Dear Santa

A post by Tedious Tantrums

Dear Santa,

Hello Santa. It’s been a few years since I last corresponded with you. I say corresponded although in reality it was all one-way traffic. I wrote and asked and you delivered, up to a point anyway.

I enjoyed the red and yellow fixed wheel Triang tricycle with the solid tyres you brought for my 4^th Xmas. I was also particularly keen on the huge crane for my 7^th, the gun that shot round corners for my 8^th and Tommy Gun (down market version of Action Man) although his orange facial colouring may well have been ahead of it’s time.

There were many other presents, which I also enjoyed. The pretend shop with it’s own wee till and the pretend post office with it’s stamper could be enjoyed for hours at a time. Meccano and Lego were equally splendid as was plasticine. Spirograph had it’s moments along colouring in books, sticker book rub on transfer book thingies, painting by numbers and plastic moulds for making plaster of paris figures could also be entertaining but probably only the once. Other oddities, included bagatelle, home knitted jumpers or socks or gloves, pyjamas, slippers etc. didn’t quite hit the spot.

The Broons, Oor Wullie, The Beano, The Dandy, The Victor and The Rothmans Football Year Book were all very acceptable for reading material. And the copious amounts of chocolate from selection boxes.

All in all Xmas presents were pretty damn fine. Well done you Santa.

In later years things became a tad more sophisticated. My Timex watch, which showed numbers rather than having hands and a face, was a wow moment. I didn’t realise that buses didn’t run exactly to the timetable until I had that watch. There was also a pen, which could produce about ten colours of ink although it was fairly bulky. A full size drawing board complete with set square, those clear plastic triangles and a proper compass and dividers was used for years.

Music albums, cassettes CDs, music players of varying sizes and sound quality, cameras of varying size and quality although it was rare that the films were ever developed because it wasn’t cheap.

Yes Santa you did me proud.

I’m offering a deal here. I’ll not write to you again, ever, if you deliver the following requests? I’m sure this would save you and the elves time since it would reduce the metal bashing, wood turning and electronic soldering which modern day elves have to be experts on.

My list this year is –

1. Reduce the size of the BBC as suggested by Peter Jay.
2. Make the Guardian cease to exist or have it move right by a few degrees.
3. Shut the IPCC down.
4. Begin criminal prosecutions against all those scientists, journalists, politicians and general gobby warmists who have been responsible for presenting information in a misleading and biased form, which have resulted in policy development detrimental to the wider population.
5. Disband the EU instantly.

I have many other similar requests Santa but I think these five should “hit the spot as it were”.

I shall ensure that a drink, a cake and a carrot or two are left out for you and the reindeers when you make good the delivery of the aforementioned items.

All that is left to say is “have a restful time following your busy evening on the 25^th. I hope your New Year is jolly good and all the better for knowing you will have one less delivery to make from now on.

Bah humbug!  

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Guardian Gagged from Reporting Parliament

guardian.co.uk

The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges regarding free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights.

The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented - for the first time in its memory - from reporting parliament.

Read the whole article here.

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PAKISTAN CONCEDES to SHARIA LAW IN MALAKAND

People Fleeing Fighting in the Swat Valley

The opinion of those who observe the political situation in Asia is that Pakistan's stability is fundamental to creating stability in Afghanistan.

Tomorrow, the Guardian reports, the Pakistan government will announce that it has agreed to introduce sharia law in the Swat valley and neighbouring areas of the north-west (a vast region called Malakand) in a peace deal with Taliban militants.  Religious conservatives in Swat have long fought for sharia to replace Pakistan's secular laws and the Taliban militants who are in control of the area announced a ceasefire today, reacting to the government's agreement to bring in sharia courts.  

Critics warned that the new sharia regulations represented a capitulation to the extremists' demands and it would be difficult to stop hardliners elsewhere in the country from demanding that their areas also come under Islamic law.

'This is definitely a surrender," said Khadim Hussain of the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy, a thinktank in Islamabad. "If you keep treating a community as something different from the rest of the country, it will isolate them."'

'Javed Iqbal, a retired judge, speaking on Pakistani television, said: "It means that there is not one law in the country. It will disintegrate this way. If you concede to this, you will go on conceding."'

'In an interview broadcast todayby the US television channel CBS, Zardari admitted that the future of Pakistan was in grave danger from the Taliban, who are present in "huge parts" of the country. Islamabad is under severe pressure from the US, Britain and other western allies to rein in the extremists, who fight both in Pakistan and Afghanistan and play host to al-Qaida.

Zardari said: "We are aware of the fact [the Taliban are] trying to take over the state of Pakistan. We're fighting for the survival of Pakistan. "'

Zardari's wife, the former prime minister Benazir Bhutton, was killed by Islamic extremists in 2007.  The Pakistan Daily Times discusses the issues and severely criticises Mr Musharraf for the choices he made after 9/11.

Meanwhile Britain has troops fighting on the front line in Afghanistan and the present death toll is 145.  This change within Pakistan will be welcomed by the Afghani Taliban and it could well increase their numbers.

Our military should be brought home now.  This war will not be won by the west.

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