rings round pub team defending.

The German word for such a Tottenham second half display is grausam. But Bayern Munich played some world class football, highlighting the Lilywhites' defensive frailties. Bayern Munich were ausgezeichnet, exzellent, trefflich.

Inside the Bodleian: Building a 21st Century Library

Images of Oregon, September 2019

I had a great time in Oregon, particularly on the coast around Lincoln City.

Let's start with Oregon Coastal sunsets.

Beach life near Highway 101

Near Depoe Bay, whale watchers' delight

You can see an excursion boat for whale watchers in the distance on the top left.

Having a whale of a time at a lovely location. And why not? The excursion boats are visible in the distance and can be seen if you enlarge the image by clicking inside the photograph.

The Federal Agent on the right looks a bit like Ryan Gosling, in my opinion. Could be a body double?