by
Frank Hatton

Honestly, sincerely, and I kid you not, I do try to the best of my ability to be cheerful and optimistic. Now, from that simply statement you will gather that there has to be a ‘but’, and indeed there is. The ‘but’ is, and it truly it is a very big ‘but’, the newspapers, and the TV news will just not allow me to pursue this wish. Like at this particular moment in time, I have only just got over my anger at the hi-jacked plane which landed at Stanstead airport, just outside London, filled with refugees who want to claim political asylum in our fair land,..... like I told you in last month’s article, we are the softest touch in the world, and the news is spreading very quickly. Now, in addition to this ludicrous situation, the Afghanistan government are not only asking the British to pay all of the costs in refurbishing the hi-jacked plane, but, also to meet the refuelling bills, and any other expenses they might incur in getting their plane back home. Now, in today’s paper, the first six pages are filled with the story of a twenty year period of child abuse, both physical and sexual, which has been taking place in a number of children’s care homes. Am I being too naive to ask why the devil it has taken this long to come to the attention of the authorities??? There is also news of another hike in petrol prices. Now, it is a couple of years since I was last in the USA, but, my recollection is that the price of gas was around a $1 a gallon, we are paying currently $5.50 a gallon in your currency, and the news is that another price increase of 22 cents a gallon is on the way. Like I say, I do really try to see the bright side of life, but, it gets progressively more difficult. The big story at the moment though is the problem of Northern Ireland. You may or may not be familiar with the trials and tribulations of this sad episode, but, while the history of the dilemma is hundreds of years old, this particular terrorist war has been going on for some thirty years or so, and it was only a couple of years back that a sort of agreement was reached, and, what was called a ‘cease fire’ was declared by the terrorist Provisional Irish Republican Army. In return for which, a multi-party government was to be set up with the balance of power being shared by all concerned. The actual truth of the matter is hard to ascertain, in that the Unionist side, (that’s the section of the population who want to remain under British rule) claim that with the formation of a multi-party government, involving all sections of the community, it was agreed that the IRA would ‘ decommission’ its weaponry, but, after all the dust had died down, and the new government was formed and operative, the political wing of the IRA could not, or would not deliver on the ‘decommissioning’, and the IRA said it would not surrender one bullet, or one ounce of Semtex. This has brought about a reinstatement of direct rule from our Westminster parliament, and the collapse of the newly formed N.I. government. So, unless it is agreed that Northern Ireland will be run with an armed private army waiting in the wings, who answer to no law or authority, it would seem that we are heading back into wholesale bombings and murders by the IRA. I may have mentioned in the past that a couple of years back, we had a national lottery start up in this country. I know this sort of thing is not new to the USA, and many other countries around the world, but, to staid steady old Britain, it was quite a departure from our normal style. Now, when this venture was put up for tenders, there were several companies which wanted to run the thing, and I would imagine that this was primarily because of the amount of profit there was to be made. However, among these tenders was one from one of our business superstars, in the person of a Mr Richard Branson, you may in fact have read or heard about him. He started life selling from a public telephone box, and built up a business empire which includes Virgin Airlines. He claimed that he did not want to make any profit at all from the lottery, and that he would donate all of the profits to good causes. For some strange reason that my simple mind cannot understand, Mr Branson did not get the contract, and it was awarded to a consortium called ‘Camelot’, who have made quite a lot of money for themselves. Now, it would seem, the contract is again coming up for new tenders soon, and our Richard Branson has again decided to put in his bid, and again said that he does not want to make any profit from the venture. All of the money made would go to charity and good causes. Perhaps I need to ask my doctor to put me on a stronger pill, but, for the life of me, I fail to understand why somebody like Branson, who publicly goes on record as not wanting to make any money out of the lottery, has to battle it out with profit making private organisations. The latest news is that he, (Richard Branson) is teaming up with your Mr Bill Gates to make a joint bid for the running of our lottery. I find it easy to believe that Bill Gates would not need any extra cash, so, maybe this time something will come of it. 'til next time, Frank Hatton

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