Chris Whiteside's Blog

 

I suspect there may be a few readers of this blog who knew Colin Frank Harris, who died peacefully on Sunday morning, at the Prince Michael of Kent care home where he had been a resident for the last two years. I knew Colin through the masonic lodge associated with my old school, which was both his and my mother lodge. His professional career as a teacher included a stint as Deputy Head of Eton college, where the future Prime Minister, David Cameron, was one of his students. He was also the Provincial Grand Master of the masonic province of Hertfordshire from 2003 to 2013. Colin was a very kind, sympathetic and supportive man to his many friends, and very modest and unassuming about his considerable achievements. Quite typically he arranged a private family ceremony to mark his passing and did not want any kind of fuss made about him. Nevertheless he exemplified the principle that he lived respected and has died regretted. He will be missed. Rest in Peace.

 

"Rachel Reeves is maxing out Britain’s credit card— and handing you the bill. £100bn in debt interest already. Growth’s flat. Inflation’s back. And tax hikes are coming. Only the Conservatives will stop the spending spree and get Britain back on budget" Kemi Badenoch , Conservative leader.

"Are you going to be on one of the first trains?" (BBC Journalist) "If I'm still alive, yes." (HS2 Supporter) (These were almost the last words of the BBC Radio 4 programme about HS2, From "Derailed," broadcast yesterday 25th July2025. The series is still available on BBC sounds)  

  Goodness me, that man was clever. What an extraordinarily powerful insight.

James O'Brien issued the following apology yesterday. “This is very important. At this time yesterday on the show, I read out a message from a listener called Chris, who said that his wife had been brought up in the Jewish faith and had attended what he described as a Shabbat school. He went on to make further claims about what he said she had been taught in that school. “As with all the texts and messages that I read out on the programme, I did so in good faith, but the message has understandably upset a lot of people, and I regret taking those unsubstantiated claims at face value and am genuinely sorry for that, and it is very important that I get that out there. Thank you for your attention.” The lesson we should all learn from this is that there is a lot of very nasty stuff out there and we all need to be very careful not to take unsubstantiated claims at face value. The comments from "Chris" which Mr O'Brien read out were both clearly untrue (as there is no such ...

This is the end credit sequence for the Kelsey Grammer nautical comedy "Down Periscope" in which Village People and the cast of the film combine to parody an earlier official music video for the song.

  With a slightly different translation, this quote from Galileo kicks off an interesting opinion piece by Christopher Howse in the Telegraph, extracts from which I quote below. “On Private Passions (the Desert Island Discs for grown-ups), Dava Sobel, the author of that fascinating book Longitude, quoted Galileo: “ The Bible teaches us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go. ” ” “Perhaps Galileo got the idea from the Renaissance man Cardinal Baronius, and I rather think St Augustine of Hippo said something similar in the 4th century in commenting on Genesis. They all took an interest in the way the heavens go, and how the mechanism began. Some solutions were daring. Medieval thinkers are often blackguarded for blindly following Aristotle, which they didn’t. But on the matter of the age of the universe, Aristotle had a breathtaking thesis: that it had always existed. I can’t quite understand how we have got to the present time if the preceding ages were infinite, but then there...

 

 

About the only thing Noam Chomsky ever said that I agree with is that if we don't believe in free expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. To be absolutely clear about this, I an not a " free speech absolutist " because what I support is freedom of speech within the law . If you use your freedom of speech to incite or organise criminal activity such as violent attacks on a group you do not like, or sabotage or damage public or private property, you are breaking the law and cannot claim free speech to protect yourself against the consequences.   But if you merely express, in a way which does not commit, facilitate or encourage any violent act or other breach of the law, or slander anyone, views which other people including myself might find offensive or despicable,  then you should have freedom of speech to express those views - and those who disagree with you should have, subject to exactly the same conditions,  the right to respond in robust ...

"Labour inherited a recovering economy. One year later: it’s bleeding out. Starmer and Reeves crashed the car with their budget but haven’t learned the lesson: You can’t tax your way to growth. Britain can’t afford any more high taxes. We need to cut spending.  Now." Kemi Badenoch MP , leader of the Conservative party.

I wrote yesterday, after the government devolution minister suggested that putting the election of a the first combined authority mayors in Cumbria and in Cheshire and Warrington, quote " will not affect the speed of establishment of the combined authorities in these areas ," that this was the most delusional statement I had ever heard even by the standards of the present government. I stand by that but it appears that Labour and the Lib/Dems are proposing to try to establish a Mayoral Authority without a mayor. It is difficult to find words which adequately reflect how utterly barmy this is, but at best it is like Hamlet without the Prince or a wedding without a bride, at worst this is an outrageous attempt to gerrymander the start of the new authority and usurp the power of the new mayor before he or she has even been elected, landing him or her with people and costs who may quite possibly not be at all suited to the policy and programme the new mayor could be elected with ...

Those of a certain age will remember that the slogan "Labour isn't working" has been used before. It was part of Mrs Thatcher's successful campaign against a Labour government which had massively increased unemployment. But there's reason for using this slogan again. True in 1979  and still true now - Labour governments cost jobs. Every Labour government in history has increased unemployment. And it's not hard to see why. One of the first thing the present Labour government did on taking office was to break their promise not to increase National Insurance and impose the biggest tax rise in history on Employers National Insurance contributions A forty billion pounds a year tax on jobs. Is it any wonder that this is what happened to the creation of jobs?  

 

For the third time Reform UK has lost a by-election caused when one of their newly-elected councillors resigned a council seat within days of winning it. Congratulations to Conservative candidate Jeremy Pert, who was elected to Staffordshire county council. He comfortably won the Gnosall and Eccleshall division on Thursday night after securing 1,689 votes (44.4%) and thanked voters, adding that no one “expected to see a by-election so early on and none of us wanted that”. Reform UK has yet to successfully defend any of the council seats they have won. In other by-election news the Conservatives gained the Logan ward on Market Harborough District Council from the Lib/Dems on Thursday. Congratulations to Councillor Paul Bremner who won the seat. Results were as follows: Paul Bremner, Conservatives           410 votes (31.3%, up +4.1% on 2023)  Lib Dems                        ...

I laughed in one way when I picked up the Sunday Times this morning at a cartoon on the front page. I  see a wholly different humour in the same cartoon now. The front page of the Sunday Times shows a policeman outside a house, talking to a man who is presumably the homeowner or tenant, with both up to their waists in water. The officer is saying "Someone been using their hosepipe, have they?" On a dry morning like this morning one would tend interpret the joke taking the officer's words at face value. However, this afternoon I and my family were drenched by extremely heavy rain while out shopping, and delayed on the way home by a traffic jam caused because the road home was nearly flooded with one lane impassable due to the water on the road. And yes, both the shopping centre where we got wet and the partly-flooded road were located in a hosepipe ban area. I noticed the paper again when I arrived home and the same cartoon had far more bite for me and a completely differe...

Cumbria is one of two areas where the Mayoral elections which the government had originally planned to hold in 2026, has been put back to May 2026. The other area where the election of the first mayor has been delayed is Cheshire & Warrington. Both Cumberland Council and Westmorland & Furness Council requested a one-year delay to appoint the first mayor of Cumbria. A similar request was made by the local councils covering Cheshire & Warrington. The councils which asked for a later election argued that the mayoral vote should be held at the same time as local council elections, giving more time to prepare and to save almost £1m in resources. Four other areas will go ahead with votes for new mayors in 2026, Those elections taking place next year – Greater Essex, Hampshire & the Solent, Norfolk & Suffolk, and Sussex & Brighton – will use the first past the post system. It's expected the government will change the voting system for mayoral elections held after t...

 

A recent repeat, but never mind. This was often on the radio when I was a small boy. And because I knew it from radio, I missed half the genius of the performance. The late Bobby Pickett had a face so flexible that he makes Jim Carrey look like someone on Botox - and I write that as someone who has been a judge in the World Gurning Championships. From Wikipedia: Pickett co-wrote "Monster Mash" with Leonard Capizzi in May 1962.  The song is a spoof on the dance crazes popular at the time, including the Twist and the Mashed Potato, which inspired the title. The song features Pickett's impersonations of veteran horror stars Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi (the latter with the line "Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?").  Every major record label declined the song, but after hearing it, Gary S. Paxton agreed to produce and engineer it. Among the musicians who contributed to the song are pianist Leon Russell and The Ventures drummer Mel Taylor.  Issued on Paxto...

Cynicism warning - I'm afraid some of the opinions in this post are very cynical indeed. I do not believe there is any perfect age at which people should gain the right to vote. However I do think there are three principles which have to apply: Whatever age you pick, in the interests of fairness it has to be the same for everyone It should not be arbitrarily moved up or down to suit the convenience of a particular government. It should be old enough to ensure most voters have a reasonable degree of maturity but young enough that the vast majority of adults can vote. Personally I think you can make a decent case for the voting age being at any point between 16 and 21. Whatever arbitrary age you pick, there will be some people below it who would have been perfectly mature enough to cast a responsible and intelligently considered vote, whether I personally agree with it or not, and millions of people over that age who don't have enough majority to be trusted to do the washing-up, ...

 

The Final Countdown, sung by Europe, with video of the first battle of Geonosis, from Star Wars II, "Attack of the Clones."  Because the clones in this, their first battle, look a lot like Imperial Stormtroopers, when this film came out, many of us watching at this point thought something along the lines of  "Ah, so this is where stormtroopers come from, and when they're shooting at targets who don't have plot armour, they CAN shoot straight."  Of course, we learned much, much later in "The Bad Batch" that Republic Clone troopers and Imperial storm troopers are not in fact the same, but never mind!

 

 

“I have lost count of the number of political gurus who said we should smash the system and start again from scratch.” “Tempting though that may be, it is totally unrealistic, because all we need to do to deliver that is mobilise the alternative, anti-woke, right-wing civil service that’s waiting in the wings to take things over when the Civil Service that we currently have is got rid of. “Simple. It’s also a fantasy. It’s a complete nonsense. It’s excuse-making, and it’s weak.” (Sir James Cleverly MP  in a speech this week He also said the “ go-to excuse for populist politicians ” is to pretend “ difficult choices and trade-offs don’t exist ”)

 

 

 

 

Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin was the award winning intro theme to the computer game, "Sid Meier's Civilisation IV." The words are those of the Lord's Prayer, in Swahili. Perhaps because it is so uplifting, perhaps because both in the game and in many versions since circulated it is shown with pictures depicting great scenes from the rise of civilisation, it is sometimes called the "Anthem of Humanity." 

I don't always agree with Independent Carlisle councillor Bobbie Betton - we certainly had our differences when we were both members of the former Cumbria County Council. But regardless of the rights and wrongs of the issue, and equally regardless of whether the means used to block the motion were technically in order within the standing orders of the council (which they control) I think it was entirely wrong for the Labour ruling on Cumberland Council to use their majority and procedural devices prevent him from proposing a motion criticising the council as described in the Cumbria Chronic See link:  LABOUR CANCELS COUNCIL CRITIC – The Cumbria Chronic (Note added subsequently - the Cumbria Chronic is now a private site so not everyone will still be able to follow the above link.) I have no view on whether his criticisms of the council are justified but I am quoting Cllr Betton's motion here in full because I take exception to Labour's refusal to debate it. "The mainte...

 

For years I couldn't hear this without thinking of Shrek's attack on the castle in Shrek II. Now I can't hear it without thinking of Luke Skywalker's Deus Ex Machina rescue at the climax of the Mandalorian Season II finale. But it's a great piece in it's own right ...

 

 

"The Office for Budget Responsibility's new fiscal risks report, published today, is the most polite, spreadsheet-filled horror story you will ever read.  It is the bureaucratic, non-partisan equivalent of grabbing our politicians by the lapels and screaming in their faces.  It is very, very bad." Robert Colville on X, formerly Twitter. Here are some screen shots to illustrate his point.

Lord Norman Tebbit, one of Margaret Thatcher's closest allies, has died at the age of 94. He will be remembered as many things by many people, but the image which will stick in my mind was what a kind and courteous man he was when I met him. He was described as an “i con in British politics ” by the current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch., As employment secretary he took on the trade unions, and as chairman of the Conservative Party from 1985 to 1987 he helped Mrs Thatcher secure her third general election victory. He also served as trade secretary and had a reputation as a political bruiser. He suffered grave injuries in the 1984 Brighton bombing, which left his wife, Margaret, paralysed from the neck down. After the 1987 election success he left his post as Tory chairman to help care for Margaret, who died in 2020. He left the Commons in 1992 and became a member of the House of Lords. Lord Tebbit’s son William said his father died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night. For...

The lyrics are "Locus iste a Deo factus est, inaestimabile sacramentum irreprehensibilis est." It translates from Latin to English as "This place is made by God, inestimably sacred, it is beyond reproach."

"If all else fails, follow the instructions!" A piece of modern folk wisdom quoted by Canon Richard Mitchell at the start of his reflection for the third Sunday after Trinity provided today at Selby Abbey. He went on, "If we're honest, I think we have all, on occasion, thought we can manage to do something without following the instructions,  and then realised that it might have been a better idea to have done so." 

 

A year ago today a Labour government was elected which has had the most disastrous start of any newly-elected government in my lifetime. Labour had promised not to put up National Insurance , but they broke that promise, increasing Employers National Insurance contributions, a tax on jobs, by £40 billion, one of the largest tax rises in history. Labour had said that means-testing the winter fuel payment would cause nearly 4,000 pensioners a year to freeze to death - but as soon as they came to power they did exactly that and took the benefit away from ten million pensioners. They have now committed to reverse that cruel decision - but those ten million pensioners spent last winter without the payment. Labour had given a categorical promise to farmers to keep tax rules the Conservatives had put in place to protect family farms - but they broke that promise by introducing the family farm tax. Labour had promised to cut your fuel bills - instead they have gone up. Labour promised growth ...

Congratulations to Cllr Keith Girling on gaining Newark West from Reform in Nottinghamshire. It is great to have you back! Let's be clear. This by-election was completely unnecessary. A newly-elected Reform councillor in Newark quit just six days after ask the residents for their votes. This left residents without a voice, and landed taxpayers with a £25,000 bill. It is clear Reform have no plan to seriously run councils, let alone the country.

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it. ( Robert A. Heinlein , from "Time Enough for Love" - 1973.) (Hat tip to today's "i")

"Starmer’s backbenchers decided to celebrate their first year in government by rebelling. In the words of one Labour MP the government are “i ncoherent and shambolic ”.  I agree. Sadly it’s working people who will pay the price." Rt. Hon. Kemi Badenoch - Leader of the Conservative Party and of the Opposition.