http://jeanromsey.blogspot.com: August 2013

Monday, 19 August 2013

Oh, to be in England...

Cowes Week races

England is basking in the sun

And we are all enjoying the many events being staged around the country, in particular, the hot air balloon festival over Bristol; Cowes Week sailing events around the Isle of Wight; and the open-air stage performances and concerts, including the London Proms.

We are fortunate to have the Plaza Theatre nearby in Romsey, their latest production of Les Miserables, a musical based on a story of justice, redemption and love by Victor Hugo, was so powerful, and the staging and cast were so brilliant, that I was moved to tears, in spite of having seen the West End stage show a few years ago and watched the film twice. It was even more remarkable that the cast were all from RAODs Youth group, who contributed so much of the power, energy and talent required, for this show to move to tears not only the audience but also its Director Lisa Gilmour, during its production.

Flowers to lift our spirit

Our terrace is now full of blooms, and feels almost Mediterranean. We lent a helping hand to Youzhi and Jerome in their new home; to get their garden ready for a BBQ, in time for their parents' arrival from China and from France. Our young friends have done well this year: with baby Amelie born last September, they even found time to move into a three-bedroom family home before both being now back at work.

Youzhi and Jerome

These working parents are the backbones of our economy and we salute them for their diligence and enterprising spirit; for investing industriously into their future and ours. If all young people were to harness their precious time into productive employment, they will grow the country's economy and our future prosperity.

Amelie now 11 months old

Full employment will help the nation to continue the good work of the NHS for our future health and well being, and also provide for future generations by reducing our current national debts; get earnings back on track; and to generate decent interest rates and good returns on investments.

The highlight this year has got to be the birth of our future King, to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, on Monday July 22 at 4.24 pm. The healthy 8lb 6oz baby had no problem with the royal wave, right from birth at his first appearance in public on Tuesday, when half the world awaited with their cameras to record the occasion.

Oyez! oyez! oyez!

From the moment the Town Crier stepped outside of St. Mary's Hospital, with the red, white and blue feathers in his tricorner hat, ringing his bell, crying "Oyez, oyez, oyez!" to make the announcement, millions tweeted on the internet about the royal birth. 'It's a Boy' went out from the BT Tower, the Tower Bridge in London and the CN Tower in Toronto, switched to blue to welcome His Royal Highness.

My first painting of Baby George

A 21 gun salute from the Royal Horse Artillery was fired in Green Park, followed by 62 guns salute from the Tower of London, and the glorious peals from the bells of Westminster Abbey was followed by the 5,000 changes of the Cambridge Surprise Royal peal which sounded for more than three hours, to salute His Royal Highness, third in line to the throne after his father Prince William and grandfather Prince Charles. All being well, he would become the 43rd monarch since William the Conqueror.

Prince George Alexander Louis was named just before 6.30 pm on Wednesday. He could one day be the head of the Armed Forces; the Supreme Governor of the Church of England; and Head of State in many countries around the world, as well as Head of the Commonwealth of possibly 54 nations. As King George, he would join six distinguished monarchs thus named: the first King George took the throne in 1714, the second was crowned in 1727.

King George lll was best known for his madness and for losing the American colonies but went on to reign for nearly 60 years. His son was a Prince Regent with a notorious love life but with an influential taste in art, and was king George lV for 10 years. 80 year elapsed before the fifth was crowned in 1910 who lived through turbulent times including the First World War and the Great Strike. It was King George V who changed the family name to Windsor.

King George Vl

King George Vl , known to the family as Bertie (Albert), reluctantly became monarch when his brother Edward Vlll abdicated in 1936. He chose to be George Vl in honour of his father. He didn't feel up to the job, according to the recent film, The King's Speech, but he was much- admired as a leader during the Second World War. His death in 1952 led to his daughter becoming Queen Elizabeth II, who last year celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, 60 years on the throne, and looked set to beat the reign of Elizabeth I.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

The Romsey Art Group will be holding its Autumn Exhibition from Saturday September 28 until 6 October this year, so I must put brush to canvas soon to make sure my work is completed before hand-in date. Do come and visit our Exhibition at the Mountbatten Gallery, Lee, near Romsey, Hampshire SO51 9LG.

Summer flowers are colourful this year

Speak to you again in a few weeks' time. Hope you enjoy your summer wherever you are.

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A Change for the Better

With so many hospitals closing in the UK, today we have less than 140,000 hospital beds compared to 550,000 beds in 1948 when our National Health Service was founded. But modern technology from America will soon step in to relieve the pressure on our A & E Centres. Take a look at iDoctor here

iDoctor http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=r13uYs7jglg

We can change our life to do some of the things you have always wanted at any time you feel it is time. Take a look at the SLOMO clip below, just click on the link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/opinion/slomo.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

A Lion called Christian

In 1969 Ace Bourke and John Rendall from Australia bought a lion cub from a London department store, Harrods, and named him Christian. He grew too big to keep as a pet in Chelsea and had to be returned to the wild in Kenya.

Years later Christian still remembered his 'parents' and like long lost friends. What a reunion! Click this link to watch the video: http://youtu.be/4enNZqNrwYc

My view on current situations

Could our climate really be changing in this Millenium?

Only a week ago we had snow in Devon, one of the warmest places in the South of England that even boasts a comparison with the Riviera in Europe.

In the USA's Tornado Alley, the most destructive tornado in history travelling at 200 mph, flattened the suburb of Moore in Oklahoma City in just 40 minutes without warning, causing so much grieve and loss of lives. This powerful tornado had been rated four, on a five point Enhanced Fujita Scale, making it the second most dangerous type, with more warnings to place Central Texas on further tornado watch.

More importantly the US government must ensure that any new buildings constructed in the Tornado Alley should include shelters, basement or safe rooms, specially built to protect from such tornadoes. This Great Plain experiences more tornadoes than any where else, at the height of the season in May and June, there may be two to four each day.

There are fears that tornadoes may become more common as global temperatures change, and such devastation as Moore must be avoided at all costs.

Having visited Shanghai thrice, I am still astonished at the constant changes to this great city's skyline and the speed of its industrial revolution, from 1949 when Chairman Mao's Communism took power, to 1992 when the People's Republic of China opened its doors again to foreign trade, and to today's superpower it has become, as discovered by Piers Morgan.

This video was recorded over 5 years ago, but if you have never been there, or even if you have but don't know much about the place from your tour guide, then you will be amazed to see how Shanghai has progressed - especially with regards to women CEOs. Click on the link to see modern, glamorous Shanghai today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wbGFeDR7Gg&feature=endscreen&NR=1

FOR OUR ECONOMY TO GROW

We need to get Britain manufacturing again; for goods to utilise our rail freight, road haulage and container ports; to expand our market worldwide and to be self-reliant.

With so much intelligence and creativity in our young and educated population, I am amazed to find that our UK Business Sector has not developed a strong, effective Export and Marketing Department to help develop products created by our inventive industrialists, nor facilitate co-operation between Universities and businesses to research new ideas and promote British Manufactures for export. All over the world, entrepreneurs are learning English to be able to trade with us, we do have the advantage of doing business anywhere.

For the Conservatives to win in 2015, David Cameron cannot rely simply on rhetoric about turning the tide on years of decline here or in the EU, in the battle for Britain’s future.

The government is likely to double the national debt inherited from the Labour government, if we continue to lose high street shops, vital businesses, century-old corporations and franchises, leading to empty premises and redundancies, which serve only to reduce the much needed Corporation and income tax, whilst swelling the ranks of the unemployed queuing for benefits, job-seeker and housing allowances.

The government must put a stop to the culture of rewarding failure with disproportionate pension packages, and gross bonuses unrelated to services rendered, for bankers, health service managers and local authority leaders alike, especially those who failed in their jobs. When an executive is recruited for a job in the public sector, the salary determines the job’s worth, there is no reason why bonuses or pensions should exceed the total pay, particularly in the present economic climate.

Any government that cannot legislate against this extortionate ransom culture, practised by leaders of public services, then they don’t deserve to be re-elected.

Take the news of Sir David Nicholson stepping down next year, retiring with his full pension of £2 million. Not more than a few decades ago he would have recognised his failure in running NHS England and resigned. Should he be allowed to take his full pay and pension package? It's an astronomical sum by any standard, and that same sum spent on improved nursing care at Stafford Hospital would probably have saved all those who died, from living under those unbearable conditions as described in various reports.

How does one man who could never do the job of supervising the whole of the NHS all by himself, deserve so much? We also must remember that in the costly reorganisation of the NHS, hundreds of managers were made redundant, obviously because they have not achieved success in their particular sector. After receiving huge severance pay and pension, why are some of them re-employed with new contracts, and probably on even higher pay packages, to carry on doing what they did before? Are we spending tax-payers' money wisely?

It is indeed time for the Chancellor to look into how much the re-vamping of the NHS is going to cost the nation and really cut down on management expenses, but increase training for good nursing care to properly run each hospital, to make them fit for purpose. Cut out the middleman, trim the fat and get Britain back to basic good value, responsible and trustworthy.

Only then will the Conservative government be returned to power. Austerity alone will not suffice. The voters need to see real changes, and good value for their taxes instead of wastage.

Congratulations to Nigel Farage for leading the UKIP to win almost a quarter of the votes cast at our local elections, thus forming the fourth major political party of Britain.

This is not just a protest vote from the public, but a vote of confidence in Mr. Farage as an honest man of integrity, not greedy for power for himself, but for the nation in trouble, and in debt to the tune of £billion, which no successive governments since WW2, had been able to eradicate.

UKIP's common sense approach to easing our national debt by opting out of EU membership will save us £billions in subsidies, huge MEP pay and expenses, and massive prison expenditure for un-deported foreign criminals. If we also temporarily withhold foreign aids until our own debt situation is no longer as bad as those we sought to assist, we should come out of debt sooner.

Chancellor Osborne should continue with our austerity policy, and also bring civil servants' pay and pension in line with the rest of the private sector remuneration to encourage growth in our economy with youth employment and private enterprises.