Uncategorized – Page 8 – BRUCE AND HOLLY

Trump!

November 9, 2024 bruceandholly

I felt it in my bones. That Trump was going to win the 2024 presidential election. Kamala Harris seemed nice enough. But she just couldn’t get her point across. I don’t understand what she stood for. Collecting celebrity endorsements, waving your arms and going ‘Ra! Ra! Ra!, are not enough to win a presidential election. It’s about having a message that resonates. And Trump certainly had that. I really don’t want Taylor Swift telling me how to vote in a UK general election. So Britain has just got to roll with it. Something I don’t think was helped by David Lammy’s 2019 comments about Trump. Wow! That’s going to be good for business. Oh I forgot! He and Starmer had lunch with Trump. So that makes it all right.

When I wrote about Trump in my 2021 book, Write Quick. Get Published, I had no idea that he was going to make a comeback. For me, he was just a trope of a showman come politician. An entertainer. Someone who used their celebrity to propel himself into the White House. This is what I said.

“If you are writing a political thriller, wouldn’t you want to reserve a place for Donald Trump? He might be the bad boy of American politics. But he’s also a big character. He’s larger than life. Remember that before he became president, he was an entertainer. He hosted the American version of The Apprentice from 2004 to 2015. Like Reagan before him, it was his celebrity which propelled him into the White House. Pitch him against other politicians in a stand-up comedy contest and he’d win hands down. No one is asking you to like him. Of course you’d have to change the name. And not include anything which might identify the real person behind that character. You might even decide to cast your president as a female. But the core authentic personality would still be the same. “

There are also some things on which I agree with Trump. Like Trump, it irritates me the way the West has outsourced all of its jobs, manufacturing and pollution to China. Why is it that I can’t buy anything that isn’t made in China? Even the £150 jacket which I saw in Debenhams before it closed up shop. Even the Covid testing kit which I chucked in the bin. It’s as though I don’t have a choice. Several years ago, a weddings outfitter was prosecuted after pretending that wedding dresses were made in its own factory, when in fact they had a label saying that they were made in China. I’m glad I wasn’t wearing it.

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Council Gave Permission for our Neighbour to Build in our Garden

October 27, 2024 bruceandholly

Don’t worry! You won’t wake up to find a bulldozer in your garden. A grant of planning permission cannot override your property rights. In fact in planning law, land ownership and associated property rights are classed as ‘non-material considerations’, which means that your local planning committee cannot take them into account when considering the planning application.However anyone applying for planning permission is required to complete a form providing ownership details for the land in question. This is to ensure that landowners are informed of planning applications affecting their land.

As the properties are, in this case, leasehold, it is important that anyone thinking of extending their home, first looks at their lease, as there will always be restrictions on what alterations or additions can be carried our. Generally, residential leasehold ownership only extends to the interior of the flat and not to any part of the structure or exterior of the building.

It would seem to me that the only way in which a development of this type could be carried out would be if all the owners and the ground landlord clubbed together to make it happen. Not forgetting the mortgage lenders. So on balance, I don’t think it’s gonna happen.

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Saturation Coverage of Celebrity Death

October 20, 2024 bruceandholly

Last Wednesday I woke up to breaking news about the death of a young celebrity. It was someone I’d never heard of. Someone who had fallen from a hotel balcony. There was film footage of a young reporter holding her microphone and standing in the street amongst a group of even younger women weeping and holding candles. So I switched channels from Sky to Grood Morning Britain. Same news. Same footage. So I switched again to BBC Breakfast. Guess What! Same news. Same footage. Was there really no other news to report? Nothing from the Middle East or Ukraine? Nothing happening in the US election? In desperation, I switched to BBC Parliament and watched Prime Minister’s Questions.

Then a couple of days ago another celebrity came on the scene, complaining about the way her former partner’s death had been reported. Would she have preferred that it had gone unreported? That would have been fine by me.

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first class stamps to rise to £1.65

September 8, 2024 bruceandholly

What’s this I hear about the cost of first class stamps rising to £1.65? Do I care? My own experience is that it does not make any difference whether you post a letter first class or second class. It will get there when it gets there. Whether that’s next day or the next two days; or next week. So don’t be fooled. Back in the 80’s I posted a second class letter to my parents in Bournemouth, which they received the same afternoon. Years later, I posted a letter to India, which arrived almost the next day. How amazing was that? And what’s this about the Royal Mail saying that they are not going to deliver second class letters on Saturday? Are they being serious? I’m heartbroken.

crime, culture, Law, Uncategorized

1920’s Prohibition Revisited

September 1, 2024 bruceandholly

Haven’t we learned anything from 1920s prohibition? When stupid politicians voted to ban alcohol consumption across the United States, and in so doing, created the model for organised crime, which still exists today, and lives on In the drug cartels of South America. So shouldn’t we be de-criminalising instead of criminalising otherwise lawful social activity? But here we go again, with Starmer’s plan to ban tobacco smoking in pub gardens and parks, where it does not affect anyone except the smoker.

Sunak started all of this nonsense with his talk about raising the smoking age every year, so that generations going forward will never be able to legally smoke. He did it to take away attention from the housing and cost of living crisis which his government had created.So are we going to see police officers frisking down young people, just in case they are hiding cigarettes? That’s going to be great for community relations! Now Starmer has picked up the reins.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a smoker. But I don’t like to see anyone being put out of work just because someone wants to make a political point. Nor do I wish to see the creation of a new criminal underground. Haven’t we got enough criminals already? Or police chasing round after kids and pub- smokers, when they should be catching burglars and shoplifters. If Starmer wants to ban something, he should ban online gambling.That causes much more psychological damage and addiction. As well as family breakups.But no one seems bothered about that. In fact, I’d guess that if you’ve got the wit and the know-how, anyone could start up a gambling platform from their own back bedroom.You wouldn’t need to employ anyone. And you wouldn’t need to rent any premises.You just pay for the software and the marketing.Then sit back and watch the cash roll in. It almost seems too easy.