Dennis Benson

Archive for August, 2010

Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, yesterday called on Lib Dem MPs to bring the coalition’s plans to reform the NHS to a halt. Of course we have to remember that he is campaigning for the Labour Leadership and was a member of the government that smothered the health service with layers of bureaucracy, but that doesn’t make him wrong on this issue.

He is right when he says that ” changes are being forced on the NHS with no consultation, no piloting and no evidence”. The failure to consult is leading the hapless Mr Lansley to the courts but the likelihood is that he will find weasel words sufficient to enable him to proceed with the rape of what is still the finest free-at-the-point-of-delivery service in the world. Amongst our allotment shed gang we have John, a retired GP, and he and I have a good deal of experience of life at the sharp end of the NHS. And we know what we are looking at here ; the privatisation of our health service.

The Lansley plan involves the abolition of waiting time targets and the introduction of GP-led consortia to take over the £80 billion commissioning responsibility from Primary Care Trusts. Many of John’s former colleagues assure him that there is no possibility of their taking on such a massive workload and the likelihood is that the task will be sub-contracted to American healthcare companies whose speciality is the provision of private medicine. Of course Lansley will rightly claim that those taking NHS treatment will still enjoy a free service. What he won’t be keen to explain are the implications of no waiting list rules combined with the option to ‘go private’. Remember that the surgeons and senior consultants that will provide such services are employed by the NHS. There will be nothing to stop them offering different waiting times according to the depth of a patient’s pockets!

Ironically it was Mr Burnham’s own Party that demonstrated the perils of introducing private healthcare providers into the NHS. Under the reign of the dreaded Patricia Hewitt – we endured endless Secretaries of State – the Labour government decided to trial the provision of a one-stop assessment and treatment centre using a South African company, Netcare. The trial was scheduled for Lancashire but local MPs and activists did their sums and quickly realised that if one took away the income from outpatients work, the hospital would be unable to fund the high-cost intensive medicine on which lives depend. In effect, take away the ‘easy’ routine income from a large hospital and the surplus it raises from that work is no longer available to subsidise the more complex work.

There was a massive public outcry and the government wisely decided to perform a U-turn of monumental proportions. Now the Chorley Hospital has the first NHS run centre. But U-turns are less likely under a Conservative government which, to be fair, makes no secret of its preference for private medicine.

So why does Burnham appeal to the Lib Dems? Mainly because their election manifesto opposed any form of privatisation and because the mass of those who voted Lib Dem at the election have told opinion polls that they are absolutely opposed to the planned NHS reforms. Senior Lib Dems are equally opposed, Baroness Shirley Williams has warned that ” if there is any sign of moving towards privatisation at lot of Liberal Democrats will not put up with it”. Senior backbencher John Pugh, co-chairman of the Lib Dem policy committee on health, has said that ” it would be “unthinkable” if the white paper was not extensively debated at the pa

rty conference. Lib Dem MP Gordon Birtwistle is “aghast” at the prospect of ward closures, the list goes on and on.

So the Lib Dems will heed the call of Mr Burnham? No! And the reason can be summed up in one word; Clegg. Nick Clegg is besotted with the high office that he never expected to gain and has become to Cameron what Blair was to Bush. He intends to hang on to the trappings of power whatever it takes. And that means a two-tier NHS service for the first time in its history!

In reality only the voice of the people can stop this irreversible change. Sadly few gardeners or ferret breeders can afford either fees or private health insurance so there is a united front in the shed. Our banners stand ready in the corner and our ‘I agree with Nick’ shirts are now used for cleaning out the hens. Given our advancing years, we are likely to be amongst the first victims of the Lansley madness but the man we will really curse is the one who appeared to be on our side!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

                                                       WHY DO SO MANY LACK RESPECT FOR OUR TROOPS?

Over the weekend low-life scum with the self understanding of a louse, stole a brass plate from a Manchester war memorial, presumably with a view to selling it for scrap. That is how much the sacrifice of millions means to them. Now the grieving relatives have to fund-raise all over again.

There is something in our culture that leads some of us to show a lack of pride in our armed forces. Even in the second world war there were endless strikes in both the shipbuilding and aircraft industries at the exact time that out forces were on a knife-edge as they battled on with inadequate equipment.

Why this trait has dogged our country for so many years is hard to fathom but low-life seems a very apt term to use!

.                                        …………………………………………………………….

                                        CRICKET- THE SCANDAL ROLLS ON!

It is nice for this cricket fogey to have an excuse to continually bang on about the game but I wish the excuse was something more paletable than the fcat that the game suddenly seems to have turned into a staged production.

One reader tells me that he has decided not to attend next week’s game at Durham. the reason? He feels that he will distrust any mistake or miss-field. there must be thousnda feelig the same way and this cannot go on. Michael vaughan probably spoke for many when he said that the forthcoming series should be scrapped until this whole appalling scandal is sorted.

                                                           ………………………………………………………………… 

ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY’s QUIZ:  1.  Doris Lessing     2.  Chancellor of Austria

TODAY’S QUESTIONS:  1.In which year did direct rule in Northern Ireland begin?  2.  Jigme Singye Wangchuk became king of which country in 1972?

                                                             ??????????????????????????????????????

This feels most odd! I am sitting in the corner of the allotment shed and the door is wide open. Even stranger is the fact that everyone is in shirt sleeves and no one is crouched around the fire listening to Lady Gaga . And it’s a Bank Holiday! Where is the traditional howling gale and driving rain for which St Lubbock’s days are renowned? For fear of having bewidered you already I should perhaps explain that one John Lubbock, MP, pushed through parliament – virtually single-handedly - the Bank Holidays Act of 1871. It is impossible now to imagine the excitement that this radical idea of paid secular holidays created at the time. In fact so delighted were the masses that the name ‘St Lubbock’s days’ entered popular usage and it was only in modern times, when we had so many holidays that they ceased to enthrall, that it faded from the vocabulary.

No one seems to know why Lubbock elected to use the title of Bank Holidays rather than, say, national holidays but it is certainly the case that he mean’t them to apply to every working man or woman and the name had nothing to do with Banks (as in investing unwisely and big bonuses). Sir John Lubbock was by profession an archeologist so perhaps the name had something to do with a successful dig on a bank. Who knows, who cares?

I have arrived at my main point via a circuitous route for I intended to pay a humble tribute to the show which has tickled us for some forty years, and which last night bade its inevitable farewell. Last of the Summer Wine was based on gentle humour and a gentler age. Its end was inevitable given that most of the much loved chracters such as Compo and Nora Batty are no longer available. Only Peter Sallis saw the course through and even he was beginning to show his age. But we will miss them all. Apart from the too silly ‘affair of the heart’ involving Howard and Marina the humour was always possible, always just an exaggerated version of things we old ‘uns have all witnessed as, like Peter, we have aged and matured.

It so often reminded me of the village in which I grew up. So for that matter did that other wonderful show, Dad’s Army. I remember one episode in which a local woman became obsessed with spies. Well, we had one too. In 1940 the village hall was festooned with appeals to keep an eye out for spies and this lady took it to heart. On one occasion a tramp wandered down the road and she rushed to the nearest phone box to ring the Home Guard. In no time at all two old blokes arrived on bikes and, briefed as to his direction, set off in pursuit. Since the bearded wonder was only travelling at the pace of a pregnant tortoise they soon caught him and returned triumphant with one of them pointing what appeared to be a musket at his chest. I was left wondering what on earth there was to spy on but he was marched away, in so far as three old blokes can ever be said to march, and I never saw him again. He is probably still locked in the old concrete box which to this day stands unloved and covered with graffiti.

And so it is with the Summer Wine. I recall a pair very similar to Howard and his dragon of a wife. She was huge and sang in the choir, maybe in the bath too but even my fertile imagination could never conjure that image up, and talked to the other wives in a voice loud enough to frighten the hens. He was half her size and when he appeared at all was invariably wearing a wrap-around ‘pinnie’. The only difference from the TV Howard was the Marina bit. He could never have managed her let alone the resulting vengeance of the ogress.

The combination of sun and the end of the Summer Wine produced in many of us in the shed a sense of meloncholy. Today everyone seems in a perpetual rush and under continual stress. Yes, there are huge improvements  born of the development of technology that we couldn’t even imagine back then. But on a St Lubbock’s day it is easy to wonder if the price we have paid for the net, Sky, ATM’s and God knows what else, is a little high! My self understanding tells me that I like to both have the cake and eat it!

                                      …………………………………………………………………………………………….

   CRICKET CRISIS GROWS BY THE HOUR!  

The revelations about the alleged no-ball scandal looked horrendous yesterday but in the cold light of dawn they now look even more so. The video recorded by the News of the World reporter seemed to prove beyond doubt that the three no-balls were bowled to order but even we cricket nuts missed the point that the captain would have to be involved too lest the bowler in question was taken off at an inopportune moment. But once that penny had dropped we began to wonder about so many things that happened during the series.

On this very site I regularly bemoaned the fact that the Pakistan fielding and batting seemed to fluctuate between brilliant (when they defeated England in the third Test) and absolutely abysmal when they made mistakes that would have shamed a club team. It may well have been just what it seemed but inevitably fans everywhere are now speculating non-stop.

What happens next is presumably in the hands of the police and cricket authorites but one thing is certain. If any of the players named are in the Pakistan team, England must refuse to play the one-day series. It may cost English cricket a great deal of lost revenue but no one should be asked to pay to watch what may be a cricketing version of professional wrestling.

And there is another question. If a newspaper can find all this out what have the International Cricket Council been doing to protect the games integrity?

                                                      …………………………………………………………………

ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY’S QUIZ:   1. The Derby   2.  A chemical plant explosion killed 29 people.

TODAY’S QUESTIONS: 1.  Who wrote ‘The Memoirs of a Survivor’, published in 1970?  2.  What post did Bruno Kreisky take up in 1970?

                                                           ?????????????????????????????????????????

The world of cricket has been plunged into one of its worst crises of all time. Shortly after the close of yesterday’s play in the final Test match between England and Pakistan news broke of an investigation by the News of the World which appears to show that members of the Pakistan team have been involved in match-fixing during the game. Video footage of a meeting between Mazhar Majeed, a 35 year old business man, and a reporter posing as part of an Asian gambling syndicate shows the 35 year old accepting money and promising that three ‘no-balls’ had been organised with the Pakistan team.

He specified when the no-balls would be bowled and that is exactly what happened. As he had promised, Amir bowled no-balls as the first ball of the third over on Thursday and third over on Friday, Asif did likewise with the sixth ball of the tenth over on Thursday. Replays of these deliveries on today’s Sky coverage showed that on all three occasions the bowlers overstepped the crease by a significant margin. In the video Majeed also claimed that the forthcoming one-day series of matches too had been earmarked for rigging.

Last night a 35 year-old man was arrested by police on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers and the cricket authorities announced their own investigations. Meanwhile there was televison coverage of police taking material from the hotel occupied by the Pakistan team. We must of course remember that no one is guilty unitl proven so but the evidence appears irrefutable. The implications for cricket are absolutely horrendous!

There are of course many unanswered questions. Were other players involved? To what extent did the magnificent innings of both Trott and Broad reflect deliberate lack of effort by the bowlers? Were any of the previous matches, in which Pakistan performed unbelievably badly, quite what they seemed? How can the forthcoming one-day series take place and, if it does, will the paying public be able to believe in what they see? The list goes on and on.

A huge amount of betting on cricket takes place on the sub-continent. A great deal of it is based on what is known as micro-betting. Cricket is uniquely vunerable to fraud in this way for any bowler can specify in advance deliveries that will constitute no-balls ( his front foot over the line) and any batsmen can specify how and  when he will be out. There are no equivalents in soccer where even total match fixing would require the involvement of the entire team. None of this once mattered because the name of cricket, above all others, was a euphemism for honesty and fair play. No more!

Pakistan have been at the centre of match-fixing claims before, most notably in 2000 when former captain Saleem Malik and bowler Ata-ur-Rehman were both found guilty and banned for life. However, Rehman was made available for selection in 2006 and Malik’s ban was overturned in 2008. The most infamous instance of match-fixing was former South African captain Hansie Cronje receiving money from bookmakers in return for match information. Cronje was also banned for life but was sadly killed in a subsequent air accident.

The International Cricket Council does employ regional security officers who attend every international match. Their remit is to keep an eye on dressing rooms and CCTV pictures and to ensure that players and coaches do not use mobile phones during play. But the task is a near inpossible one especially if there is free access to the players as happened at Edgbaston. Temporary dressing-rooms were in use there and a corridor was open to any hospitality guest. It is understood that a key figure in the News of the World’s allegations had access to this corridor.

Anyone involved in international cricket knows that for some time there have been unsubstantiated rumours that all is not as it seems to the paying public. A near paranoia has developed around any unusual trend in any match. The most innocent no-ball, run-out or rash stroke has provoked speculation and the vast majority of honest players have understandably resented questions. The reality is that any corruption involving individuals and negotiated away from the dressing room or ground is almost impossible to detect. Until the guilty are weeded out all are damned.

The future of cricket hangs in the balance. If found guilty the individuals in question must be banned for life and if it should be found that other members of the team -as alleged during the video – are implicated they should be banned also. There should be no later reprieval, life must mean life. Depending on what emerges over the next few days it may be necessary for the forthcoming one-day series to be cancelled

There can be havering on this whatever the financial implications. Cricket is a much-loved sport and belongs to the millions that delight in it’s symbolic decency in a troubled world. No team, country or player is bigger than the game, the purge must be absolute.

It is impossible to feel other than great sympathy for the nation of Pakistan. It is experiencing appalling misfortunes and the players, after their victory in the third Test, made play of the fact that they performed for their country. How tragic then that it now appears that some of them at least may have performed for themselves!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

                                                           THERE IS NO SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP!

The revelation that George W Bush and Tony Blair conspired against Gordon Brown should come as no surprise to those of self understanding. It followed a meeting held by the then secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Mr Brown as a result of which she reported misgivings to the President. Even then it was common knowledge that Brown resented the seemingly cosy realtiuonship between the President and British Prime Minister, on ewhich led to Blair agreeing to join the USA in the invasion of Iraq. Claerly America did not need our armed power but they did need a ‘second party’ to give the impression of an international venture.

After Mr Bush had told Blair that he had “grave doubts” about Brown’s willingness to toe the line the britsh Prime Minister announced that he intended to stay on at No 10, a plan that was thwarted when supporters of the Chnacellor stgaed their now famous ‘coup’.

When david cameron visited Washington he caused uproar by remarking that we were a junior partner to America in 1940. it was an appalling exmaple of his lack of historcal knowledge but ironically he used the right phrase albeit in the worng context. the Uk has always been the junior partner and my studies using such sources as Churchills own war diaries and the work of Max Hastings show clearly the extent to which ant-Britiosh sentiments prevailed during and after the second World War.

Indeed there is substantial evidence that had Japan attacked only British forces the United States would have remained largely neutral. I shall return to this theme on another ccasion but for now I wanted to at least use today’s media stories of Bush and Blair to restate my conviction, and that of many historians that, the flirtation between Margaret Thatcher and Ronal Reagan apart, there has never been the place in American hearts for Britain implied by the well-worn phrase of special relationship.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….  ………………………………………………………

 ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY’S QUIZ;    1.  Cambodia   2.  Abuja

TODAY’S QUESTIONS:   1. What did Snow Knight win in 1974?   2.What happened at Lixborough in that year?

          ??????????????????????????????????????????                                                                   

In their 1966 song ‘Eleanor Rigby’, Lennon and McCartney wrote of ‘all the lonely people’ and asked ‘where do they all come from?’ Loneliness was perceived as a social problem even then, 44 years on it is of epidemic proportions. It seems reasonable to argue that much of it is the result of people living longer and often alone, of families spread across the globe, and streets where many homes are empty for most of the day. But perhaps the greatest factor is the absence of any seven-days-per-week organisation providing a sense of belonging.

I grew up in a semi-rural village where the various churches provided just that. We belonged to the ‘chapel’, and I do mean belonged, for the whole family was there every day per week plus three times on Sundays. Our community was not unusual some seventy years ago and lest you imagine that we were all a la Mother Theresa I hasten to confess that God had only a walk-on role. The chapel was in effect a social centre providng just about every form of recreation available in those long-gone days. The village was split roughly three ways between the Methodists, the Anglicans and the Roman Catholics and never the twain did meet but I remember well that the kids of the other denominations also rejoiced in sports teams, ‘socials’, youth clubs and various other diversions which were far more of an attraction than a battery powered radio set which represented the entire entertainment offering of most local abodes.

But enough of the kids, we simply went along each evening because the adults were there. But what I do clearly recall is the significant number of elderly widows, widowers and infirm who made their way there or, in some instances, were brought along by neighbours. There was always something happening each evening and visiting speakers came and went. Many were in the choir -an ability to read music was not one of the conditions – and they performed concerts galore, visits being made to other local chapels and the like. There was even something called a ‘Bright Hour’ which took place each Thursday afternoon, again visiting speakers were the order of the day.

The whole affair was under the direction of what was called the ‘Leaders Meeting’ and elections to that took place regularly. Like the Milibands of today the ‘family’ regularly fell out and there was often much grousing for the hapless Minister to sort out. He in turn had to be reappointed by the leaders, so his job must have been a tricky one although such matters passed us boys by as we eyed the girls, who even our limited self understanding recognised were the greatest attraction of all.

But the chapel looked after its own.There were appointed sick-visitors who called daily at the home of anyone unable to attend and even employment was often the result of this member or that having a small business. People loved, quarrelled, and looked out for each other. It was an all embracing social centre with God thrown in on Sundays when we would all listen to the outcome of the choirs seemingly endless rehearsals and pray that the local preacher did not exceed the time limit for his sermon. Some services were anticipated with greater delight than others and those such as the harvest festival were particularly popular in that they provided the chance for the well-heeled to bask in the glory of outbidding others when the fruit and veg came under the auctioneer’s hammer. And of course we had a ‘tea’. In fact ‘teas’ at the laden trestles were a regular feature and presumably provided yet another role for those with time on their hands and the need for a role in life.

It was all a long time ago but the memories do prompt me to wonder if the churches of today are missing a trick. If any of the many that are still open were to create a social organisation to provide daily events and involvement for all, the reality surely is that the respondents would be the lonely and,possibly, older members of the community, the very sector that would not be preoccupied with the alternative activities on offer in a hi-tech age. Maybe that feeling of belonging would be rediscovered.

Of course the involvement of kids would be far less likely, they can meet their peers in much more exciting surroundings now. But then again, they are less likely to be in the lonely bracket. Where, you may ask, does God feature in all this.
The only answer is that the target here is the growing epidemic of loneliness. But I am sure that He would approve!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
NHS DIRECT; ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MADNESS!

I was involved in the initial trials carried out with a view to launching a telephone help system aimed at relieving the pressure on GPs. I remember Frank Dobson, the then Health Secretary, proclaiming that ‘we won’t need doctors much longer’. The doctors themselvers took an altogether different view, they simply couldn’t believe that a nurse sitting at a switchboard would feel able to give a diagnosis based on what someone told them over the telephone.

And so it has proved. The service has provided mundane advice but in reality has achieved little other than to gobble up NHS funding and rob hospitals of excellent nursing staff.

Once again we are all paying the price of politicians dabbling in things that they simply do not understand!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

BLAIR GETS HIS NINTH HOUSE!

You have to hand it to the guy, our former Prime Minister really knows how to rake in the cash! The latest acquisition is a Londion home for daughter Kathryn for a cool one million.
Isn’t there something slightly immoral about all this? Should someone elected by the people to high office be free to exploit it to this obscene extent?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

MURDOCH UNDER ATTACK!

The BBC director-general, Mark Thompson, launched a scathing attack on the ever expending Murdoch media empire last night when he delvered the annual MacTaggart lecture at the Mediaguradian Edinburgh Festival.
As a Sky user I share his views about the quality of much of the tripe screened under the Sky banner. But the biggest complaint of all relates to the endless and assinine advertisements. the idea of having those constantly interrupting the better quality Beeb output is too awful to contemplate!
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS!

Many thanks for your comments. DO please spend a few moments to leave one. It makes the site so much more readable!

………………………………………………………………...

PAKISTAN BLOW IT AGAIN!

After their much improved performance in the third Test, Pakistan reverted to their recent poor form at Lords today.Not for the first time their batting was well below that required for Test crciket and once again they failed to muster a three-figure score. Small wonder that ticket sales have been poor for this series!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….  ……………………………………………

QUIZ ANSWERS; 1. M M Kaye 2. Jane Goodall
TODAY’S QUESTIONS; 1. Which country was taken over by the Khymer Rouge in the early 70s? 2. In 1976 Nigeria announced plans for a new capital .What is it called?

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????  ?????????????????????????????????????????????????

The belief that a focussed mind can in some mysterious way control and cure any part of the body has been around for a long time. One of the many books published on the subject first caught my eye back in the fifties. W.J.Ennever wrote ‘Your mind and how to use it’ and emphasised the need for willpower and concentration plus the importance of focusing your attention. Given this all things are possible. Over the years since then I have read with fascination a succession of articles on ‘miracle cures’, a phenomena resulting from terminally ill patients suddenly being found, to the amazement of their doctors, to be clear of cancer. In almost every instance the patients has reported that he or she ‘willed’ the tumour to go.

Today we learn of yet another example of the extraordinary power of the mind to mend the body. Graham Miles, 66, is a stroke victim and has told how he amazed doctors by overcoming ‘locked-in’ syndrome as a result of which he was left paralysed except for his eyes. Graham was diagnosed with ‘locked-in’ syndrome at the age of 49, having suffered a stroke on the way home from his work as a gas engineer. He spent six months in Mayday University Hospital in Croydon and six months in a rehabilitation unit before he went home. He recalls that his initial paralysis was so complete that he even found it hard to breathe. He felt that he had been ‘left to die’ by clinicians.

Moving his eyelids was his only means of communication but he remembers thnking that he had a major problem and knowing that he had to deal with it. He began to focus. The first ‘target’ was his voice and after two months it began to return to the extent that he could manage one word at a time. He then began to concentrate on his big toe. He would close his eyes and will it to move. One day, after about three months, it flickered. Thus encouraged, Graham started working on different parts of the body. Toes first, then fingers. Five months after his calamity Graham took his first steps using a zimmer frame.

His consultant was bewildered and confessed that he didn’t know how he was still alive. But alive he is and today Graham drives a manual car and races Jaguar E-types. He now lives a normal life and is sure that the brain isn’t totally understood – “apparently there is a lot of extra capacity in it and it seems as though I’ve found some of it”. The father of two believes that “if you are totally focused and have sufficient commitment and mental stamina, you can break down the barrier between brain and body”.

Many of the other amazing recoveries reported over the years have told similar stories. In every instance the victim has been told that there is no hope and in every instance they have used their long period confined to a bed to focus on to a specific spot with the order ‘recover’. It is easy to be sceptical but pictures like those of Graham in today’s newspapers give living proof that powerful minds can achieve anything.

Many best-selling authors such as  psychiatrist Scott Peck have recorded their belief that many of the functions of the mind are still a mystery to us. Others have advocated mantras, a popular one in the sixties was ‘every day and in every way I am getting better and better’. A whole range of techniques have burgeoned and many have recorded positive outcomes. Others have not and the key to the whole process seems to be the abilility to focus for long periods. I imagine that people who practice meditation are far more likely to succeed.

My self understanding tells me that I am unlikely to be a successful practitioner. I have a ‘butterfly’ mind that seems to hop from one subject to another at the  speed of a ferret going through a pipe. As I walk around, Test matches, Alan Titchmarck, Zsa Zsa Gabor and a zillion other whimsies compete with each other for attention. But I am encouraged by the thought that if I found myself in a predicament such as Graham’s I would ignore the doom-laden prognoses and focus and focus. And so would you.

In going public, people such as Graham miles are performing a great public service. They are telling faint hearts such as me that there is always hope if you battle. But we need to believe in the possibility. In 1920 the Scottish physicist, James Dewar, said that minds are like parachutes, they only function when open’. Like many of my allotment pals I tend to have a closed mind and we undoubtedly miss out in many ways. Not all are grave life-or- death issues but all could benefit from use of the mind. Edwin Moses, the Athlete and Olympic champion hurdler, was asked how he achieved such incredible performances. He replied that he didn’t really see the hurdles, he merely sensed them like a memory. In today’s world of cricket, players such as Mike Atherton recall that in a long  innings they always focussed their mind on one object to the exclusion of all else. In various ways they were all using the power of the mind.

Ekhart Tolle in ‘The Power of Now’ tells us that the problem is that the mind is a superb instrument if used properly and sparingly, but in the case of most of us the mind uses us, takes us over. I’m afraid that cap fits me! But my weakness doesn’t stop me admiring the amazing willpower and determination of people like Graham Miles.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

                                                         WELL DONE TROTT AND BROAD!

Yet another appalling batting performance by the top England batsman today. Fortunately the supposedly less accomplished bats Trott and Broad (who both made centuries) saved the day as Pakistan did their usual version of giving up the ghost.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

                                                      SLEAZE REVELATIONS CONTINUE!

Yesterday I wondered how long it would be before the Daily Telegraph came up with more sleaze revlations relating to the coalition government. The answer proved to be just one day!

Today we learn that the Conservative Party is offering meetings with David Cameron for £2000. It seems that businessmen who pay up two grand per year qualify for ‘Team 2000′. This entitles them to meet the Prime Minister for receptions, dinners and ‘discussion groups’. Even better is the ‘Leader’s Group where for a cool £50,000 per year it is even possible to be invited for dinner at Mr Cameron’s home.

Is it any wonder that most people now regard politicians in the same way as they would view a rattlesnake in a lucky dip!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

                                                               GEORGE COHEN SPEAKS OUT!

George Cohen, a member of the 1966 England World  Cup winning team, has lashed out at premiership ‘stars’ who abuse their extreme wealth to “hide behind the law” when they have committed indiscretions. His comments came after another England player was granted a further gagging order stopping publication of details of his private life.

As George rightly remarks these pampered peole have the money to prevent anything embarrassing coming out. Of course this is what happens when you pay someone more in a week for kicking a ball about than a brain surgeon earns in a year. And the irony is that the presnet England team is grossly inferior to the one that George starred in!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

                                                            PLEASE HELP!

Thankyou for joining me for a few minutes each day. Can I pursuade you to leave a comment from time to time. I ask because some readers have said that comments make the articles more rounded. i would really appreciate your contribution whatever it may say! And so would the ferrets!                      THANKS!

YESTERDAY’S QUIZ ANSWERS   1. Embroidery or needlecraft    2.  The Nobel Prize for Peace 

TODAY’S QUESTIONS;   1.Who wrote The Far Pavilions in 1978?   2.  Who wrote In the Shadow of Man?

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????