Here we go again...yet another food crisis. We've managed a couple of years without one, so it was well overdue. I sit here amazed that the food industry...at all levels...can lurch from crisis to crisis...it must be one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the UK as we pander to all sorts of neuroses, yet still it's at home to Captain Cock-Up. There's only two things about it that I've taken as positives...one - I discovered that Findus still exists...I thought it had died away a very long time ago, in fact probably went out with the floral shirts of the 1970's, and secondly whilst all this is going on the anniversary of Shergar's disappearance has been marked...a cruel juxtaposition I feel. Personally, I'm quite happy to eat horse, just providing it's gone through he proper channels. Anyway, it's a shame that these incidents just re-inforce the notion that 'food is bad' rather than the 'food is to be celebrated' as it is in France, Spain, Italy, etc, etc. At home that shows itself when The Cat refuses to touch anything beyond its 'sell by' or 'best before' dates and woe betide any banana that has even the feintist hint of brown on it. Anyway, the general application of common sense, rather than yet more rules and regulations by faceless bureaucrats would seem the way forward to me.
I can't bring myself to comment on the mid-Staffs hospital crisis as my father was dying of Parkinsons there at the time. I'm sure a lot of good, hardworking nurses and doctors are feeling their names have been blackened by the poor work of the few.
I was amused by the controversy over a Margaret Thatcher statue that either is or isn't wanted in her home town, and certainly saddened that some unguarded comments by an employee of the local museum have got her suspended. I'm having to redefine my views about the woman herself...I've always held true that although she caused a lot of angst and misery for many, many people, we should thank her for the changes that brought Britain into the modern world....however, I now think that what she did was lay the foundations for the relentlessly heartless policies of Tony Blair which has dehumanised society to the level that allows the Staffordshire Health Trust problem to occur.....and whilst I'm at it allowed the bankers to screw us over (I'll never get off that band-wagon).
Last week was one of those relatively quiet weeks on the social front for us. Monday I managed a beer at the local hostelry...not something I do often and it was brilliant to be sitting putting the world to rights over a pint or two of Guinness. A simple pleasure, simply enjoyed. And then last night it was comedy evening at The School...three tip top comedians for a tenner...absolutely marvellous:
Carl Donnelly
Jim Smallman
And finally the extremely funny Markus Birdman
Enjoy the show
