That’s The Way To Do It!

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In this country, a 25-year-old unemployed man who produced 15 children by 14 women has cost the taxpayer at least £1.5 million in benefits, a sum that is ongoing.

In America, a 44-year-old Michigan man has fathered 23 children by 14 women and owes £337,000 in unpaid child support payments.

The difference between these two men is that the American one has just been jailed for four years after a Kent County Judge told him: ‘Animals procreate, human beings are supposed to nurture their children. When you create a human being, I think you have a fundamental responsibility to provide for that child with necessities like food, clothing and shelter.’

Absolutely right!
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Commonsense Prevails

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A group of louts urinated on the front door of a Cambridgeshire apartment house, hurled eggs at windows, vandalised its gates and screamed and shouted at the occupants. Fed up with calling the police who rarely responded to the calls and who never arrested any of the 15-20 louts who were frequently causing a disturbance, one resident tried to scare them away by firing a catapult loaded with ball-bearings at them.

It was a mistake, for he later pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm after slightly injuring three of the youths. They then took him to court, claiming damages of £1,200 each for their injuries.

However a judge at Cambridge Crown Court, while criticising the resident for taking matters into his own hands, threw the case out. He said, ‘I think it wholly inappropriate that I should make a compensation order given that they brought this very much upon themselves.’

Commonsense prevails!
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Why Not?

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The Book of Exodus recounts that the waters of the Red Sea parted and allowed the Israelites to flee the Pharaoh's pursuing chariot army which was then engulfed.

Now American scientists have created a computer simulation showing that it was possible for the wind to have opened up a muddy land bridge at one location.

I suppose the simulation is possible but it does not, however, explain how the Israelites happened upon that exact spot at the exact time.

Why can’t some miracles be explained as being ... well, just miracles?
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Monkey Business

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The Ancient Egyptians trained baboons to collect fruit and palm nuts, macaques have been used to harvest coconuts, capuchin monkeys are used in the US to help disabled people and I seem to recall that, during the time of the Raj, some remote Indian railway signal points were manned by trained monkeys, though I forget now which sort.

Doubtless, monkeys can be trained in a variety of tasks, and I was reminded of this by the news this morning that langur monkeys are being used by the organisers of the Commonwealth Games to prevent wild animals from entering games sites. It seems that langur monkeys are noted for their intelligence and are highly effective in deterring other animals and snakes from entering the areas they patrol.

I don’t sneer at the employment of trained monkeys; far from it. Anyone who, in their travels around the world, has seen their wild cousins will attest to their agility, cunning and, when upset, their aggression.

And I for one wouldn’t want to mess with one!
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Why The Tears?

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Some of the morning papers report that David Miliband’s wife reacted with tears and ‘absolute fury’ at the ‘betrayal’ by those whose votes resulted in Ed Miliband becoming Leader of the Labour Party. Speculation is also rife as to what David Miliband will or will not do now that he has lost the leadership election.

No election, or very few of them, is a foregone certainty so one of the Miliband brothers was bound to be disappointed at not being elected Leader, and it follows that the wife of the loser would also be disappointed.

It was a guaranteed cast-iron certainty that one of the brothers was going to lose, so why the disappointment and tears? Or is it because the loser thought his election was in the bag?
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There Are Limits!

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I think that if I were a competitor in the upcoming Commonwealth Games, I’d put up with a few inconveniences assuming that the rooms provided were reasonably clean and habitable. But there are limits.

Such as occurred to a South African competitor who discovered a cobra snake in his room.

Over the years, I’ve shared hotel rooms with fleas, spiders, cockroaches, small birds and, once, a gecko. But I think I’d definitely draw a line at a perishing cobra!
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You Pays Your Money ...

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The newspapers are dominated by Ed Miliband’s election as Leader of the Labour Party, and it’s interesting to see how they vary in their treatment of the story.

The papers seem to agree that New Labour is dead but, while some say that Ed will tilt the party to the Left, others say the opposite. Some say that he is in thrall to the unions while others say he will resist them.

We will have to wait and see what happens but, like Cameron and Clegg in these times of economic woe, Miliband may have been given the poisoned chalice for he will have to deal with the dinosaurs of the union movement which threaten to bring Britain to a standstill this winter.

As they say, you pays your money and you takes your choice!
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