New year is nearly upon us, though I don't hold out any hope for much in the way of change. I am hoping for a complete restoration of civil liberties, an end to socialism, no more taxes and a lottery win. I'll probably settle for a new car.
Well we did get a lot of change, and all of it bad. The smoking ban is still with us and now they want to stop us smoking in our cars and even our homes. We can't really defy the ban by smoking in pubs because the landlords have been forced to police it, and we all know what happened to Nick Hogan. No threats of force however, will stop me smoking in my car. It's my property and as long as I'm not putting others at risk, I will do what I want in it.
Obviously the restoration of liberties and end to socialism and taxes was a bit of a pipe dream, but I would have hoped for at least a little progress in that direction. To date I have seen none.
I did manage a new car or two though. Anyway, enough about the bad, let's have some of the good.
My highlight of 2010's blogging year was the Ciggy Busters fiasco. Everyone got involved in that and we beat some righteous anti smokers into submission. This year we got together again, organised by Dick Puddlecote, and defeated a nasty local councillor in Stony Stratford who wanted to ban smoking in the open air.
This was a councillor by the name of Paul Bartlett. He proposed a ban on smoking in the streets of the town, all to save the kiddies and the environment. After a protest in one of the local pubs, with guest speakers and the press, his motion was voted out unanimously.
At the time, bloggers and commenters alike had taken to calling councillor Bartlett, 'Herr Bartlett'. I think this was just a way of comparing him to a Nazi, although over Christmas we dusted off a copy of that classic Christmas film, 'The Great Escape', and watched it. It turns out there is more than one Herr Bartlett.
Steinach: Herr Bartlett-!
[Bartlett turns around and says something in German]
Steinach: Your German is good. And I hear, also, your French. Your arms...
[pulls a gun]
Steinach: UP!
[Bartlett surrenders]
One of them was the guy who arranged an escape from a German prisoner of war camp that was immortalised in film. A Christmas film that has nothing to do with Christmas none the less. The other one thinks more like the guards in that same camp.
One died the death of a hero while fighting for freedom, the other ended up with a vote of no confidence for fighting against it. Ooh the irony.
 |
| Roger Bartlett played by Richard Attenborough |
 |
| Herr Bartlett as himself |
In fact the film character of Roget Bartlett
must be considered fiction because the
name of the real person was Roger Bushell.
But let's not argue semantics.
Anyway, here are some of my favourite blogs from the year, in no particular order:
Velvet Glove, Iron Fist. Excellent analysis of anti smoker statistical nonsense.
Ambush Predator. Full and forthright attack on the broken British police and justice system.
Underdogs Bite Upwards. Battering the anti smokers whith a healthy dose of humour.
Nothing 2 Declare. Invaluable advice on cross boarder shopping, plus you get invited on cool ferry trips.
Orphans of Liberty Excellent multi author blog, for whom I have written a few pieces.
Tea and cigarettes. Giving the anti smokers a very passionate whooping.
And there are of course, many more. See my blogroll for my daily reads.
Other highlights of the year:
Best film: None, they were all crap. (As last year). Terminator 1 and 2 still rank as my favourites of all time. The only film of note I've watched recently was Soylent Green. It's people!
Worst film: Harry Potter. All of them. Not because they are particularly bad films but because they are about a child wizzard, yet have a very high audience of otherwise adults, who can't stop raving about them. Also, any remakes of classic films. There seems to be a lot of it about recently.
Best tune: Rhianna - S and M
Worst tune: Anything by Justin Beiber
Best book: Once again I've not read any new books. I did read 'Nothing to Envy', a factual tale about life in North Korea under Kim Il Sung and Jim Jong Il. That was a sad story that has a lot of relevance now with the death of Kim Jong Il in the media.
Pavlov's Cat asked the question, 'Does every home have a kim flap?
Writing like this should remind us all of the evils of socialism, yet it never does. The modern socialist still beleives it would be paradise if only it was done thier way.
Worst book: I've not read a bad one this year. It seems I've chosen wisely :-)
Best TV: Supernatural, season seven. Also the Walking Dead season one. We've just started season two though, and it's a bit pants so far. Hopefully it will pick up.
Worst TV: The X Factor, I'm a celebrity, Come dancing and any rubbish reality crap about slappers.
Best blog post: That's a tough one. Lat year I picked What exactly is a doctorate? from The Waspsnest as it was an unusual post as they go, and it was a thinker.
There are two things in particular that have really wound me up this year; anti smokers and multiculturalism. If I was going to pick an anti smoker post then it would probably be something by Velvet Glove or Leg Iron. I vist Velvet Glove to get the facts on the statistics that the antis trot out when they want another ban. I go to Leg Iron for a good old ranty fisking of the latest round of bollocks. His writing can really lift your spirits.
But I'm not going to pick them. Instead I've chosen Julias Twelve Days Of Multiculturalism series. Considering she intended to garnish older posts to make up the full twelve, but real time events ended up supplying all she needed, just goes to show how bad the situation is, why it needs highlighting and why something needs to be done. Now if not yesterday. Well done Julia.
Worst blog post: Anything found here.
Here's to 2012. Keep fighting the good fight.
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