I'm hearing hurt feelings on the radio coverage of the World Cup as English people are reminded that there are Scots out there who want to see Anyone But England win. Part of the hurt is that many English people cheer on the other Home Countries when they are not playing against England in sporting events.  This ABE thing is getting tiresome and is damaging Scotland's relationship with those who are still our overlords. It's not worth it. But I would remind people that when it comes to the Football Association there are grounds for a grudge. It killed off the oldest annual international fixture in the world because it declared Scotland was not worth playing anymore. And let's not forget the insufferable BBC coverage of that annual fixture. The arrogant and ignorant Jimmy Hill was only the worst feature of a game day that made a nonsense of the BBC's claim to be a national broadcaster. It was difficult not to transfer the disgust aroused from the BBC to the England squad and the FA. 

I heard a disturbing item on that font of racism and intolerance, the BBC World Service, about a group of African female trainee car mechanics who planned to go into business - businesses that only employed female car mechanics. Is that not sex discrimination? I would hope the said African country if it allows this discrimination also permits all male car repair businesses too. And that the BBC approves of the all male businesses as much as it evidently supports the all female versions. All too often supposed Equality campaigns are really demands for special treatment. These female car mechanics almost certainly  want the right to work in any car repair workshop facilities while denying men the same employment opportunities. I bet if they tire of a female only operation they will complain bitterly if they are refused a job elsewhere on grounds of gender.  I would not want to join a golf club, for instance, that banned women. But  as it seems acceptable for there to be female only golf clubs, surely men who do not wish to share a green or a clubhouse with women should be equally indulged. 

I hate it when people lie to me. It's like they are saying they think I'm stupid enough to believe the lie. They say Truth is the first casualty in war. But do the Ukrainians have to be such crude propagandists? I didn't expect much from the Russians. Part of the problem is that the collapse of mainstream media means that we have to rely on cheap semi-amateur news stringers for news of the war. I encountered many of these sad characters in Kosovo and Afghanistan in ever increasing numbers as the years went on. The Blundstone boots were kind of red flag. So, sadly, I have very little idea of what is really going on in Ukraine. Much of the coverage makes little sense. And a good rule of thumb is if it doesn't make sense, it isn't true. There is no real need to embellish the terrible things happening in Ukraine. Have they never heard the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf? 

Well, if you don't want a speeding ticket, don't speed. I cringe everytime I hear that in Edmonton, Canada. I've had two speeding tickets and on both occasions I had to search for the speed limit sign afterwards. In one case the driver would have to ignore the traffic they were merging with and watch the opposite side of the street to see the sign; in the case of the other ticket the sign was frequently obscured by parked buses. The photo radar trap undercover trucks used to sit outside my block of flats. That was irresponsible because the industrial strength flash gun on the truck when activated blinded passing pedestrians when it fired in their faces. But trying proving in 20 years' time that your blindness was caused by the retinal damage done by that flash. The speed limit sign for that stretch of road was tiny. Most of my neighbours certainly didn't know the limit was dropped by 10 kilometres an hour at the end of the street. Then a bigger sign was put up and the speed trap vanished. Weeks later the photo radar trap trucks had returned. Right enough, the bigger  sign was gone and the tiny one was back. Recently, the trap trucks have been painted bright yellow but the speed limit signs are still tiny or badly positioned. 

The Rememberence Day weekend approaches. Here in Canada November 11th is a public holiday. I suspect the traditional silence is slightly more often observed here than in the United Kingdom. The Silence I thoroughly approve of. Some of the Rememberence Day parades, not so much. There is a painfully thin line between commemoration and celebration. The Silence is purely about the folk who didn't make it back. Though perhaps it should also also be about considering those who did come back but were  never the same again.