More bloody forms and my view on history

31 December

Unexpected that is; yes. I am a Yoda fan. What was unexpected was the letter I got from DVLA this morning. Perhaps what shouldn’t have surprised me is the both sides of the envelope were open. Both of us were concerned that my renewed licence had been in there, but it hadn’t been. What was there was an additional four forms that need filling out, four forms, one each for each of the conditions that the GP has told them about. But here’s the thing, they look pretty much the same forms apart from the condition names and dates when I last saw the various consultants. That will need some sorting out, I mean, come on, I’ve more than a few sleeps since they happened. Ah well … guess I’ll have to get on with it.

Returning to yesterday’s blog; the article link I posted majored on the fact that Mad Maggie had to be threatened with a fine before she got around to sorting out her own pole tax payment. The BBC News at 6.30 yesterday only mentioned that the end of the report of the released papers. This shows how anyone can twist history to fit their own theories, and that is where history is abused and becomes uninteresting to so many people. Mad Maggie again then; yes, there were riots in the streets after it was brought in and yes, it was one of the issues of why she fell from power, perhaps the main issue why it happened.

The pole tax was brought in to replace the hated council rates. Something that MM promised she would replace. One of her minister at the time was Michael Portillo, the BEEB interviewed him on the issue yesterday. He admitted that the poll tax had not been thought out properly, therefore the effects it would have were not recognised. He then went to say that history repeated itself with the Brexit vote. This time it was Daft Dave who made sure he kept his promise to hold one. Well, maybe he’s right in that view, time will tell.

The thing is with history, is that we all have our own thoughts and beliefs and the only way to fully understand things is to look at as many sources as you can, and them make your own mind up as to what happened and why. That holds with whatever period you look at. In the poll tax issue, it’s modern history, that is from the last 50 or 60 years. Terrible Tony took over in 1997, and the papers from his time in office are still locked away and are likely to remain so for some time to come. I can see why, he’s still around and can be taken to task for anything where there is even a hint of shadiness in his actions. That’s also why John Major’s papers are still locked tight.

When it comes to the Royal Family, they get the best protection of all. The mandarins are very good at keeping secrets from the public. But don’t let that ‘loyalty’ con you my friends, oh no; in protecting Liz Windsor & C^o they are also protecting themselves and their pensions as well. What better way is there to protect what they do from the public than by making that loyalty subject to the future of the secret keepers.

History is very subjective and no-one approaches with a totally clear and fully open mind, even the most brilliant scholars. I don’t claim to be one of the elite; indeed, I come to history as anti-royalist and anti-tory. The former is a fairly new view point in that it’s slowly built up over the years since Charlie got uppity when his misses became more popular than he was. The later one is a lifelong stance that I inherited from my dad, he was a tory hater too. I mean, what can you expect from a man who was brought up in South Wales mining are by a Scottish coal miner? His views were passed down to me and Dave. I hope that these days I am more open minded and willing to vote outside the family traditions.

Anyway, time to look at a photo today, just hope the BlogSpot uploader today, it certainly wasn’t yesterday …

A fellow snapper at Kingsbury.

Today’s funny …

 Yesterday thieves broke into a police station and stole all the toilets. When asked to comment, a police spokesman said, "they have nothing to go on."