Shame On Spendthrift Governments

What a mind-boggling thought: Apparently, rich countries spend seven times more subsidizing their agriculture than they spend on aid to poorer countries which could supply the produce needed far more cheaply and support themselves by doing so.

This would be bad enough if the money being wasted in this way belonged to the governments that are wasting it but it doesn't.

That money belongs to the taxpayers of those countries who entrust it to their governments in the belief that they will do the best possible job of distributing and investing it.

The Cruel Irony Of It All!

In my youth, I was advised by pretty well everyone with whom the topic ever came up, from my family to well-intentioned total strangers, to put as much of my income as possible into pension plans for my old age.

For various reasons, I ignored their admonitions and, apart from making the contributions required by law from self-employed persons in the UK whenever they weren't being dealt with by employers, I chose to enjoy my money while my youth and vigour was at it's peak.

When asked how I would manage in my old age, my response was that I would simply have to live within whatever means my state pension provided or, in the absence of that, starve to death - we all have to die somehow and at least I would know that I had enjoyed my life to the full on the way there.

The vast majority of those who shook their heads at my foolishness, whilst entrusting their funds to financial institutions in the belief that they would be available later, and with interest added, were sacrificing much of their pleasure in the present so that they could enjoy it at some future date.

Now, aged 55 and still enjoying the present, albeit temporarily on a constricted budget, it gives me no pleasure to see that most of those who have survived thus far are now in exactly the same position as me, in terms of the future, in the wake of the disastrous behaviour of so many of those financial institutions in which they had placed their trust.

Unfortunately, whilst I have at least enjoyed the past to the full, they don't even have those kinds of memories to enjoy. The irony is not lost on me but I dare not ask them what they think about my stubborn intransigence on the subject now.

People In Glass Houses

One can, to a certain extent, sympathize with the view, held by more than a few people of our acquaintance, that Britain's government is being hypocritical in criticizing that of Iran over the quelling of protests in the matter of the recent elections there.

Whether the election was fairly run or rigged is one matter but whether the use of force in quelling potential riots was acceptable is entirely another. Under the existing British Labour government, peaceful protesters have regularly been treated with violence by police, including the appalling beatings meted out to the Countryside Alliance protesters against the ban on fox hunting, respectable and mainly middle-aged or older people who were doing absolutely nothing to deserve it.

The Countryside Alliance supporters had marched to Westminster without incident and some were standing still, unarmed and showing no indication of intent to cause trouble of any kind. One respectable and pleasant-looking lady of a certain age was smashed across the head with a baton before our very eyes - more shocking than most of the things I have witnessed in a life that has been spent witnessing shocking sights with alarming regularity.

Interestingly, although we happened to see that event live on television, it did not appear in the news the next day, or ever again and is not even on YouTube.

The current prime minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, is an unelected leader, irrespective of whether he is a good one or otherwise. A Britain promised a referendum over a matter of national importance discovered it had been lied to when the referendum never happened and the government of the day did exactly as it pleased.

What, exactly, gives the British government the right to pass comment on current events in Iran, I wonder?

The Elevator Trick

Today is an exciting day for me and I feel like a teenager all over again (provided I avoid reflective surfaces that might remind me I'm not) with all the optimism and trepidation that accompanies launching something one has created out into the world. 

My little e-book The Elevator Trick has been available for purchase for a few hours now and it is impossible to describe the glow that accompanied the discovery that people have already started buying it! 

When Karen Redman aka @RedMummy, the only person to have received an advance copy, tweeted an unsolicited endorsement of my little e-book, The Elevator Trick,  containing the secret of relaxing and getting off to sleep at will, a technique I have successfully taught quite a few people over the past 27 years, I was thrilled! 

Someone asked me why I was charging a modest fee for a download of the book instead of giving it away for free. It's a fair question when there are so many free e-books available on endless topics but I have no problem in explaining why this e-book is not a 'freebie':  

In my current financial situation I cannot afford to give away the product of almost three decades of experience anyway but, much more importantly, most people only value what they have had to pay for. How many free e-books contain anything truly valuable? How many people actually read most of the free e-books that are thrust at them from all sides?

Several people on Twitter advised me to charge far more than the price I had decided upon and maybe they are right but my 'gut' instinct was to stick with the price of a couple of cups of espresso coffee and that's what I've done.

If you are an insomniac, tense, stressed, nervous or just have the occasional difficulty in dropping off to sleep, my little e-book The Elevator Trick was written for you. Enjoy!