Welcome to hypothecate the Random Postings & Observations blog.
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It has been obvious for quite some time now that the Catholic Church is in deep trouble. Over the past few years the Vatican, the Pope and the entire Catholic priesthood has been found guilty and convicted, in the public eye and in some cases in court, of horrendous abuses perpetrated on young people. The outrage has reached all the way to the top, as the Vatican is accused of covering up sordid behavior and ignoring and/or punishing anyone who expresses opposing views. In a recent BBC documentary it was strongly suggested that Cardinal Sean Brady, Primate of Ireland, refused to act on allegations of abuse on the part of Fr Brendan Smyth back in the 1970′s. The public outcry and loud recriminations have demoralized Catholic priests worldwide, but especially in Ireland. Most Irish Catholic priests reportedly feel that they are unsupported by Church leadership and under attack by their own flocks. The Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) met in Dublin on Monday (May 7) with the stated goal of trying to determine the direction and ultimately the fate of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Some of the ACP’s leaders have been criticized by the Vatican for their views on issues such as celibacy in the priesthood, birth control and the ordination of female priests. Historically, those who refute the policies and orders of the ruling order have little recourse if they wish to remain in the fold. The ACP meeting was titled “Towards an Assembly of the Irish Catholic Church” and it was attended by well over 1,000 priests, far more than expected. The organisers feel the attendance indicates a serious and wide-ranging demand for a more democratic leadership and response to the needs and opinions of Catholic believers in the lay population. The new Association and this week’s meeting are the beginning of what many hope will be a sort of reformation in the Catholic Church. There is strong support for changes that begin with awareness of the need for genuine and empathetic communication between the Vatican and the rest of the world, starting with its own ‘family’ of lower orders from Cardinals on down to lay people. The fear is that if Catholics can’t trust their leadership, the Catholic Church as it has stood for centuries is doomed. Recruitment for the priesthood has declined to a trickle, and one of the ACP’s organisers observed that if there are no priests, there will, basically, be no church. Another meeting is set for the end of this month which is expected to bring a number of lay groups together that can establish a sort of consensus group to represent the broad base of Irish Catholics in Ireland. Issues that will be discussed include removal of the requirement for priestly celibacy and the inclusion of women in the priesthood as well as other changes in Vatican policy. The most important issue, however, comes down to the power of the Pope to arbitrate on current affairs without any concession to the wishes of the lay population or even of the priests and nuns who are committed to serving the Church. According to some observers, the problem lies in the fact that if a priest is disassociated with the Vatican, he almost automatically loses authority with his parishioners. Therefore priests have to follow orders or risk losing influence and ultimately their position in the Catholic Church. It is a dilemma that will require a lot of courage and determination on the part of dedicated priests in Ireland and elsewhere, but the ACP is trying to address the problems and make a beginning on the solutions.
There was a time, not so long ago, that you could be the proud owner of a pair of jeans, new without tags, from a smoke and pet free home, for the princely sum of 99p plus postage and packing. These were days of heady excitement as you poised, finger on the mouse, to get a late bid in that would trounce the opposition and the thrill you got when you saw ‘winner’ flash up was absolutely priceless. Inevitably, those salad days couldn’t last, and online auctions have now become virtual battle fields as the intense need to win that burns within us all causes us to pay more for a used item than it would new from the shops. This, my friends, is a top notch addiction, known as I-can’t-be-bothered-to-get-my-bum-off-the-couch-and-shop-like-a-normal-person syndrome. This is an addiction where the junkie gets their fix when their inbox pings and there sits an email proclaiming them to be the winner of the used tissue that Milli Vanilli wiped their brows with circa 1994 when on their tour of German bus stops. Like all fixes this is short lived however, and very soon that desperate urge to win another hunk of junk becomes overwhelming and they simply must have Liam Gallagher’s toenail clippings. The auction addict is only brought back to reality when their paypal, bank account, or both are empty, and they can’t pay for the items they have bid on. This leads to all sorts of complications and unless resolved, the account will be closed down. This is a wake up call for many, who then go on to leave prosperous and fulfilling lives in the real world. Others, sadly, see it as a kind of challenge to be overcome, and armed with a new bank account, and a new user name, MammaPooBear comes back to live like a phoenix from the ashes and does their bit for both society and the environment by buying up everyone’s rubbish that would otherwise end up on the nearest landfill. As we draw ever closer to that marathon known as the final of the World Snooker Championship, the word is that many of the top players are fearing burning out due to the hectic schedule and amount of tournaments they have to play. While this is prevalent in other sports where the players actually break into a sweat now and then this is snooker, that game where a man bends over a table and pots balls into pockets for wads of money. Since the darts impresario Barry Hearn got his claws into snooker and has introduced nicknames and walk on music to, it has to be said, one of the mind numbingly boring sports ever created, the profile of the game has increased tenfold, Mr Hearn in rubbing his hands in glee with pound signs in his eyes, and the poor players are getting oh so tired. Only this week,7 times champion Stephen Hendry packed his cue away for good after suffering a whopping defeat and one of the reasons he cited for quitting was that there were simply too many tournaments now. This is open to debate as these once great players have clearly past their sell by date and can’t compete with the young blood that is streaming through the veins of the sport. Then again, this is snooker, that leisurely game that gentlemen play in their clubs until they are too old to either lift a cue, or bend over the table, or both. There could be something in what Hendry says, as constant travelling and staying in hotels away from their families is definitely for the young who can burn the candle at both ends and still produce match winning performances. The amount of travelling involved with professional snooker, or any other sport for that matter, is invariably going to be tougher on the oldies, so maybe this is a sign that you should listen to your body not your heart and give up gracefully when it all becomes too much. There was a small piece in the press recently stating that in the popularity stakes, the fastest growing pet in the UK was the chicken. Many will have glanced at this, smiled to themselves, then moved on. Those who read it properly will understand completely why keeping your own chickens is becoming so popular; have you seen the price of eggs these days? How they warrant £2 for 6 eggs covered in poo and feathers beggars belief, of course, they have the magical words ‘free range’ on the carton which, along with organic, is a licence to print money. These are tough times, prices are rising, wages are falling or at least remaining stagnant, and those of a certain age who still like to go to work on an egg find themselves having to treat this every day item as somewhat of a luxury. There are cheaper eggs to be found obviously, and if you shop around you will find boxes on the shelves from caged hens, which we are told come from chickens who are badly treated and forced to lay eggs. So we, as the humble consumer, are forced to pay through the nose for eggs that come from chickens that are treat well, which conjurs up all sorts of images of chicken rioting, and picket lines where they line up holding placards and clucking ‘better rights for chickens’. If your purse doesn’t allow you to give a jot where your eggs come from so be it, but you must have noticed that these cheap eggs look like they have recently left the rear of a budgie and it takes three to cover a slice of toast. Little wonder then that people are looking at building chicken runs, buying a few chickens, and thus have their own egg supply on tap. Chickens may not be man’s best friend yet, but they are certainly our purse’s. Once upon a time, many years ago well, pre the 1980′s to be exact, if you wanted to lose weight you invested in set of scales, stocked up on healthy food and got on with it. Now, the way to go is to trail out in all weathers to a slimming class where the scales tell you that you’ve lost 2lbs, but your purse sheds at least £10 in class fees, raffle tickets, recipe books, healthy snacks etc etc. These slimming groups are big business, even in these hard times memberships have reached record levels and every scouts hut, community centre and bus stop in the land proclaims that they have a slimming club there 30 times a week so there will be a class at a time to suit you. The idea behind this is that the support of the group is what’s behind successful weight loss, in reality that’s as hard to swallow as a cake made from couscous. It is fear that makes you stick to your diet, you know that if you creep in at the last minute and break the golden rule of gaining half a pound that week, this will become the biggest crisis since Watergate when it is dissected in the group session. The leader will work through the names, celebrating the losses, asking for next weeks target and treating those who are generally heading in the right direction as some kind of demi-god. Then she comes to you, sitting at the back, head down trying not to be noticed. She has to remonstrate you, you’re a truly bad person, but secretly she’s rejoicing as that’s another week you are going to have to pay for to get nearer your target weight. If you really want to lose weight, and for the right reasons, you don’t need to spend your money to be publicly ridiculed, save it up and treat yourself to a new dress to celebrate your weight loss instead of swelling the coffers of these modern day Nazis.  Local lads aim to raise £10,000 for Leicestershire hospice LOROS, the hospice based in Leicester, has benefitted from a £6694 donation courtesy of three local fund raisers. Lee Peel, a senior engineer from WYG and two of his friends; Lee Quincey and Aaron Hall, have between them arranged a vast range of fund raising events for the hospice including race nights, dinner evening, cake selling and on Sunday completed the London Marathon. All their hard work has been to raise much needed funds for LOROS, the Leicestershire and Rutland Organisation for the Relief of Suffering, which is a local charity providing for care and support for those who need it in the Leicestershire and Rutland area. LOROS is a specialist centre providing skilled nursing and medical care and since 2008 has been a great support to Aaron and his family after he lost his mum cancer. Jason Peel, Senior Engineer, WYG said: “I have been friends with Aaron for over eight years and LOROS gave him and his family tremendous support at such a difficult time. Aaron wanted to thank LOROS and raise lots of money in his mum, Anne’s memory and we have been helping him to do this. “I have had a great deal of support from my Leicester colleagues at WYG who regularly buy my homemade cakes and buns and I can’t thank them enough. They also provide support on our Facebook page, The Boys Raise for LOROS and Twitter. “We have many other fundraising events coming up including, a bungee jump and the Soap Box Derby this summer.” Christian Weikert-Picker, LOROS Fundraiser said: “After my first meeting with the lads I could see they had a real passion and drive to make a difference in their fundraising. “We have been working with them throughout the year with the focus on the London Marathon and are very appreciative to them all for raising this magnificent sum towards the care of our patients and their families. I am sure this summer promises to be a fun and exciting time with the introduction of the Soap Box Derby”. On 17 June 2012 the lads are supporting LOROS in organising the first ever Leicester Soap Box Derby in Western Park, Leicester where teams will be invited to race a home made go-kart, (or soap box kart), along a downhill track in a gravity powered race to get the fastest time. Jason continued: “We are now encouraging local businesses to enter teams in the race. There will be a number of prizes available on the day and we are hoping that the event will be a lot of fun. We can’t wait to see how creative the karts will be.” If you want to find out more about LOROS please visit http://www.loros.com/hospice/ or if you would like to donate please visit justgiving.com/theboysraiseforloros. With incomes falling and prices ever rising, many have been forced to rethink our annual summer holidays. If you believe all the hype in the media, we are, en masse, turning our backs on foreign holidays and choosing to stay in good old blighty, but the truth is never as simple as it seems. Yes, there are many choosing to stay in this country, but the savvy traveller has found ways to still escape to the sun but make their pound go further. Exchange rates are constantly fluctuating, but when you see that the euro is now only around 1.1-2 to the pound, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that your money isn’t going to go far. The reality is that when you compare flights to petrol and factor in the price of food, drinks etc it is now only marginally cheaper to head south to the sun than to stay at home. The problem is that most countries seem to have tapped into the British psyche; instead of lowering prices to attract more people, they have put the prices up so the ones that still make the trip are paying around 50% more. Greece are the worst offenders, they are up the proverbial creek without a paddle, desperate for more tourists and fighting ever increasing fuel costs that are driving up flight prices, so they rise their hotel prices even higher, scaring away those who would have come and effectively force them to go elsewhere. The Turks, on the other hand, have it sussed. Flights there are anything but cheap, but to compensate they’ve dropped their hotel prices, making them just about the cheapest in Europe. You then have the currency aspect, with the Turkish Lira standing at around 2.7 to the pound. Little wonder then that the Turkish resorts are bursting, while in other countries hotels and restaurants are half full, and they only have themselves to blame. Pictures have appeared showing Demi Moore in public for the first time since her stint in rehab. The official reason given for this was exhaustion, but after an ugly divorce played out in public and constant media attention of her numerous cosmetic procedures, there could be many reasons that made this 80′s starlet seek help and refuge aware from the glare of the paparazzi’s flash. Moore is far from the first, and will of course not be the last, celebrity to check herself into one of the secretive establishments that aim to nurture the needs of the fragile celebrity and get them back on their feet and ready to face the world again. Fame can be a costly business, in terms of loss of privacy and constant attention for those few who pursue it so relentlessly. For every celeb that does take time out in rehab however, there are three times as many that don’t, so why do some succumb to the pressure and others seem to deal with it so easily? This is like asking why do some people catch cold when others don’t, as your psyche, values and who you have around you can obviously make a huge difference, and so many stars cut off ties with their family, surround themselves with yes men, and live in a bubble about as far out of touch with reality as is imaginable. Hear enough times a day that you are wonderful and you will believe it, the pain that comes with a break up, or a film flop, or a disparaging comment in the press reminds these fragile ego’s that they are as human as the rest of us, and they simply can’t deal with it. At the end of the day, there are those who are cut out to play the fame game, and those that are not. Many realise in time and live out normal lives in private, and there are those who realise way to late. The only thing we know for definite is that as long as we have celebrities, those clinics will continue to watch the money come rolling in. Spring is here, soon it will be summer, and despite the current climate we will be piling into taxis to our local airports and jetting off to somewhere whose summer isn’t defined as two good days in the middle of July. With the situation being pretty gloomy in Europe to say the least, and the exchange rate being a joke, more and more of us are looking to countries outside the Eurozone which may cost more to get there, but can’t be beaten on accommodation prices or cost of living. If you are going somewhere new and haven’t really got much idea about the place, the first place you stop off is invariably the online review sites. These have been the holy grail of travellers for years now, but big news broke last week that one major site has been ordered to remove the bit that says all their reviews are from genuine travellers as, shock horror, some have been found to be false. Now anybody who read this and was genuinely shocked need a slap quite frankly, as anyone with half a brain would have realised long ago that it makes sense for rival hotels to get people to leave bad reviews of their competitors. Bring up a list of hotels in any holiday destination in the world and take a look at the reviews for a certain time. There you will find 5 glowing reports and 1 stinker, all supposedly coming from people who were in the same hotel at the same time. 5 says it was spotless, 1 says it was manky, 5 praise the staff, 1 says they were rude and unfriendly. Aha you cry, that is the planted review, and while that very well may be the case there is also the other option; that some Brits are plain old snobs that want something for nothing. Take Marmaris in Turkey for example, a bustling resorts with around 500 hotels. They, unlike the Greeks, have dropped the prices of their hotels considerably so that even despite the higher costs of the flights, the Brits are flocking there. Now, dropping prices is one thing, but when you see that you can stay bed and breakfast for £15 for 2 weeks, you have to blink to make sure you’ve read it right. The next step is straight to the review sight but ask yourself this, what are you really expecting to see there? A trace over £1 a night with a breakfast thrown in, this ain’t going to be the Ritz and we shouldn’t expect it to be, but once you get to the reviews you will see that some people do. “not bad but very basic”, basic? You are paying £1 a night for goodness sake, you can’t get a loaf of bread for that at home, and you feel the need to complain! “continental breakfast not up to much” what were you expecting; a full English with juice and Earl Grey? These people should have their passports revoked and be forced to spend £60 for a dingy room in a guest house in the UK that doubles as a benefit hostel, THEN they may have cause to have a whinge. This kind of tourist doesn’t deserve to get a great priced holiday, and so what if you arrive and it isn’t that modern or up to date, you have a whole resort to explore and only need somewhere to put your head. So go somewhere in Europe, pay thousands for a holiday and leave the bargains to those who appreciate it, then go online and whinge about your four star nightmare in Benidorm instead! |
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