Hi Everyone
This week my attention has been drawn to mice. Before you become alarmed none of the little furry creatures have appeared in our house to feast on the furniture or curtains. No, these mice are in a laboratory and as they approach middle age they have been injected with a new medicine. The result is that it has been discovered that these mice live about 25% longer than their pals next door. The idea of this work is to provide us humans with the same opportunity. Now, as I am in a similar situation although I am not furry of course, it is possible that if I was able to take this new treatment I could still be writing this Rubbish on my 107th birthday. However appealing that may be to you it does not say that the aches and pains would go away, or the fact that I have forgotten where I put my lunch sandwich or that I would no longer need to go to the toilet a four in the morning. With that in mind, I have decided that this option is not for me. Now this week we have had an outage, whatever that means, with airlines, cross channel ferries, supermarkets, hospitals and even doctors surgeries in chaos just as the summer holiday season is starting. With probably more outages to come, the ongoing climate change dangers and the prospect of four more years of Donald, I think that if I was able to live another twenty years I would be a fully paid up member of the universal funny farm.
This week marks the start of the Olympic Games in Paris. As a sports lover who was never very good at any of the sports I tried, I admire the skill and years of dedication, sacrifice, and skill needed just to compete in the games never mind win a medal. At the same time, I have thought for a number of years that the fastest growing industry in the world is security, from protecting Kings and Presidents down to you and me as we enter our local supermarket. The security operation needed to protect the 10,500 athletes and estimated 16 million visitors will cost a staggering £270M employing 45,000 police and soldiers plus counter drone experts. By comparison, 9500 were required to police the London 2012 Olympics. Back in the 1980s my friend was in charge of the police security at the Stoke City football stadium. At that time there was a lot of potential violence between rival supporters. I queried whether all the cost and manpower of keeping the peace was justified. He replied that whatever the cost, public garherings of all sorts must be maintained. Now there is very little trouble at football games so the ongoing actions of the police were justified. I think that we all hope that the Olympic games in Paris will be remembered for the right reasons.
I do not usually indulge in speculation but I think that by the time you read next week's Rubbish Joe Biden might possibly have listened to my advice and joined me next year in tending to his tomatoes and picking his runner beans. For him and for the rest of the world it is not what happens in the next four months but assuming that he wins the election what happens in the next four years. We are told that the world is in a dangerous place at the moment so we surely cannot have a man with fading physical and mental capacity or a man with a sidekick who is not interested in what happens in Ukraine being the guardians of our safety for the next four years. My perspective is that this is becoming a very serious soap opera.
Just a Thought :
What do you get when you cross a corrupt lawyer with a crooked politician? Pick any one from twelve.
Finishing second at the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.
Brian
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