The cult of celebrity

As I observe from afar:

It is funny that all I can remember about former PM John Major is that he tucked his shirt tails into his underwear. Former English PM Boris Johnston had lots of charisma, until he became too absurd and too broken. He had taken over from the rather dull May, solid and dependable but hardly exciting. Former PM Cameron dressed smartly and had something about him, rather like former PM Blair.  Nowt to say about the Truss disaster. The exotic Sunak was not a rich old white bloke but a younger rich brown bloke. I struggle to remember anything he did.

Then came Sir Keef Stammer, with a landslide victory, which was not won but by a decisive rejection of the governing Tory party. Sir Keir was not inspirational, and while not Scottish, he came across as a dour leader, without any charisma whatsoever, perhaps like Gordon Brown. He speaks with a posh accent, and I don't really know how this goes down with those who don't speak thus, but it must be a disconnect. But I can't remember leading political figure in the UK with a regional accent.

I really don't think anyone would be electable in Australia now if they spoke was such an accent. It is too loaded with wealth and privilege. 

Sir Keir, I'm sure a decent and honourable person, who did get some some good legislation through to improve the lives of the English citizens. But no one could say he was inspirational. If only he attacked the rich...practically and verbally, which is what a Labour leader should do. 

Which brings us to his replacement, Andy Burnham who does seem to be inspirational, with good political credentials. I've yet to hear him speak, so that will be something interesting. Burnham picks up the huge majority of parliamentary seats from Starmer's Labour Party, and he really must take advantage of this to improve the lives of the average English citizen in an obviously public manner. A bleeding heart about immigrants will not cut to the chase. The loud citizens of England have made this clear, and I think it goes deeper.

This is rather like Australia. Most people know we need immigration to sustain our country, but it needs to be very controlled. The perfect example was immediately post Covid when there weren't enough workers in the country to staff businesses, and then there was a flood of migrants. In my opinion, too many refugees from one country doesn't work. Take in refugees from all over the world but not huge numbers from one country. Apparently assimilate is a bad word, so I suggest less numbers from one part of the world with a careful monitoring of numbers, will mean better integration into Australia. 

I can't stop ranting

Tommy Robinson, not his real name, is a far right activist in the UK. I remember lunching at a pub in Whitehall as a protest march passed by, with buses diverted, which I think is quite common in Whitehall. It seemed to be a protest about a certain Tommy Robinson being gaoled. I had no idea who he was. 

More than a decade later, I now know about his far right politics and he has served five prison sentences, for assault, threats, harassment, fraud and contempt of court. He became a bankrupt after racking up a lot of gambling debts. He was sentenced to a community service order of 150 hours, and a three year ban from attending football (soccer) matches.

In August 2025, Robinson shared a video on Twitter of a black man and his brother playing with his white granddaughters in a park in North Yorkshire, falsely accusing them of paedophilia, which resulted in the family being racially abused with false paedophilia accusations. Labour MP for Redcar Anna Turley had to write a reference letter of good behaviour after the victim was suspended by his management. Turley stated that there was "no place for hate in our town" and said she was "heartbroken" for the family "who've been targeted and abused because of Tommy Robinson's poisonous lies"

Nice dude hey. No! A nasty piece of work. He's maybe as bad as #47!

Not my business? It is when an Australian became involved, one popular morning tv host, Karl Stefanovic. 

In a vodcast, Stefanovic became Robinson's best mate and not at all interviewing him in a normal journalistic questioning manner, and ignored Robinson's past. It was all very lovey dovey. From other areas, it seems Stefanovic has become hard right, even though his father, a Serbian, was an immigrant to Australia. 

Stefanovic has been sacked from his television gig and for many of us, is a disgraced person. Public figures may softly indicate where their politics lie, but if they follow extremism, they will accordingly 

be judged. 

For the birds

Today has been good but stressful. I bought a new car. Obviously more on that another time. I only have the mental energy to post this rather lovely live webcam site.

 

Let's visit Ireland, where a pair of blue tits are raising their young. I haven't really researched Fionn O'Donoghue but I like what I did read about him, a good guy. So, check out the baby blue tits. It seems the babies of Lapis and Lazuli will fledge in two weeks. Blue tits remind me of Australia's fairy/blue/little wren. Tip for Aussies, the feeding action is really full on after 5.00pm east coast time. 

Not very princely

You will have all seen the photo of Andy Mountbatten slumped in the rear of the police car. Andy is no longer a  prince, and instead of being prince like, sitting up straight and looking straight ahead, he thought he could outsmart the best paparazzi in the world, providing great grist to the media mill worldwide. It just proves what a tosser he is. 

One commentator said he was the first royal to be involved with police since the Princess Anne dog biting incident. I seem to remember Princess Anne being intercepted by police for speeding in her younger years, let alone Prince Phillip's car crash where he was at fault, and stripped of his driving licence.

I made a comment on someone's blog that I had a rethink about and concluded I was wrong. My thinking was maybe Andy Mountbatten might be caught out by providing information to foreign sources. Kind of like Al Capone was caught out by the US tax department. He went to gaol, but not for many other crimes he committed. If Andy Mountbatten goes befores courts and receives a conviction for some corruption issues, does it matter if he is convicted and serves gaol time, just not for the other crimes he might have committed, with the suggestions those could be trafficked and underage women.

I conclude it matters big time. From US #47 to Andy Mountbatten, and all those others who took advantage of Epstein's and Maxwell's 'hospitality', investigate them and charge them with crimes they have committed, starting with #47 but don't leave Mountbatten out. 

In other news, I gave Kosov a driving lesson today, and he drove on big roads and busy roads and while there is a long way to go, he didn't do too badly.

Phyllis was emptying the dishwasher and broke my port decanter. At least is wasn't my Waterford crystal sherry decanter. He was so upset and sorry, and I was pleased that he took on total fault at his carelessness and did not try to blame anyone or anything else. We'll find a new decanter in a charity shop, or I'll just guzzle from the bottle.

He also repainted my fingernail, so that it looks nice for when Ray's nephew and wife arrive next week. Two coats of quick drying polish, with a slow drying protecting kind of coat on top. That with my pedicure today makes me feel rather good. 

 

Ain't nothing like a dame

Sir and dame titles were removed from our honours in 1986, however they were briefly restored in 2014. 

Superior titled people is an anathema to most Australians. Nevertheless from my unextensive research, we still have 25 sirs in Australia, and 7 dames.

Dame Marie Bashir, once a Governor of the State of New South Wales and Dame Quentin Bryce, once Governor General of Australia, were given their honours in 2014.  

But just because Australia no longer has the processes of making sirs and dames, that does not mean we don't still award them, and do so at the request of what I assume are limited to Commonwealth countries. Of the remaining women for example, three were on the recommendation of the UK government, one on the recommendation of the Papua New Guinea and one on the recommendation of New Zealand.

It is similar for males, a couple in the 2014 period by Australia, but mostly requests by the UK government, one by the Queen (Sir William Hesseltine, for my UK readers), a couple by Papua New Guinea and a couple by Solomon Islands. 

Perhaps this is not of great interest to many of you, and it has shattered my hopes of outliving all sirs and dames in Australia. The last was appointed in 2022, and the youngest born is 65.

Dame Quentin Bryce being invested in 2014, after her term as Governor General 2008 - 2014.

 Me? I don't bend me knee to no one, comrade.

What a dame

Patricia Routledge has died at the age of 96. One can't grieve too much over a peaceful death at that age. What a trooper she was, from theatre including musicals, to film and tv. 

Most of us will remember her from Keeping up Appearances, where she played Hyacinth Bucket. Gay men straight away picked up on the humour, and used lines like, 'Don't brush against my walls', "Would  you like your coffee in a hand painted periwinkle cup?" "Best you have a beaker". "How much Sheriden? Talk to your father." "Mind the pedestrian, Richard", as someone opened their front door.

Of course I need a Hyacinth clip to add to this post. 

Thoughts about words

I am not sure where I was going with this old post draft. 

About twenty years ago while driving Mother somewhere on one of our motorways, a driver did something bad in front of me and in the presence of Mother, who had slapped me as child for saying bloody, I dropped the c word. You c***. It is not a word I normally use. I can't remember using it since. I immediately apologised to Mother, who continued on telling me about her medical woes without seemingly to notice. Nearly twenty years later, Mother was correct and her medical woes proved to be fatal, with a lot of medical woes along the way.

While I've never mixed among the lower classes in England, apparently they use the c word without abandon. The word becomes boring with overuse and loses its effectiveness. But like gay men embraced homophobic terms, so too are women embracing the c word. I recall a beggar calling me a fucking old poof. He stated the obvious. His insult was a fail.

I am never sure if is appropriate to describe a black American as being black. I think the preferred term is African American. That's fine with me. Whatever. But I laugh when I hear stories of Americans who visit England describe black English people as African Americans, even though the black English have no connection to America. In Britain, you are British, and your colour and racial heritage is not so publicly important. You are British first. The plight of disadvantaged African Americans in the US is the equivalent in Britain of the plight of the disadvantaged British. 

It is a queer thing that so called African Americans, many who have been in the US for far longer than their British counterparts have been in Britain, yet they need to be distinguished as Afro Americans, and not just Americans. 

Whatever, black American, black British and black Australian, they all face discrimination. It is just not so in your face in Britain and Australia, and there are programmes to promote an inclusive workplace. That has just disappeared in the US. This Afro American term is very queer. The first black slaves arrived to America in the early 1600s, yet they need to be name qualified beyond just an American by the colour of their skin. I am not naïve enough to suggest your best mate is a black person, yet here, I do see socialisation between the Indian immigrants and white Australians, through work, neighbours and of course food. 

The leader of Australia's His Majesty's Opposition Party is one Peter Dutton, an extreme conservative, and he would like to do many of the things that #47 has been doing in the US. I gave some thought to a insulting adaption to his name and the best I could do is Duttrump. Yes, the wrongly named conservative Liberal Party leader is Peter Duttrump. 

Friday Funnies

League of Gentlemen was a British tv show. Rather than make you laugh, it was very good at making you feeling uncomfortable. 

This is not the worst. I wasn't sure if to post the original or this one by the US guy made while watching it. I thought the guy watching it was worthwhile. 

Someone, somewhere mention the English comedian Harry Enfield, who is unknown to me, and down the rabbit hole I went. Close to two hours later, this clip grabbed my attention. The woman's brain made me laugh heartily. Lol at the first mention of BBC (try Urban Dictionary, if you don't know), and towards the end, I was surprised he didn't know the name of the most famous media broadcaster in the world, BBC. 

Listen to the Stentophone

Stentophone is a new word to me, and apparently a new word to spellchecker.  How about you?

I found this a great read,

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the-birth-of-stand-on-the-right-how-londons-first-recorded-escalator-announcement-shaped-tube-etiquette-79638/

It has always seemed a queer thing to me that while British drive on the left, I think generally walk on the left, and trains mostly run on the left, on an escalator you pass by on the left and those standing on the escalator, stand on the right. As far as I know, convention around the world follows the side of the road you drive on; you overtake on the right of a left travelling vehicle, or person. I note for Japan, it varies from area to area.

In Melbourne I am always interested in guessing about those who stand on the right of the escalator, clearly ignorant of the stand on the left custom. At some underground railway stations, it does say stand to the left. Department stores are even worse. Such people will not be regular users of escalators, and so I can mentally place them in a box. "You aren't folk from around here then?", to quote a line from something. 

It's all about the words

The longer I am a blogger with US blog mates, the more I learn but what I never expected was such difference in our common language of English. I knew the basics like tyre/tire, bonnet/hood, boot/trunk. Why are these so car focused? I can't remember the US equivalent of glove box. 

From blogging, I learnt mould/mold and various other different spellings. I even learnt about Sterno stoves yesterday, and what Sterno actually is. Most interesting and I don't know why we never had the ultra safe Sterno here. 

However, our grammar almost always matches, yet I've been jarred by one difference. Take a bow Steve. 

I am a poor old age pensioner, so the government gives me $450 a week to support myself. This is not enough. I need to inform our Prime Minister that this is not enough. I need to write the Prime Minister, and I will have wrote the Prime Minister. Do I have that right for how it would be written in the US?

No matter, whatever is written like that just smacks me in the head like no spelling difference ever has. I will write to the Prime Minister, I will have written to the Prime Minister and I wrote to the Prime Minister.

Given how US, UK and Oceanic English grammar matches, this is one mighty big difference. Steve is an American and was a professional writer, so I am quite sure he uses correct grammar for his US readers, but isn't it remarkable that this is the only grammar difference I've noticed. Aside from my own grammatical errors. Maybe you know more?

I think the New Jersey Boud is UK or Irish born? I hope I am correct about that. But she has difficulty understanding the speech in Downton Abbey. Their accents aren't mine, but I can understand them perfectly well. The world is a strange place in so far as the English language goes.

Last night I took Phyllis and Kosov out for dinner. They shared a pizza and ate some of my chips, and souvlaki bread. The bulk of the bill was my two glasses of wine and an affogato with Scotch whisky. If you don't know, affogato is strong Australian style coffee poured over ice cream and with whisky poured over the top of that. 

Kosov's English is quite good, but you may remember me mentioning the way he pronounced margarine, as marg, as in Margaret, arine. Given he has to drop his résumé into to many places to find work, I insisted on him learning how to pronounce resume. This night I've learnt the difference between resume and a CV, Australia, US and Canada are in agreement. But is does strike me as odd that we have a choice between French and Latin for a job application, and not English. 

My hearing aid batteries will be changed today, as I do every Sunday, but this Saturday night, one is already warning me, baddery and not battery.

I'm not done yet. With one day of 40/104 degrees, media warned us of a heat wave. One day of extreme heat is not a heat wave. Media shot itself in the foot, as what superlative can it come up with for a real heat wave, such as today, tomorrow and the next day, 38/100,  39/102 and 36/97?  

Similar but not quite the same

What are 3 reasons why one should NOT move to the UK?

Originally Answered: What are 3 reasons why one should NOT to move to the UK?

1. If you hate the rain and prefer an arid climate.
2. If you need wide, open spaces and the knowledge that there isn't another human for a hundred miles.
3. If you're unwilling to say sorry when someone else bumps into you.

Number 3 happens in Australia too, at least among we Boomers and Gen X. Maybe all generations. While someone might come crashing out a shop door into you, you will both apologise to each other. If you try to enter a lift as some is exiting, even though the person existing has right of way, you will both apologise to each other. 

Speaking of lifts, I can't remember if I mentioned last year when we were staying in a hotel in Chesterfield, England, I think I committed a grave faux pas.

I was travelling to the hotel's ground floor by lift. I didn't expect there to be anyone going up when I reached the ground floor. As the lift arrived at ground, a man tried to step into the lift and then correct lift etiquette prevailed and he stepped back to let me out. Yeah man, that is how we do it in Australia too. 

Yet he said, 'You're welcome', in a passive aggressive manner to me.  I found nothing to thank him for but I should have said thanks. It was a simple lift transaction, yet I got English super politeness very wrong.

Sir Keef and personal stuffs

The UK election result was not surprising but the numbers who voted Labour are quite astonishing. As happens here, Sunak spoke and conceded defeat and then the new PM Starmer (spell check needs to get used to that name) declared victory. All very civilised and no riots or storming of Westminster. 

I must consult my map. Yes, the second word is UK. The voter turnout of around 60% was very disappointing. Australia has compulsory voting, with a fine if you don't and voting levels will be mid to high 90% voter turnout. And at many polling booths, you can buy a charity fund raising sausage in bread with onions and sauce. It is known as the democracy sausage. 

I know a little about Sir Keef, but it is the first time I have seen Lady Starmer. She is attractive enough but she doesn't look like she has been in a good paddock. Sir Keef looks like he is a boring bureaucrat and that is probably what the UK needs. Someone to sit down and look at the sums and distribution of sums in a very rich country. 

As for me, life remains busy. I had a Saturday brunch which lasted two hours with our Launceston friend, her ex, her ex' mother and my Hair Dresser Friend. It was a lovely catch up. Today I will attend a two year old's birthday party, who is kind of relative. 

I am now on a white diet in preparation for a colonoscopy on Monday. I have to drink the drink tomorrow night and again on Monday morning. Tuesday is lunch with Sister, Bone Doctor and Jo for Jo's 17 birthday. I cannot believe she is so old. Wednesday the painting of the apartment begins and I am terrified of what it will be like, then I have a doctor visit to remove stitches in my scalp where a skin cancer biopsy was taken and get results. Thursday a friend and his partner have invited me for lunch. They will cook. How nice is that. But then nothing until the 21st, a daytime party for my oldest great nephew's fifth birthday. 

The painting and then recarpeting will take two to three weeks, and then my boarder moves in, into Ray's bedroom. I've never done anything like this before and it will be a learning curve. He is 21, gay, born in Australia of Indian/South Asian heritage. He seems ok. He says he will cook and clean for me. That wasn't part of the deal. He is studying food science at a university. He seems like a nice guy and while he isn't effeminate, he does wear very pretty pink finger nails. $200 per week and that is quite cheap for what he gets. I am living in interesting times. 

Don't ask me why I am taking in a boarder as I don't know. I don't really need the money, nor the company. But something made me do it, I know not what. 

Witness

The BBC programme Witness looks at past events. I don't listen to them all but pick what interests me, and this one certainly interests me. I listen when I am out walking or on public transport. I thank my Sydney friend Victor for alerting me to Witness, so many years ago.

No need to go on. Irish shop workers strike against South African Apartheid. (Fingers crossed it is interesting)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5ypm

The Outer Hebrides

YouTuber Steve Marsh has been visiting the Outer Hebrides. It is odd that there are two islands on one land mass. One 'island' is called Harris and the other Lewis......that rings a bell. Ah yes, blogger Graham of Eagleton Notes lives on Lewis. 

During my thorough research ten second skim, the climate is considered mild. Hmm, mild compared to where? Anyway, I really enjoyed his visits to both islands, worked out at the last minutes as twice his ferry to the island of St Kilda was cancelled. 

I find this map so useful. I hope you (checking map) UK types can endorse the accuracy of the map. I expect many residents of the UK, would need to consult this map too. 

It was quite amazing to see a Stonehenge like arrangement of rocks, a mere 4,000 years after humans placed them in their positions. 

The housing looks so well built against the cold and storms. If you do watch the clip about Lewis, the house near where the whale bone stands is stunning. 

Is the law an ass?

Maybe it was just as well as yesterday's post was lost as things have changed.

Someone has been taken into custody related to the missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy, a 22 year old male. He is the son of a former Australian Rules football player. The judge slapped a suppression order on naming him as he is in danger of self harm. 

Later Edit: The suppression order was lifted the next day and the suspect above has now been named. The alleged murderer was named on International Women's Day. It shows just how far we still have to go with safety for alone women in public spaces. Reassure yourselves, at least in Australia, that such crimes are extremely rare and so make the news for days and days.

I doubt anyone would doubt that the New South Wales policeman is not in danger of self harm. The gay man accused of murdering two men, who cosied up to celebrities, stalked the  minor celebrity man of his desire, one Jessie Baird and killed him with a police pistol as is alleged, and Jessie's partner, the Australian Rules Football umpire Luke Davies. It is such a sad case, and if he is found guilty, I would judge it was a crime of passion by a mentally unstable man. It is puzzling how this wasn't picked at some time during his police service. Could it be that employment diversity went a bit too far? Or are the NSW police force so desperate to increase and retain police force numbers? 

Beaumont Lamarre-Condon seems as mad as a meat axe, yet he has been well and truly named. Photo from the Star Observer.

Climate change protestors parked a hire van across three of four lanes, leaving only one lane open on a major bridge linking the western suburbs to the City over the Yarra River. They were eventually moved by police, charged and the next day two were sentenced to 21 days in gaol in spite of pleading not guilty. That's speedy justice, whether deserved or not. 

I am not saying this case would be any more speedily dealt with in Australia, but how about what is happened with the Australian soccer star Sam Kerr? She plays for Chelsea in England and from what I read and read into it she was in a taxi, threw up, refused to pay the cleaning charge for the cab, police were called and now it is unclear what she called him. It could have been 'stupid white cop', rather than 'stupid white bastard'.

Nevertheless, neither phrase is nice and not decent public behaviour, and she has lost a lot of respect. But get this. It has taken one year after the incident for her to be charged and it will be another year before the case goes to trial! 

I am sure members of  the English police force get called much worse to their faces. I am not sure why she was charged. Famous Aussie football star married dyke with darkish skin getting a bit lippy? Take her down a peg or two.

Whatever, Sam has disappointed us greatly.  

A Monday Morning Malaise

I should have posted a Monday Mural post, but I didn't feel like it.

I should have written the penultimate England visit post, but I didn't feel like it. 

I should have written a push button post, where I know there will be a lot of comments, some disagreeing with me, but I didn't feel like it. 

I should have written a Maurice from Mornington post complaining about the Sunday Melbourne disruption to trams and traffic caused by a FUN RUN, but I didn't feel like it.

I should write a post about R's new smart watch (RRP $650), that came as a bonus with ME paying for my new phone, but I didn't feel like it. 

I should write a post about how adept I was with technology in the 1990s and I was the go to person for help and to my regret evolution has not given me the flexible thumbs that young people have as they skim over their phones, but I didn't feel like it.

I think Quora is a bit like Reddit. I am a member of both but understand neither. Somehow I receive a couple of emails a day from Quora. Because I keep reading posts of English people pretending to be US people, baiting English Quora members to respond, whereby crap is then piled on to the US for its gun laws, poor social security and the lack of a universal health care system. EG, Why is American health care the most expensive in the world but leads to bankruptcy and a low age death rate in the US? Or, The communist health system in the UK can't cope with the numbers of patients in the tiny and dreary wet nation. Why don't people of the UK look to the US as the best nation in the world for superior healthcare?

Once you've read a few of those, it becomes tedious. Perhaps the Quora algorithm has picked up my boredom with the subject and today sent me some subjects more interesting. Here are a couple of copy and pastes. 

Does this clear the dinner matter up? Yes...and no. 

Alan Madin

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Former Air Traffic Control Mar 23

Why do British people sometimes call their dinner "tea"?

Simple. Forget clocks and time.

First meal of the day is always Break Fast. Typing is deliberate. A fast is a period of not eating. Breakfast breaks that period following sleep. That one is fixed

Lunch is the mid-day meal … EXCEPT when it is dinner, in which case it is dinnertime.

Tea is teatime, around 4PM until 6PM ISH depending on work/lifestyle etc. (let's not draw in afternoon tea or high tea). EXCEPT when it's dinner time.

Dinner time is dinner, sometime after tea time …. .think light tea and then a proper dinner. EXCEPT when it's not.

Supper is always the small meal at the end of the day, irrespective of dinner time.

Why?;Simple. Dinner is always the main meal of the day irrespective of when it is eaten time wise : think meat n 2 veg, treacle sponge n custard for afters. Or a sit down 4 courses in a restaurant even if you had meat/veg n pudding for lunch.

Lunch could be dinnertime with sandwiches and a cuppa eaten for tea.

Tea could be dinnertime with a hot ovaltine and a choccy biscuit for supper…

Dinnertime is always dinnertime ‘cos that is when you eat the main meal of your day.

Simples. You could have just looked in a reputable dictionary.

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As this author says, native English speakers not knowing order words rules are not picked up for word order correctness. Read on. The author expresses it better. Note, if you don't know ESL is English as a Second Language. 

 

Morgan Edward Overton

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B.A. in Music, University of Cambridge (Graduated 2022)4y

What is the most complex grammar rule in any language?

I mean, I’m not able to answer the question definitively for every language, but my favourite in English is a (by now somewhat notorious) rule in the English language that most English speakers pick up by default.

The order of adjectives in English, at first, doesn’t seem to be fixed. However, as quoted by Mark Forsyth in The Elements of Eloquence, adjectives in English ‘absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac.’

Some examples:

a French silver lovely rectangular green old whittling little knife.

a silver green old French lovely whittling little rectangular knife.

a lovely rectangular silver French little whittling old green knife.

They all just seem wrong.

In native English-speaking English lessons, I’m pretty sure no-one gets taught this rule (no-one I’ve shown it ever has been) - but it is taught rigorously for ESL students, which blows my mind.

So yeah, probably nothing in comparison to other languages (I can’t imagine learning 64 cases in Tsez), but something from English that is more complex than you may think.

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