Every year at about this time London Beaumont and London
Porters' regions of HCPT put on a fund raising event at Wimbledon
Greyhound Racing Stadium. This takes the form of a champagne reception,
followed by dinner track side (behind a glass screen). Many
generous people and not a few companies, sponsor races, dogs
racecards, prize draw tickets and buy places at the dinner tables.
Being HCPT, the dining area of the stadium is bedecked with
ballons and many students and young people volunteer to help
make the evening a social success as well as a financial one
for the charity.
As it happens, a great local headmaster friend, Chris was 50
years old this week so we celebrated his birthday by going to
the dogs and sharing a small dinner table in the "Star Attraction"
restaurant, with a few helpers from HCPT Group 35.
One of the unusual features of the HCPT Greyhound racenight,
is that mid way through the dog races, is a human relay race.
About 4 teams of 6 students each raced the track and all bets
placed on the human race went to the charity. Bets on the dogs
however all went to the Totaliser Board's coffers. Hopefully
the Tote can be privatised soon as I cannot see any justification for
government meddling in dog race betting, other than to cream off
some tax.
That brings me to the questions of betting; ethics; fundraising
for a Catholic though lay run, charity and animal welfare.
The reality of betting on dogs seems to be that there is
a lot of luck and very little judgement involved in backing
a winner. Indeed on the Sharecrazy website at present is a share
picking competition, based on the similar premise that a mythical chimpanzee
picking shares with a pin, may do better than the expert share
pickers. The Sharecrazy competition results so far appear to support
that view. The experiences of the HCPT Group 35 yesterday night
were very similar. The minimum Tote bet for a win was £2. Over
10 races at £2 each, betting almost entirely on the attractiveness
of name of the chosen greyhound, I spent £20 and had 2 wins.
One paid back just under £12, the other £5. Still the evening
was fun.
More seriously though what about the gambling ethics?
This larger question for me is one which is still quite
easy to answer. No ethical problem in my personal opinion,
if done in moderation.
What is moderation will obviously be an individual
matter depending on one's own circumstances. However
even if I was very rich, I doubt that dog races would be worth
a gamble much over say £50 in a year. Also as the races themselves
only last seconds there is not the same spectacle or
atmosphere as say at horse races, most people would
probably not want go to the dogs more than once
a year or so.
As for animal welfare - I have doubts about the whole
treating dogs like children's dolls, pet concept anyway and I am
not sure that breeding them for racing is any
worse than breeding say chiwowa's, poodles, bulldog mastiffs
etc for human playthings/security guards, loneliness needs, etc.
Sure there are some people who get enormous pleasure from dogs
but as one who frequently enjoys jogging, the nuisance dogs
can cause to humanity other than their owners, is understated.
Back to last night, first indications are that HCPT the Pilgrimage
Trust will have benefitted to the tune of some £30,000.
About 2500 disabled children travel with HCPT to Lourdes each
Easter. Taking their fares as c.£500 each, it can be seen that
good though £30k is, there is still a long way to go before
the 2500 children are funded for 2007.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Jogging, Health and Complacency
A couple of 4 mile jogs during the week with a couple
of 6 mile jogs over the week end has been my routine now
for several years. This routine is stepped up a few
notches for those years when I enter the London Marathon
but I take the ability to run a few miles, or a few miles more,
when I choose, for granted.
Over the past few jogs though, I have felt as if I was
running on empty and have been disconcerted by having
to step down from jogging to walking. No apparent reason
though the various jogging/health manuals suggest lack of
potassium etc as the problem.
I recollect Paula Radcliffe during her Athens Marathon attempt,
flaking out. Of course she is an elite athlete whereas
I barely muster a jog in the park but thankfully we human beings
are not automatons or entirely predictable.
Some of our unpredicatabilty is of course down to making
illogical choices in life or fighting against a trend. Some
unpredictability is down to circumstances
which we cannot control, like forest fires or the behaviour
of those we love; or those we don't.
Some though is down to ill health. For those who like me
normally enjoy good health, the rare bout of illness
can provide a salutory reminder of the fragility of life
and the need to be alert to treat it with reverence and like
the very precious privilege it is.
Today's run over Wimbledon Common was glorious. Rude health
prevailed once more; the sun was rising over the Commonscape
of autumnal gold, orange, green and brown; frost made the
ground crunchy underfoot and a waist high mist swirled
around as I jogged.
One of those great to be alive moments that occur
even in London Suburbia.
of 6 mile jogs over the week end has been my routine now
for several years. This routine is stepped up a few
notches for those years when I enter the London Marathon
but I take the ability to run a few miles, or a few miles more,
when I choose, for granted.
Over the past few jogs though, I have felt as if I was
running on empty and have been disconcerted by having
to step down from jogging to walking. No apparent reason
though the various jogging/health manuals suggest lack of
potassium etc as the problem.
I recollect Paula Radcliffe during her Athens Marathon attempt,
flaking out. Of course she is an elite athlete whereas
I barely muster a jog in the park but thankfully we human beings
are not automatons or entirely predictable.
Some of our unpredicatabilty is of course down to making
illogical choices in life or fighting against a trend. Some
unpredictability is down to circumstances
which we cannot control, like forest fires or the behaviour
of those we love; or those we don't.
Some though is down to ill health. For those who like me
normally enjoy good health, the rare bout of illness
can provide a salutory reminder of the fragility of life
and the need to be alert to treat it with reverence and like
the very precious privilege it is.
Today's run over Wimbledon Common was glorious. Rude health
prevailed once more; the sun was rising over the Commonscape
of autumnal gold, orange, green and brown; frost made the
ground crunchy underfoot and a waist high mist swirled
around as I jogged.
One of those great to be alive moments that occur
even in London Suburbia.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Remembrance Sunday; Tony Blair and War
On this day of remembrance for those brave men and women
who died to two world wars so that we might remain free,
it is natural for thoughts also to turn to the
war in Iraq British troops are engaged in.
I can do little better than to republish
my musings on this topic from the Sharecrazy bulletin boards
some weeks back:
GordonF Greetings :cool:
As one who tends to regard the British Political
establishment both in and out of government as being,
flawed though it is, above average in terms
of integrity, it took a great deal for
me to conclude that TB lied us into war.
Although I did not vote for his party, I well recall
as I am sure you do, the feeling of optimism
that prevailed following Labour's victory
following on from years of Tory rule, the latter
years of which were widely regarded as sliding
into sleaze.
TB's style has undoubtedly always been one
of keeping an eye on what the media say or
might say. He has had special media spin
doctors working for him as of course i accept, do
many others. I don't like the current
concern in government and elsewhere for
what the media thinks. One of the disadvantages
is that politicians trying to influence the media
tend to adopt sound bite type media releases.
Otherwise those sections of the electorate with short
attention spans will not pick up the influence
and the point the politician is trying to make
will be lost.
The relevant background to the "lie" aspect is
imho succinctly contained in the following
BBC analysis:
"On 24 September 2002 the UK government published an intelligence dossier outlining its concerns over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, including the claim that Iraq could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes.
In the foreword, Mr Blair said that "this issue was a current and serious threat to the UK national interest".
On 18 March 2003, just before the UK went to war with Iraq, Mr Blair told the House of Commons that it was "palpably absurd" to accept that Saddam Hussein "contrary to all history, contrary to all intelligence" had "decided unilaterally to destroy these weapons".
Since the war extensive searches by the US-led Iraq Survey Group after the war failed to uncover any nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
The Oxford dictionary defines a lie as a "statement the speaker knows to be untrue"....
With hindsight, everyone agrees that much of the intelligence that the UK (and US) government published to justify their case for war against Iraq was unreliable.
Mr Howard believes Mr Blair lied. He told Breakfast with Frost: "The intelligence that he had, as we know from the Butler report... was limited sporadic and patchy. When Mr Blair came to report that to the country, he said he had intelligence that was extensive, detailed and authoritative. Maybe you can reconcile those two different sets of words. I can't. I think that portraying the intelligence in that way was untrue."
The Liberal Democrats do not accuse Mr Blair of lying, but they say the UK was taken to war on a "false prospectus". Pressed on whether Mr Blair had lied, Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said he could not say that because: "Only he (Tony Blair) knows if he was telling the truth when addressing the House of Commons."
Mr Blair denies lying or misrepresenting the intelligence on Iraq's weapons. He has acknowledged (at September's Labour Party conference) that "the evidence about Saddam having actual biological and chemical weapons, as opposed to the capability to develop them, has turned out to be wrong. I acknowledge and accept that. I simply point out that it was agreed by the whole international community."
He says that, even now knowing that the intelligence was wrong, he cannot apologise for taking the tough decision to remove Saddam Hussein, and says he believes the world is a better place without him. He has consistently stressed that he respects the views of opponents of the war.
Ultimately, as he has said on a number of occasions, it is a question of his judgement rather than his character - and voters will have the chance to deliver their verdict on polling day."
The reason I dwelt on the Labour government's
concerns to influence the media and its spin doctor
approach, is that that apporoach necessitates the use of soundbites.
Soundbites inform or misinform some far
more easily than reasoned arguement. If you
use soundbites the you risk straying into
the realm of balck or white infomation without greys.
If the issues had been put to the people
in the well argued way set out in some of the posts
above, especially yours and Slaters, then you
would surely be right and my word "lie" would be wrong.
Unfortunately your well reasoned arguments
are not now and would not have been at the time,
compatible with the spin and sound bite mentality
that has taken hold in the higher echallons of
government. Sound bites require the people to be
told in black and white. The way in which
it was put at the time led the people to believe
that there were WMD and that
there was a clear and present danger from the same.
No discernible effort was made at the time to
dispell that impression. If that impression was
not what TB intended, he had opportunity to
express caveats but failed to do so.
For a politcian I would extend the meaning of lie to
include being recklessly careless with the truth
or permiting others under you to be so.
By that yardstick at least, I am afraid to say that the
British Prime Minister lied the nation to war
and should resign. :shocked:
All imho.
who died to two world wars so that we might remain free,
it is natural for thoughts also to turn to the
war in Iraq British troops are engaged in.
I can do little better than to republish
my musings on this topic from the Sharecrazy bulletin boards
some weeks back:
GordonF Greetings :cool:
As one who tends to regard the British Political
establishment both in and out of government as being,
flawed though it is, above average in terms
of integrity, it took a great deal for
me to conclude that TB lied us into war.
Although I did not vote for his party, I well recall
as I am sure you do, the feeling of optimism
that prevailed following Labour's victory
following on from years of Tory rule, the latter
years of which were widely regarded as sliding
into sleaze.
TB's style has undoubtedly always been one
of keeping an eye on what the media say or
might say. He has had special media spin
doctors working for him as of course i accept, do
many others. I don't like the current
concern in government and elsewhere for
what the media thinks. One of the disadvantages
is that politicians trying to influence the media
tend to adopt sound bite type media releases.
Otherwise those sections of the electorate with short
attention spans will not pick up the influence
and the point the politician is trying to make
will be lost.
The relevant background to the "lie" aspect is
imho succinctly contained in the following
BBC analysis:
"On 24 September 2002 the UK government published an intelligence dossier outlining its concerns over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, including the claim that Iraq could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes.
In the foreword, Mr Blair said that "this issue was a current and serious threat to the UK national interest".
On 18 March 2003, just before the UK went to war with Iraq, Mr Blair told the House of Commons that it was "palpably absurd" to accept that Saddam Hussein "contrary to all history, contrary to all intelligence" had "decided unilaterally to destroy these weapons".
Since the war extensive searches by the US-led Iraq Survey Group after the war failed to uncover any nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
The Oxford dictionary defines a lie as a "statement the speaker knows to be untrue"....
With hindsight, everyone agrees that much of the intelligence that the UK (and US) government published to justify their case for war against Iraq was unreliable.
Mr Howard believes Mr Blair lied. He told Breakfast with Frost: "The intelligence that he had, as we know from the Butler report... was limited sporadic and patchy. When Mr Blair came to report that to the country, he said he had intelligence that was extensive, detailed and authoritative. Maybe you can reconcile those two different sets of words. I can't. I think that portraying the intelligence in that way was untrue."
The Liberal Democrats do not accuse Mr Blair of lying, but they say the UK was taken to war on a "false prospectus". Pressed on whether Mr Blair had lied, Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said he could not say that because: "Only he (Tony Blair) knows if he was telling the truth when addressing the House of Commons."
Mr Blair denies lying or misrepresenting the intelligence on Iraq's weapons. He has acknowledged (at September's Labour Party conference) that "the evidence about Saddam having actual biological and chemical weapons, as opposed to the capability to develop them, has turned out to be wrong. I acknowledge and accept that. I simply point out that it was agreed by the whole international community."
He says that, even now knowing that the intelligence was wrong, he cannot apologise for taking the tough decision to remove Saddam Hussein, and says he believes the world is a better place without him. He has consistently stressed that he respects the views of opponents of the war.
Ultimately, as he has said on a number of occasions, it is a question of his judgement rather than his character - and voters will have the chance to deliver their verdict on polling day."
The reason I dwelt on the Labour government's
concerns to influence the media and its spin doctor
approach, is that that apporoach necessitates the use of soundbites.
Soundbites inform or misinform some far
more easily than reasoned arguement. If you
use soundbites the you risk straying into
the realm of balck or white infomation without greys.
If the issues had been put to the people
in the well argued way set out in some of the posts
above, especially yours and Slaters, then you
would surely be right and my word "lie" would be wrong.
Unfortunately your well reasoned arguments
are not now and would not have been at the time,
compatible with the spin and sound bite mentality
that has taken hold in the higher echallons of
government. Sound bites require the people to be
told in black and white. The way in which
it was put at the time led the people to believe
that there were WMD and that
there was a clear and present danger from the same.
No discernible effort was made at the time to
dispell that impression. If that impression was
not what TB intended, he had opportunity to
express caveats but failed to do so.
For a politcian I would extend the meaning of lie to
include being recklessly careless with the truth
or permiting others under you to be so.
By that yardstick at least, I am afraid to say that the
British Prime Minister lied the nation to war
and should resign. :shocked:
All imho.
Monday, November 06, 2006
HCPT Hosanna House Week End
Some 30 HCPT Group Leaders and others met for a weekend of renewal
at Hosanna House on 3rd to 5th November 2006.
Hosanna House is a large
hostel set in the countrysde of the foothills of the Pyrenees
near Bartres, Lourdes France
and is ideal for reflection alone or with others.
Lourdes itself
is rather different in November than over Easter. Gone are the
crowds of pilgrims, and many of the shops and hotels that cater for
them are closed. The Grotto is calmer with even the noise made
by the guttering of candles in the chilly breeze, clearly audible.
Autumn or the Fall season is giving rise to a mass of November colour,
as the leaves of the trees lose their green and turn to various
shades of orange yellow and mauve.
30 people of completely different backgrounds and origins had
one main thing in common, namely their enthusiasm for HCPT
and its family group system. Two girls from the American Special Children's Group even travelled out from New York and Pennsilvania for the meetings.
We started the weekend as strangers and ended
as friends. There were many discussions and exchanges of ideas.
Not a little
wine was enjoyed during our times together and the atmosphere
was pervaded thoughout by much love and laughter but this did not
crowd out the times for also sharing of some of the uphill struggles
that everyone encounters in life.
HCPT Group leaders are usually responsible for
a dozen or so disabled children when in Lourdes over Easter Week
so a renewal week end in November gave a much needed but very brief,
opportunity, to experience the town and its places of prayer,
without distraction. We also greatly appreciated the opportunity
of getting to know each other, which will I am sure add much to our
Easter pilgrimages.
I am sure that we will
enjoy a reunion sometime during Easter Week 2007
at Hosanna House on 3rd to 5th November 2006.
Hosanna House is a large
hostel set in the countrysde of the foothills of the Pyrenees
near Bartres, Lourdes France
and is ideal for reflection alone or with others.
Lourdes itself
is rather different in November than over Easter. Gone are the
crowds of pilgrims, and many of the shops and hotels that cater for
them are closed. The Grotto is calmer with even the noise made
by the guttering of candles in the chilly breeze, clearly audible.
Autumn or the Fall season is giving rise to a mass of November colour,
as the leaves of the trees lose their green and turn to various
shades of orange yellow and mauve.
30 people of completely different backgrounds and origins had
one main thing in common, namely their enthusiasm for HCPT
and its family group system. Two girls from the American Special Children's Group even travelled out from New York and Pennsilvania for the meetings.
We started the weekend as strangers and ended
as friends. There were many discussions and exchanges of ideas.
Not a little
wine was enjoyed during our times together and the atmosphere
was pervaded thoughout by much love and laughter but this did not
crowd out the times for also sharing of some of the uphill struggles
that everyone encounters in life.
HCPT Group leaders are usually responsible for
a dozen or so disabled children when in Lourdes over Easter Week
so a renewal week end in November gave a much needed but very brief,
opportunity, to experience the town and its places of prayer,
without distraction. We also greatly appreciated the opportunity
of getting to know each other, which will I am sure add much to our
Easter pilgrimages.
I am sure that we will
enjoy a reunion sometime during Easter Week 2007
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