Congratulations!!! We wish to inform you that the UN / WORLD BANK ORGANIZATION facilitated around-table meetings which just ended some days ago, and it has been agreed upon that compensation payment of US$8,355,000.00 should be paid to scammed victims and individuals whose Name and E-mail have been chosen through an open E-mail ballot system. Your email was included and that is why we have contacted you.
Oh man, how bird-brained do you think I am? These emails just drive me completely crazy, because they target us all, willy-nilly, particularly it seems, good trusting individuals. They dismay me so much because somebody out there is going to swallow this load of dreadful claptrap. Let’s face it… We all have a few friends who have been taken in by somebody, somewhere — on line, in the street, at their own front door, it can happen to any of us.
The problem is that those of us that become utterly sick of on-line madcap schemes, begin not to trust any kind of communication, and not trusting generally is just as sad as being over-trusting, in a different way.
As well as being offered trillions by the UN Bank, I have also been promised money by the CIA, not to mention every UK bank that exists. Also today I got an email from the very wonderful Which Scam Alert service, which I subscribe to. Which told me the Council Tax rebate scheme was one of a number of new scams, along with Fake Iceland and Morrisons pages and Facebook Posts. If I recall Covid vaccinations and testing kits have also been used as ways to wheedle money out of us all. The most terrible things about these scams is that they are using our receptivity and trust as a way to cheat us, but then, this is the mind-set of all confidence tricksters.
I have these fantasies about glorious super-powered hackers that know ways to tackle these scummy scammers – luring them on-line to a point where they witness the evil-doers rubbing their hands in glee, celebrating yet another sucker about to be taken to the cleaners… when very suddenly…. something absolutely shocking and horrible leaps out of the computer screen and bops them – shockingly and unexpectedly. It could provide a great opportunity for either a comedy or horror film. If a comedy they will get a really stinky red-nose glued to their face for a week or two… and if a horror film… well… I leave this one up to you. I just want scammers to be sent to hell in a hand-cart, in company with all those over-paid and emotionally bankrupt politicians who want to send refugees to Rwanda. And with this thought I leave you, wishing you a lovely, peaceful, jolly weekend.
There was a time when the idea of leadership was to lead, to take responsibility and to guide. Sadly this country we share, this aging empire, has not seen leadership prevail for some time. When David Cameron put the Referendum to the nation because he was afraid of Nigel Farage (a man who was not even a member of parliament) the country became the victim of a weak leader’s fear. And so the leadership of this country dissolved, and since then we have witnessed a scenario unfold revealing a leadership that has no interest in leading, no interest in the welfare of the country, no interest in anything except hanging on to power and the money that goes with power… at all costs.
But there is an interesting upside to this. Despite the terrible decisions, the dreadful poverty and despair… many people show that they are still prepared to be law-abiding, dignified and responsible even if the leadership is a lying, double-dealing, lawless mess. The dignity of so many people is inspirational and beautiful.
When people decide that they have had enough, they will move to remove the lawless mess, in a law-abiding way, proving that the people are better than their leaders. If they become impatient they will remove the lawless mess in a lawless and messy way, and this also could happen…
Hi folks. With Easter and Passover and other seasonal springtime celebrations, It looks like the daffodil season is coming to an end. Or as William Wordsworth said:
Fair daffodils, we weep to see You haste away so soon; As yet the early-rising sun Has not attain’d his noon. Stay, stay Until the hasting day Has run…bla de bla
So what do the Daffodils feel about William’s words? We’ve heard the Oysters put their view in the Walrus and the Carpenter, but we’ve never heard just what the daffodils think about Wordsworth. In an attack of investigative nosiness I put the question to a fading daffodil last week and got this unexpected reply:
“Look, we come back every year. It wouldn’t be the same if we hung around for weeks like a bad smell. Just look at the bigger picture… and tell William to stop whinging. On the other hand, if he hadn’t whinged about weeping to see us fade away, 10 trillion school kids wouldn’t have learned his tasteful poem about us… so I suppose there’s always a bright side to everything.”
And there you have it for the first time. A daffodil’s point of view. You can’t say that I don’t love you.
This evening the Dialogue Society holds its annual Iftar Dinner in The Grand Hotel. I am usually asked to read a prayer, and this time I wrote one honouring the lives lost in the Ukraine war, and elsewhere.
Join me in prayer… In a country lane Where bees visit sleepy lavender The crooning blackbird is pitch perfect And the leaves are twirling in the breeze
Join me in prayer In a laboratory Where the efficiency of a cluster bomb Is statistically evaluated The fruits of its achievements Are found near our country lane Where we meet the ghosts of travellers Children, women and men Muslim, Jew, Christian and Buddhist Innocent, each and every one
Join me in prayer And let us say together Stop… Stop the machinery of war Those that make arms Those that use them Those that give orders to deploy them Stop them all
This is why we pray together… now
Join me in prayer For a world where peace Is utterly irresistible Where killing machines are an abomination Where you and I hear the sound of the wind The birdsong, the buzzing of bees in the lavender And we know in our hearts That our prayers have finally been answered
