At the moment, we all seem to be very interested in doing ever more complicated things in Space.

Tim Peake, the second Englishman in space, is attracting much publicity, and he even ran the Marathon  high above the Earth.  Of course all these amazing achievements are to be commended, even though the exploration of other Planets is costing a fortune. We all appear to be fascinated by the unknown and governments around the World, wealthy ones that is,  do not mind spending vast amounts of money sending people into the unknown.

What I cannot come to terms with is that while  we spend enormous sums attempting to explore Space, we do not appear to be making much of a success of the World we live in.

For Centuries we have fought each other, usually over Territory, or because we do not like the way other people conduct their lives.  At the moment there is fighting everywhere,  people are  being killed without a second thought because one faction does not like the way another faction worships their God.   The Middle East appears to be in the middle of a Blood Bath with no end in sight, thousands of people have no where to live and the wealthy Countries certainly do not seem to want them.

You could say it is all a bit of a shambles.

What puzzles me is how those, who, on the face of it are supposed to be terribly clever and experienced, have made such a hash of looking after not only us but the Planet as well.

I dread to think that if we do eventually colonise Space what we will do with other Planets. More of the same, or worse?

I wonder how much it cost to send  Tim Peake into Space? And for what? To maintain a machine that may not do very much for us here on Earth, but of course he did run an out of this World Marathon

A very clever Business man once said to me ,

“if you are not a success where you are, it is likely you will not be a success where you are going to”

Perhaps many of our World leaders might take heed of this advice.

Many years ago, I campaigned against the way farmers in the U K were  dosing their animals with hormones and antibiotics in order to fatten them up more quickly so they could make bigger profits.

The Farmers told me that I did not know what I was talking about and continued on their destructive path to ruining the food which we eat.

I saw a two page article this week in the national press which was truly horrific, even if half of it was correct.

Animals are kept in the most terrible conditions, dosed with antibiotics, never see the light of day, suffer all kinds of illness and disease  and this truly dreadful way of treating animals which are being reared for food is having a catastrophic effect on us all.

We are continually being warned by the medical profession that the human population is becoming immune to antibiotics, but it would appear that Farmers are continuing to feed animals drugs in the name of profit which  has a serious effect on the health of the population.

Despite allegedly, being a nation of animal lovers, we blithely buy eggs which are produced by hens which are crammed into cages in which they have no space to even turn round, we buy beef from cattle which are kept in what can only be described as fattening factories, and we eat pork from pigs who have never seen a blade of grass.

Then we wonder why we have all developed mysterious allergies  and diseases.

For those who have a romantic notion about farms where animals roam free and chickens are seen running about in the sunshine, I suggest they  visit a local cattle farm or a battery hen farm. They might well change their opinion.

One has to question why we are becoming such an unhealthy nation.  The NHS can barely cope, diabetes, obesity, asthma and allergies to this that and the other are becoming more prevalent, and perhaps the answer lies very close to home, with those who do not care about our health, but who care very much about making money.

Money is no good whatsoever if we are all too ill to spend it.

I was accused thirty years ago of attacking our wonderful farmers. Pity I did not keep up the attack

When are special offers not so special?

I am really intrigued by the notion of retailers advertising Special Offers. Perhaps, on closer examination, these offers are not so special after all. A couple of years ago, an Asian friend of mine admired a dress I was wearing which I had bought from a high street store. She asked how much it had cost and when I told her that it was about seventy pounds, she told me that she could have bought the same dress in India for five pounds!

Now I really am all for those who can make a decent profit, BUT, there is profit, and then there is profit with a bit of integrity. So when the same retailer can advertise a seventy pound dress in a sale for half price they are still making a handsome profit.

Of course it is not just the cost of the item that has to be taken into consideration, wages, shipping packaging wholesaling and possibly other costs have to be accounted for.

Sadly those who make the clothes appear to be the people who get the least, and while they are beavering away making clothes for us all in the West, to me the “special offers” suddenly do not appear to be so special after all.

Talking of special offers, perhaps some terribly clever marketing person, can explain to me the difference between premium butter and everyday butter?

Why should an everyday commodity be of an inferior quality to that used for special occasions, and if we only use everyday quality how are we ever going to know what “premium” quality tastes like?

I really do not understand all of this.

Supermarkets sell everyday products at a lower price, but what ingredients are used in ‘everyday’ butter and ‘premium’ butter? I thought all butter was made from the same ingredients.

I obviously needs educating.

I cannot quite make my mind up as to whether we are all incredibly stupid, or all very trusting.