Colin H Baker

Back to the 60s.

To explain this, one has to go back to 1964, when Harold Wilson won his first Labour general election, with a narrow 4 seat majority over Alex Douglas Home’s Conservatives. Having been left with a £800 million deficit, and the books not in a good state. But you could say we were still trying to recover from the War. Yes a lot of money back then, and one could say even in today’s financial climate and the pounds value.

Wilson’s government started to reduce the deficit with different policies, one being the prices and incomes policy a close relation to the policy that was part of Harold Macmillans policies, but found it hard to get many of the policies through parliament, except the prices and incomes policy which survived until 1970, and because of the many currency crisis that bugged his government from its beginning, Wilson called another general election in 1966 and duly won with a majority of 99 seats. Wilson’s chancellor from 1964 was James Callaghan, who had this headache to deal with it from day one.

History can be a funny thing, you would think having a 99 seat majority, everything would be so much easier. The world is not like that and probably never has been or will ever be. The Middle Eastern hostilities erupted, which ended with the six day war, or what some call the Arab/Israeli War. That is a debate still going on today and why i will keep well clear of that now. But in the process of that war, Egypt decided to close the Suez canal, causing havoc with the distribution of exports, which in turn put pressure on the pound. And if that was not enough General De Gaulle blocked the UK from joining the then EEC (Common Market). The pressure on the pound was becoming critical, so Wilson decided against his chancellors advice, and devalued the pound from £2.80 to £2.40, against the Dollar, approx 14%. Which took pressure off the pound, and things improved, slowly the balance of payments got better and helped reduced the deficit.

After that the then chancellor Callaghan resigned and Roy Jenkins took the job. And once again things went on a downward spiral, and came close to another devaluation, but managed to avoid it. Then along came the 1970 general election, and surprisingly the Conservatives under Edward Heath won with the help of the Ulster Unionists Party with a 31 seat majority. Also a landmark for me personally i was 23 and the first time i could vote in a general election, and the irony of it all, was for someone who always wanted to vote, it was the year they brought the voting age to 18.

General De Gaulle died in 1970, thus opening the chance for the UK to enter negotiations with the EEC, which in 1973 Heath took us in to the Common Market. I remember it like yesterday, being what they call today a brexiteer, and a Bennite, who wanted us to stay out. And yes Jeremy Corbyn wanted to stay out too. We also had the first of two miners strikes, and very high inflation, that was probably the end of Heath, who handled both terribly, turning most of the country against him and his party.

In 1974 came the next general election, which ended up with a hung parliament, and Heath refused to have a coalition with Labour, and resigned, so giving Wilson a minority government for the second time, but unable to form a coalition with another party, so he called for another election in September. which ended up a victory for Labour with just a 3 seat majority, that was slowly lost.

Harold Wilson made Denis Healey Chancellor, who was Secretary of State for Defence in Wilson’s 1964/1970 Labours governments. This was the beginning of actions that started the nightmare that was the Winter of Discontent. And this was not as Black and White as people think today, or thought they knew what had started it, because of what they have been told for years by the right wing media, and how the Conservatives covered up their tracks in the mismanagement of their previous governments. In November 1974, the Chancellor Denis Healey cut taxes on corporations and big business, giving them an extra £800 million a year profit. One could say sweeteners, and one could also say a bribe, which is the view i took back then.

Sweeteners or bribes it didn’t work, like Oliver they wanted more. And it was about then that Edward Heath resigned the leadership of the Conservative Party, and they elected in the first female leader of any party in the UK Margaret Thatcher (The Milk Snatcher), now there is a debating subject for some future time.

So back to Labour’s problems, in the Summer of 1975 and again in 1976, a lot of these same companies, engineered a collapse in the value of the pound, by shifting money abroad. So what did Healey do, he gave them even more, it was never enough for these bosses and they stepped up their blackmail, CBI Director- General, Campbell Adamson later recalled ” We certainly discussed an investment strike, we also discussed various things about not paying various taxes, and a list of things which in themselves would not have been legal”.

The un-elected governor of the Bank of England, told the government on the 30th June 1975, that the pound is plummeting. Labour immediately implemented harsh wage curbs. Pay was held well under the rate of inflation, so living standards fell. At first Labour introduced a £6 limit on wages which was about 10% of the average wage then. Inflation was roaring over 24% in 1975. and in August 1976 the second stage of the incomes policy came into effect, with a limit of 4.5% on wage increases, while when inflation was down to 16.5%. It was at this time i started to worry, that the government wasn’t loosening up the stranglehold on peoples wages fast enough, and as i went across the country working, meeting all different trades and workers, beginning to complain that they were working for nothing, and my own opinion was even a extra 2% would of made workers feel a lot better. But something i never knew was that the government was listening far to much to big business and their bosses. And even today i still don’t know the answer to that.

Still British Companies caused financial panic, until in September Denis Healey went cap in hand to the IMF (International Monetary Fund) for a loan to prop up the pound. The IMF demanded deep cuts in return. But while the bankers and the employers attacked the workers, the Union leaders did their best to stop workers’ struggles breaking out into strikes, remembering the TUC ( Trade Union Congress) had forged an agreement with the Labour government in 1974 called the Social Contract. And the rest is history but i can honestly say that the media even today refuse to tell the whole truth or facts of those times. They protected Big Business and their rulers. Maybe one day someone will prove that wrong.

A year i will never forget.

Most people should remember George Orwell’s 1984, but there were many events that remind me of 1986 probably far more, without very much coaxing or soul searching. And especially this year because we have the Commonwealth Games back in the UK, the only difference being this year it’s in Birmingham and not Edinburgh like it was in 1986.

And this is where I will begin…… At the time I was a Senior Supervisor/ Engineer in a signage company that would take on anything that any customer wanted, as long as they could draw or sketch it, and it didn’t take long for them to ask me if I could design and physically make it from their imaginations. Yes I enjoyed the challenges they threw at me. And I probably still do, probably why my brain never sleeps.As a company we had many owners, one being Reed International who also acquired the Mirror Group Newspapers back in 1970, and until Pergamon Holdings who was owned by Robert Maxwell himself acquired the Daily Mirror from Reed in 1984.

We were sold with them by Reed International, even though the honeymoon didn’t last more than a few years. And as you can imagine I got to meet many new directors etc, from very large companies, which in itself was a great education, and a eye opener from how they differ from each other. From God help us all to ones who it was easy to understand how they got there, and one didn’t find it hard to respect them.

I never got the chance to meet Robert Maxwell personally, even though I knew about him back in the early 1980s, when he gained control of BPC who owned Gale and Poldens Printers, where I had many friends who worked in the print and Gale and Poldens in Aldershot. And his only intention was to shut it down for it’s land etc, so I knew he was not the most trust worthy human being. And as history has proved it ran in the family. And as I will show later not in business either.The next time I and our company had any dealings with Robert Maxwell was when we got the contract to do all the signage etc at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1986.

These games will always be remembered  for the athletes etc which included the greats, Daley Thompson, Steve Ovett, Linford Christie who famously got beat in the 100 metres by Ben Johnson, Steve Cram, Sally Gunnell, Liz Mc Colgan, Lennox Lewis, Steve Redgrave and for Scotland Liz Lynch who was on the dole when she won the 10,000m. It was the first time that this distance was contested by women at the Commonwealth Games, and it was Scotland’s only Gold medal in athletics.

But what many people may not remember is how about 5 weeks before the games started, they were talking about cancelling them because more than half of the Commonwealth countries were going to boycott the games, as was many of the sponsors, who would of stopped the Games going into the Red. And being very political back then, and as someone who detested racism where ever it showed up. And at this time it was down mainly to Margaret Thatcher and a large part of her party’s support of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, which is why many Commonwealth countries boycotted the games.

It was then that Robert Maxwell became the knight in shining armour. And with 5 weeks to the opening ceremony, the Mirror Group Newspapers became the backers and sponsors and Maxwell took over as chairman of the company running the games. But it can’t be denied that he was always larger than life, with a ego to match it. He became bigger than the games and the sportsmen and women themselves especially before the first Gold medal was won, then after the end of the games. Even though he was ridiculed by the satirical magazine Private Eye as “Cap’n Bob” he was the undisputed master of the headlines at the 1986 Edinburgh Games, where his 6 years as a Mp came into play.

It was two weeks before the opening day when I got involved in Edinburgh, and one could say things were not going smoothly, it was obvious that things were not going well at all, headless chickens came to mind. Luckily I was use to working ridiculous hours when everything was wanted yesterday, that was the business we were in. And when we reached the day before the opening, it was then I confused the payroll secretary, with my weekly hours from the Tuesday of that week,when I had just drove a 7.5 ton from Mytchett Surrey to Edinburgh’s Meadowbank stadium crammed to the top, having a job to fit in our own suitcases for a 4 day stay. Having left Mytchett at 5am and arrived between 6pm and 7 pm that evening  with a fellow worker, a screen printer, yes it was all hands to the deck the only problem was he didn’t drive a 7.5 ton lorry, so muggins here had to do all the driving none stop, yes back then we didn’t have tacographs like drivers have today, where you have to have 45 min breaks etc, before 4 and a half hours driving etc.

And having pulled up inside the stadium shattered and very hungry and thirsty. I politely told my Managing Director a Chalkie White “I’m off to find a hotel”. I won’t say his exact words but in short it was not on your nelly, we have to get all your lorry emptied so the lorry can go back to Mytchett with another driver. The emptying was not so bad it was having to take everything up lots of steps where it was stored and then distributed around. One founded oneself working on auto pilot, and it was about 7am in the morning that it was finished working most of the time in the dark. Already feeling half dead and now only thinking of a hotel bed and some liquid and grub, I was then told I had to go to the bowling grounds which was a miles away from the stadium and go fit everything needed. Saying no would not be a good idea so I managed to dig deep for more energy and it was about 5 pm on Wednesday that I finished everything asked, yes a 34 hour shift non stop.

Then after spending hours getting a hotel, which ended up a Trust Forte travelodge on Edinburgh’s outskirts, I couldn’t wait for a bath or a shower, I felt so grubby. Not sure what time it was but it was dark the time we got booked in properly. And being a superior to my mate nothing was going to stop me having the shower first.Yes if anyone really knew me, it was completely out of character, but needs are needs and I had worked a lot harder than he had up to then. But life has a way of putting you back in your place, and this was one of those times, I had got all my smelly’s and shampoo etc at hand, then turned on the shower !!!! Arghhhhhh no hot water, in fact it was freezing cold, no matter how much I tried to change the regulator, a cold shower it was going to be. But at least my hair dryer was hot.

If that experience wasn’t enough, the next task was to get some food, and a nice cup of tea or ten. So we made our way downstairs to the restaurant, only to find it closed. Ended up getting some crisps and a chocolate bar from a machine in the foyer, and chatted the lady behind the desk up, to get some extra milk and tea bags and sugar etc, yes I had it back then, and got in a lot of trouble because of it over the years.

Finally got to sleep about midnight, having to follow orders to be up and back in the Stadium by 6am. Remembering it’s now Thursday and it all starts on Saturday, and still so much to be done, I was sent to the Boxing arena first which kept me busy until mid afternoon, then to the rowing area where it seem to take ages to fit huge hoardings alongside the riverbanks. Then made our way back to the stadium only to be told we will be working until it’s all finished and the Lorry had returned from Mytchett full again, which all had to be fitted , so no way would we be going back to the hotel, apart from to get our gear to drive home with. Once again working on auto pilot we got through the night, and by lunchtime we had finished and had a breather in a pub for about a hour, so I took this spare time to phone the payroll secretary, and tell him what hours to book in for me since Tuesday, and remember we got double pay after 12 hours, no matter what day it is, so I told him to book 34 hours for Tuesday, his reply and I can hear it today, ‘stop messing around there’s only 24 hours in a day’, so I replied “ just please do as I ask I know what I’m doing, and while your at it please book 39 hours for Thursday and I will explain next week when I see you ” Yes the 39 hours would include going back to the hotel to get our stuff and then drive home having a few stops on the way home.

So you can see why I laugh at people when they say they work hard and long hours. Most don’t even know the meaning of working hard or working long hours today. Apart from Nurses and doctors and Ambulance medics and firemen and women. So after sorting the bill etc at the hotel we made our way home only to see one of the  most beautiful scenic views going Southward from Edinburgh I have ever seen for a long time. And my 39 hours was not far out having reached home at 3am on Saturday morning.

After managing a few more hours sleep when I got home, it was time to get ready to go to for a break with my then wife Rita, yes one could say a well earned break. The next good thing that came out of the last two weeks was my wage packet, and back then the wage packet was those when the readies (Notes) stuck up and were folded before the top was stuck down so you could count the pounds, fivers and tenners etc before opening, but I had so many that they couldn’t fold the notes, so had to use a proper envelope ,and I had to count them in front of the payroll secretary.

 And it was about a month later we found out that Robert Maxwell didn’t pay our company anything, and we had to take him to court to get our money. Which we as a company won. It was then, that all the truth started to come out how we were not the only ones conned, or attempted to be conned by Maxwell.

It took about another 3 years to sort out all the financial complications, Maxwell was involved with.The Accountants Coopers and Lybrand had the task to work out the final cost of the Games. The Games in all cost close to 17 million pounds to stage, and ended up losing 4 million pounds. Maxwell promised or was expected to put 3 million into of that pot, only to put in just over a tenth of that, 300 thousand pounds, through his business the Mirror Group etc. The free advertising he got was worth ten times more, a very shrewd if not cunning con of the people who had to pay for the loss.

The whole truth didn’t come out until after his strange death in 1991, when it was reported that he drowned, being found overboard from his infamous super yacht The Lady Ghislaine off the Canary Islands, who he purchased from Emad Khashoggi (Saudi businessman) when it was called the Dancing Hare, yes in 1986 too. You can choose your own story how he died , from suicide to being assassinated by the Israeli secret services the Mossad.

It was then that most of us learned about of Maxwell’s fraudulent and misuse of hundreds of millions of pounds from his employees and public pension funds.It was these Maxwell antics, that encouraged me to educate myself about my own and others private and government pensions, and how to protect it  the best I can from not just fraudsters but by our own governments. Which I still use to this day.

As I often say to people in life and social media, everything is connected whether we like it or not, as all of our pensions have been especially since Margaret Thatchers deplorable changes, it’s hard to see any difference from her and Maxwell when it comes to the use of our pensions. But the majority today only remember Chancellor Browns attack on our pensions, while ignoring Thatchers pension policy that opened the door to the unsavoury characters even your own bosses.

Connections or Coincidences take your choice.

I have always preferred connections over coincidences, because i’ve always believed everything is connected, while coincidences only happen every now and again. This is why i started this blog with the header Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd, and thought i would also add the music video of it, because it always reminds me of certain people i have always respected, and certain events that go back to the nineteen fifties right up to the present day……….. to be continued….

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2005/pinter/lecture/

Reaching my fifties:

Having reached my fifties, with both children grown and left home, but not far away. And enjoying the daily challenges that my job entailed. Then trying to master the new dial up internet,and the online poker sites etc. While thinking not much bothers me apart from praying the phone line behaves, while involved in a poker hand, that looked good for me.

Life felt that it was going quite smoothly, no stress, no worries. But life has a funny way of saying “Hey you, life is not meant to be a free ride”. And as my mum use to say “it’s all sent to try us”. Boy was i about to be tried. After twenty five years nearly to the day, my marriage broke down. And as anyone knows if it happens it does it unexpectedly, it can knock one for six, as i did to me. All i could do, after putting all of my wife’s clothes into the back garden, was to call my brother Graham and told him what i had done. Then decided to do a bit of Karate (Wado Rue style) with my right hand, taking the kitchen cupboard door off its hinges. Big mistake unless you have a cheap carpenter at hand. Then i told my wife to leave the house.

The next hour was very blurry, but remember my daughter Louise coming over to calm me down, i think. Then my son Robert, having driven down with his mum in the car, and being told by me to take her away, he knew i meant it, and drove her away. The next thing i remember is my brother Graham with his wife Dianne coming into my house, asking how i was and said ” Come on bruv your coming with us, get your things”. And that is what i did.

Still not a hundred percent, but back to work, and with the help of so many great friends, sadly some not with us anymore. One being Ellen the daughter of my good friend Ken, who i was writing the Roulette book with, until his sad death. She had a next door neighbour, whom i became friends with, after my marriage broke down, and at the time worked in Westminster. which becomes important later in my future experience, or one could say lesson i still use to today. and i pass it around to people who are a little naive with the internet.

The experience was probably the best lesson, one could have on the internet, and the birth of what is now called Social media. Not Twitter of Facebook or even the earlier MySpace. It was Yahoo who was years ahead of those three mediums, and i think still today. Without Yahoo i doubt that Twitter and Facebook would be what they are today.

When my marriage was over, i use to play online poker, as well as at the casinos. The site was called Paradise Poker, and i still have a online friend today Shells from this site, whom i tried to teach her to play poker, while i say teach her, she was a real teacher herself in Arizona. Can you imagine me teaching a teacher, the mind boggles. Both Shells and i also made friends on there with two American University Graduates i think they were called, i still remember one of their names, Wayne or Wayno as i use to call him. We had some great laughs playing together, none of us played to break the bank balances of the others, it was mainly fun along with a great education.

Then my eldest niece Pauline, once again sadly not with us anymore, but was like a second mother to me, even though i was five years older than her. Always trying to feed me because i’ve always been slim and athletic. And whom i use to visit regularly along with her husband Tony and my three great nieces, Samantha, Melissa and Carlene who was also my god daughter, and great nephew Terry. Pauline said ” Uncle Col” as they all did and still do most of the time, ” why don’t you go on Yahoo chat, we have rooms where to can chat with people from all over the world”. The main favourite room we used was room ten, yes i still remember, it was a very friendly room. And yes i could write another essay on just that room alone. But not on this post. So having joined Yahoo, and still have the best email ever from there. I got chatting to a lady , well i assumed was a lady at the time, who went by the name of Lara Croft, yes i never knew anything about anyone who was called that back then from any tv shows etc.

Nothing really happened out of the ordinary for a while. But i found myself running out of hours of the day, just like back in the sixties, you slept or had a nap, when you had a spare moment. Then one Saturday lunchtime, having just got home from a mornings overtime. I switched the Pc on, they were mostly large towers then, to either check my email or go on yahoo chat as one does on today on say Facebook. But a lot slower, being on dial up through a telephone line. And like Facebook you had dings or other noises to tell you have a email, message or something. Yahoo chat had a noise of it’s own if a friend came online.

And me being me, i talk to anyone, even it’s just a good morning to strangers in the street. Back then we were brought up to have manners, and people spoke to each other, not like today, when you can sit in a doctors surgery or waiting rooms, and people are happy to just stare at the blank walls. Not me, some of the best conversations i have ever had has been with strangers in train carriages or even a bus. Once again i digress, back to my Saturday lunchtime. The Pc had finally warmed up and started, Ding!! the lessons on the internet and life was about to really begin. The loud ding was the yahoo chat friend Lara Croft or who i thought was, still being a little naive with the internet, coming online. I clicked her highlighted name, and typed ‘good afternoon Lara’ and instead of the normal reply, she disappeared as quick as she came on. So i thought she could be having trouble with her dial up connection. So i thought no more about it, and decided to go play a small poker game.

Then after the game and a cuppa, once again Lara came online, and i thought i would ask her if she is having trouble with her connection. I clicked on her name again to ask her, and once again she went straight off. Now i started to think have i said or done something to upset her, and is she just avoiding me. Something i rarely do or did back in those days, having been brought up from a child to always reply if spoken to. But today in general it’s not expected, so i don’t let it bother me much anymore, if one did; you could find yourself in some psychiatric hospital somewhere.

This happened a few more times over the weekend. So seeing my niece Pauline, had introduced me to the then new social media, which was Yahoo chat. I thought i would visit her on my way home from work Monday evening, which i use to do a lot in those days, to tell her what had happened over the weekend. So after the first cuppa, which was like a automatic welcome when i use to visit her and any of her side of the family. I tried to explain the best i could, about what had occurred over the weekend. Pauline said ” why don’t you follow her” as if i knew what that meant. Then she explained, ” click on her name” etc and i made some notes how to do that. So i went home with my notes in hand, hoping i can remember everything.

As soon as i got home i went online to play some poker with Yahoo chat in the background, just in case Lara came online. But like watching a kettle boil, Lara never appeared, so i concentrated on my poker. And sods law Lara Croft never appeared all week, well the time i was online anyway.

Saturday arrived and i was not working that weekend, and i was playing poker until about lunchtime, so i could take a visit to the bookies with my regular television racing bet. Then Ding! Lara Crofts name lit up. So this time i didn’t say anything to her, and she never went offline straight away, like she did the previous weekend. I got my notes and followed the directions. What followed was one of the most scary situations i have felt for a very long time,and probably since, being someone who does not scare easy.

And within two minutes, having followed the directions to the letter, i found myself in a room, similar to all of the rooms on Yahoo. And i didn’t take any notice of the rooms name, and what people were saying to each other. then i saw Lara Crofts name as she typed something in the room. And without thinking my manners, came into effect. I typed ” Hello Lara are you ok?”. Bad move, she disappeared out of the room, and then offline. Quite stunned i just sat there looking around the room, only to see the rooms name, i can’t remember the name exactly today, but it had Nazi in it.

So being the inquisitive person i am, i started reading the typing, only to see words like murder and a lot worse, accompanied with the normal foul language that follows these sort of discussions. Then it hit me, and my heart started to race, this was well before my heart troubles, i could not get out of there quick enough. My heart seemed to race for ages after i was out.

Playing poker was out of the question after that experience, the only thing i could think of, was getting down to Pauline and Tony’s and letting them know what i have just done. So straight after the televised horse racing, i made my way down to their house. After telling Pauline everything, she said ” what name did you use”, which sort of confused me a little, i replied ” my name of course Colin Baker” , which brought a few smiles, and i think a bit of mickey taking from Tony, which was quite common between us, even today.

Pauline then gave me my second Yahoo chat lesson, She said you can have up to six names at a time on Yahoo chat. Which in the future i had some fun with, once even knighted myself and became Sir Colin of Rushmoor for a while, would you believe. But i always told everyone after iv’e had a little fun with it or any other name i’ve had, and even for a long time after yahoo friends kept calling me sir, it sort of stuck. Back to the reason for this, i did what Pauline told me, i got another name, which i cannot remember what it was now.

And i only had to wait a few days until Lara was back online. Then i just repeated my previous actions, with my new name. Bingo the page opened, and there she was, but this time it was a different room. And its room name was in short, very anti-semitic, once again i cannot remember the title. But could never forget what it stood for. So this time i just sat there reading the comments, and yes Lara Croft was really into the chat, the hate and the threats were even hard to stay and read. Nobody seem to notice me, or at least that i noticed.

I stayed there for about ten minutes, then came out of the room. I’m sure i phoned Pauline straight away, and told her what i’ve seen. She told me people can make their own rooms like that. And for that reason to this day, i don’t like cliques or joining groups. If i do join groups, how mild they might be, i rarely stay long, because most seem to end up the same; attacking someone or something, and yes racism many times raises it’s ugly head. I think most people who really know me here on facebook, know my strong views on racism, and why the majority of people i’ve unfriended over the years, are mainly racists, who have crossed a certain line. And also because of my views which do not please everyone to say the least, are mine and mine alone, i live and die by them, and in the process that is why i detest lynch mobs, whether i agree with them or not.

Once again i digress, after Pauline had told me about these secret rooms, it was then i thought this cannot be allowed to carry on surely. And what can i do about it. So it’s now i thought i should ask my lady friend who worked in Westminster with her possible connections for advice. It was her that told me to phone either MI5 or 6 about it maybe. And she got me the phone numbers. And i duly called MI6 the following day. And if anyone has ever done that before, you will know the many questions, they ask you before you even mention, why you phoned in the first place. Nearly down to you inside leg measurement. But it’s very understandable.

I told them everything i did, why and what had happened. Their response was very good, and very pleased with the information i gave them. And that they will pass it on, i assumed maybe MI5 or people who deal with this sort of thing. And one must remember this was in the early days of the internet. And from that day my approach to the internet is probably a lot different to most people, i question nearly everything i see or read on it. And even more the media outlets that use it, for their own propagandist agendas………Colin H Baker. Finally at last on record as i promised myself i would do 20 years later.

Colin Baker. 2021.

The more i look back with age, my life has been like scenes from a stage play, full of different acts of personal emotional and educating experiences. With a gambling thread running throughout, controlled by the daily challenges of work, with added responsibility of raising a family; which did not end when my children reached the age of eighteen. Each act as an experience, left a small memory that stayed with me all of my life. And I have been blessed and lucky to be able to remember them to this day,while knowing every memory, locked into my brain, also had a bi-product of having to carry a cross which is hard to bare.

My first memory of gambling goes right back to when I was seven or eight. My mum taught me how to play seven card rummy, or as she called it threes and fours. And we would play for farthings and ha’pennies, then slowly getting up to pennies and thru’penny bits, (which was a brass coin )worth three pence, yes the big time!!.Nearer to Christmas we had bigger games. I also earned good money Carol singing all over Aldershot, and if you didn’t know is the home of the British Army. And I also remember my favourite area, called Christmas Avenue, it was a little goldmine along with Roberts Road where a male teacher of my junior school lived, whom I accidentally saw, lets just say kissing and cuddling a fellow female teacher, who was the only female teacher at the school at the time, in his classroom, while I was doing milk monitoring before school started in the morning. One could say he was a good earner when I sung at his home door.

And I use to go to a wood company and buy a sack of six by six inch wood cut offs for two shillings a go, then cut them up with a chopper into inch pieces trying not to lose a finger or two, in the process of cutting the last two pieces, it became an art,then tie them into six inch diameter bundles with string,and sold them for thrupence a bundle to people mainly locals and neighbours so they could use them to start an open fire. And if I was not long distance running at weekends, I would go get coal and coke from the huge coal gas works that straddled the Ash Road not far from me, for my neighbour’s etc.I was not short of a few bob(money) back then,pocket money never existed one had to earn it. One of the lessons i learned about gambling at a very young age; was from my mother, who taught me to be a good loser, and that has followed me throughout my sporting days, which i will touch on later.

The mystery was, why did my mum teach me and not and not my other five siblings, was it because i took after my father whom i did not really know. I was about the age of twelve, that i found out who my father was, something that was very painful at the time. It was then as a safety valve, i started to say that when i was born he took one look at me them emigrated to Canada, which was not far from the truth. I hope to say more about this in future writings. My kid sister Joy, did enjoy a day at the races with her husband Bob, the brother in law i grew up with and we went to school together, but Joy hardly ever bet more than two pounds a race. And once i took my brother Graham to the bookies shop that was just opposite the Manor Park called Nip Eustace, when he returned home from the Far East with the Royal Navy. And Graham lost two pounds on a horse, and one would of thought he had just lost his life savings, never to enter a bookies again. Nip Eustace also had a very interesting history, as a ex bookies runner, which then was illegal, but was a very liked man in the area of Aldershot. Graham’s first wife Irene, who i always had a close bond with and to this day, who now lives in Australia with my Niece and two Nephews, use to chauffeur me to the bookies in Camberley when i visited them in Sandhurst, near the Military Academy. I can still hear Graham saying ” You do everything for Colin and have a job to do anything for me” yes with his cheeky grin bless him.

Once again i digress which is nothing new, so back to my view and knowledge of gambling if i can. Gamblers especially today, are being treated badly, comparing them to drug addicts and alcoholics and a lot worse, and having met many junkies and alcoholics through my life, gamblers don’t even come close. I can’t even remember one junkie or alcoholic, that i could honestly say was a friend or someone i could trust. All through my life i can remember thousands of good friends who i met through my gambling days, yes of course a few unpleasant ones to, ones who had a drink or two and i’m not talking tea and coffee. Having got that off my chest, i can now go back to my younger days, while i was learning the lessons of it. Back in the sixties yes my first real bet on the gee gees, ponies, horses call them what you like, was in nineteen sixty one, yes illegally before you ask. It was for two shillings which i remember losing. Then a year later when i started to go to work after leaving school at fifteen, i started to to learn how to play poker, the five and seven type, the real gambling games where bluffing became an art, if you wanted to win regularly, and is probably the hardest apprenticeship one could ever have… But where i met some wonderful characters, which they were back then, most had great nicknames like, Pete the Greek, Fred the Pole and even Tony the carpet, and many more unprintable in a family context. Yes my name was fearless and often crazy.

It was about this time i learned my second lesson, while playing three card brag one evening around my friend Dave Topper’s house, in Calvert Close the road below mine Friends Avenue. While playing Dave’s dad kept plying me with Vodka and limes, while i was way ahead in the profits stakes, don’t ask me how i got home, but my mates told me i had a good time Carol singing in mid Summer. And i woke up in a bad way and when i checked my pockets i was penniless, not even any small change to my name. And from that day i never drank a drop of alcohol while gambling of any kind. And never really drank to this day, apart from when i found myself at a few parties, if i needed my legs to move to the music. And this gave me a flashback about a party my wife persuaded me to go, one that was on her side of the family that i wasn’t keen to go to, thinking it might be a wee bit boring. Well after about a hour behaving myself as one does, and about four cups of tea i noticed one of my wife’s female cousins jiving (dancing) really good, and a beacon in my head said to me you need to dance with her, so off to the Whiskey bottle i went and chucked down two Whisky and Americans to loosen my legs a bit, and some Dutch courage. The only snag was the music was very loud and the only way i could talk to her and be heard was to get really close to her ears and with my mouth, and visa versa. But my wife was watching really closely where my head was going and how long i stayed there, and thought i was kissing or nibbling her ears as if i would. Remember she had been drinking a few Dubonnet and lemonades by then. And for twenty one years of further marriage my wife never let me forget it. another cross i had to bear.. Funny how women can remember certain things like that for a long time, and then forget within a day what dress they bought last, or sign the stub in the joint checkbook, which she owned saying tongue and cheek how much it cost or where she bought it. My wife’s shopping habits and my habit of getting close to women’s ears was a running joke throughout all of our marriage and since.

Once again i digress, back to my gambling. Having changed my job, and started working twelve hour shifts in a fibreglass company called Deglass Turner Newell in Camberley Surrey, which was in its infancy back then, it ran twenty four seven, fifty weeks a year. Where i also met and made lifelong friends, with many West Indians, who also loved a wee punt now and again, more now than again. Yes they also loved cricket which helped. Another one of its advantages was one got plenty days off the monthly rota, or in some cases far too many, depending on your luck at the time. We had eight days off at a time, once a month and a four day long weekend. where i could start playing cards Friday evening and not finish until Monday morning.

This has reminded me how i learned honesty pays, while playing seven card stud in a club called the Forty Seven Club in Camberley, opposite the London Road entrance to the Sandhurst Military College, in the sixties. I started Friday evening about nine, having started with just thirty pounds, which was quite a lot back then, seeing one could buy a very good suit with that from say Moss Bros. And having struggled through the night and all Saturday daytime and evening, i was on my lasy legs and resigned myself this was not going to be my day, and thinking time to go home. Then i was dealt three Queens with four of us left in the hand, and before i could throw my last seven shillings and sixpence in chips to call all in, Wayne the house player showed his hand of four jacks, and i said i would of called and threw my chips in the pot. He then said to me ‘ for being honest and straight Col ‘ he then threw me back double my money, fifteen shillings. I couldn’t just get up and walk away so i played on, expecting to lose it back quite quickly, but my luck just changed and i couldn’t go wrong, and by Monday morning i packed up with two hundred and thirty pounds a few months wages. Something i will never forget until i die. Honesty can and should pay.

Then for the next thirty five years or more and a Gold watch, i enjoyed the daily challenges of inventing, designing, manufacturing and even fitting my work, in fact anything that was put in front of me, and mixing that with my gambling, which was the reason i could leave the casino at four in the morning, after a poker tournament then drive straight to work for six. I also took the responsibility for twenty years as a senior supervisor, something i didn’t really want, not being a yes man. I only took the job when i was guaranteed to be allowed to do it my way, sack me or leave it to me. This was when i was nicknamed Trotsky by a few fellow workers an the managing director Chalkie White, yes we managed to stay friends over all those years and after, but sadly not with us anymore. I was also blessed with a brilliant right hand man Pete Harris for twenty five years, sadly also not with us anymore, someone who could make anything with his hands or repair or rebuild anything. But sadly did not like all the responsibility that came with being in charge. So because i could rely on him doing anything i asked of him, work wise one hundred percent, i made sure i took all the flak and responsibility from him, which made us a great team. And i can’t remember one thing as a team we failed at.

So one could say i was very responsible in the seventies, then came the interesting eighties, politically which i was and am, Thatcher and the miners strike and the misery it caused, and one reason why my nickname Trotsky stuck. And the opening up of more casinos, and my romance with Roulette and the new American version of poker, Texas hold em, Omaha etc. Which i enjoyed the tournament part of it, and being blessed with the knowledge of figures etc. It was then i first started to write a book about Roulette, which this is the shorter version for a few reasons, one being losing a lot of the mathematical hard work, i had built up over years. And another and the main reason i put it in cold storage for a long time, was because a life time gambling friend Ken Cutler who i spent many days and nights sitting and talking, and even testing ways how to bet and enjoy playing Roulette, passed away with lung cancer, something i have seen a lot with other friends and my own close family. Ken taught me a lot, and one of his main lessons was, to always go home with something, even if it’s only the taxi fare home, and at worse the price of a phone call. Yes we still had Red telephone boxes back in Noah’s days.

The memories of Ken are numerous, two stand out ahead of the rest, that really encapsulates the person he was. The first was that he never wanted to spend money on himself, but would do anything for others, yes even strangers. To that extent when we both went to the Victoria casino in the Edgware road London, just above Marble Arch, the days when they had Bunny girls as waitresses. Who would serve, don’t get all exited, your drinks sandwiches and even cigarettes. One just gave the ladies a monetary tip if you just wanted a cuppa or sandwiches and cigarettes, oh how times have changed, but i still tip all waitresses to this day, old habits die hard. As we were going to sign in, a large doorman the type one would not like to upset, noticed that Ken was still wearing trainers that he was wearing while doing the garden in the afternoon, in those days dress code was very important, Tie, smart jacket or suit were casino rules. Now today in most casinos anything goes, sadly to me it’s a step back not forward. Luckily we were in central London, we could go shoe shopping late in the evenings. And about four shops up from the Vic as most people called it, he managed to buy a pair of ugly Green slipons, or to be polite not my taste of footwear. The good part of it all was we both won well, which gave Ken licence to wear those slipons till they fell apart. He called them lucky as most people know gamblers are very superstitious.

And the second one , which made Ken the best loser i have ever seen, or met to this day, followed shortly by his brother David. Over a three week period playing a grand ( thousand pounds for the uninitiated) sit down poker cash games, once again at the Vic, but years after the Bunny girls hung up their tails, he managed to win thirty eight grand. And every winning day, he would have a cash cheque rather than cash, cheques ranging from three grand up to eight grand. Then one Saturday lunch time when i popped round after working overtime, over a cup of tea he showed me the seven cheques, and asked if i wanted to go with him that afternoon, i said maybe next week, work has been hectic and i won’t have the right head on to gamble, especially playing cards, and will only get bored because most good players keep their cards to their chests, so one could only guess what they are playing with. And as i was leaving, i said to him ‘just take one of the three grand cheques Ken, if you can’t win with that you ain’t going to win, there’s always tomorrow’. Then he replied, an di can hear him now saying ” Col you’re so right, i will do that” i said with a smile ‘ make sure you do’, remembering gamblers can be a law unto themselves sometimes. ‘ I will pop round tomorrow and be lucky’. I always keep my word and about lunchtime Sunday, i drove round his place and parked up, and i could see Ken digging his garden with a vengeance, and i mean vengeance, it’s a miracle the spade did not break in half. So i approached carefully knowing something was not right, and after saying our hello’s, i asked how did yesterday go, he replied “not good Col” so i tried to cheer him up a bit and said ‘ at least you only lost the smaller cheque, there’s always tonight or tomorrow’. He then said ” Worse than that, done the lot Col”, it stopped me in my tracks and found myself speechless, which is rare. Then he stuck the spade in the ground and said ” wanna cuppa Col i want to show you the hand i got involved with”, yes this was the Ken who could remember nearly every hand he has played, it’s a wonder he could ever sleep… Then telling me over two hours what happened and the great hand he got beat with and the huge size of the pot, we are talking over a sixty grand pot, he then said out of the blue ” i’m off to Reading (casino) tonight to play a cash game i’ve still got a few hundred”. You would of never thought he had just lost thirty eight grand about twelve hours ago. But that was Ken he would never dwell over anything especially losing money. Just like his brother David. the only difference between the two, was David would fuss about being owed ten pence one minute and in the next minute would lend you fifty quid. Ken would never worry who owed him anything, he would always say pay me when you can. These people to me are the salt of the earth not the many false people, one meets through life where money is their God and not just a tool. It’s not about winning at all cost it’s part of their souls and being, and the thrill of the game. They can play for fifty pence or hundreds of pounds, it’s all the same to them. I use to play both of them for fifty pence a go playing chess, you would think they were playing for fifty quid

The majority of my true gambling friends, that i have made over many decades, all had their own individual quirks. But one could not find better friends. Their honesty, loyalty and friendship, that can’t beat matched. And i have been blessed with many, and tried to return it all back. And i would like to put these few memories and some helpful tips down on paper in memory of Kenneth Cutler, and the originals to pass down to my children and grand children to do what they like with, and hopefully learn something from them, mainly that i was not a complete waster.

There are a few Golden rules that stayed with me, that i feel obligated to pass down to anyone who wants them, if it can help them. The main ones are for anyone who wants to play Roulette, while firstly remembering there is no such thing as a winning system. But there is a way to bet and play, and secondly you must want to enjoy it, and it is that only gamble what you can afford to lose. The third rule is to treat it as a social evening or day, by taking what you think is enough money to enjoy your time out. Maybe a meal or a drink or two, which i don’t recommend unless it’s tea or coffee, if that is possible, and how much you want to risk gambling on the tables, without ruining your whole time there. The fourth rule is never chase numbers, because they have not come up yet or for a while. These are called cold numbers for a reason, and even more important is to not double your stake after a loser, that’s a short cut to the workhouse, unless you enjoy washing up to pay for your dinner. But you can use that in reverse, double up after a winner, or at least increase your stake because it’s got a better chance because it’s a hot number, hot numbers are called that because they have at least repeated. And never forget to go back to your normal stake if then the hot number loses.

Because i liked working with numbers and figures generally since my school days, i studied numbers on the Roulette wheel for years. And you could find patterns of all kinds, which i still do to this day, which can be fun in itself, and at times i ignore my own theory and end up kicking myself, it’s called lack of self control, which any gambler or human being come to that, can be guilty of. The art is to minimise these times as much as you can, and try to enjoy it, and if you’re not enjoying it, it’s time to have a cuppa or go home, which could be the best advice. I have seen many last cuppa’s cost a wee fortune.

Most sensible gamblers always remember the famous saying, ‘There is always tomorrow’. Or you can do what i sometimes use to do, and that is follow a live table and write down the numbers to see if you can see any patterns. Live table means a table with a croupier, not these automatic ones or as they are called today fixed odd ones, which i will mention later.

Just look for the obvious ones first, say Red or Black, Odds and Evens and High and Lows, these bets are paid out as evens, in simple terms one wins one etc. Even though the real mathematical odds are not that, instead of evens 50/50 they are 51.35% to 48.65% to the houses advantage. Giving the house a edge of 2.7% when playing the one zero European tables, but the American tables have a extra double zero that gives the house a 5.26% edge. This is very important to remember, and why i refuse to play the American tables, unless as in the Mirage casino in Las Vegas where i stayed, some tables gave 36/1 odds and not 35/1 if you hit a number straight up. But they also had some European tables too. The Crap (dice) tables have very similar odds to Roulette, but slightly more complicated for beginners, and if you need any advice about Craps get in touch with Graham Hill, a mate i went to Vegas and California years ago, when a American lady friend of mine and I were getting ready to go for breakfast, Graham was just coming back to the casino after playing Craps all night, and over ten nights i think he must have become an expert at it, so he is the crap man.

Now in the UK i’ve noticed casino’s have introduced what they call the Reno double zero on some of their machines, and not being shy, yes i have had a few polite words in their managers ears, in casinos around my my area. And at every chance i let it be known to the customers using them, who don’t know the odds,and if they want to carry on playing them it’s their own choice, at least they can’t say they were not told. Casino’s and Bookmakers are full of these people and they love them. There is a image Casino’s and Bookmaker’s like to give, and that is they like to see winners, don’t ever believe that, if in doubt go have a chat to some regular winners who have either been banned or had their betting ability cut. Where’s the Government in situations like this, no where to be seen, this will mean something later in this piece.

As i mentioned a little earlier, this gives me a chance to explain what the media now call fixed odds machines, a upgrade of the old fruit machines or slots as they were once called, which are in casinos, bookmakers and slot machine dens. There has been a big debate in the media, and mainly in parliament. And this is where i have a problem with MPs in all parties who don’t really understand the problems with these betting machines, in fact personally they have made the problem worse for the so called people they think they are trying to protect, because of a handful who go to the extremes. As always with these so called knee jerk, no thought out reactions by politicians, who think there is a vote in it, or a bit of self glorification. What these politicians and governments don’t understand, and that is about odds. Any type of gamble is all about odds of some kind or another, good and bad ones. Which is my rule five, asking yourself if the bet is good value or bad value. And along with this rule, comes education. The same type of education, MPs and governments of all colours as long as i can remember refuse to use or allow, before their own political and personal agendas. It’s like watching a car mechanic doing a brain surgeons delicate work. In simple terms using a spanner in place of a scalpel.

Right now we have fixed odds machines, the fruit ones and Roulette ones. And since i have started this piece, the law has changed by those politicians, yes don’t laugh i started this in the nineteen eighties. The laws that have not changed are the ones that allows the casinos more freedom than he fruit machine dens and the bookmakers in the high streets of most towns. These bookmakers are still allowed four machines per shop, but no law about how many shops in one town. Which always mystified me with what these mps have been up to, and the changes they have now done. These shops are now open from eight in the morning, nine on Sundays until ten at night, seven days a week except Christmas day. Because they made huge profits, that allows these shops to pay all of their overheads, without worrying about all the other sporting mediums, like horse and greyhound racing etc.

The fixed odds machines that i know more about, the Roulette ones, which are in the bookmakers, are said to be able to allow a punter to bet one hundred pounds every twenty seconds, unless one just hits the repeat button. Which i would question, but if we are to believe the people who say that, it would mean a punter can lose eighteen thousand pounds a hour, a quarter of a million pounds a day roughly. These are the basics we are told by the same old people every time this subject is mentioned. Once again it’s not what they say, it’s what they refuse to say. And in this case it’s the machines that are programmed to pay out criminal percentages. I’m old enough to remember those fruit machines back in the sixties and seventies, when they were programmed to pay out close to seventy three percent, that meant for every hundred pounds staked or bet, one only gets seventy three pounds back over a certain time. And why back then i refused to play them. One does not need to be an Einstein or shouldn’t be, to work it out that if someone said to you, give me a hundred pounds, i will give you back seventy three pounds back, what your reply would be , politely i mean, yes go away please. What i can say honestly, even if those odds were a lot better in percentage terms, i would still not play them.

About two and a half years ago, while in a Paddy Power bookmakers in my home town, studying the horse racing that day, with the intent to have a wee bet, i had a two pound coin in odd change in my pocket, and put it in one of those Roulette fixed odd machines, and did a twenty pence stake on a ten chip type bet that i do in casinos, just for fun. And it won and i got back ten pounds forty, so as i do in the casino i doubled the same bet and laid out four pounds, which won again giving me twenty pounds eighty, so i doubled again and it won again, giving me another forty one pounds sixty, so doubled again this time being sixteen pounds and it lost… So being up over fifty five pounds eighty, i decided to stop and cash in, that paid for what i call a free bet on the horses that day and a extra thirty pounds in my pocket. So as one does i popped into the same bookies the next day. And put another two pound in the same machine, and did the same bet from 29 Black to 32 Red and quickly won just over twenty pounds and stopped and went shopping. This run continued for over two months with only one losing day and a couple of days i had to go to work, winning from twenty to thirty pounds a day and walking away. Then i went into the shop only to find the four machines where being changed to other new Roulette ones, so couldn’t have my two pound bet and went into town for a cuppa and a bacon sarnie, and a chat of course. I went back two hours later to find them finished, engineers gone. So i had my normal bet 29 Black to 32 Red and the numbers between including the zero, the ball went into 18 Red which is next to 29 Black, yes a loser, so curiosity made me try once more and another two quid, guess what it went into 15 Black, the number next to 32 Red. Then the beacon flashed in my head, this has been fixed and the other machine was faulty or had a hitch. So from that day i have not put another penny in those fixed odd machines. And why i only play live tables in the casinos, where i know it’s genuine random numbers, that could have patterns.

So what has our government now done, backed by a large part of the Labour party, a nagging point to me personally, which takes me back years, and the start of the nanny side of the Labour party, who nearly lost me then. This is another story in my life, and will there. They decided to change the law for the fixed odds machines, ignoring it’s percentages towards the house or in this case the shops and against the punter. And reducing the hundred pound limit on the punters stake down to two pounds a spin, which can only stop the punter ever winning anything, because they can’t even double up after a winner, so it’s just a matter of time before you lose your money. They should be more fairer to the possible punter and ban all the machines full stop. Otherwise they penalise every punter just to punish or stop a few gamblers who might end up as a compulsive addictive ones. What i find very strange is that governments treat drug junkies and alcoholics ten times better than gamblers who might have a problem, and when most gamblers are not high as a kite.

The problem with this government and a lot of the nanny state mps in today’s parliament, is that they don’t even understand what a normal man or woman in the street feels or knows. They know unless you ban all gambling, which would just send it underground, compulsive gamblers will just find another way to lose their money. Going online for one and on websites that don’t pay their taxes in this country or anywhere come to that, or the easiest way, just go to another betting shop. As i’ve said before we are run by people with brains of rocking horses, who can’t even start to think this is sensible or even right.

As well as governments, the new leaders of the present bookmaking fraternity are as bad as each other. One could say run by sheer greed, and have become obese with profits and will continue until they kill the goose that laid the golden egg, or should i say eggs. Having watched over the last twenty years or more, how each mainstream bookmaker has chipped away at the odds bit by bit, reducing their liabilities slowly, hoping the average punter does not notice. And sadly our betting shops are full of punters who don’t.

A summary of why i wrote this the way i have. I started writing a book about Roulette in the 1980s, with help from a good friend Ken Cutler, who sadly passed away before we could finish and publish it. And i put it aside since then, and in the process of moving home a few times since the end of my marriage, i mislaid at least ten years of hard work and calculations etc, to ever give it justice. And because it was going to be a book, that was to help beginners and to help people to enjoy the experience of playing it, while not being a mug gambler and to find value. I thought i should pass this on, even it only helps a few people to enjoy themselves and hopefully win without risking to much hard earned money. And feel free to pass it around to anyone. I also did it for self therapy, and for my younger family to maybe understand where i came from when i’m gone, and what made me who i am and how my own mother was my biggest influence, along with with three of my siblings, my eldest sister Doreen, and my youngest brother and friend Graham and my kid sister Joy, who all kept my feet on the ground and were always there for me, and i would like to think i was there for them when they needed me the most. This along with some great and trusted friends…. Be Lucky…….. ……………….. …………………………………………….Colin H Baker

An old blog from 2010.

As we brace ourselves for the most vicious cuts since the War, i would like to correct a few lies, yes blatent lies, by this Con-Dem Government.

Lie one: That the UK is close to bankruptcy. Absolute nonsense, just to scaremonger the electorate, to accept the cuts without a whimper. Lie two: They never knew the deficit was that much, that is the biggest lie of all, not more than four months before the election, they were saying the deficit would be one hundred and eighty three billion (1.83 trillion) pounds by the time of the election, and not one hundred and fifty seven billion (1.57 trillion) pounds, as it turned out to be. Yes Vince Cable and David Cameron sang from the same Hymn sheet on this, and every comment since when asked questions, started with the same old rhetoric, like a stuck record. Lie three: This is the only way, and they have no choice. This proves to me, that it’s just an Ideological process, and that propped up by the dummy Libdems, that they haven’t the brains to even consider other ways, of which there are many. A government full of Amateurs. Lie four: We are all in it together, true meaning “we want to hit everyone, and take this country back decades to the dark ages of Thatcherism and some more. Lie five: They will clamp down on cheats, a utter untruth in anyone’s language. What they really mean is to clamp down on benefit cheats, no matter how many innocent they hurt along the way, while certain cabinet ministers can still use the Caymen Islands to dodge their rightful taxes, yes even the Chancellor himself, not to mention all his buddies around this country. Robbing this country of billions upon billions. Lie six: This is the only way to get investment towards growth, it’s a disaster for growth. You don’t put over a million on the dole to create growth, neither do you cut a leg off to learn how to hop.

Colin Baker Un-brainwashed Facebook 2010.

Some more favourites.

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An Introduction to some of my views on Anti-Semitism in general and the Conservative party since its birth in 1834.

There’s been a lot said and written by our media, mainstream and social about racism and anti-semitism over the last dozen years, and mainly the last four years. After the very close general election result in 2017 with Jeremy Corbyn as the Labour leader who came within a few percentages points to beat Theresa Mays Conservatives, who in the run up to the election had a huge lead of 21 points in the polls. Yes one could say there was a mini earthquake right across the media and country. It even discombobulated me personally, no way could i see our mainly right wing media, and the most powerful people who really control this country, ever let a left wing socialist like Corbyn ever get close again to winning another General Election. And along with the many Blairite’s still in and around the periphery of the Labour party. Yes the rest is History.

And having lived and seen racism and anti-semtism close up, its rises and falls all of my life since my early teens in the 1950s, to this day in the UK, and have always stood up and been counted against them when possible, sometimes one succeeds, but with most racists it’s a losing battle. It becomes ingrained in there whole thinking and attitudes if not their psyche, and you find yourself talking to a blank wall. They also have many tricks to try to confuse one, or divert ones original thoughts, especially the more clever ones who seem to get some strange joy from it.

So with my life’s experiences and knowledge of the subject, and what i have seen over recent years, i set my self a task which i knew would be very difficult and very time consuming, something i always find i’m fighting or rushing, ageing does that to people. I always knew that the media and it’s disciples ignored conveniently how much anti-semitism there was in the Conservative party’s history past and present, so they could spend all their time and energy labeling Corbyn and the left of the Labour party which included myself who has always been to the left in politics anti-semites, which personally i found insulting to the extreme. I have always known that anti-semitism was everywhere in the UK in political party’s in degrees and in the everyday conversations by non political people, i also put a figure on it which was between five to seven percent and why most of my time on social media i did my best to not even talk about it until recently, because i always thought rightly or wrongly nobody wins and everyone loses. And as someone who always tried to be as honest as i can without hurting people, and a lover of facts and detest fake propaganda and liars and cheats, i owe it to myself, if to nobody else to speak or write as i feel over this subject, knowing i could be attacked from all quarters. but to at least have it on record. So i will get on with my blog which could take a few weeks knowing me and my life.

The very long blog will follow below this original comment, and i will be doing it in parts, one, two, three etc, because of its length. And forgive any typos etc , because most of my life i was an engineer and not a secretary with a typewriter in a office somewhere.