The Veggie Big Meal Deal

Boiled Basmati, and yellow daal doused in butter, in a way only Sonya can do. With Paneer bhurji which I am full bossy on. Some stir fried alloo with red peppers, and a spoonfull of mango achar.

Proper feast.

Coke is it! Coca Cola is it! Not.

I'd like to meet the cretin that came up with this brilliant idea.

When I do, I'd like to surgically embed his/her debit card into his/her forehead.

Just so he/she can bang his/her head each time anyone else that has to deal with this completely unnecessary abomination.

Please, go. Just go. Go and invent something remotely useful.

The first thing I do when confronted by this is, cut the umbilical cord. I free the top from the bottle, so I can recap the bottle knowing fully well there will be no pool of Coca Cola sullying my fridge, bathing it in Merchandise X and 30 tonnes of sugar.

So, dear Coke Inc., you got this wrong. Do you REALLY think plastic Coke Bottles and their caps end up in separate bins?

Worst gimmick ever.

Sverige 🇸🇪😕

Sweden was once known for its beautiful landscape and safety.

It used to be a country with beautiful people and economically strong - a global leader in innovation and a significant player in the tech industry with a highly skilled workforce.

It was home to top world-ranking industries and businesses like Volvo, SAAB, Ericsson, H&M, Electrolux, Alfa Laval, Scania, Spotify, Skanska, Securitas, and IKEA to name a few, AND the home of of the Nobel prizes. And ABBA, Roxette, Europe, Ace of Base, Dr Alban, and The Cardigans. And Björn Borg.

With only a 7.5 million population, it straddled the world. That's nearly 2 million fewer people that live within London's M25.

Now Sweden has become the bomb and rape capital of Europe.

The country’s safety ranking has significantly declined, from being consistently in the top three for many years to 15th place in 2024.

What happened?

🇸🇪🤔

My shortest blogpost ever...

I get 140K+ people read my blog. Let it be known that I would like @KemiBadenoch to be my Prime Minister.

Global warming won't kill us off; global whining will.

Global warming won't kill us off; global whining will.

There are people seeking out new worlds, and there are people seeking to make our current world a better place. Both are doing right. 

So go on Elon, let's do this: I'll fight Cohaagen for you. Mars or bust! 🤘🖖

Climate change is inevitable, and none of it is anthropogenic. It's a hill I'm okay to die on. Wanna argue? I'm game. Just BYOKleenex. It won't end well.

As for plastic and such, I agree. We waste more than we consume. We are filthy and messy. Dirty streets, lawns cluttered with plastic bags and broken plastic clothes' pegs, clogged drains, fish choking in the sea and rivers, the oceans throwing up our waste it can't digest onto what used to be pristine beaches - you get the gist. We're collectively the butt-scratching, bogey-flicking, flea-invested stereotypical bums. That's all we need to change.

And carbon-di-oxide? Some more of it will be welcome. The dominant life form on the planet, on which we depend for our sustenance will be grateful for it:

Plants, trees, grass, bamboo, plankton, cacti, wheat, rice, NEED CO².

No plants, no carbs, no plants, no livestock, no plants, no chicken. No plants, no furniture, no doors, no windows, unless you use PVC, which the disciples of St Greta of Thunberg are so against the production of. Not so much the usage, just the production.

And finally, no plants, no bacon. That for me, is the final straw.

Notice me

Lately I've been noticing,
I'm always bringing winter's spring
I'm always here to summon warmth
To hearts grown cold with frigid sting
I turn grey skies to blue
So no-one thinks that I am blue
It's like they've forgotten that I am a human
With more emotions that I know to do with
I've got no-one to spew them to
Or at least that's how it feels like sometimes
Who knows if it's the truth, but
Lately, I've been noticing
I'll light the paths before their feet
I'll let the shadows fall on me
It it only means that they can see
And this is who I want to be
Be there for anyone in need, but
Often times, I'm just a stepping-stone
When they find out where they're going
Their destination isn't me.
 
So, it feels like their life's on been on a lock
And I'm just the key, but
I'm here for myself at the end of the day
I've had to adapt to be this way
I need validation too, but
I'll have to be the one to say
That regardless of what life has in store
I'll always be okay
I'll always choose to see the rainbows bend
Even when I'm dripping, drenched in rain
I'll always look up to admire the stars
And learn them all by name
And I'll know that someone's looking down
And wants to know me, just the same
And knowing this, is comforting, because
Lately I've been noticing
No one seems to notice me.
 
Notice me.

~ Ellen Everett

The Lionesses

I'm not a football fan. Never have been. I see it like I see the WWE - staged. There's way too much money in it for it not to be. My eyes glaze over and my head looks for a different kind of Zen-Zone when people start talking about their favourite clubs and who 'bought' who and for how much. I just don't care. Football bores me.

That said, I watched the Lionesses play today. I watched them lose, and I saw their sullen, teary faces after the game. From where I'm looking, these girls did good. I am hugely proud of them. That's my team, that's my club. From now on, I will follow nothing else but the England Women's Squad.

It's a natural fit. They're Lionesses. 

And my name is Singh.

God's Army

If your sentiments can be hurt by something someone says, writes, or agrees with - then you are a complete wuss. A coward.

The one speaking, writing, or engaging in conflicting conversation isn't the one holding a machine gun or wielding a knife, mowing down and chopping up people. 

YOU are.

You're prepared to kill for something you can simply and easily walk away from, not listen to, not read about, and not engage with. It's called being the bigger man, something you'll never be.

A benevolent God, if there is one, couldn't possibly want YOU to kill, unless in self-defence. You don't just kill people. You're not the T-1000, whose AI algorithms had better sense than you.

Either you've understood your God wrong, or you've got the wrong God.

Think on it.

ADDENDUM

This is about Salman Rusdhie.

He has had a death-threat on his head since he wrote 'The Satanic Verses' in 1988 proclaimed by the then Ayatollah of Iran. He has been in hiding and protection ever since.

He was attacked in NYC this week, by a 24-year-old fanatic, attempting to carry out a Fatwa from 1988. I won't name him - I want no part in making him famous. The pathetic sprog wasn't even born when the book was written.

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie CH FRSL stands to lose one eye, his arm, and his liver has been punctured several times due to multiple stab wounds. He is currently on a ventilator and there's a chance the dude won't make it.

An all-powerfull God has sanctioned this, apparently.

He is 75, and one of the world's finest and most influential British-Indian writers. His prose is so beautifully written, I envy his skills.

And I have to confess, I have only ever read Midnight's Chldren. I never dared to get hold of 'The Satanic Verses' for fear of being blocked everywhere. In India, it was banned. I saw a hard-copy in a charity shop, but I thought, "I might be ending up saying  something. Something that could end me." So I didn't. 

That was when I decided my posts will always be ambiguous. I don't have the time nor the inclination to explain.

He happens to be a Muslim. Not devout, but an obvious Muslim nonetheless . He sees the faith in a way most don't.

His seminal work, 'Midnight's Children' - a book about what happened at midnight on the 15th of August,1947, when India gained independence from Britain is his best work.

He won a Knighthood despite being hugely critical of the Empire.

So yeah, it's a thing for me.

Lynx

This is Lynx. Bengal/Tabby hybrid. My daughter got her a year ago, despite my protestations.

Things between us have always been prickly. I'm not one for pets. In the beginning she looked at me like she's plotting something, maybe gouging my eyes out in my sleep, but of late she's kind of warmed up to me, and me to her.

She just sashays up to me and offers her neck to be stroked. Slinky, sassy and so nonchalant, I have no idea what goes on in her head. I hate her, and I love her.

That said, I prefer Anne Hathaway. If you know, you know.

Charmed Life

Okay, something amazing happened to me last week.

A colleague at work asked me to give her away at her wedding.

Of all the sinners on this planet, and this utterly devout, gentle soul chose me!

I had no clue of the protocol, I had no idea of the significance, or gravity of what it all meant. Thankfully, the people at the Gurudwara guided me through it all.

She showed up late, as is her perogative, and while the groom and I waited, and caught up on each other's love stories, my thoughts were, WTF am I doing here? HTF does she deem me worthy of this?

Giving away a bride is a big, big deal in my culture. The thought of what I have been honoured with is still a surreal feeling.

Strike #365

"Commuters are set to face more transport misery in London on the 21st of June when a planned strike takes place on the Tube and the country's railways."

Has there been a single year that they have NOT had a strike? What do they want this time?

We ALL paid, and are still paying for the lockdowns, which incidently, the unions STILL want. What makes THEM special?

A lot of people depend on me to guide them through depressing periods of long unemployment. I couldn't DREAM of downing tools for any reason. Heck, I skip lunch 4 days a week. People need me. I choose to do this, and trust me, it is NOT a gravy train. Yours is. My pay and pension, if I live long enough, is a pittance compared to someone who essentially drives stick.

Don't do it. Please.

https://news.sky.com/story/transport-services-in-london-set-to-suffer-more-disruption-on-the-first-of-three-days-of-rail-and-tube-strikes-12630180

The Margaret Thatcher Statue

Turns out, Thatcher's statue was pelted with eggs within hours of being installed.

It's a chunk of bronze. It can't feel a thing, but a few grocers made a mint out of selling eggs to some infantalised morons.

I can assure you, Maggie didn't feel a thing. Even if her soul resided in that effigy.

No one did. You probably got off on it, but that's a week's breakfast you lobbed on to a statue. So much for the cost of living crisis. 

Food bank, anyone?

"Why are you hungry?"

"I just chucked 7 days' breakfast on a statue of a person who died before my kids were born. She stole their milk. Before they were born. Actually, someone who was Prime Minister even before I was born."

And I'll bet the grocers are celebrating the grocer's daughter, as am I. As I am sure Maggie is, wherever she is. A fool and his money are soon parted.

Fucking idiots.

The Comedy Just Writes Itself

Labour are turning away members from voting in the Wakefield candidate hustings due to a lack of Photo ID.

Irony just got owned.

🙄

I'm Too Good For This

You know this thing, about parents and educators telling their kids they can be anything they want to be? Well, most can't. Hell, I wanted to work in advertising. Ogilvy & Mather stuff. It didn't happen. It probably won't ever happen, despite the fact that I am supremely confident that I can come up with a killer slogan. I still can; this post, and everything else I write is proof of that.

Truth be told, no one can be what they want to be. They've gotta put something on the table. Stuff someone wants to pay for. That said, what they CAN be is themselves, or maybe an extension of themselves. Another topic, another time.

Teach them to be who and what they are. Most successful people focus on what they can do, as opposed to striving for something they can't. Not yet anyway. There's a skills-set they yet have to acquire and hone, skills they will find in the unlikeliest of places.

A lot of the time, flipping burgers at McDonald's or slicing braised and minced meat off at a doner kebab thingamagig/thingamabob or slogging away in an Amazon workhouse, could get them somewhere.

Face customers, face the abuse you sometimes get; get used to crazy hours, being on your feet all day, working to deadlines and targets, and you know what? Master that, and THEN, you can be what you want to be. If you can't hold a job that entails "Just the burger, or would you like a meal deal? I can throw in a drink and chips for an additional £1.50", or some easy sell like that, you're not ready for anything. For employment, for dating, for real life, or a cushy job where your biggest challenge is facing the 'no jeans or trainers policy' of the blue chips you want to be working for.

You are more attractive to any would-be employer if you're gainfully employed and holding down a job that pushes you mentally and physically than if you are biding time until the 'right opportunity' comes along. Tell me, please pray tell me if you think a job is beneath you, and I will tell you that you are beneath ANY job under the sun.

Biding time won't help. It just won't. You'll end up having nothing to show for yourself if and when it does. Biding time is NOT the grifter any employer is looking for. That ethic died a long time ago.Your snobbery killed it.

It needs to come back to life.

Read this again, and then read it some more.

Loooong Covid

I'm an employment adviser.

Someone I have been working with for some time has just been fired from a job she started a mere week ago - for refusing to take the 2nd & 3rd jab.

This was her first job since March 2020. Suffering from the trauma of long term unemployment and severe low esteem, she'd come a long way since I started to help her.

She phoned me with squeals of utter joy when she was offered the job. She is only 22, with no qualifications, and an intelligence quotient at 22 that I would be envious of when I was 40.

Her confidence right now is at rock bottom. Far worse than it was when I first met her.

We're both gutted. The virus didn't break us. Our response to it did. And it continues to do so.

This sucks.

😪😡

😪😡

Elon Musk

My current favourite thing these days is that the richest man in the world is an African-American immigrant.

And the best thing about that is that the soya-lattè set is now rooting FOR Saudi Arabia, Wall Street, Vanguard / Blackrock and AGAINST free speech, liberty and the dude who makes electric cars and is going to Mars.

Go on, Elon, give 'em hell.

Emma

It totally gladdens my heart every time I see a post about Emma Raducanu and a picture of her beaming with sheer joy.

She'll go places, this little girl. Hell, she already is going places.

Seven blessings and all, Emma. You have an entire nation behind you.

🖖🥰

The Valueable Time of Maturity

I counted my years and realized that I have less time to live by, than I have lived so far.

I have more past than future.

I feel like that boy who got a bowl of cherries:

At first, he gobbled them, but when he realized there were only few left, he began to taste them intensely.

I no longer have time to deal with mediocrity.

I do not want to be in meetings where flamed egos parade.

I am bothered by the envious, who seek to discredit the most able, to usurp their places, coveting their seats, talent, achievements and luck.

I do not have time for endless conversations, useless to discuss about the lives of others who are not part of mine.

I no longer have the time to manage sensitivities of people who despite their chronological age, are immature.

I hate to confront those that struggle for power, those that do not debate content, just the labels; my time has become scarce to debate labels, I want the essence.

My soul is in a hurry... not many cherries in my bowl;

I want to live close to human people, very human, who laugh off their own stumbles, and away from those turned smug and overconfident with their triumphs, away from those filled with self-importance.

The essential is what makes life worthwhile and for me, the essentials are enough!

Yes, I’m in a hurry; I’m in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.

I do not intend to waste any of the remaining cherries.

I am sure they will be exquisite, much more than those eaten so far.

My goal is to reach the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.

And as Confucius said, as he always rightly did, “We have two lives and the second begins when you realize you only have one.”

~ Mário de Andrade | The Valuable Time of Maturity.

I am Djokovic

Novak Djokovic does not have Covid. This could be and should have been tested and proved in the space of a few hours.

Novak Djokovic is not some shady terrorist or a danger to Australian society. He isn't planning on claiming asylum or be a drain on public resources. He's there to play a bit of tennis and then he'll go back home. The Australian Open will be all the richer for it. Australia would be all the richer for it. The world of tennis would be richer for it.

Novak Djokovic (or the people who manage his admin) got the visa application wrong. They forgot to cross a "T" or dot an "i" somewhere, but hey, some bureaucrat on a power trip is getting off on this. Nothing new here.

Everyone knows why Novak Djokovic is in Australia. He's not there to snog the locals. He's there to hit a ball with a racquet.

Australia's lost the plot.

#IAmDjokovic.

Parenting Done Badly

My friend the Bartman opines... and I agree.

"I see the other side are spreading a meme with words from Anthony Huber’s parents condemning the verdict. They say that the verdict allows armed men to travel to places to incite violence and kill people. 

This would be somewhat more convincing if Anthony Huber hadn’t been the one who travelled to a place to start violence. If Anthony Huber hadn’t been the one who started violence. The fact that his violence was met by a better armed person was the direct consequence of the months of violence Anthony Huber supported and probably participated in prior to the night he died. 

Ordinarily I’d say there can be nothing worse than losing a child. 

In this case I’d say that those describing this verdict as sickening, are themselves sickening. Including Anthony Huber’s parents. 

He died because you didn’t do your fucking job as parents. Because you didn’t teach him right from wrong. Because you failed. Because you raised an entitled Antifa shitbag who thought that he could rob, steal, burn, beat people up as a form of play akin to LARPing or a paintball session. And he did this with friends who included a multiple child rapist. 

You raised a fucking communist and the world was improved by his death. That’s on you, shitty parents, not Kyle. Kyle just refused to let your son beat and kick him to death. How many people had your son hurt before this? How many people would have been better off if you were stricter, or firmer, or more decent yourselves when your son first showed signs of becoming a worthless man? 

My son and my daughter are everything. If either of them grow up to be an Anthony Huber, I’ll know I did a shit job and I won’t blame the guy who defended himself when they were trying to kill him. I’d blame myself. 

But that’s something leftists never do. They can’t teach responsibility and decency because they never take responsibility themselves. They live in a world without consequence, a world of inverted morality, a world where simple and basic truths like rioting is bad and defending yourself from violent criminals is understandable just don’t apply. It’s always somebody else’s fault. It’s always systemic, or waycist, or fucking colonialism, or some absurd justification. It’s never them making the worst moral choices you can and then running up against a brick wall called Reality. 

Fuck Anthony Huber, and fuck his parents too. It’s on you. You have more responsibility for that night than Kyle has. The guilt is your sons, and yours, and every equally shitty deluded person who was on the side of a child rapist and on the side of burning down neighbourhoods."